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Book Review – Two Girls Down, by Louise Luna

Two Girls DownTwo Girls Down by Louisa Luna
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Louise Luna’s Two Girls Down is an excellent, thrilling P.I. novel. Both protagonists, Cap and Vega, are well-drawn, complex characters. Cap, a disgraced former cop, is likeable and serves as the voice of reason for Vega, an ex-bounty hunter who now specializes in finding missing persons, mostly kids. Vega is has her demons, but Cap may just be the one to exorcise them in time. The plot begins as mundane but horrifying–two sisters, eight and ten disappear from a strip mall in a small Pennsylvania city. Vega, the specialist, is called in by the family who don’t trust local law enforcement, and she recruits Cap for his local knowledge. The action is believable for the most part, although Vega’s nebulous hacker, who provides the team with key info just as needed, every time, is a bit of stretch, as is the willingness of the local cops to accept Cap and Vega as partners in the investigation. The twist at the end also strains credulity a bit, but the writing is so damn good that I’m willing to let it slide. I see that Cap and Vega are going to return for a second outing in 2020, and I’ll definitely be buying that book as well.

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Book Review – The Fisherman, by John Langan

The FishermanThe Fisherman by John Langan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I wanted to like the Fisherman more than I ultimately did. I enjoyed Langan’s conversational style, which added the intimacy that a successful horror story must have. I enjoyed his imagery, and how he related those images to his characters’ personalities. I found the imagery very Lovecraftian, because it dealt with issues much greater than individual human lives, and tended to illustrate how universally insignificant a human life is. Langan’s principal topics, death, grief and the hereafter, were the perfect ingredients to evoke terror.
Then why didn’t I rate The Fisherman at five stars? Because it was too long, and it was fractured. The bulk of the story was historical, and did not directly involve the protagonist. It was a good story, a great story,but it was in fact, a prologue, and it took up more of the book than the protagonist’s story did. So when we finally got to that, it felt anti-climactic.
That said, I still think the book is worth reading, and I recommend it.

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THE GREAT STRIPPER! AUDIOBOOK BLOG TOUR

To kick off the Stripper! Audiobook in a professional manner, I’ve organized a blog tour during the months of November and December. I’ll have different guest posts on each blog, so be sure to check them all out. I’ll edit this post to add more dates as I get them, so be sure to revisit it periodically.

10/29/19
Mysteristas
https://mysteristas.wordpress.com/

11/1/19
Mystery Writing is Murder
https://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com/
 
11/2/19
Type M for Murder
http://typem4murder.blogspot.com/
 
11/3/19
Auntie M Writes
https://auntiemwrites.com/
 
11/4/19
Your Tax Matters Partner
https://yourtaxmatterspartner.com/#

11/6/19
Maggie King’s Blog
http://maggieking.com/blog/
 
11/11/19
Judy Penz Sheluk Blog
http://www.judypenzsheluk.com/blog/
 
11/14/19
Heather Weidner’s Blog
http://www.heatherweidner.com/
 
12/4/19
Chicks on the Case
https://chicksonthecase.com/
 
Date TBD Dec-19
Do You Write Under Your Own Name
http://doyouwriteunderyourownname.blogspot.com/
 
Date TBD
Vox Lit
http://www.voxlit.co.uk/
 
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Book Review – A Test of Wills, by Charles Todd

A Test of Wills (Inspector Ian Rutledge, #1)A Test of Wills by Charles Todd
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A Test of Wills is as fine an English country mystery as I’ve ever read. Inspector Ian Rutledge is an enigmatic protagonist, broken by horrible experiences in the Great War, voices speaking in his head, now returned to Scotland Yard to pick up the scattered threads of a life he once had. An envious superior has Rutledge assigned to a case that is a political minefield, hoping it will bring him down once and for all. But of course, Rutledge proves equal to the challenge.

The best part pf the book is the author’s meticulous characterization of the village of Streetham and it’s inhabitants. Everyone has a secret and all of them are revealed over the course of the story. The identity of the culprit is clear, but if Rutledge arrests him, he dooms himself. The author neatly resolves the conundrum his hero faces.

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