Publisher's Weekly Review
Half-Hungarian, half-Italian and all-Jersey, Trenton's best-known bounty hunter, Stephanie Plum, is a raucous delight in this fast-paced sequel to Three to Get Deadly (1997). There's no such thing as a simple assignment for Stephanie. When Maxine Nowicki, charged with stealing her boyfriend's car, skips her court appearance, she's fair game to be hauled inno big challenge, thinks Stephanie. Wrong. Before the case is over, Stephanie will invade an Atlantic City casino with her intrepid allies: sneaker-shod Grandma Mazur; her colleague Lula, "a two-hundred pound black woman with blond baloney curls all dressed up like Cher on a bad day"; and Sally, a seven-foot transvestite rock singer. Although Stephanie is the bounty hunter, she's the only one of the quartet who isn't armed. She also loses another car and her apartment, moves in with handsome cop and longtime love interest, Joe Morelli (causing a stir in his family and hers), has several memorable run-ins with arch rival Joyce Barnhardt, discovers a corpse and, finally, catches her quarry. With her brash exterior and high emotionality, Stephanie Plum is a welcome antidote to suave professional PIs. The supporting cast members, eccentric and recognizable, are as entertaining as those devised by Westlake and Leonard. Major ad/promo; author tour. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum, Trenton's answer to sweeps week, is on the trail of Maxine Nowicki, who failed to appear in court on a charge of boosting her ex-boyfriend Eddie Kuntz's car. Like most of the quarry Stephanie tracks for her cousin Vinnie, Maxine hasn't gone far. Not only does she keep popping up to taunt and threaten Stephanie, but she's even arranged a little treasure hunt for Eddie: If he follows the puzzling clues she sends him, he'll get back his mushy old love letters. Stephanie, who doesn't sell herself cheap, takes $1,000 from Eddie to help decipher the clues, but wonders if helping him is such a good idea, since so many of Maxine's nearest and dearest--her mother, her friend Marjorie, the 7-Eleven manager who last saw Maxine--are turning up dead or mutilated, and Stephanie herself is getting harassed, vandalized, and firebombed. In another universe, such wholesale mayhem would be cause for alarm, but for Stephanie it's just so many setup lines for the real questions: Will Stephanie beat her archrival, trampy skip-tracer Joyce Barnhardt, to Maxine? Has longtime lust object Joe Morelli's grandmother gotten Stephanie pregnant by putting the Evil Eye on her? And will Stephanie ever look as foxy as the two transvestite puzzle-solvers she's got in her comer? Counterfeiting, drugs, extortion, kidnaping, homicide, reckless endangerment--all of it hilariously featherweight. Evanovich (Three to Get Deadly, 1997, etc.) never met a felony she couldn't top with an unbeatable laugh. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Stephanie Plum, the Jersey juggernaut, is back, smart-mouthed, swaggering, and saucy as ever. Stephanie works as a "bounty hunter," tracking down bail jumpers for her cousin Vinnie. Her latest assignment is to bring in Maxine Nowicki, who stole her boyfriend's car and then failed to show for her court date after she was arrested. An open-and-shut case, right? Wrong. Everyone Stephanie interviews is either uncooperative or, in the case of Maxine's ex-boyfriend, more interested in putting the moves on Stephanie than in finding Maxine. Stephanie's intuition tells her there's something bigger than bail jumping going on, especially when Maxine's mother is scalped, Stephanie's car is blown up, and her apartment is firebombed. Many headaches and dead ends later, Stephanie is so desperate to solve the case that she hires her 83-year-old Grandma Mazur along with seven-foot transvestite Sally Sweet and Lula, a massive mama whose weapon of choice is a .44 Magnum. Providing moral support and cop-type advice is officer Joe Morelli, who can get Stephanie's hormones raging in less than 10 seconds. Side-splittingly funny and a fine mystery to boot, Evanovich's latest (and her best yet) provides belly laughs, braggadocio, and a boatload of hilariously memorable characters. Top-notch fun. (Reviewed April 15, 1998)0312185863Emily Melton
Library Journal Review
Stephanie Plum is once again hunting FTAs (Failure To Appear) in Trenton, NJ, trying to make a living as a bounty hunter. This time out (the fourth in the series), her supporting cast is at its most colorful: Lulu, a large blond ex-prostitute who wants to follow Stephanie into the profession; Sally Sweet, a 7' male transvestite rock singer; and, as always, Joe Morelli, the cop with whom Stephanie still shares a mutual attraction. Stephanie is forced to rent a room in Joe's apartment when hers is firebombed because of her search for Maxine Nowicki. Maxine stole her boyfriend's car and is now leading Stephanie and the boyfriend through a clue-laden treasure hunt. As friends of Maxine turn up mutilated or dead, Stephanie begins to wonder why this case has turned so serious. The bold and expressive narration provided by C.J. Critt fits the story and characters perfectly. Rich, passionate, and well laced with humor, her vocal talents extend to the intonations of an ethnically mixed Trenton. The listener races along as Stephanie attempts to determine, moment to moment, where this case (and her life) are heading. Highly recommended.ÄMelody Moxley, Rowan P.L., Salisbury, NC (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.