Fearless Fourteen

Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich
Published by St. Martins
Why I read this: I'm hooked on the series, and I was in need of a Ranger fix.

The Crime:

Armed robbery to the tune of nine million dollars

Dom Rizzi robbed a bank, stashed the money and did the time. His family couldn't be more proud. He always was the smart one.

The Cousin:

Joe Morelli

Joe Morelli, Dom Rizzi and Dom's sister Loretta are cousins. Morelli is a cop, Rizzi robs banks, and Loretta is a single mother waiting tables at the firehouse. The all American family.

The Complications:

Murder, kidnapping, destruction of personal property, and acid reflux

Less than a week after Dom's release from prison, Joe Morelli has shadowy figures breaking into his house and dying in his basement. He's getting threatening messages, Loretta is kidnapped, and Dom is missing.

The Catastrophe:

Moonman

Morelli hires Walter "Mooner" Dunphy, stoner and "inventor" turned crime-fighter to protect his house. Morelli can't afford a lot on a cop's salary, and Mooner will work for potatoes.

The Cupcake:

Stephanie Plum

Stephanie and Morelli have a long-standing relationship that involves sex, affection and driving each other nuts. She's a bond enforcement agent with more luck than talent, and she's involved in this bank-robbery-gone-bad disaster from day one.

The Crisis:

A favor for Ranger

Security expert Carlos Manoso, street name Ranger, has a job for Stephanie that will involve night-work. Morelli has his own ideas regarding Stephanie's evening activities.

The Conclusion:

Only the fearless should read fourteen

Thrills, chills and possible incontinence may result.

I admit that I went into this book with low expectations. I try to never read reviews of books I know I will read, as I hate spoilers. Big time. I did not read reviews for Fearless Fourteen, but I did read at Dear Author that several ARC negative reviews were taken down from Amazon.

Having finished Fearless Fourteen, I skimmed a bunch of reviews, and I have to say, I disagree with many of them. Big surprise there. When do I ever agree with the majority?

IMO, Stephanie has come a long way. Even though she does minimal bounty hunting in this book, she does appear to be more confidant with herself as a aprehention agent. Compared to her clumsiness in the few first books, she is almost a new person. When any of her misfit friends tag a long on a pick up, she is very take charge and alpha in work mode.

Fearless Fourteen was not as funny as the other books. I did smile a few times, mostly because of Lula and Grandma Mazur, but I did not laugh out loud.

There were equal amounts of Joe and Ranger. I continue to be on the 'Babe' team, but the 'Cupcake' side is appealing, too.

One of my all time favourite secondary Charaters in the previous books was Mooner. He was back in Fearless Fourteen, so yay for that.

I'm going to go ahead and give this one a B-. Stephanie's character has grown, and there was a fresh spin on the old formula... No one was trying to kill Steph, but she still did stumble across some dead bodies. Her car did not get blown up, but it did get a graffiti make over. Weekly dinners at the Plum house were included in Fearless Fourteen, which is good. I enjoy Mr. Plum's heavy silence, Mrs. Plum's not so hidden drinking problem, and Gradma Mazur's naive bluntness. I just wish it had been laugh out loud funny. I don't have a single funny quote to mention in my post, like I usually do when I review this series.

My review of books 1-13

One for the money

Two for the dough

Three to get deadly

Four to score

High five

Hot six

Seven up

Hard eight

To the nines

Ten big ones

Eleven on top

Twelve sharp

Lean mean thirteen