Reviews with content warning for Drug abuse - Two Girls Down

Compelling audiobook, and I liked the female lead character. Definitely dark, and ended up feeling kind of like a long law and order story? Parts of that comparison are good and some not.

<Spoiler>I did appreciate that the mom's drug use did not turn into a whole "blame the victim" plot, I thought that was handled well (if not realistically?). Still not sure how I feel about how much race was brought up but not dealt with in this book/town.</Spoiler>

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magicalrealem's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Two Girls Down by Louisa Luna is a fast-paced crime thriller. The description of the book says Alice Vega is a PI bounty hunter who gets hired to find the missing Brandt girls, Kylie and Bailey, after the police aren’t moving fast enough. I thought we would end up having to go through the whole process of Jamie Brandt reporting her missing daughters and the police interviews and procedures, but we thankfully don’t. The first chapter sets up the abduction and our three main characters: Jamie Brandt, Max Caplan (aka Cap; former cop turned PI) and Alice Vega (Bounty Hunter/PI). We move right into the action, and I loved that. Luna’s writing is propulsive as we follow the investigation and learn more about Alice and Cap. The clues in this mystery remind you that every little word and detail count not just in terms of figuring out the final twist but in following the threads to get to the next person and the next clue; although, there is at least one moment some things don’t make sense/add up and I think that is a result of the writing/editing not catching it. Not all the writing was my favorite. I think Luna’s dialogue is better than descriptive writing or internal thoughts. I don’t think the book gives me enough in terms of character and plot. I didn’t love the sexual tension between Cap and Alice; it felt unnecessary to me. I don’t think the plot/mystery wrapped up well enough; it happened too quick and didn’t feel complete; it was like we rushed to it and it is so weighty we don't quite spend enough time with it--if that makes sense. This was the first book in the Alice Vega series, and the second came out this year or last so I am going to read that to see how Vega and Cap develop further. I think you should pick this up if you are a looking for a quick mystery/crime thriller.

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msliz's review

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dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

Really depressing depiction of contemporary USA, very dark in content. Great premise for a thriller but plot and characters pretty farfetched and somewhere along the way it stretched my credulity too far and became a bit ridiculous.

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