Two Girls Down

This was a terrific thriller, and Luna created memorable characters that stayed with me after I was finished.

A bounty hunter named Alice Vega and Max Caplan, a disgraced cop. What more do you need to know? These partners and the story are so original, they grab your gut and won’t let go. I’m going to quote here from the publisher: “As addictive, cinematic, and binge-worthy a narrative as The Wire and The Killing.” I rarely agree with the publishers’ comparisons, but on this one, I’m majorly on board. I love this troubled partnership and what they bring to the story. The atmosphere surrounds the reader and tops off a sensational thriller. A must read.

There is the legal way to do things and then there is the Alice Vega way to do things. Alice’s way gets more results and were very enjoyable to read.

Alice Vega is a Bounty Hunter in California who has a reputation of finding missing children. She’s a yoga fanatic and can kick anyone’s ass. She has one heck of a hacker on her side too who gets her better information than even the FBI can come up with. She is contacted by the Aunt of a mother in Pennsylvania whose two girls are taken and the police have no leads.. She decides to take the case and travels to Denville, PA. After being brushed off by the cops she decides to enlist the help of ex cop Max Caplan who is now a PI.

Max wasn’t your typical over the top alpha hero. Divorced father of a teenager, with whom he has a great relationship with, he’s more a rational thinker and great investigator. Unlike Alice who goes to any extreme to get her skip trace or perp or information. I don’t think he knew what to think of balls to walls Alice at first but it was plain to see the two balanced each other out during the investigation.

The investigation into the missing girls was an interesting labyrinth that didn’t lead in the end where I thought it would. I was immediately wrapped up in the story and stayed that way till the end. Alice and Max were great characters who I hope we get to see again.

Louise Luna’s Two Girls Down is an excellent, thrilling P.I. novel. Both protagonists, Cap and Vega, are well-drawn, complex characters. Cap, a disgraced former cop, is likeable and serves as the voice of reason for Vega, an ex-bounty hunter who now specializes in finding missing persons, mostly kids. Vega is has her demons, but Cap may just be the one to exorcise them in time. The plot begins as mundane but horrifying–two sisters, eight and ten disappear from a strip mall in a small Pennsylvania city. Vega, the specialist, is called in by the family who don’t trust local law enforcement, and she recruits Cap for his local knowledge. The action is believable for the most part, although Vega’s nebulous hacker, who provides the team with key info just as needed, every time, is a bit of stretch, as is the willingness of the local cops to accept Cap and Vega as partners in the investigation. The twist at the end also strains credulity a bit, but the writing is so damn good that I’m willing to let it slide. I see that Cap and Vega are going to return for a second outing in 2020, and I’ll definitely be buying that book as well.

Showed Promised But A Few Issues

The first chapter introduces all the central players. There is the harried mother, Jamie Brant, taking her two young daughters, Kylie and Bailey, to a birthday party. The daughters disappear when she leaves them in her car in a shopping mall parking lot as she goes in to buy a present. The second is Max Caplan, an ex-police detective, who had to quit the force after a death in custody incident. He currently shares custody of his daughter, Nell, and works documenting cheating spouses and returning “skips” — people who skip on their bail. Lastly, there is Alice Vega, who is introduced standing on her hands. She has a fugitive recovery background that has had recent success in recovering kidnapped children.

Vega is contracted by Brant’s aunt to find the two girls. Vega tries to convince Caplan to work for her to help with the local police. After clearing his plate, they start working together. The police detective in charge of the investigation does not want any outside help especially from an outsider and a disgraced cop, so they start on their own. The storyline has steady paced with more than I expected in twists and turns all the way up to the end. This storyline captured my attention and kept me riveted to my Kindle reading it.

I had an issue with the B-story with respect to the main heroine, Alice Vega. The author provided some insight into her character is the short section in the first chapter, but then for almost half of the novel, she was a one dimensional as Sgt. Joe Friday in the 50s Dragnet TV show. Finally, her character opens up and you can start to see her as a person. This aspect made it challenging to bond with the main character for almost half of the novel. The B-story was well developed for Max Caplan with his daughter. Even the numerous other characters were adequately developed and supported their actions in the storyline very well.

Vulgar words occurred fairly regularly throughout this novel. These words did fit the characters and circumstances at the time of their use. This aspect of the novel did not bother me while reading it, and, in fact, I had to go back and count the instances. I have read many reviews complaining about language, so readers beware.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this work. It captured my attention, and many times I could not put it down. With a few rough edges, I rate this novel with four stars. I do recommend reading this novel as I believe that you will find it enjoyable and entertaining also.

I have received a free Uncorrected Proof/Advanced Reading Copy of this novel through NetGalley from Doubleday Books with a request for an honest, unbiased review. I wish to thank Doubleday Books for the opportunity to read this novel early.

Read it and listened to it – loved it both times.

When I picked this one up, I expected a gritty, and possibly dark, mystery and the story does start out with that potential. The beginning drew me in with the interactions between Jamie Brandt and her girls on the day that they were taken. From that point on, the story quickly fizzled for me as it became more a procedural type story of Alice and Cap following clues. This in itself wouldn’t necessarily have been a bad thing, but the number of characters brought in and the heavy dialogue made this tale quite cumbersome and at times, convoluted. It may also have helped if the main characters had been more likable. Cap is a likable enough character, but Alice, who is supposed to be this tough, “enigmatic” bounty hunter, is just a hot mess. She’s seems almost without emotion and then turns to violence in the blink of an eye. I was also left a bit confused by the dangling carrot of a possible romance between these two. That angle either needed to be better developed or left out entirely. As it stands, it just felt like filler which this one certainly did not need. The biggest drawback for this reader was that the story drags on for so long and the number of people questioned and re-questioned begins to run together. There is a decent action sequence toward the end along with an interesting twist to the story, but by that time, it was just too little, too late.
After seeing the number of four and five-star ratings for Two Girls Down, I realize that I’m in the minority, but it is what it is. The author clearly has talent and this book had great potential, but I prefer a much faster pace over getting bogged down in procedure.

(Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review this book).
Two Girls Down by Louisa Luna is one of the few books I would like to see in a movie version. This book had me hooked from the beginning and I could not stop reading until I had finished the whole story. Now I want to read more stories with Alice Vega! The theme of the story is serious and fast paced. Some of the scenes will cause you to feel anger toward child predators, and other scenes may bring tears to your eyes.
Two sisters disappear from a KMart parking lot while their mom rushes in to buy a birthday gift for the girls to take to a friends party. The single mother, Jamie, is stunned and seeking people to help her find the girls as the police are called. Jamie’s aunt Maggie calls for help from a California bounty hunter, Alice Vega.
Alice always finds the people she has been hired to recover. Alice is intelligent and totally focused about the priorities of her job. When Alice arrives in Denville, PA she meets with Jamie and the family to learn all she can about the event. Alice has also checked on a former Denville detective who she feels will be able to help her with information from within the local police department.
Max Caplan worked for the Denville police department for years until he suddenly retired after a prisoner died while he was on duty. Vega suspects that Caplan took the fall in order to protect another officer. Caplan is now working as a PI and enjoys his quiet life as a single father with his sixteen year old daughter, Nell.
The author weaves the stories of these characters together to form an unforgettable series of events. Vega and Caplan work tirelessly to follow leads, search for any information to lead them to the person who took the girls.