Hideout by Louisa Luna

In this powerful new thriller, Alice Vega and Max Caplan return, uncovering a network of white supremacists in their search for a long-lost counter-culture hero. "Alice Vega is sensational—I want to see lots more of her." —Lee Child, #1 New York Times best-selling author Alice Vega has made a career of finding the missing and vulnerable against a ticking clock, but she's never had a case like that of Zeb Williams, missing for thirty years. It was 1984, and the big Cal-Stanford football game was tied with seconds left on the clock. Zeb Williams grabbed the ball and ran the wrong way, through the marching band, off the field, and out of the stadium. He disappeared into legend, replete with Elvis-like sightings and a cult following. Zeb's cold trail leads Vega to southern Oregon, where she discovers an anxious community living under siege by a local hate group called the Liberty Boys. As Vega starts digging into the past, the mystery around Zeb's disappearance grows deeper, and the reach of the Liberty Boys grows more disturbing. Everyone has something to hide, and no one can cut to the truth like Alice Vega. But this time, her partner Max Caplan has his own problems at home, and the trouble Vega finds might be too much for her to handle. Louisa Luna understands suspense, tension, and character like only the best writers in crime fiction do—and she may well write the best interrogations in the genre. Hideout is pure adrenaline and Luna's most intimate thriller yet, a classic cold case wrapped in a timely confrontation with a terrifyingly real network of white supremacists and homegrown terrorists.

Out of the blue I found myself wondering what is Alice Vega up to, so I looked her up and, to my delight, I found there was a new book out! It's been released for more than a year at this point, which makes me wonder when I read the first two books (it was just about 3mo before the third one was released, I didn't think it was so long ago). But either way, that's just a random thing that has no connection with the content of the book.

Alice Vega reminds me, juuust a tiny bit and only sometimes, of Rosa Diaz (from the TV show Brooklyn 99), which is a great thing as I like them both a lot. There are just a few things that they have in common, the way they deliver some lines or how they are very serios most of the time. This is another thing that has nothing to do with the content of the book.

And then let's get to it. Alice Vega is great and I like her a lot. She is so focused and so sure of herself, she doesn't need advice, she doesn't dwell on things, she's very straightforward and knows exactly what she's capable of. She might have also learned a couple things about herself during the events in his book, which is great!

While the first two books had Vega and Cap working alongside pretty much from the start of the case to the resolve, this time they didn't work it together, not really, and I liked that. I feel like the book broke from its own mould, it didn't follow a carefully laid out path, but it made its own. I think a lot of series fall into the easy comfort of following the same structure over and over again, making it feel like you read the same book, but slightly to the left, so I am very happy this one did not do that.

This time the case was again very interesting, I am sure Louisa Luna brought me exactly where she wanted me to go, to reach the conclusions she wanted me to reach, and I must say it was beautifully done. The case was also different from the other two books which I, again, liked very much.

And going back to Vega and Cap, I did mention in my previous reviews that I am curious about how their relationship will develop, both professionally and romantically, so, again, I was very happy to see some progress. And I look forward to what exciting things are there to arise next. For anyone looking for an exciting detective book with just the right amount of romance, highly recommend the Alice Vega series.