Twelve Sharp

Binge reading your books and cant stop. At first, I balked at spending time in New Jersey (of all places) with a mediocre girl, and no glamour. Then glamour showed up in your two male protagonists, Morelli and Ranger, who sizzle. The extraordinary unfolded in Stephanie Plum, who is brave, despite herself, accident-prone and honestly kind. And those laugh-out-loud scenes keep coming! I only wish you wrote less about donuts and snacking, because these books make me want to snack, and I dont want to turn into Lula. When will a brilliant producer-director duo team up to put this into action? Problem is, I cant think of any young actors hot enough to play Morelli and Ranger. Morelli could have been played by a young Pacino, Ranger by a young Banderas…alas, that ship has sailed.

If there is one thing you can count on with the Stephanie Plum series, it is that you are going to have a laugh until your stomach hurts, good time.

I adore this series. It has it all, tension filled romance, yummy and hilarious side characters that are every bit as hilarious as they are swoon worthy, action, humor, and most of all, it is just freaking fun and one I turn to time and time again.

While this twelve installment is just as funny, just as good as all the others, it is also a little more serious than what we are use to but in a really good way. The stakes are higher, lives are on the line and this time, those lives, are people we know and love.

I can’t even begin to tell you how wonderful this was and how it gave me exactly what I needed (a reading pick me up) just when I needed it.

Between crazy Grandma M and Lula who I adore (oh my gosh the rock n’ roll band and thongs! Seriously enough said, just read it already!) , and the sexy Ranger and Morelli, this series really does deliver on all counts of fun.

If you haven’t tried this series yet and need a lighter but still mystery filled, action packed, humor ridden, heart pounding good time, try this series. I don’t think you will be disappointed, at. All.

I only just started reading the Plum novels, and not in order, but of the six or so I’ve finished, this is by far the best one. Instead of a cardboard horny gang member with an attitude, Ranger turns out to be a real – and really unusual – person. He’s still got his hard-ass Special Forces persona, but we see way under it. We find out he gave his child up for adoption so she would have a better life than he could give her, that Julie resembles him in important ways, that even he can be overwhelmed by circumstances, and that he loves Stephanie (OK, so he says “emotionally involved”…but in the context of that paragraph, that’s what he means). Yes, he keeps crawling into bed with her, but mostly because he needs someone to hold for comfort. I thought the whole book was genuinely suspenseful, which in turn made the slapstick interludes even funnier.

And wow, is the slapstick funny! Some of the other books try too hard – there’s too much, it’s too silly, and the narrative doesn’t hold together. This one, though, avoids those problems – the humor builds around Sally’s band as the tension builds in the increasingly desperate search for the little girl. The dinner scene with Steph trying to get her Dad out of the house before the band starts rehearsing – particularly Grandma Mazur imitating Mick Jagger – is priceless. (I just love Grandma Mazur, and it was interesting to see her contrasted with Ranger’s Cuban grandmother – presumably the one who raised him through high school).

We get less character development with Joe, but still some: Morelli doesn’t do his usual Maalox routine when Steph decides to meet Scrog – he’s quietly supportive and asks her what she wants him to do. Stephanie’s scenes with little Julie are very warm and sweet, despite the violence around them. I do wish Stephanie had been developed a little more, though – she does comfort Ranger in a couple spots, and finally tells Morelli she loves him, but given what Evanovich managed to do with Ranger’s character, it could be better. The one problem with the book (in fact all of them) is that Stephanie never seems to learn anything – Evanovich develops male characters better than female ones. Can’t be earnest or serious – that would kill the fun – but there ought to be something.

I do disagree with the voices claiming that Steph should just make up her mind between Morelli and Ranger – it is entirely possible to love more than one person at a time, particularly when both of them have wonderful qualities mixed with serious drawbacks. Morelli is dependable, responsible, and family oriented, but he’s usually trying to get Steph to be quieter and more civilized. She’d hate that. Ranger, on the other hand, notices and tries to help develop her talent, but he apparently has some awful secret in his past that makes him unable to promise her anything more than sex. It’s a good setup for a lot more story, and I’ll be disappointed if Evanovich eventually wraps this up with some trite, Hallmark card-style solution. A three-cornered outcome of some sort would be much more interesting, particularly since Ranger and Morelli have become, well, not close friends, but complementary.

Anyway, still not Dorothy Sayers (if you’re not familiar with her Lord Peter Wimsey crime novels, you’re missing out), but hilarious, suspenseful, and worth a repeat reading.

Janet Evanovich achieves the near impossible goal of being a great comedic writer. What Wodehouse did for what he regarded as the mainstay of British societyits aristocracy, Ms. Evanovich does for America: she endears us mightily to its living, beating heart, the working class offspring of it multi racial and multi ethnic population. Bravissimo!

Stephanie seems to be getting better at the bounty hunter thing, but still has enough issues to make her takedowns humorous. She actually kicks in a couple doors. I do kind of wish she would learn how to pick locks though. All the usual folks are here also to add to the fun and a few new ones show up.

Janet Evanovich uses this book to flesh out the Ranger character. He’s not just a batman like personality that simply pops up when he’s needed. I definitely enjoyed that part of the novel.

Poor Stephanie has a problem now. She realizes that she actually loves both Joe and Ranger, she’s not just in lust. Oh, to have such a dilemma.

I still love the series. The books are cute, funny, and light. As long as the books keep coming, I’ll keep reading.

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