Evanovich, Janet: One For the Money

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I'm coming late to Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series, which is now fifteen novels strong. But increasingly I've been reading positive references to the books, bloggers anxious for the next installment, so I downloaded a sample. I was sold on reading the whole thing by the writing style. Passages like this one suggested the series would offer better than average writing:

"Food is important in the burg. The moon revolves around the earth, the earth revolves around the sun, and the burg revolves around pot roast. For as long as I can remember, my parents' lives have been controlled by five-pound pieces of rolled rump, done to perfection at six o'clock."

In this first installment, published in 1994, Stephanie Plum is out of work, having been laid off from her job as a buyer for a mafia-connected lingerie emporium. She falls into a job working as a bounty hunter for her bail bondsman cousin Vinnie. Her first assignment: bringing in Joseph Morelli, who's wanted for murder and has skipped on a $100,000 bond. Stephanie knows Morelli from the old neighborhood: she played "train" with him when she was six and he eight, and ten years later they played a variation of the same game on the floor of a bakery after hours. He kissed and told and she's held a grudge ever since, so hauling him back to jail has its appeal.

While learning on the job and trying to locate Morelli, Stephanie runs into some other bad guys, a seriously scary championship boxer and his trainer, a low-life who's skipped bail on a stolen car charge. She also bonds with Ranger, a co-worker who looks like what a bounty hunter should look like and who proves to be a good friend to have when there's trouble.

Now that I've been initiated into the series everyone else seems to have been reading, I have to say, I'm sold on it. The book never seemed formulaic to me. The writing is punctuated by clever turns of phrase. I didn't have problems with the story's credibility. And I like the cast of characters. I've already downloaded the second book to my Kindle.

Comments

[King Rat]

1.

I thought One for the Money was pretty good and started reading the series. But after 5 or 6 books it got really monotonous, particularly the characters who never ever change. I gave up completely after 10 or 11.

[Debra Hamel]

2.

Interesting. I've actually read two more in the series already. (I'm behind in posting my reviews.) And I'm experiencing the same growing unhappiness with the books. I'm thinking I'll post the next two over the next couple days, if I have time.