Book Review: Two Girls Down by Louisa Luna
Hello, Fellow Book Worms and Book Dragons!
To effectively take a subject and inject new life into it can be hard for some writers. But there is a certain group of authors that can take something that we have seen many times, and make it completely new again. In this case it is writer, Louisa Luna. Previously publishing three novels to plenty of acclaim, Luna takes her fourth novel to a familiar territory: missing persons. And the way that she presents this story changes this popular subject, shining it up like a new bullet in her narrative gun.
Two Girls Down is published by Penguin Random House under their Doubleday imprint. In it we are introduced to eight year old Bailey Brandt and her ten year old sister, Kylie. They are different as night and day, however they both share a penchant for mischief. On there way to a party with their single-mother, Jamie, the girls mysteriously disappear at a strip mall. Left in the family car alone, the girls venture out to get ice cream samples while their mother is in a department store getting items for the party. When Jamie Brandt returns, the girls are nowhere to be found. After several inquiries at various stores in the strip mall, the police are called in.
Meanwhile ex-police officer Max Caplan is wrapping up a case at his home-based private investigatory business. A father of a teenager, Nell, he works hard to provide for her. She is the spitting image of him personality-wise, inheriting his sense of investigation. When the story of the Brandt girls hits the television news, Nell expresses interest in the case. Max, who left his previous job in disgrace, wants nothing to do with an investigation involving the local police. He is content to catch cheating husbands and collecting his fee from grieving and angry wives.
When an email from famous bounty hunter, Alice Vega, crosses Caplan's path, he is presented with an intriguing offer: help Vega find the missing Brandt girls, and she will give him half of the fee she is charging the girls' family. Vega has been hired eighteen times to find missing persons, and all eighteen times she has found them. She is no-nonsense, takes no for an answer, and can definitely take care of herself. Caplan is reluctant to call in favors from the police. But he knows that if he does not move quickly, Bailey and Kylie may end up dead.
Louisa Luna has created three hundred pages of a crisp and dangerous thriller. I felt like a shark circling her boat as she threw clues into the water like bloody chum. I ate it all up and wanted more. I read into the late hours of the night. I listened to the heart-pounding narrative on audio book while I did chores and housekeeping. I was obsessed with this book, and I genuinely hated putting it down.
Luna also presents the subjects of human trafficking and child abuse in a non-exploitative way. She instead uses the emotions of Caplan and Vega and their experiences to show us the underworld that these characters have seen. I appreciated this aspect, and applaud the author for this. She also gives us the groundwork for a possible future romance between Caplan and Vega. But she never lets it happen, throwing the "insta-love" trope out the window. Their affection for one another is multi-faceted, rooted first in respect for each other's aptitude as investigators.
When the book was not in my hands I listened to actress and author, Tavia Gilbert's narration. There were times while she read the novel that I thought there was more than one narrator present. She expertly conveyed emotions, speech patterns, and had a different voice for every character. She showed an invested interest in Louisa Luna's characters, presenting them carefully as if they were her own. I was amazed by her work on this book.
I went into Two Girls Down looking for a top-notch crime thriller. What I was given was a thoroughly entertaining novel with an ending that was very satisfying. I was given excellent character development. I was given characters that I cheered for. I gasped audibly many times. And felt so invested in this novel that instantly wanted to read another book with Max Caplan and Alice Vega once I read the last word.
I gave Two Girls Down a much-deserved five out of five stars. I highly recommend this novel to those who love a gritty and exciting crime thriller. You will not be able to put it down.
Have fun reading this week. Let me know in the comments below what you are reading.
Because there is always time to read,
Xepherus3
All written content and top logo (c) Copyright 2018 by Thomas Bahr II
Book cover is (c) Copyright by the publisher
Two Girls Down is published by Penguin Random House under their Doubleday imprint. In it we are introduced to eight year old Bailey Brandt and her ten year old sister, Kylie. They are different as night and day, however they both share a penchant for mischief. On there way to a party with their single-mother, Jamie, the girls mysteriously disappear at a strip mall. Left in the family car alone, the girls venture out to get ice cream samples while their mother is in a department store getting items for the party. When Jamie Brandt returns, the girls are nowhere to be found. After several inquiries at various stores in the strip mall, the police are called in.
Meanwhile ex-police officer Max Caplan is wrapping up a case at his home-based private investigatory business. A father of a teenager, Nell, he works hard to provide for her. She is the spitting image of him personality-wise, inheriting his sense of investigation. When the story of the Brandt girls hits the television news, Nell expresses interest in the case. Max, who left his previous job in disgrace, wants nothing to do with an investigation involving the local police. He is content to catch cheating husbands and collecting his fee from grieving and angry wives.
When an email from famous bounty hunter, Alice Vega, crosses Caplan's path, he is presented with an intriguing offer: help Vega find the missing Brandt girls, and she will give him half of the fee she is charging the girls' family. Vega has been hired eighteen times to find missing persons, and all eighteen times she has found them. She is no-nonsense, takes no for an answer, and can definitely take care of herself. Caplan is reluctant to call in favors from the police. But he knows that if he does not move quickly, Bailey and Kylie may end up dead.
Louisa Luna has created three hundred pages of a crisp and dangerous thriller. I felt like a shark circling her boat as she threw clues into the water like bloody chum. I ate it all up and wanted more. I read into the late hours of the night. I listened to the heart-pounding narrative on audio book while I did chores and housekeeping. I was obsessed with this book, and I genuinely hated putting it down.
Luna also presents the subjects of human trafficking and child abuse in a non-exploitative way. She instead uses the emotions of Caplan and Vega and their experiences to show us the underworld that these characters have seen. I appreciated this aspect, and applaud the author for this. She also gives us the groundwork for a possible future romance between Caplan and Vega. But she never lets it happen, throwing the "insta-love" trope out the window. Their affection for one another is multi-faceted, rooted first in respect for each other's aptitude as investigators.
When the book was not in my hands I listened to actress and author, Tavia Gilbert's narration. There were times while she read the novel that I thought there was more than one narrator present. She expertly conveyed emotions, speech patterns, and had a different voice for every character. She showed an invested interest in Louisa Luna's characters, presenting them carefully as if they were her own. I was amazed by her work on this book.
I went into Two Girls Down looking for a top-notch crime thriller. What I was given was a thoroughly entertaining novel with an ending that was very satisfying. I was given excellent character development. I was given characters that I cheered for. I gasped audibly many times. And felt so invested in this novel that instantly wanted to read another book with Max Caplan and Alice Vega once I read the last word.
I gave Two Girls Down a much-deserved five out of five stars. I highly recommend this novel to those who love a gritty and exciting crime thriller. You will not be able to put it down.
Have fun reading this week. Let me know in the comments below what you are reading.
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Because there is always time to read,
Xepherus3
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All written content and top logo (c) Copyright 2018 by Thomas Bahr II
Book cover is (c) Copyright by the publisher
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