It’s a perfect snowy scene outside this evening. Perfect because I have absolutely nowhere to go! And after the crazy weekend I had, that’s just the best news ever.
I really want to be reading right now, so as soon as I publish this review, I’m going to change into some pjs, make a cuppa and snuggle up under a blanket with a good book. I’m currently reading The Dry by Jane Harper. Which, I somehow missed. Apparently EVERYBODY has been reading this book and talking about it and I just now heard about it.
I was actually telling someone about my little book blog and she said, “Oh, so you read books like The Dry?” And I was like, “What?” And she said, “The Dry, everyone has been saying how good it is.” And well, I felt a little stupid. But at least I’m reading it now.
Better late than never! But that’s a review for another time, like tomorrow or hopefully by Friday at the latest. For now, Two Girls Down.
From the Publisher:
When two young sisters disappear from a strip mall parking lot in a small Pennsylvania town, their devastated mother hires an enigmatic bounty hunter, Alice Vega, to help find the girls. Immediately shut out by a local police department already stretched thin by budget cuts and the growing OxyContin and meth epidemic, Vega enlists the help of a disgraced former cop, Max Caplan. Cap is a man trying to put the scandal of his past behind him and move on, but Vega needs his help to find the girls, and she will not be denied.
With little to go on, Vega and Cap will go to extraordinary lengths to untangle a dangerous web of lies, false leads, and complex relationships to find the girls before time runs out, and they are gone forever.
My Review
I’m always intrigued by books about someone who has gone missing. Maybe because I get all the mystery and suspense of a murder mystery and there is maybe still a chance that no one had to die for me to enjoy a story? Granted, the person dying in a novel is fictional. But I still don’t have to feel like such an asshole enjoying a book at a fictional character’s expense.
But when someone goes missing, there is this sense that they are still out there somewhere. Where? And with who? And will they return?
The book opens on Jamie, a blue collar single mom with two daughters, 10-year-old Kylie and 8-year-old Bailey. And from the beginning of the book the reader can tell that Jamie loves her girls very much, and she tries her hardest, but falls short of being a great mom. I don’t blame Jamie for this, it seems like she is just doing the best she can with the cards she has been dealt.
After all, her girls go missing when she leaves them in the car in the mall parking lot. But that doesn’t necessarily mean she should have to pay the price by losing them forever. But you know when something like this happens in real life, people would tear her apart for leaving her girls in the car like that. Judgement passed without mercy!
Vega, the bounty hunter that is hired to find the girls by the family is hard core. She is a good character, believeable as the type of person who has given up on her own personal happiness and dedicates herself to getting the job done. She teams up with private eye, Max Caplan. They are an unlikely pair, but their dynamic works. And together, they are able to investigate the case much more efficiently than the small town cops who are bumbling the investigation.
The book was promising from the beginning, but personally, I felt that about two thirds of the way through, as the pieces of the mystery started to fall into place, the story got a little confusing. I found myself flipping back to figure out what had just happened or how a character entered the story. The pace just intensified and details got a little lost.
The surprised me, in a good way, and I don’t want to say more than that, but I felt that to get to the end, the book went off on a bit of a tangent. Still, a sold story and a good read.
Sometimes I think I’m slightly jilted by reading so many books in this genre. I guess what I’m saying is that if the description of the book is interesting to you, check it out! You might really like it.
Get your copy:
Women in Trouble Book Blog 
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