Book Review of Smokin' Seventeen

Those of you who read this blog regularly know that I enjoy Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. Those of you who are new to the blog and thought I was a hard core, ex-military, no-nonsense, thriller writer . . . it was nice knowing you. Hope you come back one day.



Yes, yes . . . every now and then I enjoy reading a Stephanie Plum novel. They're fun, they're light, they're especially funny, and the bad-ass, heart-throb in the books is a former Ranger. What's not to like. This most recent one, Smokin' Seventeen is just as good as its predecessors. Unlike the others this one doesn't have much mystery in it. The further down the list one reads, the less mystery is involved, but I guess it doesn't matter cause if you are reading number seventeen you obviously like the characters, so Evanovich provides alot of that.

My favorite character (other than the aforementioned bad ass) is Lula. Read one of the books and you'll see what I mean. Reading about what Lula eats and wears is about as much fun as reading about what Archie McNally wears in Lawrence Sanders' series (here).

I highlighted only one passage, but it's a doozy.

"Lula and I walked around the side of the building and found Melanie sitting on a beer keg, smoking. The first delicious rush of nicotine was behind her, and she was mechanically working her way through the remainder of her cigarette."

First, I think she describes the scene quickly and succinctly. The reader knows that it is gritty, depressed, and grimy. I love the combination of "first delicious rush of nicotine" and I like that it "was behind her" and now the mechanical nature of the habit kicks in. I don't know why, but that could be top of my list for great descriptions.

Fun stuff. Look forward to eighteen as well as to reading the intervening editions that I have missed. If you're looking to read a fun book do yourself a favor and try an Evanovich (here).