Rocketgirl's Full Review: Janet Evanovich - Eleven on Top
Janet Evanovich writes a series of novels featuring Stephanie Plum, New Jersey inept bounty hunter. Each of the novels has a number in the title, a take-off on Sue Grafton's letter series. But while Grafton's novels are gritty, suspenseful, and realistic, Evanovich series is just plain fun. That's not to say the plots always feature good mysteries, but you will at least laugh out loud.
In this episode, Stephanie Plum has decided to hang up her bounty hunter hat. It is just too dangerous. She turns over her cases to Lula, her buxom black female friend, who has never done anything more than file papers. Stephanie managers to get hired and fired at several jobs before she ends up working for Ranger, a fellow bounty hunter. So though she's not a bounty hunter, she's still doing investigations on missing persons and may or may not be leading her to be a target of someone's wrath.
Once again, she manages to get her car blown up. And the fast food restaurant where she works for one day, goes up in a blaze of flames, burning up her purse and her cell phone. Her remaining belongings are destroyed inside Joe Morelli's car when his garage is burned down. And the culprit keeps ominous notes in Stephanie's house and her loaner car.
These stories are fun because Stephanie is a walking disaster area. Nothing ever goes right with her and her family. The story will keep you laughing, even if it doesn't keep you intrigued.
Grandma Mazur is a kick too. She is a pistol-toting granny. Her driver's license has been revoked, but that doesn't stop her from driving. Grandma manages to smash into a car while driving Big Blue, an old Chevy behemoth that belonged to Stephanie's uncle. When her cars get blown up she has to resort to Big Blue.
Also returning are Stephanie's two loves, Joe Morelli, sexy copy, and Ranger, sexy bounty hunter. She sometimes lives with Joe when her apartment gets blown up, but never can quite commit because he's just a little too possessive and a little too sexist. On ther hand Ranger is HOT, but very mysterious. It might be dangerous to get involved with him.
Enjoy the characters and their interactions, but there isn't really much of a story here. So I'll rate this book lower because of that. Sure, there's a small mystery going on...who is stalking Stephanie. And where are these four men who all disappeared under mysterious circumstances. But Stephanie's pursuit of a job, her dealing with her neurotic sister, helping Lula apprehend criminals, and walking the dog interfere so much with the plot that not a lot of pages are actually devoted to it. And the ending is kind of stuffed into just a few pages that was not very satisfying.
Not that the book isn't entertaining. Enjoy it, if you need to escape for a little while and be glad that your problems aren't as big as hers.
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