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Any mother can tell you that a new baby changes everything—to the point where it’s all too easy to get so wrapped up in your baby’s every need that you forget about the world around you. And that’s exactly what happens to a former spy in author Gretchen Archer’s Double Up.
The story catches up with Super Secret Spy turned stay-at-home mom Davis Way as her life is turned upside-down. She’s settled into life with her newborn twin daughters, never venturing outside their home at the Bellissimo Resort and Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi. But then a fabulous new casino called the Blitz opens up nearby, threatening to shut down the Bellissimo and put her husband out of a job. And when her ex-ex-mother-in-law arrives unexpectedly and moves into one of the building’s unoccupied condos, Davis decides that it’s time to get back to work to keep the casino from going under.
This sixth Davis Way caper eventually sends the frazzled mom of two racing through the streets of Biloxi in her battle against the ruthless competition—but that doesn’t happen until the end of the novel. It actually takes quite a while for the real action to begin.
For the first part of the story, Davis spends her time holed up in her apartment, engrossed in her life as a new mom. Of course, having one infant to care for can be all-consuming—and Davis has two babies to worry about. But a new mother locked away in their home with her newborn twins doesn’t really offer the best setup for an action-packed crime caper. Add to that the fact that Davis is also brooding because she blames herself for the rise of the Blitz, and you’ve got a less-than-comical start to a comic caper.
Fortunately, though, things do pick up—thanks especially to Davis’s over-the-top ex-ex-mother-in-law, Bea, who storms into the story and opens up her former daughter-in-law’s carefully contained little world. Bea brings so much color and comedy to the story—and once she gets Davis to leave her apartment and start paying attention to what’s going on around her, the story finally builds into one wild and crazy free-for-all of shrimp, waffles, and stolen masterpieces that will keep readers laughing as they race through the pages.
While it gets off to a surprisingly slow start, Double Up eventually turns into a fun-filled comic caper. Fans of the series (and the characters) will most likely have more patience for the build-up, though, so if you haven’t met Davis Way yet, you’ll probably want to start with some of the earlier books in the series.
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