Waiting on Wednesday: Takedown Twenty by Janet Evanovich

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week Chrissie has a "can't-wait-to-read" selection for you:

Takedown Twenty by Janet Evanovich (Stephanie Plum #20)

New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum knows better than to mess with family. But when powerful mobster Salvatore “Uncle Sunny” Sunucchi goes on the lam in Trenton, it’s up to Stephanie to find him. Uncle Sunny is charged with murder for running over a guy (twice), and nobody wants to turn him in—not his poker buddies, not his bimbo girlfriend, not his two right-hand men, Shorty and Moe. Even Trenton’s hottest cop, Joe Morelli, has skin in the game, because—just Stephanie’s luck—the godfather is his actual godfather. And while Morelli understands that the law is the law, his old-world grandmother, Bella, is doing everything she can to throw Stephanie off the trail.

It’s not just Uncle Sunny giving Stephanie the run-around. Security specialist Ranger needs her help to solve the bizarre death of a top client’s mother, a woman who happened to play bingo with Stephanie’s Grandma Mazur. Before Stephanie knows it, she’s working side by side with Ranger and Grandma at the senior center, trying to catch a killer on the loose—and the bingo balls are not rolling in their favor. 

With bullet holes in her car, henchmen on her tail, and a giraffe named Kevin running wild in the streets of Trenton, Stephanie will have to up her game for the ultimate takedown.

Review: Four to Score/High Five/Hot Six by Janet Evanovich (Stephanie Plum #4,5 &6)

Four to Score (My Rating - 3 out of 5: I liked it)
The problem with being a bounty hunter is it's all on-the-job training. And Stephanie Plum is still learning the ways to get yourself killed. Take the case of Maxine Norwicki....
When Maxine failed to turn up for her day in court, Stephanie was given the task of bringing her in. Simple. Except Maxine's boyfriend has now begun receiving mysterious, coded notes from the runaway that hint at buried treasure. In fact the notes are so indecipherable that Stephanie has to call on the help of Sally Sweet, giant drag queen and code-breaker extraordinaire.
And Steph's knight errant, cop Joe Morelli. is also proving useful - although he can't decide what he wants most: Maxine's bounty or Stephanie's body. Meanwhile a friend loses a finger, a mother is scalped, an apartment is firebombed and a store clerk is murdered. And out in the street, the crazy treasure hunt game goes on....

High Five (My Rating - 3 out of 5: I liked it)
Stephanie Plum has a whole lot of trouble on her doorsteps. Her Uncle Fred has disappeared and Grandma Mazur is convinced he's been abducted by aliens. Meanwhile, cousin Vinnie has asked her to bring in the vertically challenged Randy Briggs who's jumped bail. But instead of coming quietly, he has taken up residence in Stephanie's closet. The mysterious man called Bunchy is trailing Stephanie in the hope of tracking down Fred. And Benito Ramirez is back from jail, quoting Scripture and vowing to introduce Stephanie to God - face to face. Thankfully Joe Morelli, the irresistible cop, is still around to give her the odd sleepless night - through now he faces tough competition from the enigmatic Ranger...

Hot Six (My Rating - 3 out of 5: I liked it)
First there's fellow bounty hunter Ranger, currently on the run from a murder rap and requesting Stephanie's help. Trouble is she can't decide if she should turn him in or keep him for herself. Then there's sexy vice cop Joe Morelli - the man her heart says she's in love with (even though her head says otherwise). He's after Ranger too - but for less romantic reasons...
And now there's another male in her life. He's big, he's orange, and he howls when he's left alone. Sexual temptation, homicidal maniacs, car crashes and doughnut addiction are all part of Stephanie Plum's daily routine. But all that pales into insignificance when Grandma Mazur moves in...

My Thoughts - In books 4, 5 and 6 of the Stephanie Plum series, the author has managed to deliver the things that I loved about the first three books in the series - mystery, humour and romance. Although I felt that High Five was missing out on a lot of the humour that I have come to expect from Ms. Evanovich, Four to Score and Hot Six were still completely hilarious and had me in tears of laughter.

Most of this humour comes from the crazy situations that Stephanie manages to find herself in as a Bounty Hunter, but there are also a lot of laugh out loud moments provided by her family. They are all complete nut-cases and I would give pretty much anything to be a fly on the wall in the Plum household. The author's biggest strength is definitely in creating characters who the reader can grow to love, whilst making them completely hilarious at the same time.

As in the first three books there are a huge number of supporting characters which did, at times, confuse me and make me have to read back over pages as I tried to remember who was who. Each time there is always a lot of leads/witnesses/suspects and I think this is done to provide plenty of red herrings to stop the reader from guessing who is behind the crimes. However, I still always managed to guess from quite early on who was responsible.

Stephanie is still in the will they/won't they romantic situation with Joe Morelli, which I absolutely love. I really enjoy reading about the chemistry between these two and trying to work out if they will ever get together properly. But in these books Ranger also comes into play as a possible love interest for Stephanie and we start to find out more about him. At first, I wasn't sure if I liked this turn of events - I liked him as a mysterious character in the background - but the more I found out about him the sexier he became! I am looking forward to reading more about this love triangle in the future.

Summary - More light-hearted fun from the queen of humourous mysteries. The Stephanie Plum books are a great way to pass the time and are a fun escape from reality for the reader.

Other books in the series:
1. One for the Money
2. Two for the Dough
3. Three to get Deadly
4. Four to Score
5. High Five
6. Hot Six
7. Seven Up
8. Hard Eight
9. To the Nines
10. Ten Big Ones
11. Eleven on Top
12. Twelve Sharp
13. Lean Mean Thirteen
14. Fearless Fourteen
15. Finger Lickin' Fifteen
16. Sizzling Sixteen
17. Smokin' Seventeen
18. Explosive Eighteen

Review: One for the Money/Two for the Dough/Three to get Deadly by Janet Evanovich (Stephanie Plum #1,2 & 3)

One for the Money (My Rating - 3/5: I liked it)
Stephanie Plum is down on her luck. She's lost her job, her car's on the brink of repossession, and her apartment is fast becoming furniture-free.

Enter Cousin Vinnie, a low-life who runs a bail-bond company. If Stephanie can bring in vice cop turned outlaw Joe Morelli, she stands to pick up $10,000. But tracking down a cop wanted for murder isn't easy...

And when Benito Ramirez, a prize-fighter with more menace than mentality, wants to be her friend Stephanie soon knows what it's like to be pursued. Unfortunately the best person to protect her just happens to be on the run...

Two for the Dough (My Rating - 4/5: I really liked it)
Kenny Mancuso shot his childhood buddy Moogey Bues and then jumped bail. Now bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is on the case to track Kenny down.

Then someone finished Moogey off, Kenny can't be found, twenty-four coffins are missing, and there's some ex-army heavy artillery roaming the streets. And Joe Morelli - the cop with more than a professional interest in her every move - is tailing Stephanie.

With a healthy disregard for the law, and an unhealthy dependence on marshmallow hot chocolate, Stephanie's a match for anyone - even Morelli. That is, until her eccentric grandmother goes AWOL and little pieces of corpses start to disappear...

Three to get Deadly (My Rating - 4/5: I really liked it)
Stephanie Plum's fast becoming the most unpopular woman in New Jersey. Even her own mother can't love her for taking on the job of tracking down Uncle Mo, everybody's favourite candy store owner. Cursed with a disastrous new hair colour and an increasing sense that it's time to get a new job, the world's favourite bounty hunter sets off on her latest adventure, with a little 'help' for her new sidekick, hooker turned file clerk Lula, who's just itching to get a felon in the back of her racy red firebird ...

My thoughts - The Stephanie Plum books are based on the comic capers of the main character, Stephanie, as she learns how to become a bounty hunter. Two for the Dough and Three to get Deadly are absolutely hilarious and include many laugh-out-loud moments (much to the annoyance of the people around me!). However, One for the Money is nowhere near as funny as the other two books. To me, it felt as if the author takes a little while to hit her stride. This means that I didn't enjoy the first book as much as books two and three, but if you read One for the Money and you aren't impressed then please do continue with the series as they get so much better.

For me, the strongest aspect of Ms. Evanovich's writing is the character development. In this series there is a wide range of very eclectic characters who all come with more than their fair share of idiosyncrasies. My absolute favourites have to be Grandma Mazur, who is slightly crazy but so funny with it, and Lula, who is an ex-prostitute who now works at the bail bond company. These two characters have a tendancy to say the funniest things and I have fallen in love with them! I really can't wait to read more about the people from the 'burg!

The only problem with having a wide range of secondary characters is that the mystery element often becomes bogged down with too many leads/witnesses/suspects and at many times during these three books I had real trouble keeping track of who was who.

As well as humour and mystery, there is also a little bit of romance in this series too (what more could you ask for!). There is a lot of chemistry between Stephanie and Joe Morelli and at times it will leave you feeling a bit hot under the collar! I look forward to reading more about their relationship as the series progresses.

Summary - Although the series gets off to a pretty slow start with One for the Money it is definitely worth continuing with. These books are full of humour, great characters, mystery and romance. If you are looking for a light, fun read to keep you entertained from page one then this is the series for you.

Other books in the series:
1. One for the Money
2. Two for the Dough
3. Three to get Deadly
4. Four to Score
5. High Five
6. Hot Six
7. Seven Up
8. Hard Eight
9. To the Nines
10. Ten Big Ones
11. Eleven on Top
12. Twelve Sharp
13. Lean Mean Thirteen
14. Fearless Fourteen
15. Finger Lickin' Fifteen
16. Sizzling Sixteen
17. Smokin' Seventeen