Two Girls Down by Louisa Luna

When two young sisters, Kylie and Bailey Brandt, disappear from a strip mall parking lot in a small Pennsylvania town, their devastated family hires an enigmatic bounty hunter from California, Alice Vega, to do what the authorities cannot. Immediately shut out by a local police department already stretched thin by budget cuts and the growing OxyContin and meth epidemics, Vega enlists the help of a disgraced former cop, Max Caplan, to cut through the local politics.

With little to go on, Vega and Cap will go to extraordinary lengths to untangle a complex web of lies, false leads, and dangerous relationships to locate both girls before time runs out and the girls are gone forever.

I don't know how I got my hands on the second book of this series. I did not know it was part of a series, but after I read a bit, something kept nagging me to look it up, and sure enough, there it was. It didn't take long for me to get the first book as well and start reading. I was very curious about Vega and Cap's background.

I enjoyed the book very much, I instantly liked Alice Vega, she's a very determined, no bullshit type of person, and she really gets shit done. She's also very good at her job. I can't remember in detail other books in the genre that I read, but I think this is the one book where lucky coincidences just don't happen. There's not even a trace of luck, the plot is very well constructed, all of the characters are capable and there's no unnecessary pettiness or unnecessary drama.

Unfortunately my reading circumstances were all over the place with this book and I might not have given it the attention it deserved. I didn't spend a lot of time thinking about who the culprit was, although I did have a few ideas. I also didn't focus on the mystery plot as much as I did on Vega. She was really great, I liked everything about her, and I want to know more about her. I am also very curious about how things will develop between her and Cap.

Because I started reading the second book first, I know (along with everyone who read the synopsis) that Vega (I keep wanting to write Alice, but I liked so much how everyone apart from Nell called her Vega) and Cap will work yet another case together. I liked their relationship so much. They didn't click instantly, they also didn't dislike each other instantly. They learned how to work together, they had their differences, they talked about issues. In a few words, their relationship developed very naturally. And I loved that.

Since I mentioned Nell, I must say she was great. I can't say I read a lot of teenagers in books, but Nell was one of a kind teenager, and she has such a great relationship with her dad.

When it comes to detective books, this one's definitely in my top three.