Captivating character study of what happens when two young sisters disappear one morning.

Kylie is 10 and a fire-cracker who back-talks her mother and uses her makeup. Bailey is 8 and loves school especially vocabulary. Jamie, their mother, needed to pick up a quick kid’s birthday gift for a party for which they were already late. Jamie decided it would be faster if she ran into Kmart by herself. It shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes. When she looks out of the store a few minutes later the girls are no longer in the car. She searches the nearby businesses but can’t find the girls. They are gone.

Jamie’s aunt, a local real estate agent, hires private detective Alice Vega. Vega is famous for solving several other missing children cases. Vega hires a local private investigator, Max Caplan, to help her get access to the local police files. Caplan quit his job with the department five years earlier in a messy scandal after a kid died in lockup. Both Vega and Caplan have heavy emotional baggage but are intent on finding little Kylie and Bailey before it is too late. The girls’ family also have an interesting dynamic.

Two Girls Down is a thriller but more thought-provoking viewed as a character study. The characters are all distinct and authentic. The resolution is unexpected and unlike a typical thriller.

Thanks to the publisher, Doubleday, and Netgalley for an advanced review copy.

This author writes with a voice so real, so true to each character with a plot interesting, believable and left me with a sadness I️ (for some reason my iOS is making an exclamation point instead of letter) can’t shake. It ends well, tied up beautifully yet intensely. I️ (there it is again) want Cap & Vega to have another case together.

This was truly a wonderful suspenseful mystery/thriller. I loved the main characters who both had dark traumatic histories. Alice Vega is a no-frills bounty hunter, very successful in finding kidnapped/lost children. She teams up with Cap, a former cop, with some seemingly disgrace in his background. These two form a formidable team. Jamie Brandt, a single mother, left her two older children in the car while she quickly went into Kmart. When she came out to her car, the girls were gone. Everyone is quick to blame her as a bad mother, but there is a lot more to the story. There were some surprises! I loved seeing the development of Alice and Cap and the bond forming between them. I would love to see more from this author.

This is one suspenseful thriller that I couldn’t put down. Well written, colorful characters and a lot of tense moments. Jamie Brandt is a single mom who lives her two young daughters in the car while she make a quick trip to a store. Girls being girls, they leave the car and are soon abducted. Jamie’s aunt hires a private detective, Alice Vega, from California who has been successful in finding missing children. Vega is one serious player with a lot of tricks up her sleeve. With the help of a local PD, and then the cops, they go tracking down every possible lead. They have no idea where the leads are going and whether the girls are still alive. I really enjoyed this story, not only the thrill of the ride, but the characters are well developed and I hope to see Vega in another one soon!

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I was not sure at first, but I am glad I stuck with this story. Two girls go missing and the family hires Vega. She is a private detective and is tough! The story played out much better as the book went along. Very enjoyable.

This is the first book I've read by Louisa Luna and I'm impressed. Two girls, Kylie-10 and Bailey-8, disappear from a parked car in a strip mall while their Mom, Jamie runs in quickly to get a gift for a birthday party they are on their way to attend. The police department is investigating, but they are short-staffed and unable to provide enough time and manpower to do a thorough job. The family hires Alice Vega, a private investigator with a stunning track record for finding missing persons. Alice then gets help from a former police detective, Max Caplan (known as Cap), who resigned after an incident that made him look guilty.

Alice is a tough, type-A personality who is focused and persistent. Cap, while a dedicated professional who takes his job seriously, is a lovable family man whose focus is to take care of his daughter. The two work together well - both good characters.

This is a fast-paced, tension-building story as if the girls are to be found alive every hour counts. A good mystery that kept me flipping the pages and hoping for the girls to be found unharmed. I could see there being a series with Alice Vega starring as the humble superhero.

Thanks to Louisa Luna and Doubleday Books through Netgalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This debut thriller is everything you want in a suspenseful mystery. The lead characters, Vega and Cap, are engaging, well-developed and immediately likeable. They are both driven to find the two missing girls, and they stay on point working tirelessly throughout the novel. There is enough action and suspense to keep you fully submerged in the story until the shocking end.
I would be very interested in reading a series centered around Alice Vega (ie. Patterson's Alex Cross).

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Pro’s: good storyline with a twist you really don’t see coming.
Con’s: Characters were develolped, but nobody you wanted to connect with. One the main characters, Alice Vega, resembles a robot. It was made abundantly clear that she had no feelings for others, which makes it hard to care about her or her actions. Max Caplan was okay for a bit, then became absurd. He seemed to be sexually aroused at the most inapproprriate times. The dialog was awful! Everything action, thought, feeling, etc. had a simile or a metaphor attached to it, and some were nonsensical. The writing appeared to be the hard-boiled detective of yore, leaning toward a more masculine audience. Just not impressed with any part of this book.

I really liked this book and recommend you give the author a shot if you have never read her. I like dramas and I enjoy cop stories. This was more about a private investigator which gave the characters more freedom. Although I think they pushed it a bit. The story was good and well rounded. I did not see the ending coming which is a good thing.

Two Girls Down is not the typical genre of book that I like to read but every so often I try to mix it up a little and go outside my comfort zone. I was happy with my choice in requesting this title because I ended up really enjoying this!

Alice Vega is a bounty hunter who also acts as a private investigator to finding missing persons. She is hired by Jaime Brandt to help find her girls, out of desperation and frustration with the police department investigation going nowhere. The local police department completely shut Vega out so she ends up enlisting the help of former cop, Max Caplan. The strange duo work together to try to piece the whereabout of the Brandt girls together and hope that they are not too late to find the girls alive.

I really liked the two main characters and that the author really worked their backgrounds into the story without being overbearing with detail. I normally don't like strong female characters who are super rough around the edges and don't give a crap about anyone or anything, but there's something a little different about Vega. She's a bit softer around the edges and more relatable; more human. I also really liked Caplans character, the relationship he had with his daughter and the dynamic between him and Vega . I applaud the well written characters overall.
Another thing I enjoyed was how easy it was to get into and read for a few hours without realizing time was going by so quickly. Louisa Luna's writing was great and I was easily picturing each scene in my mind as if it were a movie. This is the kind of book you can breeze through within a day or two, depending on your reading style/habits.

If you are someone who likes a good mystery thriller then give Two Girls Down a read. If you love books like that but twist endings are a must, then this one may fall a little short in that department. There are no crazy surprise twists at the end, although I still wasn't able to guess what happened and who did it before it was revealed.
3.5/5 Really enjoyed this book.

A mothers worst nightmare when her daughters go missing. The drama is real and there are lot of suspects and action. this is not for the faint of heart. the good guys are outnumbered by some really sick bad guys.

4.5 stars
Two Girls Down by Louisa Luna is everything that a good mystery/thriller should be! This fast past story was riveting, character driven, dark and twisty from beginning to end! Alice Vega, as the ceaseless bounty hunter, was an enigmatic character that drew you in and made you anxious to know more.

In a small town in New Jersey, two girls are taken from a shopping mall parking lot. After a few days without progress, the family calls in Alice Vega, a bounty hunter/private detective with a great record for finding people. She enlists the help of "Cap," who was forced into resignation from the police department.

This would be a run-of-the-mill chid abduction/P.I. story if it weren't for the extremely well drawn characters. Vega is one of the most captivating main characters I've come across in ages. In turn, the chemistry that develops between Vega and Cap is electric. It's not romance, it's not over done, it's the tingling hope of what could or might be. The missing girl's mother is perfectly portrayed as a very flawed but still good mother who is completely unraveling before our eyes. Finally, Cap's teenage daughter Nell - thank you Louisa Luna for giving us a bright, well articulated teenage girl who does not make us hate her within the first chapter! I love her and the relationship she has with Cap. Each and every character, from the main to the minute, were brilliantly captured by Luna.

Despite departmental politics and strange leads that appear to go nowhere, Vega has her methods for solving puzzles, most of which fall outside the lines of the law. In the end, however, she gets her bounty! I guarantee you that this is one puzzle you will not want to miss!

Many thanks to Netgalley, Doubleday and Louisa Luna for an advanced copy of the book.

***



This book is ostensibly about two girls who are missing.  It is really more about the two private investigators who are leading the search for them.  The story is interesting with lots of twists.  Be aware that there is a great deal of foul language.  Apparently none of the characters can express him/herself without swearing.

Outstanding! Excellent! Awesome! Strong writing! Those are just a few of the praises being heaped upon Two Girls Down by Louisa Luna. And if there is one thing I love, its a book that I can’t put down, so with those glowing reviews, I know I am going to love this story!

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.

The story being a thriller and a psychological suspense makes me very eager to blow off my responsibilities and start reading right now!

Life is a rush. Always running here and there at a million miles per hour. That's Jamie Brandt's life with two pre-teen daughters.

The three are on their way to a friend's birthday party when Jamie runs in solo to grab a quick gift at the local Kmart and comes out to find an empty car. Where are the girls? First emotion: anger at how they could get out and run off when they knew they were going to be late, second: genuine panic when she realizes they had not left of their own accord.

Now what? Who can help her find her life - her everything - her daughters.

With the help of Alice Vega, bounty hunter and missing persons expert, and retired police officer Max Caplan, will the family be able to find the girls (alive)? Though predictable in parts, there are twists towards the end and the climax was a bit surprising. Well written for a first attempt at a thriller.

Vega and Cap make a great team. Vega reminds me a little of Lisbeth Salander from Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. She is smart gets things done but there is something off about her. She barely sleeps or eats and seems to see things. Her specialty is finding missing children and she is good at it. There seems to be a back story surrounding Vega that I would love to delve into at some point.

Cap was a cop who took the fall for a fellow officer. He has a precocious teenager who seems to admire her father and also helps guide him in his investigations. Cap has a very strained relationship with the local PD and tries to avoid interaction with them.

Every mothers nightmare is to lose her children. When this happens to Jaime Brandt her life falls apart. With the help of her Cap and Vega hopefully she will be reunited with her family. This book is well written, the characters sympathetic and realistic. I really loved how this book built in tension. Starting off a little slow then building to an ending I didn't see coming.

I truly hope this isn't the last we see of Cap and Vega because these two make an entertaining and interesting crime solving duo.

Sisters disappear from a car in the parking lot of a mall while their mother is in a store picking up a birthday gift. So goes the beginning of this suspense thriller. . This story with its main character Alice Vega held my attention almost immediately. Lots of plot twists and turns and good to the very end.

I'd rate this between 4 and 4.5 stars.

I love when a book you stumble upon by an author you're not familiar with turns out to be a terrific read. Such was the case with Louisa Luna's Two Girls Down. It's a well-written, suspenseful whodunnit with some pretty fascinating characters.

A single mother, sometimes Jamie Brandt just needs a break from her two daughters, 10-year-old Kylie and 8-year-old Bailey. They're always wanting something, needing something, and she's just tired. What she wouldn't give for a few minutes of peace.

On the way to a birthday party, Jamie and the girls stop at a strip mall so Jamie can pick up a gift. She's just going to be five minutes, and she knows letting the girls come into the store will only lead to fighting, whining, and chaos, so she leaves them in the car with the ignition running. When she comes out of the store about 10 minutes later, her car is there but the girls are missing.

With the town's police force stretched beyond its means due to budget cuts and a growing drug epidemic, Jamie's family hires Alice Vega, an unorthodox bounty hunter with a good record of finding missing children. The local police don't take too kindly to Alice's involvement in the girls' case despite the fact they can't devote any resources to it, so she decides to turn to Max "Cap" Caplan, a former police detective who resigned from the force in disgrace.

Cap is trying to put his past life behind him, but it isn't rewarding taking pictures of cheating spouses and tracking down bail skips, so as much as he wants to avoid interacting with his former colleagues, there's something about Alice Vega that draws him in.

Alice and Cap make a commanding pair, and they start making progress on trying to find out what happened to the girls, which of course leads to the inevitable run-ins with the police. Little by little they have to determine which leads are false and which have potential, which people pose a threat and which people were merely in the wrong place at the wrong time, and uncover just how deep this crime runs within the town. At the same time, Alice and Cap have to struggle with their own demons, knowing every second they delay or ponder could result in the girls' deaths, if they aren't dead already.

I thought Luna did a great job with this book. Like with so many mysteries, I suspected nearly every character that popped up in the narrative, and I kept hoping she wouldn't disappoint me by taking the easy way out. I thought the resolution of the story was a little more complicated that it needed to be, but it definitely affected me, because as depressing as it was, I know that Luna didn't just invent this scenario out of whole cloth.

There was a good amount of tension and some great action, I thought Cap was a terrific character, and Alice is a bit of a badass! Luna knew how to ratchet up the suspense and toss in some characters you can't figure out if you should root for them or not. I don't know whether she intends this to become a series, but I hope to see more of Alice and Cap. There's so much I'd love to know about their backstories, too.

I really enjoyed this and read most of the book in one day. I'll definitely be looking for the next book in Luna's career!

NetGalley and Doubleday provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

There's nothing that compares to having both of your daughters kidnapped. You only left them alone long enough to buy a present at K-mart. The ice cream place remembers them. But then someone saw them getting in a car with someone she seemed to know... how many stones can remain unturned? The family contacts a private investigator with a phenomenal record in recovering missing kids. She finds a partner. They work with the police, but don't worry about breaking laws when time is of the essence. Will they find the girls before it is too late? Will there be horrifying outcomes? Will they catch the people responsible? Once you start this book you will be riveted.

This book was really good, a little sick & twisted but that's a good thing from where I stand. Very fast paced and thrilling ! I could not put it down. Read it in a day. The characters were awesome. Alice is a bad a$$. And Cap, well Cap is just cool. Loved his daughter. It was a very tangled web to weave and it certainly was not how I saw the story playing out, but man was it good !