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Saying Janet Evanovich is in danger of becoming a one-trick pony deserves a PhD in stating the bleeding obvious. But hey, she provides us with a thoroughbred nag with a nifty turn of pace! If you've read any of the Stephanie Plum books before, you'll know what the score is. The US's most incompetent bounty hunter will be sent out with sidekick Lulu to pull in some losers who've jumped bail. The losers will turn out to have some animal cunning. Stephanie and Lulu will spar with each other, get gunge in their hair, be given the run-around, but eventually pull in the losers. Meanwhile, Stephanie will dribble unbecomingly over Joe and Ranger. And Grandma Mazur will cause havoc. And in a nutshell that's pretty much what happens in LEAN MEAN THIRTEEN. But I had a whale of a time reading it. And what's wrong with keeping a winning idea on the go – just so long as it still has legs. There's no doubting that the series sagged a bit midway through, but the last couple of books, this new one included, have been back up to speed. If you want the nuances of the plot, over and above the generalities, all you need to know is that Stephanie ends up doing a favour for Ranger which involves her meeting ex-husband Dickie Orr. It's not an auspicious meeting, so when Dickie goes missing, Stephanie is naturally prime suspect. The plot's secondary to the sheer fun Evanovich is having and the laugh-aloud moments she creates. And let's face it, doing humour is much harder that it appears. And given that humour is such a personal thing, it's all too easy to criticise when it doesn't hit the spot. For instance, I've never taken to Sarah Strohmeyer's series, because I could never get rid of the suspicion that she was laughing at Bubbles, not with her. And while Evanovich is never afraid to have Stephanie slipping on the proverbial banana skin, our star woman has an inner core of toughness that sees her through, often in deceptively scary situations. So we have Stephanie walking into a dark graveyard in the middle of the night with one of Ranger's men cowering outside, and pulling off a dramatic escape from a deserted building when the baddies turn up. If you don't like the series, this book won't change your mind. But if you do, you're guaranteed a highly-entertaining romp with some tension, danger, lurvvvve and laugh-aloud moments to keep you out of mischief for an afternoon.
Reviewed by Sharon Wheeler, July 2007
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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