• Two Girls Down

  • A Novel
  • By: Louisa Luna
  • Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
  • Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (1,053 ratings)

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Two Girls Down  By  cover art

Two Girls Down

By: Louisa Luna
Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
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Publisher's summary

"I'm always looking for a good thriller, and this just was perfect."--Nancy Pearl, NPR's Morning Edition

“Opening this book is like arming a bomb--the suspense is relentless and the payoff is spectacular. Lead character Alice Vega is sensational--I want to see lots more of her.”--Lee Child

"Sensational." --Wall Street Journal

"A must-read for fans of strong female protagonists.'--Booklist (starred review)

As addictive, cinematic, and binge-worthy a narrative as The Wire and The Killing, Two Girls Down introduces Louisa Luna as a thriller writer of immense talent and verve.

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.

©2018 Louisa Luna (P)2018 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Sensational...One of the book’s great pleasures is seeing Caplan and Vega’s initially testy entanglement develop into a true partnership. But there are many other aspects in Ms. Luna’s story to savor as well: a host of sharply sketched characters, from spaced-out dopers to distraught parents and grandparents; action sequences startling in their sudden violence; and quick psychological revelations that pierce the heart." --Wall Street Journal

“This one is a beaut, not only suspenseful but with some real embedded truths about how hard it is to be a mother.” --Anna Quindlen, in Parade

"A real nail-biter...The brisk plot combines psychological suspense with solid action, while providing a realistic look at a family under siege, as it builds to a shocking finale."--Publishers Weekly

What listeners say about Two Girls Down

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

I don’t understand the positive reviews

I chose this based upon the positive reviews, what a mistake! It’s poorly written, the relationship between the 2 main characters is forced at best, completely out-of-the-blue at worst & the denouement so unlikely as to be comical. My “sorry, that would NEVER happen” meter was going haywire.

Examples of poor writing (paraphrased since it’s an audiobook) “Vega shoved the muzzle between her eyes so it hurt. She didn’t nuzzle it, there was no nuzzling.” (???$ There’s also a situation in which the main character “makes a fist” to hit beer taps & all the taps start pouring beer onto the floor. Anyone who has worked at a bar or even been to a bar knows you PULL a tap forward to pour beer, not punch or push. Another nugget: “Vega put her arm around her shoulders, but didn’t touch her.” What? Gaffs like those take the reader out of the story, as in “she opened the bag of M&Ms using 2 hands” after which i found myself wondering if it’s possible to do it using just one hand, deciding it’s not & wondering why the author included that detail, in the meantime I lost track of the narration. “Cap pushed his tongue against the top of his mouth & thought...”
What does his tongue have to do with anything? Not to mention the flashbacks which turned out to be spurious and irrelevant. The secondary and tertiary characters were so dramatically underdeveloped I had trouble visualizing the action, since I had no idea what the characters looked like, acted like or basically who they were.

The swearing is so frequent & unnecessary it is gratuitous. Not simply s*** but f-words (including during a sensitive moment speaking to a 10 year old girl) but also sailor-like comments remarks about making a woman c**.
It reminded me of Deb on Dexter, who seemed to swear for the sake of swearing in situations swearing simply would not occur. Was the author trying to sound “hip?” Did she think she was making her female lead sound tough? The author wound up sounding like she’d never listened to an actual conversion between 2 people but learned how to write dialog by watching B-movies.

When I had just about had enough, but was determined to finish out of curiosity, she suddenly started to address the READER?? At the end of the book, she decided to break the 4th wall. Why?? “You know the rest, you have seen it on CNN...” never before that point had she addressed the reader. I had to rewind it a few times to figure out who she was referring to as “you.” Very confusing & ill-advised. The author never chose a point of view. Each character seemed to be written in the first person, but the story was in the 3rd person overall & then, a character spoke to the reader?

The performance? Well, she had bad material to work with, I’ll give her that, but some of her voices, such as one character’s mother, it was like listening to nails on a chalkboard.

If you liked this book, please read better authors, even within this genre, The Kind Worth Killing and other such works are written by authors with better command of the language. This read like an unedited first draft or a self-published book. I do not recommend this, definitely not credit-worthy.


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52 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Once you start, Can't Put Down.

It's been months since I've come across such across-the-board quality and engrossing writing. You find yourself really rooting for the deyectivrs, specifically Vega---if you're a woman you want to BE her.
The first two thirds of the book were 5 stars for sure. I felt the latter part was a bit drawn out in certain areas, and the all around ending wasnt, for me, as others had raved. BUT, that doesn't take away from how wonderful otherwise this was to listen to .... And Tavia Gilbert's ability to pull out so many voices from her arsenal was both shocking and spellbinding.

Do NOT scroll past this one!!!!

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16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Two Girls Down

This was a good book and easy to read . It wasn’t one of the I can’t put down books but I really enjoyed the characters and the twists and turns. I would recommend it to anyone that likes suspense. My only dislike was that it could have done without jumping around quite so much. There were just to many suspects and to much jumping around to be able to keep up with it unless you had time to read it all at once. The narrator was great!

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wow!

I can’t wait for the next book! Did not want to stop listening. Don’t hesitate!

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Shocking Story. Great Characters.

narrarator is incredible!! awesome story will have you hooked as soon as you start! listen now.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

The story, the author, and the narrator were superb!! Like most books, get through the beginning, which is important, then you won’t want to put it down. Highly recommend. Language is a little tough just in a few spots but not overdone.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Storyline gets dark

I’m giving it 2 stars as the first 2/3 of the book was good. I listen to books for enjoyment. The entertainment ended when the storyline took a turn for the worse. I then wished I had never started it, but did listen to the end.

I agree with the reviewers who stated the relationship between the two main characters isn’t chemistry. It should have stayed on a professional path. The language is unnecessary, but of not too much concern for me.

I liked the narration. I thought she did a very nice job on the voices.

I would not recommend this book to most people.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

My head and ears hurt

Story was not great but narrators voice had me squinting my eyes in pain - very hard to listen to.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Okay but....

The narrators voice was tolerable but some of the voices she used were awful!

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

good tale, slow at times

I liked the plot overall. the thoughts in character's heads were too long, at times. nice performance.

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2 people found this helpful