Two Girls Down: A Novel

Louisa Luna has a new book out called The Janes. There's something so captivating about that title. And yes, titles are attractive and can make or break my ability to purchase or borrow from the library (my poor local library will never reopen – every time we get closer to a tentative reopen date, that date is extended. My return date for books I checked out in March, is now September 30!)I have an inkling of what The Janes is about (Jane Does perhaps?) but I also saw it's the second book in a series about bounty hunter turned private investigator Alice Vega, tough as nails ... but.Rather than make the same mistake I did with Attica Locke's black Texas Ranger, Darren Mathews, reading the second installment before the first, this time I read book one in the Alice Vega series: Two Girls Down.Generally I read 5 or 6 books at a time; reaching my minimum page count (25) and then moving on to the next. If I'm close to the end of a chapter, I’ll read to the end irrespective of the page count.I couldn’t put Two Girls Down, down (pun intended).What was interesting about Vega, is that she employed a former cop, Max Caplan (Cap), to help assist in her investigation of two missing girls. Luna teases perfectly and keeps you on edge during the dance of the missing girls. Is this when it’s going happen? Now? Omg, I can’t stop reaaaaaddddiinnnng!Or maybe that’s just me.When introducing a character; especially one as hard-boiled as Alice Vega, you would think she’d work alone. This was an unexpected yet welcome element. This is Vega’s series and she’s the star but this realistic depiction of actually being able to work as part of a team; one of mutual respect, is to be commended.Vega is impatient and impetuous but she needed Cap for access; he tempers that impatience, or else she would’ve just drove a tank over a building to get what she wanted.Another refreshing element is that Cap has a teenage daughter; of course Cap is estranged from his wife, who proves to be if not a sleuth/genius herself, at least wise beyond her years.Two Girls Down is a thriller, a cop novel (without the vaudeville), a buddy novel and a romance novel, as Cap proves to be an old softie but I don't know where he goes from here and I can't wait to find out how it ends.I just ordered The Janes.

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.My Thoughts: Alice Vega is an interesting character: tough, vulnerable, damaged, and with a great track record for finding missing people.  Two Girls Down: A Novel  first shows her in her home in Central California as she goes through her yoga routine. We follow her thoughts as she connects with someone who wants to hire her to find two missing girls in the Pennsylvania small town of Denville.Jamie Brandt knows she is not the best mother. She is impatient and feels burdened by the task of rearing her two girls, Kylie, 10, and Bailey, 8. But she is devastated by the loss of them, and we watch her go through the emotional wringer over the days that follow.Once Vega arrives and connects with the police, she realizes she must find another way, since they are “locking her out,” claiming they don’t work with civilians. She finds a PI named Max Caplan, a former cop, and the two of them take on the task together.Alternating narratives take us along for the ride as they find potential suspects, people who might have connected with the girls. They watch videos of the scene where they disappeared; they talk to witnesses; and connect the dots. Eventually the police and FBI let them in, and the collaboration is often frustrating, but productive.Their search takes them to the ramshackle homes of druggies and dealers…and then, finally, to some wealthy habitats where the darkest secrets hide. What will they discover? Who is behind the elaborate taking of the two young girls, and how do their kidnappings connect to others in the state? An engaging story that was sometimes confusing to follow, this one earned 4 stars.

I was hoping it would be more exciting to read. Finished the book, but it was kind of boring.

As many people have said, this book satisfies on every level. The plot? Crackingly suspenseful and believable. The young daughters of a single mum go missing from a K-Mart car park and tracking down what happened to them takes us down various interesting rabbit holes. The characters? Superbly well presented with deft economic touches that enable us to appreciate exactly what they’re like in all their subtlety, both the deadbeat junkies and the various others, both good and weirdly bad. Successful bounty hunter Alice Vega flies in from California at the request of the girls’ great aunt. She’s a tough loner, but she asks for the help of Max Caplan, ex-cop, now a PI after taking the fall for a colleague. Their relationship is initially antsy, but as the tough days roll on, they develop an intuitive understanding and respect that foreshadows a possible romance. A particular joy is Cap’s 16 yo daughter Nell: a smart, brave and sensible girl who makes sure he eats and with whom he discusses cases like an adult. The police are struggling with budget cuts and that curse of our era, the opiate epidemic. Cap’s old boss disses his offer of help but is hauled over the coals for it in a terrific scene. Vega has access to an invaluable source of help: a hacker who is not bound by the laws of evidence the cops and the FBI are under. Luna is a terrific writer whose prose never falters. May her next book be soon.

Beautiful writing. Intelligent well formed characters. Page turner!

Alice Vega is a stunning character, sort of mystical but still this side of believable. Louisa Luna writes her characters so vividly that I found myself making the gestures (but small, so no one could see them) and nods along with them, and it all felt just so right. Loved this book and am off to read more of Louisa Luna and, I hope, Alice Vega.

I found the writing to be a bit amateurish.