TWO GIRLS DOWN

4.5 stars out of 5


I've always maintained that declarations of whether or not a book is well written shouldn't be soured by how much you love, relate to, or even like, the main characters - ttttthat's my story and I'm sticking to it. But when you do, it sure sweetens the whole experience - as was, happily, the case here. In fact, perhaps the primary strength of this book is the exceptionally well-developed characters.

The top two are Max Caplan, a private investigator and former cop who left the force under a cloud; he's divorced and has a smart, headstrong daughter named Nell. Complementing "Cap" is Alice Vega, perhaps more of a bounty hunter than private eye. She's single, extremely focused, somewhat psychic and weighs in with a hefty load of emotional baggage of her own. They come together when Alice is hired to find two young sisters who have gone missing in Denville, Pa. (not far from Philadelphia).

Vega,  asks Cap for help with the case, but he turns her down - claiming he's busy chasing a bad guy who's from New Castle, Pa. (which, for the record, isn't far from my own home in northeastern Ohio), but in reality more because he doesn't want to interact with his former cronies on the police force. Not to be deterred (she's intensely focused, remember?), Vega takes off and finds the guy, thus removing Cap's reason for not jumping into her own fray. Apparently, she's very good at what she does; at one point, she tells Cap that she expects to earn $50,000 for finding the missing girls - and she's willing to split it 50-50 with him.

Somewhat reluctantly, Cap recapitulates, making them something of a team (which, depending on the situation or who's thinking about it, can be for better or for worse). Clues ferreted out and followed up by Vega and Cap turn out to be productive enough that the local police and FBI opt to at least consider them serious players in the chase (albeit grudgingly). While there's never any romantic interaction between the two, the potential chemistry is there - if only in Cap's mind. When it comes to investigation, they're not always on an identical wavelength; here, score one for Cap, and there, the edge goes to Vega.

There's plenty of action as well as false leads and twists to make for a hard-to-put-down story with an ending revelation that I didn't predict ahead of time (neither did Cap nor Vega, at least until the last couple of chapters, so I don't feel too bad). When I finished the last page, I said two things to myself: First, this is a really good book; and second, I sure hope I'll see these two characters again. Meantime, a big thank you to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review an advance copy.

Two Girls Down by Louisa Luna (Doubleday, January 2018); 320 pp.