Review: Janet Evanovich "Takedown Twenty"

Publisher: Bantam

ISBN: 9780345542885

My rating: 3/5


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. (Evanovich.com)



My thoughts

Same old, same old. More or less.

Nothing much really has changed. Stephanie and Lula are after a big bond Salvatore Sunucchi, but doesn't get very far - and after a few failed attempts, even Stephanie gives up her job.

Rest is the same ... it's a toss up between Ranger and Morelli (there are a few good one-liners from Ranger in this one!), Lula does her thing and Grandma Mazur is in the midst of all.

And then there's the Giraffe. But I won't even go there. 

 

Janet Evanovich - Notorious Nineteen

Publisher: Bantam

ISBN: 9780755385010

My rating: 3/5

 
After a slow summer of chasing low-level skips for her cousin Vinnie’s bail bonds agency, Stephanie Plum finally lands an assignment that could put her checkbook back in the black. Geoffrey Cubbin, facing trial for embezzling millions from Trenton’s premier assisted-living facility, has mysteriously vanished from the hospital after an emergency appendectomy. Now it’s on Stephanie to track down the con man. Unfortunately, Cubbin has disappeared without a trace, a witness, or his money-hungry wife. Rumors are stirring that he must have had help with the daring escape . . . or that maybe he never made it out of his room alive. Since the hospital staff’s lips seem to be tighter than the security, and it’s hard for Stephanie to blend in to assisted living, Stephanie’s Grandma Mazur goes in undercover. But when a second felon goes missing from the same hospital, Stephanie is forced into working side by side with Trenton’s hottest cop, Joe Morelli, in order to crack the case.
The real problem is, no Cubbin also means no way to pay the rent. Desperate for money—or maybe just desperate—Stephanie accepts a secondary job guarding her secretive and mouthwatering mentor Ranger from a deadly Special Forces adversary. While Stephanie is notorious for finding trouble, she may have found a little more than she bargained for this time around. Then again—a little food poisoning, some threatening notes, and a bridesmaid’s dress with an excess of taffeta never killed anyone . . . or did they? If Stephanie Plum wants to bring in a paycheck, she’ll have to remember: No guts, no glory. (evanovich.com)


My thoughts

I didn't mind this story. It wasn't exciting, and it wasn't the as good as the first Plum novels, but much better than the ones of late.
The plot is the same as the previous novels, Steph needs money, one big bond is Cubbin, who's disappeared, but unlike the few before this one, one doesn't lose the oversight of who she's actually chasing at the time. Lula is ok, but the jokes are the same. Grandma Mazur has a few more lines in it, but they're getting old, as well. Morelli / Ranger - same here as well. So it's basically the plot that keeps the story going.

Better than the previous ones, but no 'halelujahs' in that one either. Lots of 'Babes' - I DID LIKE THAT :-)


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