Four to Score

Rating:
Summary: They just get better!!!...........
Review: In Four To Score, Janet Evanovich introduces new characters into the continuing saga of Stephanie Plum, bounty hunter. The wonderful humor and Jersey attitude are as strong as always and the story rockets along on it's own strange path. Stephanie is attempting to find and bring in a waitress who has skipped bail on a charge of auto theft. The story evolves into a finger chopping, fire bombing, drag queen band, sleeping at Morelli, stun gunning event that will keep you reading, laughing and attempting to figure out not only "who-done-it", but exactly what was it that was done and how/if some things are all connected or are there several things going on at once?!? Janet Evanovich strikes gold once again with the fourth book in her Stephanie Plum series. If you are looking for a fast, funny, well crafted "crime" novel with a nice touch of steamy passion this is a sure bet!!

Rating:
Summary: Oh boy here comes Stephanie again.
Review: Stephanie Plum is back and this time she is after what she thought was going to be an easy capture. But as always her captures never tend to be that easy.

This time she is after Maxine Nowicki. At first she goes and finds the person that she suspects mights know a lot about where Maxine might be hiding, but when she meets up with Eddie she gets into a case upon it's self.

Eddie has her looking for Maxine so he can get his letters back, Well along the way while looking for these letter she and her friends get clues to them. When they can't figure them out they bring in Sally Sweet the man who dresses like woman but is more man then woman. Along the way they find more trouble and get into more trouble then they know what to do.

The usual cast of charactors are back Grandma Mazur, Lula, Connie, Vinnie and of course Joe Morelli. But when Vinne brings on a new bounty hunter Stephanie wants to get rid of the newest bounty hunter before things get to bad.

Overall this was a great book, the story line at times went in too many directions and didn't stay as focused as her previous books, but it wasn't bad at all had me laughing a lot.

I can't wait to read her next books in this series.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!
Review: I have loved all the Stephanie Plum Mysteries I have read so far, but there were parts of this book that had me in tears from laughing so hard.

If you love the "working at it" plucky heroine, mystery, and some laughing out loud humor buy this or any of Ms Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books. You won't be dissappointed!

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Summary: "...and the hits keep coming!"
Review: The Stephanie Plum series just keeps getting better! This fourth installment pits her against nemesis Joyce Barnhardt (husband-stealer), who Stephanie's boss Vinny has hired to find Maxine Nowicki in addition to using Stephanie. Along for the ride are the normal cast of supporting lunatics: Lula, Joe Morelli, Ranger, and a new addition in Sally Sweet, a transvestite with a gift for solving coded messages.

To go into more would spoil the fun, and this is pure fun. Again, the crime is secondary to the relationships between the characters (including one memorable exchange between Lula and the inimitable Grandma Mazur).

But the most notable relationship is in the alleviation of sexual tension between Stephanie and Morelli. This is certainly the most erotic of the series yet--pretty hot stuff!

So, if you're already a fan, make sure to pick this one up. You won't be disappointed. And if you're not a fan yet, start with One for the Money and you will be by the end of the book.

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Summary: Funny, as usual, but the obsession with food is ridiculous
Review: I enjoy the Stephanie Plum novels a lot. They're full of great characters, very funny, very clever. But the more I read, the more one thing stands out above all else--the obsession with food. Every single page of this book has some mention of food and the results of overeating, worrying about extra weight, etc... Stephanie Plum might as well be the poster child for eating disorders. I find it very disturbing, and beyond that the repeition of it is simply boring.

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Summary: Read it pool side
Review: I bought this book in spain (it was the only available book in English) and didn't expect much - but it was really cute. Stephanie Plum is a sort of rough around the edges Jersey version of Bridget Jones. And the mysteries are pretty good too - and I'm really not a mystery reader. I would recomend this book as a great pool-side read - you really don't need to pay a whole lot of attention, the characters are laugh out loud funny, and there's enough sexual tension to keep it fresh.

Rating:
Summary: If it aint broke, dont fix it
Review: A male reader in this review list wrote that he could not understand why this series is so popular. He complained about the cookie cutter characters, the similiarities of the plots in all the books and the lack of humour. He believed that if it wasnt for the female fans, the Stephanie Plum series would have disappeared a long time ago.

Well, to each his own.

I am a male reader and a new fan of Janet Evanovich's (JE) sassy and ditzy bounty hunter. The characters are over the top and zany and, yes, can be found in other genres like cop shows and sitcoms. Perhaps that is why the series is so sucessful. The readers are familiar with the cast and find it reassuring. It doesnt matter whether Grandma Mazur sounds like that old woman from the "GOLDEN GIRLS", never mind the fact that Ranger reminds one of Batman or that Lula, Joyce, Morelli, Vinnie, Connie and the rest all sound as if they came straight from Central Casting. It does not bother the fans because obviously that's what they WANT. Otherwise the series would not, at the time of writing, have 8 books in it.

About the similiar plot lines...well, that's nothing new in a long running series. Stephanie Plum is a bounty hunter. All her books are about her hunting down people who didnt turn up in court after they've been bailed by Vinne the bail bondsman. Usually the reason they skipped court is connected with the pile of bodies that Stephanie discovers in every book. Along the way she meets kooky characters, violent thugs and has lots of fun dodging bullets and other attempts on her life.

In every, single, one of her books.

Now, doesnt that fit the description of practically every popular long running series in print out there? Laurell Hamilton's Anita Blake series, Carl Hiaasen's Florida crime capers, even Grisham's legal dramas have been accused of being carbon copies of each other. Other big name authors who have been accused the same are Stephen King, Tom Clancy and Sue Grafton (who was the author that the male reviewer recommended every one read instead of JE).

What makes up for the lukewarm mysteries, and lets face it they are lukewarm more often than not, is JE's great dialogue and hilarious situations that she puts Stephanie in. Most of it revolves around Stephanie and Grandma Mazur or Stephanie and the street wise Lula. In book four, though, there's a new character in the form of Sally Sweet who is a cross dresser and gets tangled up in Stephanie's latest case. I havent read books 5, 6, 7 & 8 so I dont know if Sally becomes a regular. By the end of the book she moves in with some friends and no more is said of her (waittaminute...its a GUY...why am I referring him as "her"?). I hope he appears in later books. He's an asset to Stephanie's ever growing posse.

Yes, the writing is formulaic. Yes, the characters are nothing special. Yes, you will probably have that "been there, read that" feeling. But my advise to JE is, "If it aint broke, dont fix it." Your many fans are having lots of fun reading your books so far and when it gets boring and tiresome, we will just tell you by not buying any more of your books. Here's hoping that that day is somewhere in the faaarrrr future.

As Lula would say, "Damn skippy"

Rating:
Summary: SCORE is the Key
Review: I'm rather new to the crime novel genre, but I find Evanovich's novels hilarious. Yes, some details seem a bit silly, but, overall, it's a fun read. I like that Evanovich doesn't take herself so serious, which allows me to take myself similarly. Come on, even parts of Shakespeare's works are silly. Although I've read only 4 of her novels, this one is the most risque. However, her "love" scenes aren't so sappy that I can't enjoy them too.

Rating:
Summary: A quick & very funny read
Review: In _Four to Score_, Evanovich recovers the tremendous wit and sparkle she showed in _One for the Money_. The writing flows easily, and the pages almost turn themselves. The plot isn't overly-complex, and it doesn't feel forced or contrived like _Two for the Dough_ did. The relationships between the main characters crackle as they did in the first book, and everything comes alive once more with Evanovich's pleasant style.

The main plot line in this installment has Stephanie chasing after Maxine Nowicki, who skipped on bail after an ex-boyfriend filed a car theft charge against her. Naturally, things go awry, various things belonging to Stephanie get blown up, and people who have spotted Maxine are turning up dead. The usual cast assists (or hinders) her in her investigations, and the book flows well.

The reader may or may not predict the ending, but it doesn't really matter much, because it's the ride through the story that'll provide the enjoyment here. I'm glad I didn't abandon the series after the unfortunate second book, and the luke-warm third. I really recommend _Four to Score_.

Rating:
Summary: Low-rent Grafton
Review: What's the appeal of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series?
I read someplace that readers look for themselves when reading a novel. In the face of one reviewer's contention that Evanovich appeals to both men and women, I looked at about half of the Amazon five-star reviews and most of them came from women. So then, what could a supposedly objective male reader find in Evanovich? I was intrigued by the female bounty hunter. I also liked Evanovich's facility with repartee. She knows where her talent lies and there's a heavy emphasis on dialogue. The main character is also likable and self-deprecating. One can't help but think Kinsey Millhone.
But outside of the witty dialogue I don't find Evanovich all that humorous.This is an example of Evanovich humor: "Vinnie (Stephanie's bail bondsman boss and cousin) was 5'7", looked like a weasel, thought like a weasel, smelled like a French whore and was once in love with a duck." The supposedly funny situations revolve around Stephanie's relationship with Vinnie; her co-worker Lula, a reformed prostitute; 73-year-old Grandma Mazur; and love interest, Joe Morelli. You can find most of these people on TV every night under various aliases.
One would also expect a bounty hunter to have a bit more of a hard edge. But no, Stephanie is sugar and spice and everything nice; she's preoccupied with winding up in the sack with Morelli, Grandma's home cooking, and how she's going to find transportation after totaling another car.
Joyce Barnhardt, who competes with Stephanie for jobs, does offer a kind of Professor Moriarty foil, but a good villain needs to be as smart as the hero and Joyce is mostly there to provide the potential for a titillating cat fight.
Like many of the other reviewers, I started rather late in the series; I suppose because that was the one offered by Literary Guild. I've read two of these now and I had to check to make sure I wasn't reading the same one twice. This one deals with Maxine Nowicki, who's been charged with jumping bail after stealing her former boyfriend's car. Murders and firebombings ensue, pedestrian all, and I'm not talking about jay walkers.
Evanovich is a low-rent Sue Grafton. Save yourself some time and read the real thing.