Hideout by Louisa Luna

Published by Doubleday on March 8, 2022

The third Alice Vega novel cements the protagonist as a driven action hero who is unhindered by any internal restraint on her violent tendencies. Vega is interesting in part because she is a borderline sociopath, in part because she is likely somewhere “on the spectrum” (Vega has little use for social interaction), and in part because she recognizes those tendencies and gives some thought to whether they serve her well.

Anton Fohl hires Vega to find Zeb “Wrong Way” Williams, a kicker who played football for Cal. Instead of kicking a winning field goal in a rivalry game, Williams famously pushed the holder out of the way, grabbed the ball, and ran the wrong way, through the wrong end zone and out of the stadium, never to be seen (verifiably) again. That was in 1984. Fohl’s wife Carmen is an heiress who used to date Williams. She was hurt when he disappeared. For reasons of his own, Fohl wants Vega to locate Williams. Finding missing persons is her thing. She’s rather single-minded in her pursuit.

Years earlier, another private detective traced William to a small town in Oregon, where his photograph was taken with some other people. Vega begins her search in the Oregon town. Her key witness is a waitress who knew and had an argument with Williams before he disappeared from the town. Many of the people Vega interviews seem evasive, making it clear that at least one powerful person in the town is keeping a secret.

Vega’s investigation is sidetracked by her encounters with white supremacists who think she should mind her own business and leave their town alone. Using a white supremacy network, they make trouble for Vega’s father and her friend (and occasional lover and business partner) Max Caplan. The trouble impairs her relationship with Caplan, an event that deeply disturbs Caplan while causing Vega to make a decision she regrets.

For a chunk of the novel, the white supremacy subplot overshadows the missing person story. The aftermath of the trouble that the supremacists make with Caplan and Vega’s father highlight Vega’s difficulty expressing herself to the people she loves (or relating to them on any emotional level). She expresses herself more eloquently by breaking kneecaps and doing other nasty things to the white supremacists.

After Vega clears away obstacles, she gets the search back on track, figures out the town’s hidden secrets, and finds an answer to the mystery she was asked to solve. The plot’s resolution is both surprising and satisfying.

Like the earlier Vega novels, Hideout moves at a good pace, balancing credible action scenes with relentless detection. Vega doesn’t have time for small talk or rest breaks. Those personality quirks keep the plot in constant motion. Readers won’t have warm and fuzzy feelings about Vega, but it is easy to sympathize with her as she struggles to move forward without pushing away the people she cares about. Readers might have warm (if not fuzzy) feelings for Caplan, simply because he’s a decent man who loves his daughter and is tormented by his love for Vega. Characterization combines with a smart action/detective plot to make Hideout a good choice for crime novel fans who enjoy reading about tough, intelligent female protagonists.

RECOMMENDED

Comments

[Theres McCarty]

An intelligent and insightful review.