Book Review: To the Nines

Finished To the Nines, a Stephanie Plum novel by Janet Evanovich yesterday. Although this is a “throw-away” mystery, one that I probably won’t carry with me for longer than a day or so, I like this series if only because although the story is not memorable, the characters are. It wasn’t until I read a second one that I realized how much I liked the characters. They’re light, fun, and Evanovich instills them all with a distinct humor which is fun to follow.

I did not note any specific lines that caught my eye while I was reading it, but the author did do something a bit out of the ordinary, both for her and in terms of other stories in the same genre. As the story is coming to an end, and Stephanie is about to be either targeted by the killer, or actually catch her man, the reader starts to notice that Evanovich is running out of pages with which to perform a proper wrap-up. Usually with mysteries you can count on at least a full chapter for the reveal and for the resulting denouement. The closer I got to the end of To the Nines, the more I wondered what was going to happen if only because she was leaving herself so little room to do it. I wonder if this was her intent. It sure heightened my anticipation. The story by itself was simple and not at all surprising.

A bit clever, always cute and funny, but basically I read this in order to clear my head after Shogun. Such a deep themed book as Shogun was demands a lighter than usual follow-on book. Like a light sorbet after a heavy dinner.

One thing I have trouble with, and I find this to be the case in so many books, I've never been to New Jersey, the setting for To the Nines, and have a hard time imagining the area as Evanovich describes it. She describes her neighborhood, the Burg, as a typical Jersey neighborhood. That doesn't help a reader who hasn't any idea what a typical Jersey neighborhood looks like. I think it's sad that so much of the setting is lost based on my own limitations. In Shogun Clavell spends a lot of time building a world for the reader to imagine. To the Nines and other books by Evanovich ask the reader to already know these things, and so I miss out on some of the local color she tries to impart.

Evanovich if nothing else is good with consistency and creating characters that are deeper than her books. Her series is in the fifteen or sixteens by now? Sixteen stories using the same characters? Having those characters continue to be fun, full of life, and worth reading? That can’t be easy to do.

All told To the Nines was another solid offering by an author I find inspiring for her prolific writing and steadfast following. For light, humorous reading with a touch of mystery and engaging characters, Evanovich can't be beat.