Janet Evanovich has been writing her Stephanie Plum 'romantic adventure' novels for a while now. The first was One For The Money, then Two for the Dough, Three To Get Deadly, and four if you want to keep reading. You can go all the way up to her latest, Dirty Thirty. I have seen this series and thought they were a little gimmicky, like the titles sell the book and whatever is between the pages doesn't really matter. I got Ten Big Ones at a sale and thought I would give it a try.
Stephanie Plum is a Trenton, New Jersey gal who gets a job from her cousin Vinnie as a bounty hunter. She was a former lingerie saleswoman, so the transition was natural. By number ten, the cast may be well known to readers, so the story starts off with a bang - Stephanie's car on fire at a robbery scene. She gets a good look at the perp which marks her for a gang hit. While she carries out her bounty hunter duties with her sassy sidekick in spandex Lula - the ex-hooker file clerk - the notorious Junkman crosses off his 'hits' with Stephanie's name next on the list.
A little action and adventure, but also a healthy dose of Chick-Lit. She has fights with her cop boyfriend Joe Morelli, hides out at fellow bounty hunter Ranger's mysterious bachelor pad, and still has time to check in for supper at her parents, including potty-mouthed Grandma Mazur. How can you hide out from a hit man and help plan your sister's wedding at the same time?
The best character for me was Lula, and they spend several scenes on stake out, splitting a dozen doughnuts. After reading several hard as nails CIA thrillers by Brad Thor or Vince Flynn, sitting in a car with the two of them and a box of donuts was fun and entertaining. Her other bounty hunter cases include the lady who stole a Frito Lay truck while PMSing and devoured all the Cheetos, cheese dust sprinkled through her crazed hair.
They made a movie of One For The Money starring Katherine Heigl as Stephanie, Sherri Shepherd as Lula and Debbie Reynolds as Grandma Mazur. Perfect casting. After reading Ten, I rented the film to see the characters come to life. It may have been the first book, which I have not read, but the tone of it was too serious. It was like they took the crazy chick living with her pet hamster and eating donuts, and made it more like an action movie. It seemed like every other action movie, the flavour was missing. I wanted a screwball action comedy, not a female Jack Reacher. I didn't even finish watching it. Where is the cheese dust? Where are the donuts!
I feel sorry for Katherine Heigl, I keep trying to watch her movies, but they often let her down. I think she's a good and likeable actress, but her movies leave town so fast they open at the discount theatre.
I would read more in the series, as it was a very quick read - something for the plane ride. In the end, I found it light, breezy, fun and entertaining.
Stephanie is an original character with legs.
2004 / Tradeback / 374 pages
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