Motor Mouth

The laughs are nonstop in Evanovich's second NASCAR-based caper. Team engineer Alexandra Barnaby and celebrity driver Hooker become entangled with sleazy characters who will stop at nothing to find a valuable computer chip. And when Hooker's Saint Bernard, Beans, bites into a corpse, the pair find themselves wanted for multiple counts of murder. Meanwhile, Hooker's infidelity has ended their relationship, but the sexual tension sizzles. C.J. Critt's narration is a masterpiece of comic timing. Her voices capture each character's delicious quirkiness. Her accents are funny without being condescending. The dialogue is so crisp and the transitions so smooth that it's easy to forget there's just one person behind it all. Even Bean's "woof" has personality. E.S. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

October 1, 2006
At the start of this cool comedy thriller from bestseller Evanovich, her second novel to star Alexandra "Barney" Barnaby (after 2004's Metro Girl), Barney and her unfaithful NASCAR racing honey, Sam Hooker, find themselves in trouble after discovering the shrink-wrapped body of ruthless businessman Oscar Huevo in a rival racer's car hauler. The pair must pull together to protect a high-tech gizmo that can revolutionize racing-and save their lives. Evanovich burns some rubber and only hits the brakes a few times, thanks to her bright dialogue, race-track savvy and expert depiction of romantic mayhem. Though sometimes it seems as if she's still taking a test drive with this new cast of eccentrics, the pages fly by as the racy tension between Hooker and Barney adds heat to the fun. Action on the menu includes destruction of valuable race cars, a dognapping and a kidnapping. While Barney isn't likely to beat Stephanie Plum in a popularity contest, she's still a hoot.