Two Girls Down by Louisa Luna is an addictive and cinematic thriller, reminiscent of The Wire and The Killing, showcasing Luna's immense talent and verve. With an enigmatic bounty hunter, Alice Vega, and a disgraced former cop, Max Caplan, at its core, this heart-pounding narrative unravels a dangerous web of lies and complex relationships in a race against time to find two missing sisters before it's too late.

When I came across an advance reader’s copy of The Janes by Louisa Luna in one of my (definitely not towering and teetering) book stacks, I realized that I had not yet read the series opener, Two Girls Down. When I picked it up, I immediately remembered why this book’s description caught my eye: “When two young sisters disappear from a strip mall parking lot in a small Pennsylvania town, their devastated family hires Alice Vega, an enigmatic bounty hunter from California, to do what the authorities cannot … Vega enlists the help of a disgraced former copy, Max Caplan, to cut through the local politics [and] locate the girls before time runs out.” #Wheelhouse! I’m only on Chapter 3 and I’m already loving the unique characters, favorite setting, and high-stakes mystery! And two more books in the Alice Vega series await!

This was a compelling mystery that made my heart race as I felt like time was running out as Alexa Vega, a bounty hunter has recruited the help of a retired cop, Cap. They team up together to help find two missing girls who just disappeared from a mall parking lot and have to do whatever that they can to find these missing sisters.

The book is a book you can’t put down. From page one to the very last page. It has suspense, plot twists, characters you love. You if you are into bounty hunters you found your book

Two girls disappeared and the cops are not finding any leads to whom took them. So, the family contacts Alice Vega to find them. Vega is very good at finding missing people and with the help of a local formal cop are they starting to dig deeper into the people around the two girls.
I loved this book from start to finish and could not put the book down. When the truth is revealed and its really dark and disturbing is what I was looking for. I truly can not believe the things people do but love the disturbed truth of it all.
I am a true fan o the author and will be reading more from her!
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Two Girls Down is a police procedural with a story of heart. Sometimes it’s refreshing to read a thriller told more in the perspective of the police/legal side than the victim.

Great book, love this author and how they can keep my attention to the end! The plot is well developed, characters are believable and they obviously paid attention to detail to make the story worth your time to read.

Two Girls Down is a suspenseful story with Vera and Cap, two rather seasoned detectives, hired to rescue two kidnapped sisters. The excitement climaxes toward the last part of this book making it a worthwhile read.

I hate predictable thrillers but this was not that, even though I expected it to be! A great read; would highly recommend to anyone looking for an out-of-the-box thriller.

Two Girls down is my oldest outstanding NetGalley book, it languished there for years, and now that I read it, I feel blah about it. There are a few reasons it sat there; one, it is not my go-to genre; it falls solidly into the crime/mystery drama; I requested it so long ago I forgot about it. Two girls down centers around two girls who go missing when their single moms leave them in the car to go into the mall for a present for the birthday party they are on their way to. I tend to love shows about kids going missing cause it tugs at my heartstrings, and I tend to be engrossed in the how and why it happened. I should have been fascinated by what happened with this book; I should have been engaged and devoured it to discover what happened to them. Instead, I felt like I was slogging through mud. The mystery part of it did end up with a nice twist at the end that I did not see coming. I think I did not connect with the pi on the case of Alice vega; maybe she was too rough around the edges for me or this weird relationship with her partner, and then some spy called a bastard. I read better mystery/crime novels. This one did not hit all the marks of emotional involvement I tend to like in these books.

I was given a copy of this book by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book. Alice Vega is like a female version of Jack Reacher, tough, loyal, and flawed, but willing to do anything to find the missing people she is hired to find. When a family contacts her to find their two missing girls, she jumps into action, partnering with unlikely PI, Max Caplan, who left the police force in disgrace to save a friend. I can't wait for more of this series.

This was pretty good. It took me a bit to get into, but I did end up enjoying it. I'm eager to check out more by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday for this reader's copy. In exchange, I am providing an honest review.

Two young girls go missing and the family, not trusting the police to find them, calls in Alice Vega. Alice is a PI who gained a name for herself quite by accident but does seem to have a knack for finding missing people the police can't. Vega, who is from California, turns to a local PI for additional help and together the two of them go searching for the two girls. What they uncover isn't simple or straightforward. Hopefully the twists and turns lead them to the girls.

I always appreciate a strong female lead. There needs to be more of them out there so kudos to Luna for creating one. While this is titled an "Alice Vega" series the first book had a heavier focus on Max Caplan, in fact I feel like I know more of his backstory than I do Vega's. Luna seems to be doing a slow rollout of Vega's backstory. The story started out strong and engaging but somewhere along the way I lost interest and it started reading very disorganized. The conclusion was, for me, very anti-climatic. I appreciate Luna's efforts and her creation of a strong female lead but I didn't like the book enough to continue on in the series.

This one is a good, swift ride!
Two kids are missing and the family contacts Alice Vega, the private kind of specialist on missing children, to help. And Vega is the right woman for the job - tough-as-nails, resourceful, driven and a good investigator. She is accompanied by a former cop Cap, a compassionate father of a daughter himself; and they know the ropes very well.
As they are running out of time (the statistics rapidly worsen with the length of being missing), they hit the floor running and start to unravel the web of various motives and suspects.

While I start to be over-fed with fierce female investigators, I need to say for Alice Vega that she is a good deal. There are reasons for her to be tough and she obviously cares.
The case is good and very actual and the motives are realistic. After all, this is the worst nightmare for any parent!
While I found the last parts of the book a bit repetitive and slow, I still have very much enjoyed the character development and the smartly set motivations - and the healthy dose of compassion. It is very easy to lose empathy when going the investigative jobs, I think, as you see too much evil - so I admire how real the humanity seems to be within these characters.

The ending was ludicrous. I understand that in this day and age, writers have to come up with brilliant and shocking twists, but this was just too much. I didn't much care for any of the characters, and it took a long time to read. Perhaps it is the mood I am in, but I found myself distracted a lot while reading.

I can't believe it took me so long to read this book! It was only because the second one in the series came out that I finally got around to this first one. What a gripping read. I tore through it in mere days and stayed up late to finish it.

Two Girls Down by Louisa Luna is a 2018 Doubleday publication.

Taut Suspense- Impossible to put down!

Two young girls go missing from a local mall. However, the small-town police force is overwhelmed and ill equipped to handle the case, so the family hires bounty hunter, Alice Vega to find the missing girls.

From there, Alice hires a local guy, Max Caplan, a former member of law enforcement, who left the force under dubious circumstances.

In a taut race against the clock, Alice and Max forge a partnership, each bringing their own special skills to the investigation. Although the pair are not traditional detectives, the story works a lot like a procedural, but the plot is complex, dark, gritty, murky, fast-paced, and very smart.

Anytime I read a book with the missing child trope, it seems to have a sharper edge to it. But this story has two missing girls, a distraught single mother, and not much to go on, which creates a greater feeling of doom.

Vega and Caplan each had a unique style, and initially they had to make a few adjustments, but their partnership developed nicely. They both had a fierce drive, focus, and determination to bring those two little girls back to their mother.

I found myself immersed in the story, which held my rapt attention from start to finish.

Overall, this is a superb thriller, very well done!

This was an intense but easy read. I got caught up in the whirlwind of the book very quickly and read it in just 2 days. It was very dark and twisted but was still an engaging and quick read.

I could not put this one down! No work got done and very little sleep happened. This book should be made into a movie, or TV show for sure! Vega is so kickass and I loved Cap! I highly recommend this one, but try not to start it until you have plenty of time to read because you won’t want to put it down!

Suspenseful and fast paced. Great female lead. Any book about girls being kidnapped is hard to read, but the number of suspects and leads made for exciting reading. Looking forward to a second.