Louisa Luna

The addictive, cinematic and binge-worthy thriller of the summer

Two Girls Down

Madie Houston

I wasn’t really impressed by this book, I felt like I was skimming a lot and didn’t connect with the characters

Jeff Brown 

This was recommended by a customer. I saw on the jacket that the hero was a female Jack Reacher. I thought I would give it a shot. Other than one inopportune moment before a raid, and an odd thought that she had when her partner stepped up and impressed her, it was almost a Lee Child book. The only big difference is that she has a home in California. Otherwise her PI work makes her a nomad of sorts, stand-offish, hard to trust people and tough to open up. While Reacher isn’t normal, there is something very deep in Alice that had messed her up. A quick easy read, and I may read the next one to see if she starts to evolve.

Paige Green

Rating: 3/5

Genre: Mystery

Recommended Age: 16+ (language, violence, sexual lingo)

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley. All opinons are my own.
 
As addictive, cinematic, and binge-worthy a narrative as The Wire and The Killing, Two Girls Down introduces Louisa Luna as a thriller writer of immense talent and verve. 
 When two young sisters disappear from a strip mall parking lot in a small Pennsylvania town, their devastated mother hires an enigmatic bounty hunter, Alice Vega, to help find the girls. Immediately shut out by a local police department already stretched thin by budget cuts and the growing OxyContin and meth epidemic, Vega enlists the help of a disgraced former cop, Max Caplan. Cap is a man trying to put the scandal of his past behind him and move on, but Vega needs his help to find the girls, and she will not be denied. 
 With little to go on, Vega and Cap will go to extraordinary lengths to untangle a dangerous web of lies, false leads, and complex relationships to find the girls before time runs out, and they are gone forever. - Amazon.com

I've had a mystery kick for the past few months, so I picked this book up when I saw it on Netgalley. For the most part I thought this book was really good! It was a good mystery with a twist I didn't see coming. The plot was wonderfully well done and thought out and for the most part the main characters were very well developed. I really think that this book would do well in a series as apart of an ongoing mystery, Scooby-Doo type crime solving gang. However, I did have a bit of issues of with this book.

I really thought that while the main characters were developed, they felt a little awkward around each other, especially in how one character talks to another. I also felt that there were too many characters in the story who were not pertiant to the story. There were also a lot of loose ends that weren't solved by the end of the book and the book had some lull periods where it felt like the author went off on tangents.

Verdict: Awesome mystery, but lots of loose ends. I like my mysteries to wrap up completely at the end and for everything to be eventually connected and I'm a little disappointed that this one wasn't. It's a preference though and some readers might not care. It definitely was a good mystery novel and it comes out on January 9th! Make sure to grab your copy if your a mystery lover!

"This is such a terrific read. High stakes, relationship-driven, perfectly paced. Two Girls Down has something else worth noting: three dimensional female characters. Alice Vega could give Jack Reacher a run for his money. Maybe Louisa Luna should write all the thrillers." --New York Times bestselling author Chelsea Cain As addictive, cinematic, and binge-worthy a narrative as The Wire and The Killing, Two Girls Down introduces Louisa Luna as a thriller writer of immense talent and verve. When two young sisters disappear from a strip mall parking lot in a small Pennsylvania town, their devastated mother hires an enigmatic bounty hunter, Alice Vega, to help find the girls. Immediately shut out by a local police department already stretched thin by budget cuts and the growing OxyContin and meth epidemic, Vega enlists the help of a disgraced former cop, Max Caplan. Cap is a man trying to put the scandal of his past behind him and move on, but Vega needs his help to find the girls, and she will not be denied. With little to go on, Vega and Cap will go to extraordinary lengths to untangle a dangerous web of lies, false leads, and complex relationships to find the girls before time runs out, and they are gone forever.

Corrie White 

Oh man. Where to start. Suffice to say that I did NOT like this book, for multiple reasons. I'm not going to get into spoilers but I will mark a trigger warning for detailed descriptions of children's physical and sexual abuse.

I initially found the plot interesting and was quickly pulled in. The way the author wrote the plot had me immediately suspicious of everyone and that is rare for me. Some of the plot was predictable but I do have to say I did not figure out the real story until the book told me who it was. That is rare, and is the only reason this book is not a 1* for me. I bumped it up to a 2* read because the first 20 and last 40 pages were a joy to read and I was able to ignore the blatant issues I had with the rest of the novel.

What I didn't like:

1) Dialogue. The dialogue was so fucking awkward at times I was cringing and laughing... when I wasn't supposed to be. It was stilted and formal and some parts of the dialogue weren't written like typical dialogue but was instead inserted into the story as if part of the paragraph which was incredibly annoying.

 "What I do," said Vega, "has nothing to do with odds."

Jaime rolled her eyes and took a swig from the bottle.

"That's some Fast and Furious shit right there," she said, pointing at Vega. Then she mimicked her: "What I do has nothing to do with odds, baby." 

Easily the funniest and most nonsensical piece of dialogue I have read in a while.

2)POV. The constant shifting between mainly Vega and Caplan was beyond aggravating. At times the POV shift would happen mid paragraph and I would be forced to reread it since I wasn't sure who was talking. It was always Cap said this and Cap said that, which made the writing incredibly amateurish to me. Why is he always called Cap? Why is everyone always referred to by their last name. It's odd.

3) Characterization. I liked Cap. I was not amused by Vega. She is a caricature of a badass woman at times. The scene when she is in a fight and recalls what her past mentor tells her to say: "Who am I?! I'm the motherfucker who gets. shit. done!" had me literally dying of laughter as to the absurdity of it. We don't need to be told 100 times that she's a badass special snowflake with a tragic past. Welcome to everyone else on the fucking planet.

4) Unnecessary underlying romance trope. Just... why? 

5) The Bastard. Total insert Deus Ex Machina used only for the sole purpose of Vega being able to get information that the police won't give her. If this random hacker dude was not in this book, they would have never found out what happened. I hate DEM's. He is the real hero of the story. A person Vega can text who provides her with all the video feeds, financials, and addresses of people the police can't find. Absolutely the worst.

6) Random insertion of unnecessary homophobia under the guise of telling a joke. Usually I am not one to point this out but it was so unnecessary to anything about this book that it stood out like a sore thumb.

Darice de Cuba

The moment you start reading this book it gets you, hook, line, and sinker. The pace is fast and doesn't slow down until the very end. Alice Vega is the darker, grittier, hardcore version of Veronica Mars.

Read the full review on my blog.

Jennifer Kennedy

Kris Lantheaume

"I'm always looking for a good thriller, and this just was perfect."--Nancy Pearl, NPR's Morning Edition "Opening this book is like arming a bomb--the suspense is relentless and the payoff is spectacular. Lead character Alice Vega is sensational--I want to see lots more of her."--Lee Child "Sensational." Wall Street Journal "A must-read for fans of strong female protagonists.'--Booklist (starred review) As addictive, cinematic, and binge-worthy a narrative as The Wire and The Killing, Two Girls Down introduces Louisa Luna as a thriller writer of immense talent and verve. When two young sisters disappear from a strip mall parking lot in a small Pennsylvania town, their devastated mother hires an enigmatic bounty hunter, Alice Vega, to help find the girls. Immediately shut out by a local police department already stretched thin by budget cuts and the growing OxyContin and meth epidemic, Vega enlists the help of a disgraced former cop, Max Caplan. Cap is a man trying to put the scandal of his past behind him and move on, but Vega needs his help to find the girls, and she will not be denied. With little to go on, Vega and Cap will go to extraordinary lengths to untangle a dangerous web of lies, false leads, and complex relationships to find the girls before time runs out, and they are gone forever.

Two Girls Down

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