Top Secret Twenty-One by Janet Evanovich

Reviewed by Kristin

I really didn’t want to review another Janet Evanovich book.  I might have been a little embarrassed that I keep reading them, even as I feel that they are getting even more repetitive than the dozens that have gone before.  But I placed the book on hold, took it home, read it over the course of a few days, and actually laughed at the latest Plum exploits.  Maybe I should I say that I laughed at the latest Grandma Mazur exploits, because she was at the center of my favorite crazy humor scene in the book.  Let’s just say that she has a bucket list.  And Ranger is on the list.

In Top Secret Twenty-One, Stephanie Plum is once again on the trail of an FTA (failure to appear): Jimmy Poletti, used-car dealer and dealer of more unlawful things as well.  Ranger enlists Stephanie’s help in catching a professional assassin at a Russian vodka trade show.  Whenever Ranger asks for Stephanie’s professional help, I wonder what in the world she can do that he cannot.  Then again, amidst Russian vodka salesmen, I guess that Stephanie’s feminine attributes are the one thing Ranger does not have.

Grandma Mazur and Joe’s Grandma Bella are at each other’s throats as well.  Name calling and pie throwing are fair game in this battle of the senior citizens.  Lula is riding shotgun and even dating an FTA so that Stephanie can apprehend him at the end of the evening.  Randy Briggs, unlikable short person, is back and needs Stephanie’s protection and apartment.  Even as he is an unwelcome houseguest, Stephanie manages to wrangle Randy into dog-sitting as she takes in a homeless FTA who is extremely attached to his ten unruly Chihuahuas.

The book is similar to the previous twenty in the series, but for some reason I found this one to be slightly better plotted.  Yes, cars explode, apartments are damaged and the Buick remains pristine as always.  When I start wondering about the lack of character development progression, it seems that Stephanie should have matured a little bit by now (or at least made a choice between Morelli and Ranger.)  But then again, each book may only be a month or two apart, so it’s entirely possible that the entire series encompasses only a couple of years.  After all, Rex the hamster has lived through all twenty-one books and multiple apartment bombings.  I guess I’ll hang in there and see how many more laugh out loud moments are in number Twenty-Two.

Takedown Twenty by Janet Evanovich

Reviewed by Kristin

I remember the good old days, when Stephanie Plum made me laugh out loud at least every few pages.  Sadly, those days are over.  Janet Evanovich’s latest books in the Plum series feel like there are large portions copied and pasted from previous books.  Stephanie is still frustrated by her ineptitude as a bounty hunter, still thinking about marrying Joe, still getting the evil eye from Joe’s Grandma Bella, still thinking about hopping back into bed with Ranger, still going to Cluck-in-a-Bucket with Lula, and still destroying at least one vehicle per book.

But hope springs eternal, as is shown by the fact that I (and many others) keep reading this series.

In this twentieth installment, Stephanie starts out searching for fugitive mobster Salvatore “Uncle Sunny” Sunucchi.  Unfortunately for Stephanie, Uncle Sunny has close ties to the Morelli family.  He is Joe’s godfather and a favorite nephew of Grandma Bella.  Dapper Uncle Sunny has quite a few loyal friends and family who keep him hidden as Stephanie and Lula stumble around trying to apprehend him.

Ranger also asks for Stephanie’s help this time around, as he is investigating the death of Melvina Gillian, a Burg senior citizen who was found in a dumpster.  Stephanie digs into the happenings at the senior center, online bingo sites, and the local funeral home in order to find out who might be killing a string of old ladies.

Zaniness rules in the Plum series, with a giraffe running around, first appearing on page two.  Right along with the giraffe sighting, Lula decides that she must have a genuine Brahmin purse being sold for ten dollars on the side of the road.  Back at the bail bonds office, Connie very helpfully points out that it is a Brakmin bag, but Lula is not bothered by the misspelling.  After one too many failed captures, Lula and Stephanie both consider a change of profession, Lula musing about going back to her old street corner, and Stephanie working a very short and nauseated shift in the butcher shop.

Stephanie continues the see-sawing back and forth between Ranger and Joe.  Unfortunately, in this volume, we don’t see a lot of action or even much depth of character from the men.  Joe says “Cupcake.” Ranger says “Babe.” And that’s about it.

Amazingly, Stephanie doesn’t destroy a vehicle until the twenty-second chapter.  I was starting to think Stephanie would get all the way through with all vehicles intact.  (I should have known better.)

If you are a die-hard Plum fan, then you will probably enjoy this latest outing.  I think the closest I came to a laugh out loud moment was when Grandma Mazur started talking about her new lavender thong and the effect on her new boyfriend.  Yes, sophomoric humor at best, but sometimes that’s all we need: a light, fluffy and predictable read.

Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich

Reviewed by Doris

Janet Evanovich has built up a huge fan base for her Stephanie Plum series. The incompetent lingerie buyer turned bounty hunter and her menagerie of friends are taking off on another adventure called Notorious Nineteen.  Currently Notorious Nineteen sits at #3 on the NYT Best Sellers list as proof that her fans are still buying this series even though it is a burned out mess. Unless you are a devoted fan of Evanovich’s characters, don’t bother to read this redo of everything Evanovich has been doing through the first eighteen books. (I have noticed a definite slip in the requests we get for the Plum books, but perhaps that’s just my own growing disdain for them shading my view. I like to think our patrons are much more discerning than the average reader!)

What do I mean when I say “re-do?”  Stephanie loses at least one car to a bomb or fire or in this case an RPG in every book. In Notorious Nineteen that happens about six pages into the book. No one is shocked or even mildly surprised. Of course, then Ranger loses one of his beautiful black Porsches and Morelli loses his truck to bombs or fires.  Stephanie ends up driving around in her deceased uncle’s big blue retro Buick just as she does in every book.

Stephanie regularly turns up at her parents’ home for dinner. Her mother is now drinking full glasses of “iced tea” which is really liquor, and her father is still a jerk. Grandma Mazur is still crazy and still trying to be Stephanie running around solving crimes and sleeping with hot men but she is no longer funny.  And speaking of hot men, there is still the back and forth between Ranger and Morelli although Stephanie thinks she might love Morelli and he is her future. Of course that doesn’t keep her from melting every time Ranger looks at her. Typically, Morelli wants her to give up the bounty hunting and danger and be the little wife, while Ranger lets Stephanie be herself with an occasional “Babe” thrown in when she does something really stupid.

Lula, Stephanie’s sidekick, is still eating tons of greasy food and wearing spandex four sizes too small. She still carries a gun she cannot use. She does have what may be the only adventure with some humor—it involves a nudist beach she and Stephanie must visit so they can interview a witness. Meanwhile, she and Stephanie still have some cretin of a criminal either expose himself or manage to totally outsmart them several times.

Is there anything in this book that makes it readable? Well, this one has a little mystery plot unlike most of the others. Two men with large bonds posted by Stephanie’s employer have disappeared after being admitted to the hospital with appendicitis. No one saw them leave. No one has any idea how they got out without staff or cameras recording it. One of the guys who embezzled five million dollars from senior citizens has a wife who is looking for the stolen money.  The other missing man was tied to organized crime and maybe there was a hit out on him. In desperate need of money as usual, Stephanie tries to find the two skippers. I thought Evanovich laid down a very clear track as to what happened to the missing men, and I had figured it out by the end of the third chapter.  What I thought was highly obvious just went over the heads of Stephanie and even Morelli who is supposed to be the hotshot detective.

When I finished reading Notorious Nineteen I sent an email to Evanovich saying much of what I have written here. This is the response I received from one of her assistants.

          “Ken here, Alex's assistant. I'm helping with the email.
But what about the hundreds of thousands who still buy and enjoy the books? We get dozens of           letters every day from people who tell us they love the series and the latest book. In addition, new readers are writing to us all the time who tell us how thrilled they are to have recently discovered the series. Also, the social media is humming with comments from satisfied readers. It seems to me that they'd be pretty disappointed if Janet abruptly ended the series.”

I guess I won’t be winning the Fan of the Month award from Evanovich! I don’t want Evanovich to just quit writing the series. I would like to see some growth in the characters (and the writer) that makes them something more than a waste of ink and paper. I would like to see her develop a real plot other than moving from fire to fire and bad choices. If she is going to keep writing the series then she needs to bring something more to the books than slapstick.  If she cannot do that, then, yes, end the series. Let Stephanie grow up!