I've always enjoyed Evanovich's Stephanie Plum novels for the sheer outrageous fun of watching Stephanie stumble from one disastrous situation to the next. Her haphazard attempts to earn a living as a bounty hunter for her sleazy cousin Vinnie's bail bond agency, her hilariously complicated love life, and her dysfunctional but always there for her family, usually have me laughing hard enough to cry.
That said, I was disappointed in her last effort, Smokin' Seventeen, and wondered if perhaps the series was finally running out of steam. Happily, Evanovich is back on her game in Explosive Eighteen.
Stephanie runs for home when her dream Hawaiian vacation turns into a nightmare. Everyone in town is speculating about what went wrong, but Stephanie isn't talking, and neither are Morelli or Ranger (though both are sporting some intriguing bruises). A chance encounter on the plane leaves Stephanie briefly in possession of a mysterious photograph, and suddenly not only the FBI, but assorted gangsters are all on Stephanie's case.
Meanwhile her archnemesis since gradeschool, Joyce Barnhardt, suspect in a murder investigation, is squatting in Stephanie's apartment and refusing to leave until Stephanie retrieves crucial evidence from the murder victim's house. And Stephanie's friend Lula, as usual, has fallen for yet another unsuitable guy. This time it's a bail jumper named Buggy, who keeps stealing Stephanie's car. Can Stephanie solve the murder, find the photo, escape the gangsters, placate the FBI, bring Lula to her senses and finally make up her mind between Morelli and Ranger?
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