One For The Money by Janet Evanovich
Nov. 13th, 2014 09:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
One fine mess.
Welcome to Trenton, New Jersey, home to wiseguys, average Joes, and Stephanie Plum, who sports a big attitude and even bigger money problems (since losing her job as a lingerie buyer for a department store). Stephanie needs cash – fast – but times are tough, and soon she’s forced to turn to the last resort of the truly desperate: family …
One false move.
Stephanie lands a gig at her sleazy cousin Vinnie’s bail bonding company. She’s got no experience. But that doesn’t matter. Neither does the fact that the bail jumper in question is local vice cop Joe Morelli. From the time he first looked up her dress to the time he first got into her pants, to the time Steph hit him with her father’s Buick, M-o-r-e-l-l-I spelled t-r-o-u-b-l-e. And now the hot guy is in hot water – wanted for murder …
One for the money.
Abject poverty is a great motivator for learning new skills, but being trained in the school of hard knocks by people like psycho prizefighter Benito Ramirez isn’t. Still, if Stephanie can nab Morelli in a week, she’ll make a cool ten grand. All she has to do is become an expert bounty hunter overnight – and keep herself from getting killed before she gets her man …
When Stephanie Plum loses her job as a department store lingerie buyer, she needs to make money fast. But jobs aren’t easy to come by in Trenton, New Jersey. Help comes in the reluctant form of her cousin Vinnie, a notorious sexual deviant, who happens to run a bail bonding company. Thanks to some handy blackmail, Stephanie persuades Vinnie to overlook her lack of experience and give her a week to hunt down bail jumper, Joe Morelli. Morelli’s a Trenton vice cop charged with murder. He also happens to be the man who took Stephanie’s virginity and who she’s had a fraught relationship with ever since.
Motivated by the ten grand she’ll earn for bringing Morelli in, Stephanie nevertheless struggles to adjust to her new career. Help comes from Ranger (a bounty hunter with incredible skills) but she soon realises that she’s in a heap of trouble and might just get herself killed before she can get her man …
Janet Evanovich’s debut Stephanie Plum novel sets the tone for this long-running crime series. Light-hearted and conversational in tone, it’s got some laugh-out-loud moments (particularly the Plum family dinners and Grandma Mazur, who is a scream) and a decent mystery revolving around the Morelli. Personally, I could have done without the romance element between Morelli and Stephanie, particularly as I found it pretty sexist and I’m bored with romances that are dependent on the female character making a fool out of herself or being constantly outwitted by the man. I also found Stephanie to be a little irritating at times because for all her mouthy sass, she makes some incredibly obvious mistakes and doesn’t seem to learn from them (particularly about where to keep her gun). Plot-wise, it rattles along at a decent pace but the main antagonist is incredible cliché and the ending a bit of a let-down. That said, there is a lot here that I enjoyed and I can see why it’s sparked such a successful series – it’s a decent debut and I will definitely be reading on.
What makes the book for me is Stephanie’s family, who veer towards cliché and yet are depicted with such a light touch that the dinnertime conversations are a real delight and Grandma Mazur’s antics are utterly hilarious and completely made the book for me. I look forward to seeing more of the Plums in the future books.
The Verdict:
Janet Evanovich’s debut Stephanie Plum novel sets the tone for this long-running crime series. Light-hearted and conversational in tone, it’s got some laugh-out-loud moments (particularly the Plum family dinners and Grandma Mazur, who is a scream) and a decent mystery revolving around the Morelli. Personally, I could have done without the romance element between Morelli and Stephanie, particularly as I found it pretty sexist and I’m bored with romances that are dependent on the female character making a fool out of herself or being constantly outwitted by the man. I also found Stephanie to be a little irritating at times because for all her mouthy sass, she makes some incredibly obvious mistakes and doesn’t seem to learn from them (particularly about where to keep her gun). Plot-wise, it rattles along at a decent pace but the main antagonist is incredible cliché and the ending a bit of a let-down. That said, there is a lot here that I enjoyed and I can see why it’s sparked such a successful series – it’s a decent debut and I will definitely be reading on.
Welcome to Trenton, New Jersey, home to wiseguys, average Joes, and Stephanie Plum, who sports a big attitude and even bigger money problems (since losing her job as a lingerie buyer for a department store). Stephanie needs cash – fast – but times are tough, and soon she’s forced to turn to the last resort of the truly desperate: family …
Stephanie lands a gig at her sleazy cousin Vinnie’s bail bonding company. She’s got no experience. But that doesn’t matter. Neither does the fact that the bail jumper in question is local vice cop Joe Morelli. From the time he first looked up her dress to the time he first got into her pants, to the time Steph hit him with her father’s Buick, M-o-r-e-l-l-I spelled t-r-o-u-b-l-e. And now the hot guy is in hot water – wanted for murder …
Abject poverty is a great motivator for learning new skills, but being trained in the school of hard knocks by people like psycho prizefighter Benito Ramirez isn’t. Still, if Stephanie can nab Morelli in a week, she’ll make a cool ten grand. All she has to do is become an expert bounty hunter overnight – and keep herself from getting killed before she gets her man …
When Stephanie Plum loses her job as a department store lingerie buyer, she needs to make money fast. But jobs aren’t easy to come by in Trenton, New Jersey. Help comes in the reluctant form of her cousin Vinnie, a notorious sexual deviant, who happens to run a bail bonding company. Thanks to some handy blackmail, Stephanie persuades Vinnie to overlook her lack of experience and give her a week to hunt down bail jumper, Joe Morelli. Morelli’s a Trenton vice cop charged with murder. He also happens to be the man who took Stephanie’s virginity and who she’s had a fraught relationship with ever since.
Motivated by the ten grand she’ll earn for bringing Morelli in, Stephanie nevertheless struggles to adjust to her new career. Help comes from Ranger (a bounty hunter with incredible skills) but she soon realises that she’s in a heap of trouble and might just get herself killed before she can get her man …
Janet Evanovich’s debut Stephanie Plum novel sets the tone for this long-running crime series. Light-hearted and conversational in tone, it’s got some laugh-out-loud moments (particularly the Plum family dinners and Grandma Mazur, who is a scream) and a decent mystery revolving around the Morelli. Personally, I could have done without the romance element between Morelli and Stephanie, particularly as I found it pretty sexist and I’m bored with romances that are dependent on the female character making a fool out of herself or being constantly outwitted by the man. I also found Stephanie to be a little irritating at times because for all her mouthy sass, she makes some incredibly obvious mistakes and doesn’t seem to learn from them (particularly about where to keep her gun). Plot-wise, it rattles along at a decent pace but the main antagonist is incredible cliché and the ending a bit of a let-down. That said, there is a lot here that I enjoyed and I can see why it’s sparked such a successful series – it’s a decent debut and I will definitely be reading on.
What makes the book for me is Stephanie’s family, who veer towards cliché and yet are depicted with such a light touch that the dinnertime conversations are a real delight and Grandma Mazur’s antics are utterly hilarious and completely made the book for me. I look forward to seeing more of the Plums in the future books.
The Verdict:
Janet Evanovich’s debut Stephanie Plum novel sets the tone for this long-running crime series. Light-hearted and conversational in tone, it’s got some laugh-out-loud moments (particularly the Plum family dinners and Grandma Mazur, who is a scream) and a decent mystery revolving around the Morelli. Personally, I could have done without the romance element between Morelli and Stephanie, particularly as I found it pretty sexist and I’m bored with romances that are dependent on the female character making a fool out of herself or being constantly outwitted by the man. I also found Stephanie to be a little irritating at times because for all her mouthy sass, she makes some incredibly obvious mistakes and doesn’t seem to learn from them (particularly about where to keep her gun). Plot-wise, it rattles along at a decent pace but the main antagonist is incredible cliché and the ending a bit of a let-down. That said, there is a lot here that I enjoyed and I can see why it’s sparked such a successful series – it’s a decent debut and I will definitely be reading on.
