Double Down (Lois Lane #2) By: Gwenda Bond

Plot:

Lois Lane has settled in to her new school. She has friends, for maybe the first time in her life. She has a job that challenges her. And her friendship is growing with SmallvilleGuy, her online maybe-more-than-a-friend. But when her friend Maddy’s twin collapses in a part of town she never should’ve been in, Lois finds herself embroiled in a dangerous mystery that brings her closer to the dirty underbelly of Metropolis.

Review:

This time around I wasn’t thinking about how much I dislike Lois Lane or wondering if I was about to get drowned in teenage angsty drama. Bond already sold me on her world and Lois Lane with Fallout so this time I was just super excited. The fact that it took me so long to read had nothing to do with my anticipation and everything to do with me being pregnant and unable to do pretty much anything but be miserable. The book sat on my shelf for months, since I pre-ordered it, taunting me. I’m finally feeling well enough to read something new and this was the first book I picked up.

I can’t write about a Lois Lane book without mentioning how much I love the cover, even the crisp white paper in the book seems high quality. I love it all.

I’m happy to say that I enjoyed Double Down just as much as Fallout. There was a bit more teen romance this time around, but since I like the characters it didn’t bother me and it was never the sole focus in the story, there was always a lot going on. In fact there might have been too much, I’m actually glad that not everything was completely wrapped up at the end because it would have been too neat.

Lois is still very much an intrepid reporter doing some pretty daring things to get to the truth, though, she never did anything outright stupid. Her main villain this time was a mob boss named ‘Boss’ who I actually don’t even think she ever met. Which is probably a good thing, cause a mob boss with that name is probably not someone you’d want to mess with. Since this is a kids book it never got too dark, though.

The virtual reality from the first book was still used, there were also a few more Sci-Fi elements that I appreciated and a few comic nods. Bond has done a good job making these characters and the world her own without ignoring the source material and I really appreciate that as a fan.

Love this series and I’m excited to see a third book in the works already, but I’m concerned about the long term plan for these. Is it going to be an ongoing series like Nancy Drew that sees new writers come in and the characters never really aging? Is there an end game in mind with a finish for the series? Will there be more books that aren’t comics starring these characters as they get older? That would be pretty awesome, I love comics but to see these characters in full books would be so much fun.

I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.

4.5/5