Janet Evanovich is
back with yet another hilarious addition to the terrific Stephanie Plum series! With her
gun as usual in her cookie jar and a new Ford Escape, Plum is out as usual, doing her
‘bounty hunter from hell’ thing in the Burg. This time Stephanie is hot on the
trail of an Indian immigrant, Samuel Singh, who’s jumped one of the
recently-come-into-existence visa bonds. With her cousin Vinnie pretty steamed up about
this, Stephanie begins a most unusual investigation that speedily makes her the target of
a sick and very dangerous game. Much to his dismay, Morelli, with whom Stephanie is
carrying on her on-again, off-again affair, finds that Ranger is helping Stephanie in this
perilous inquiry. Wary and uneasy of the intense physical spark which still exists between
herself and Ranger, Stephanie tries to avoid getting into any personal discussions with
this sexy and lethal Cuban Rambo, while at the same time incorporating his help in this
bizarre case.
Lula, who’s fast evolved from a
being former ho, to Vinnie’s filing clerk, and now Plum’s sidekick, is on a new
all-meat diet. This overweight ebony tigress is there to break windows, have catfights and
consume copious amounts of meat, all while doing her level best to provide back up for
Plum! On the home front, Plum’s sister Valerie is nine months pregnant, unmarried and
eating her parents out of house and home. And then there is Morelli’s much-feared
Grandmother Bella, who pops up repeatedly and scares Stephanie out of her wits by
forecasting her imminent death. When clues point towards Samuel being in the gambling city
of Las Vegas, Plum heads there along with the Glock-trotting Lula and a gambling crazy
Connie resulting in a hilarious airport and airplane experience. Meanwhile, little does
Stephanie know that she’s become the latest prize in a killing game and that
she’s being hunted! Will Morelli and Ranger save this bumbling bond enforcer, or
not?!
Janet Evanovich has slipped into a
comfortable groove writing the spectacularly successful Plum books. The series has a bit
of everything in it – romance, action, adventure, mystery, suspense and tons of
humor, and readers will certainly enjoy with a Plum book in their hand. This book too is
very enjoyable, but it is not as engrossing as the previous books in this series. This is
due to many reasons. The solution to this whodunit mystery becomes obvious very early on
in the book and if you’re waiting for Evanovich to slip in a twist at the very end,
then you’re doomed for disappointment.
Also the series has featured an
ever-sizzling romantic triangle between Plum and the two hot and sexy, but essentially
very different, men in her life, Morelli and Ranger. In this book, Evanovich has done
little to make it exciting, nor has she evolved it further, as a result of which the whole
love triangle situation appears very stale and jaded.
Lula does provide quite a bit of
comic relief in this story, but Grandma Mazur, who entertained us so richly in the
previous books, is not as active in this one, and unfortunately, there are no shenanigans
at Stiva’s. The same can be said for the other members of the Plum household.
Evanovich has also tried to do something different in this book, by making Plum damage
Ranger’s men instead of his cars! This is very funny at times and makes a delightful
change.
Danger is routinely prevalent in
this book and the action is at times violent. Compared to the previous books, the
laugh-out-loud moments in this book are fewer. All these do not deter from the fact that
this book totally entertains its readers. But if you’ve read the previous books, then
the shortcomings of this book become very obvious.
Reviewed By Rashmi Srinivas for The Road to Romance
July 10, 2003 |
