Double Down Review

Double Down
By C.J. Axelrod

I love classic detectives like Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot. I enjoy digging into a meaty mystery. I am a reader who would stay up well into the night when I have firmly committed to a complicated tale. Give me an intriguing locked room mystery. Sweep me up into a gritty noir world. I’ll happily dig in.

But sometimes, I’m just not ready to invest that much into a mystery. I want to get a good night’s sleep. I want to be able to put the book behind me when I’m done and not get the creeps when I hear a squeak or other strange noise. I don’t expect every book to be a literary classic, and there are times when I’m not up to the task of committing to anything deep. I just want to kick back and be entertained. 

Hollywood action superstar Alex Cole is targeted by someone who wants him dead. HIs team needs to figure out a way to keep him safe without canceling his extensive appearance schedule. When they see Aaron Peterson’s impressions of Alex on social media, they offer him a lot of money to come to LA and stand in for Alex until the shooter is apprehended. Aaron agrees and stays with Alex as he goes through extensive training to become the perfect stand-in. It starts out smoothly, but something feels…off.  Will Alex survive to film his next blockbuster?

It’s easy to get wrapped up in the story. I started reading and quickly finished the first 10 chapters. The characters are interesting but painted with broad strokes, bordering on stereotypes. The plot is not complicated with few surprises. In most cases, I could see exactly where the story was headed. There was one twist that surprised me, and I was kicking myself for not putting together the clues and figuring it out for myself. 

The mystery was resolved well, but I was disappointed with the book’s final scene. It felt like an afterthought and was out of character.

Double Down is not an epic detective novel. It’s not a book that would keep you up at night. And that’s OK. Double Down is a light who-done-it that provides pop culture fans with a fun escape.

Thanks to Blackthorn Book Tours for providing a copy of the book.