Bingo: Elephant (the elephant in the room being the white supremacist group that the townsfolk and police department of Ilona, OR, are desperately pretending aren’t there)
This is the third Alice Vega mystery, and while it’s probably my least favorite so far, it’s still pretty good. Alice Vega and her sometimes partner, Max “Cap” Caplan, set out to solve the mystery of what happened to a college football player who disappeared mid-game–by running out of the stadium while still carrying the ball. The search leads Vega to the small town of Ilona, OR, which she quickly learns is basically controlled by white supremacists. Things very soon go sideways as Vega, as always, plunges into dangerous situations with seemingly no fear and not much of a plan.
My favorite thing about the Alice Vega series is definitely the characters of Vega and Cap, both of whom are entertaining and likable in their own ways. Hideout suffered a bit because it kept the two of them separate for almost the entire book, and one of the best parts has always been their interactions. Still, the mystery was interesting, and Vega is fun to read about because she’s so unpredictable.
I did have to skip over a couple parts where there was just too much graphic violence, but this one is less violent than the previous book in the series, which I did appreciate. There were some interesting parts with Vega’s dad–interesting because so far these books have given almost no details about Vega’s private life–and rather too much of Cap’s daughter, who’s far too pleasant and mature to be a believable senior in high school.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and continue to like this series. I’ll definitely read book 4, if there is a book 4.
