By the 3rd installment, I was beginning to feel that Stephanie Plum's act getting old. But as usual, the stellar cast of characters saved this novel from the 3-star pile. The star of the stars, of course, is Joe Morelli. Just as I was getting bored of Stephanie's dead-ended surveillances and botched apprehensions, Morelli and his sexy butt would waltz in and sweep me off my feet. Damn I haven't been in love with a fictional character in a long time. He really spices things up, and the main reason why I'm letting this book get away with 4 stars is because of the ending, which is full of Joe Morelli, flirting, and innuendo-loaded talk. Hawt and the best way to end a story.
More of my favorite characters appeared, especially Lula and a bit of Granma Mazur, who brought a boyfriend home. A lot of the dialogue is still laugh-out-loud funny, which is the second saving grace of the book, because in my mind, the characters, not the plot, take center stage in a Stephanie Plum novel. I actually think I lost track of the villains somewhere in the middle.
Ranger gets a more detailed treatment and I found Lula's theory of him as a superhero hilarious. Ranger's sexy points have gone up several notches, giving the possibility of Morelli having to fight for the top spot as hottest character in later books. But dang, Ranger may be buffer and hotter but Morelli oozes bucketloads of CHARM.
This one wasn't all that great. Don't get me wrong, there were parts where I was riproaring with laughter, especially when she teams up with Lula, an ex-ho that has Crohns'-induced stress problems, and dead body parts flying every where, but the plot itself was kind of weak.
It was like she took a hiatus from actually finding Uncle Mo, and had too many of her own problems to focus on being a bounty hunter. I was sick of hearing about her showering, sleeping, waking up and then mooching off her parents. It was like get to the point! I want to know about your bounty hunter skills, not how much pizza you can scarf down.
The love interest of Morelli IS picking up, but it's a snail's crawl.
Too bad we didn't learn anymore about Ranger, he could be really interesting.
Lula cracks me up, but she's definitely NOT reliable in a jam or with anything pertaining to cops.
Easy read, but I was able to read a few books while reading this. So I guess my rating is lower than the others because it didn't hold my interest. Yeah, Stephanie has car problems, but that shouldn't be the whole book.
Then the mystery was solved and wrapped up with a pretty bow at the end within the last two chapters. Man, I should've just skipped ahead and read those and been done with it. Too much blabber in this one about nothing.
Ancora un altro mistero da risolvere per la nostra Stephanie. E stavolta è un mistero assai fitto: deve indagare sulla scomparsa di Zio Mo, popolare gelataio ben voluto da tutti. Anche troppo, penserà Stephanie: possibile che nessuno voglia rivelarle dettagli scabrosi sulla vita di Zio Mo per portarla dritta alla fine del mistero (e soprattutto alla riscossione della sua percentuale)?
Tutti le chiuderanno la porta in faccia, ma Stephanie non si darà per vinta: lei è un'agente di recupero seria e professionale... d'altra parte stanno morendo un sacco di spacciatori e a lei non piace quando muoiono le persone... probabilmente perché sa che prima o poi ci finirà in mezzo! E per lei è un problema vista la sua - come dire - antipatia per le armi da fuoco, lunghi coltelli e affini.
Joe Morelli cercherà come al solito di tenerla lontana dai guai, ma ormai dovrebbe aver capito che è una causa persa. Volente o nolente, Stephanie finirà per essere nell'occhio del ciclone e soprattutto farà fuori un'altra auto: sarà costretta a tornare alla guida della sua indistruttibile Buick del '53, la cosiddetta Balena Azzurra, delizia dei maschietti e croce di Stephanie.
In questo terzo episodio facciamo anche la conoscenza dell'ex marito di Stephanie e non ci vuole molto a capire perché l'ha mollato (tradimento con Joyce più varie&eventuali a parte). Meglio, mooooolto meglio Morelli. E poi ci sono le vecchie conoscenze di sempre: la famiglia di Stephanie (nonna Mazur in testa), Lula (sempre più scatenata), Ranger (misterioso istruttore della nostra Stephanie), Rex (criceto dall'ottimo tempismo e coinquilino di Stephanie).
Tra disastrose tinture di capelli e “polli” recalcitranti, Stephanie continua la sua dura vita da cacciatrice di taglie, con grande dispiacere di sua madre (che la vorrebbe sposata e rispettabile) e con grande divertimento nostro. Siamo tutti con te, Stephanie!
I really do love these books but this one was dragging and not much action as the other books in the series. I sometimes had to push myself to finish it. it would pick up then die down. I'm still gonna finish up reading the rest of the books. Just for Lula!
Three to Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich continues with the trials of Stephanie Plum, bounty hunter for her Uncle Vincent Plum 's bail bond company. This time she's searching for Moses Bedemier AKA as Uncle Mo. He was stopped for a traffic infraction and he had an unloaded concealed weapon. Bail was posted but he was a no show at his hearing. Mo has an ice cream parlor that also sells candy and shacks. Lulu, a former hooker, who works as a file clerk at the agency, wants to learn to be a retriever. She helps Stephanie. Stephanie buys a truck which keeps breaking down on her. The garage door is open. She looks in the garage but finds nothing at Mo's. Lulu and Stephanie return to Mo's. Lulu finds house keys. They go upstairs and search. Stephanie finds some dirty magazines mixed in with the tv guides. In his sock drawer she finds keys to the shop. Joe Morelli from the police department tries to discover what Stephanie knows. Apparently the weapon found on Mo was used to kill a drug dealer who was pulled out of the river. Stephanie enters Mo's shop. She see shadows go by the store front window. She backs up to the rear of the building when she hears the door handle jiggle. She retreats to the bathroom. She hears the intruder open the cellar door. They smash open the bathroom door knocks her heads and she's knocked unconscious. When she wakes up she finds blood on her hands. She finds the intruder dead with a whole in his head. She calls Morelli and he contacts the police. This book is a fast read. I finished it in one day. Read on to see if Stephanie gets her jumper.
I'm doing a reread of this series using the audio books this time. They have made excellent errand/housekeeping/exercise companions and the looks I get at the gym when I burst out laughing are pretty funny too. For sheer entertainment and a distraction from the He!! that going to the gym is, these books are wonderful. Maybe by the time I finish a reread of the entire series, I'll have a gym habit and will look forward to exercise - probably not, but hope springs eternal.
Stephanie Plum, Trenton's most feared bounty hunter - NOT! has a new bail skip and everyone is on her a** because it is sweet, kindly Mo Bedemire, owner of the local candy, ice cream store. But it seems that Mo has a lot of secrets and Step is caught up in the middle of them.
The whole crew is on board to find Mo. Joe, Ranger, Lula, and Grandma Mazur help Steph track down the Mo and also find the vigilantes who are killing off Trenton's drug dealers. Oh, and Steph's new truck gets blown up. Hummm, I didn't see that one coming, especially with a rocket launcher.
Mo is a much loved character around the Burg, he's the owner of the local sweet shop and adored by all, from the youngest children right through to the little old ladies who frequent his shop. Unfortunately Mo has skipped his bail and it's Stephanie's job to bring him in, something that might be a little bit easier if his fan club wasn't causing her problems at every turn. Nobody can believe that Mo could possibly have done anything wrong so of course Stephanie comes across as the mean woman with nothing better to do than cart an innocent man off to jail which doesn't exactly make her very popular with the locals. When dead bodies start turning up and Stephanie finds herself being threatened by masked gun men warning her to stop looking for Mo she knows she's out of her league so she calls in the help of bounty hunter extraordinaire Ranger.
This series is just so much fun to read, Stephanie is such a trouble magnet and she always manages to stumble into such crazy situations that you just have to laugh at her antics. In Three to Get Deadly we see her crazy sidekick Lula play a bigger part, we also get to find out a bit more about Ranger (personally I like Lula's theory that he's a secret superhero in his spare time!) and of course we see more of our favourite local cop Morelli. I'm not going to say much about the plot but expect plenty of wacky antics, weird and wonderful characters and unexpected twists. Janet Evanovich never fails to make me snort with laughter and this series always leaves me grinning from ear to ear - even on a reread. _________________
Series group read with Buddies, Books & Baubles starts 1st January 2016. We're planning on reading one book a month so it'll be easy to keep up with if anyone else wants to join us :o)
I listen to books at night when I can't sleep. The bad thing about listening to these Stephanie Plum books is that I spend a lot of time laughing and this kinda defeats the goal of getting me back to sleep.
I'm sure these books are just as funny in writing, but the audio versions are really good. The narrator does a great job with all the different character voices. I'm glad I finally started this series.
This is third in the Stephanie Plum series which and is still funny, although the criminal she is tracking this time is a hero to the neighborhood, but is leaving bodies in his wake. I like the way Morelli and Ranger are willing to set aside their differences to protect her. Lulu is growing into her role as "assistant" to Stephanie, and contributes her knowledge of the seedier sides of Trenton to the investigation. I'm still having fun working my way through the series.