Three to Get Deadly

This was one of those impulse reads. Browsing around the library...the 500 bright neon Janet Evanovich novels caught my eye. But honestly, I've been quite curious about the Stephanie Plum series, and I had heard good things about them. So here is my review. Say what you will, this was good for a laugh.

Three to Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


One Miss Stephenie Plum is off to catch a bail jumper, this time in the form of Moses Bedemier. The problem being that "Mo" is an old and beloved candy store owner, and half of Trenton wants to canonize him. But he was caught carrying an illegal concealed weapon, and now Stephanie risks becoming the most unpopular girl in Trenton because she is out to find him and recover the bail.

I'm really really torn right now.

So here's the thing, you guys. I read mysteries/thrillers because I really do like them. I like books that I can't put down because I am dying to know what is going to happen next. And I rarely give these sorts of novels more than three stars because they aren't in any way great. It usually stops at like for me because how can I justify giving a stock story more than that? I can't.

Well, I must tell you that Miss Stephanie Plum, bounty hunter extraordinaire is not very stock...at least not when it comes to this genre. She's Jersey in an adorable, more down to earth sort of way than Snookie or J-Wow. And despite myself, I can't help but love the Jersey in her. She's laugh out loud funny, she's an absolute airhead, and I really like her a lot. Besides the fact that who decides her main character should be a bounty hunter, anyway? I think that's my favorite part of the whole schtick here.

And the side players aren't bad either, especially her family but really most especially Grandma Mazur, a feisty old woman out to find herself a new husband. The thing is, these characters are pretty much the opposite of anything written by, say, James Patterson, who takes himself awfully seriously for writing formulaic books with predictable characters. So maybe here the story is a bit predictable but so what? The characters are completely kookie, and obviously Evanovich isn't taking any of this seriously at all. That, my friends, is perfectly endearing.

And then there is this...perhaps my favorite line of the entire novel. "I decided at an early age to stop being embarrassed over family. This is yet another advantage to living in Jersey. In Jersey everyone has the right to embarrass themselves with no reflection on anyone else. In fact, embarrassing yourself periodically is almost required." If you've ever set foot in Jersey...or had the unfortunate experience of watching Jersey Shore (which I have not because I saw it first hand so why would I watch it?), this rings true. Not to mention the fact that its absolutely hilarious. So I'm not going to lie to you. I thoroughly enjoyed this.

But then comes the torn part. You see, it's a little bit (a lot) on the vulgar side...maybe? I can skip the swears, which I do. But this Mo guy was involved in some really foul stuff, none of which was entirely necessary to the story. And the characters, especially Lula, who was really kind of funny, well, she has a very shady history, and it makes her quite salty. So I cringe because I want to recommend it and I don't want to recommend it. I guess it's a buyer be ware sort of situation. And the jury is out as to whether I will or will not read another Stephanie Plum novel.


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