Plum Spooky

Starred review from March 2, 2009
Klutzy bounty hunter Stephanie Plum teams up with mysterious Diesel and the monkey left on her doorstep to track down a nerdy genius and his sinister business partner in the depths of the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Lorelei King does her usual superlative job for the Evanovich oeuvre, adding juice and dimension to each wacky character. She deftly handles everyone, from bail bond receptionist Connie’s classic New Jersey accent and outrageous sidekick Lula’s brash outbursts to Ranger’s smooth purr (it’s amazing how he, as voiced by King, can make the word “babe” mean so many different things). The structures of Plum novels tend to be similar; it’s the laughs that keep readers coming back. King enhances the humor of this series, so much so that Evanovich fans should consider putting down that book and plugging in the CD player instead. A St. Martin’s Press hardcover (reviewed online).

January 1, 2009
Trenton 's most adorable bounty hunter (Plum Lucky, 2008, etc.) goes up against the most fearsome antagonist in a series not notable for the fear factor.

Nobody would think twice about Martin Munch, a geeky quantum physicist who missed his court date after beating up his supervisor, Eugene Scanlon, if he hadn 't grabbed a magnetometer on the way out of Scanlon 's office. But when the supervisor turns up with his neck broken, presumably by whoever left his handprints burned into Scanlon 's neck, Stephanie Plum wonders what her latest search for one of her bail-bondsman cousin Vinnie 's no-shows may lead to. All indications are that Munch has teamed up with Gerwulf Grimoire, the latest fugitive that Stephanie 's not-quite-lover Diesel is pursuing. Wulf, who boasts a Dragon Claw and a repertory of magic tricks, is meant to be one scary dude, but he comes across as a refugee from a lesser James Bond movie, and the plot that yokes the two cases together —Wulf and Munch 's attempt to control the world 's weather in order to extort zillions from crippled nations —is no more convincing than Stephanie 's repeated escapes from a fate worse than death by kicking her assailant in the same sensitive place.

What remains, as usual, is the nonstop sitcom jokes, which often make the first third of this weirdly plotted adventure very funny. But this time even the humor, which depends on such staples as pet monkeys and fart jokes, is a mite synthetic as well. Maybe Stephanie 's quarry should have stuck to talking about the weather instead of trying to do something about it.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

December 15, 2008
Those who know and love Stephanie, Ranger, Morelli, Lula, Bob the dog, Rex the hamster, and the rest of that wacky crew in Evanovichs Trenton-set series, have also clasped Diesel, who appears only in these between-the-numbers tales, to their collective hearts. Big, blond, dimpled, and paranormal, he flits into Stephs bail-bondswoman life with unnerving irregularity, and he has special powers that extend well beyond bounty hunting. This time Diesel has a cousin named Wulf, pale, black-clad, and dead-eyed, who has hidden a nerdy scientist and a lot of equipment in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. The repartee sparkles and shimmies from razor wit to toilet humor (and back again), and the plot involves mud, food tossing, explosive farts, occasional kissing, and hilarious (and true-to-life, alas) allergic reactions (that would be from Lula). A group of monkeys, and one in particular named Carl, figure mightily in the plot, in one instance actually making the stoic, understated Ranger burst into laughter. Dont miss Morellis brother-in-law, the sly Star Trek and vampire tropes, and the Jersey Devil. Incredible amounts of fun.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)