Four to Score

Rating:
Summary: Another fun novel from Janet Evanovich
Review: FOUR TO SCORE by Janet Evanovich

Here's the fourth book in the popular Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich, FOUR TO SCORE. In this installment, Stephanie teams up with Lula the ex-hooker (who now works for her uncle Vinnie) and a transvestite musician named Sally Sweet to find her latest criminal-on-the-run. This time it's Maxine Nowicki they are looking for, who was charged for stealing her boyfriend's car. However, there is more to this crime than meet's the eye.

In the meantime, Stephanie and Joe Morelli get closer (she moves in with him temporarily) and her ex-husband's indiscretion -- Joyce Barnhardt -- decides to become a bounty hunter too, to Stephanie's irritation. Grandma Mazur also makes an appearance, but is not as big a participant in this one as she was in some of the previous novels.

I found this fourth book in the series just as funny as the others. The character of Sally Sweet I found irresistible. I find that as I read each new book in this series, her stories are becoming more and more "solid". Practice makes perfect, they say. Anyway, this book I give 4 stars, and am looking forward to reading the next one, HIGH FIVE.

Rating:
Summary: Evanovich scores BIG with # 4!
Review: A long-time devotee of Kinsey Milhone, Sharon McCone and Kay Scarpetta {whatever happened to V.I. Warshawski?), Stephanie Plum has jumped to the front of the line and, as far as I'm concerned, is numero uno in above said cast of lady sleuths.

I looked forward to this book's release and I was not disappointed at all. Maybe those who find the plot a little weak have a point but, personally, I was just too happy finally getting my hands on the book and getting together again with Steph & Joe, Lula & Grandma, and adding Sally to an already eccentric cast was ingenious! How this amazon cross dresser fits in so well with the rest of this zany cast of characters clearly demonstrates Janet's talent and skill. And the first time Steph & Joe get together?! I was in stitches! Been there - done that! I laughed {out loud} so much, it hurt and tears were running down my face. I could have read the whole book within one day of purchase and, as hard as it was, I l! ! imited myself to only a couple of chapters after reading half of it in one sitting because I wanted it to last longer - I didn't want to say goodbye to these characters and wait another year {much too long} for our next visit.

If you care about these characters, you won't be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Stephanie and Rex become homeless
Review: What's a girl to do when handcuffed to her own refrigerator?

For those readers unacquainted with Stephanie Plum, she's a skip tracer, i.e. bounty hunter, working for her cousin Vinnie in Trenton, NJ. She's also a disaster magnet. So, when her latest assignment, Maxine Nowicki, who jumped bail after being charged with the theft of her estranged boyfriend's car, handcuffs Plum to the door of her own fridge, what's left to do while awaiting rescue but finish off the leftover banana cream pie, a jar of peanut butter, and a bag of baby carrots? And that's before her car explodes, her apartment is gutted by fire, and she gets raw egg in her hair.

As I work my way sequentially through the Stephanie Plum series, I stand amazed at the imagination of author Janet Evanovich that continually ups the ante on the absurdity of the situations in which Stephanie finds herself and the eccentricity of the characters that gravitate to our heroine like lint to a black dress. Yet, the craziness never seems pushed or over the top, but is just Stephanie's karma in a nutty world.

The continuing "male lead" in all of Plum's adventures is Joe Morelli, the rascally plain-clothes Trenton cop with whom Stephanie has a long love-hate relationship. When they were just pre-pubescent kids, the sexually precocious Joe lured Stephanie into his father's garage to play choo-choo. As teenagers, Plum ran down Morelli with the family Buick after Joe relieved Stephanie of her virginity on the floor behind the eclair counter in the pastry shop in which she worked. Yet, when Plum and her pet hamster Rex are left homeless after their apartment is torched in FOUR TO SCORE, it's the extra room in Joe's house into which Stephanie moves. Will she and Joe find True Love before they kill each other?

Like its predecessors in the series, this book is exceeded in trashiness perhaps only by a lurid bodice-ripper. But, should you pick up a Stephanie Plum adventure, I virtually guarantee you a good time.

Rating:
Summary: I love this book almost as much as I love Joe Morelli!
Review: I will be forever grateful to my friend who recommended the Stephanie Plum series to me. I love these books. Janet Evanovich creates such memorable characters. Four to Score, in particular, has an outstanding "cast." There's Sally and Sugar, the local drag queens who head up a band called The Lovelies. Maxine, the one Stephanie is hunting for, who is playing a hilarious game of revenge with her ex-boyfriend. And, of course, the familiar stand by's: Joe Morelli (he might be fictional, but I seriously love that man), Lula the former prostitute, and Stephanie's Grandma Mazur.

In Four to Score, I was able to figure out who was stalking Stephanie early on, but Evanovich still kept me guessing on the "real" bad guy. I was sorry to see this book end. All the books in the series are entertaining, but I found this one particularly enjoyable. It's a quick, fun read. I can't recommend it enough!

Rating:
Summary: This Book Is So Explosive, Your Home And Car Will Blow Up
Review: Nah, that would be just too unbelievable. Not for the bad-luck-with-hair bounty hunter, Stephanie Plum. This fourth book in the series is one of non-stop outrageous humor.

Stephanie Plum is after Maxine Nowicki, and FTA who is free on a stolen automobile charge. Her boyfriend, Eddie Kuntz, also employs Stephanie's services in hopes that she can retrieve something extremely valuable to him...love letters? The chase is on in a page-turning frenzy, and all of the extra added elements that Janet Evanovich throws in makes the adventure that much more complete.

The cast of characters is sensational once again. Stephanie's family, especially the show-stealing antics of Grandma Mazur, add color, depth, and a heck of a lot of humor to the already well-developed plot. Straight-faced cop Joe Morelli is also back to steam up the personal scenes, and do they ever get hot in this epic. Lula, the large prostitute-turned-file clerk-slash-wannabe skip tracer is also back, adding a hilarious friendship element with a touch of street humor. This novel also introduces Sally Sweet, a code-breaking "regional" transvestite musician who spouts out the F-word every chance he can get. Stephanie's main nemesis, Joyce Barnhardt, also has a seemingly larger voice in this novel, as the newest bounty hunter at the Vincent Plum bail bonds agency.

This book is outright hysterical. Evanovich weaves together an amazing story of intrigue and thrilling suspense that flows so nicely, and ends in high speed mayhem that is just truly unbelievable. The witty dialogue, sensational Trenton setting, and fast-paced thrilling plot make FOUR TO SCORE a real winner. This is one of the best books in the series.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This was the first of Janet Evanovich's books I read, one I picked up on a whim at a used book sale, lured in by sheer curiosity and impressed by the number of positive reviews on its back cover from prominent literary critics. I must say, it was one of the better impulses I've ever had, as it was immediately obvious from the first chapter how well-deserved the praise truly was. This is a book that will make you laugh out loud and hold your attention until the last page, where you will inevitably be left wanting only to continue with Stephanie on her next adventure. I could hardly get my hands on the next book fast enough, and now proudly declare myself a Stephanie Plum addict. She is a character that stays with you, more real and likeable than a lot of people you'll encounter in reality. Kudos to Evanovich - don't miss this series! It's golden.

Rating:
Summary: Best of the Series So Far
Review: Wow!! Just as I had written off the series as nothing more than rehash and repetition (Book III) here comes Janet with the best so far. I wanted to shout a loud "hurrah" when Stephanie got together with Joe - this has been one long foreplay and now they get down to business. Then there is the addition of arch-rival Joyce (we also get to meet ex-hubby/lawyer) as a bounty hunter. Almost as good was the treatment Lula dished out to poor Joyce.

Finally new character Sally, a transvestite, makes the novel a rollicking, frollicking picnic from beginning to end. Poor Stephanie has more problems with cars than the rest of Trenton put together but she still has the old Buick and her family is still around, harping and carping. "Four" is a classic!!

Rating:
Summary: Four to Score, scored a lot of points with me
Review: Four To Score
Janet Evanovich's Four To Score keeps readers minds going and their hearts beating faster. Janet Evanovich is an author of comedic mystery with a definite element of suspense. The characters that she develops are a perfect fit for the style of writing. I believe Lula to be the most original character of them all. The things that she says and the way she acts keeps a readers laughing and peoples minds twisting and turning with thoughts.
For a person to read and enjoy this book, people need to like suspenseful mysteries that have a romantic and sexy twist to them every once in a while. I recommend this book to women more so than men because it is written with a woman's point of view. Overall, this book is great and once you read this you will want to read all the rest of the Stephanie Plum series. I definitely recommend the Stephanie Plum series to a person who is able to handle the thrills of these wonderfully well written books.

Rating:
Summary: She's the Tops!
Review: It's when I read Janet Evanovich that I appreciate how much she outshines others in the comedy-crime genre. Stephanie Plum is back on form here: droll, determined and a doll. I love her eccentric side-kicks too: the stunning (in every sense) Lula; the redoubtable, pistol-packing Grandma Masur; and this time a cross-dressing drag artist called Sally, with a nice line in code-cracking. The plot races; and it was good to see the Stephanie/Joe Morelli 'thing' take off again. I'm just glad I've been saving 'High Five', so that I still have a published treat in store!

Rating:
Summary: Make sure you've got your depends on:)
Review: This was one of the first Janet Evanovich books I got my hands on. I soon bought them all in book and unabrided (recorded books.com) audio form. I began Four to Score at work on audio unabridged from (Recordedbooks.com) narrated by C. J. Critt. Let me start by a review of her performance it was fabulous. She does fantastic variations in each voice to distinguish each character clearly. She has excellent timing so people thought I was absolutely insane because I was laughing so hard I was crying with this book. The book has those spit take moments where you better not be drinking or eating anything while you are reading or listening to it because it will be all over you or your computer/dash/etc.
I am a member of the Janet message board where fans talk about the books. I mention it because this one I have read so many complaints about, it drives me nuts. This book does have a lot of cussing in it, so if you are sensitive to that beware, but so what it is hilarious. This book will require you to wear DEPENDS to get through it. From the horrible Eddie and the various scavenger hunts Stephanie has to go through with him in order to earn her finders fee for searching for his ex-girlfriend/the skip (she is looking for anyway), to her meeting up with Cross-dressing Sally Sweet(the genius puzzle decoder). I absolutely love this book. Janet manages to have every funny experience Stephanie could possibly go through with her gang of Lula, Grandma Mazur, Sally and still add in Joe and Ranger. There are moments of emotion that you can feel Stephanie go through without being too much to take away from the humor or story. You add in Eddie (the pervert/jerk), Sugar (the pyro), Joyce Barnhardt(Stephanie's enemy that Vinnie has just hired to do skip tracing) and you begin feeling sorry for the skip Maxine. Then you add in Eddie's weird relatives, Joyce Barnhardt finding a naked man (as if anyone else would find him) and a the best wet your pants scenes I have read in quite a while. The dancing napkin, tattooed man, and big bag of doodie are just a few. If you haven't tried Janet's books and aren't prepared to do the whole series try this one. It gives you some of the back story as well as a stand alone hilarious tale of a woman trying to make a living in a job that everyone says she's wrong for, but she just happens to fall into bit of luck and every pitfall possible with great humor. I love the Stephanie Plum series and it's the first book series I recommend to my friends and family for a good fun read. Fans of the series all have their favorite books, so I tried to give you my favorite that can easily stand alone if you are new to the series. Also, check out CJ Critt's version for the best audio version of the series they are available from Recorded books there is no comparison to her reading of the series.