Yes, Ladies, there is another Stephanie Plum book out, and this one is better than most.
Stephanie comes back from a Hawaiian vacation with a suspicious mark on her ring finger. And she doesn’t want to talk about it. So who was it? And where is the ring?
In the meanwhile, the problem is that someone slipped a photo into her bag, and then left the plane during a stop over in LAX and got himself killed.
The problem? Stephanie threw away the photo, and now people are trying to kidnap her to tell them where it is, including a Russian thug who won’t take no for an answer.
Ah, but there is good news.
Stephanie’s nemesis Joyce Barnhart is missing. Her jeweler boyfriend is also missing, and the cops think she did the dirty deed, especially when his remains are found in his flattened car in a local New Jersey junk yard.
So where is the last place the Jersey cops will look for Joyce? In Stephanie’s apartment, of course.
There are the usual twists in the plot (grandmom meets a matchmaker from an earlier book who gives Stephanie a love potion, but Lula ends up drinking it and falling in love with one of their clients).
And the real questions lag: Why is a Jersey hairdresser claiming she is the dead man’s finace and needs the photo? Why does the photo look like a photoshopped mix of Tom Cruise and Ashton Kutchner? Why doesn’t Stephanie want to talk to Ranger or Morelli? Does that broken nose and stiches have something to do with it?
Forget logic. Read and enjoy. This one is a bit less “ROTFL” than usual, but a bit more logical than most.
I give it a four out of five for Plum fans (and a 3 out of five for the rest of you).
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Nancy Reyes is a retired physician living in the rural Philippines.
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2 users commented in " Book Review: Explosive Eighteen "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackHalf way through the book, I stopped reading and started skimming. The plot is tedious, poorly executed, and boring. My other big complaint is that the marketing for this book made a big deal out of Stephanie going to Hawaii and an international incident, but the reader only gets a paragraph of explanation. Random House should be ashamed of how they marketed this book.
Lula is once again the filler in this book but Evanovich has sunk to a new low in her treatment of Lula. Evanovich provides more detail to Lula’s wardrobe and numerous meals instead of giving readers a better plot. Lula use to be such an interesting character but now is reduced to a stereotype.
As far as the love triangle goes, Stephanie makes no decision and really only thinks of Ranger and Joe in terms of who is making her their number one priority and who is a better lover. Evanovich turned Stephanie into a self-centered pathetic woman in this book. Its obvious JE no longer loves her characters and is churning out these books only for the money. Based on the poor quality of the last five books I would also say that she no longer loves or cares about her readers either.
Footnote: I didn’t buy this book but read a copy provided by a friend. I advise you to do the same or get it from the library.
I completly Agree with Kat, this book was horrible. Janet has turned Stephanie into a slut and made the triangle trashy. No man would put up with this and niether would deserve it – Janet needs to either take a long break and rethink this or end it because she has lost her original goals and the books are not even funny anymore they are pathetic.
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