“Many writers create good characters, but to create hilariously funny ones virtually bristling with believable sexual electricity — that’s the achievement..”
NO MAJOR SPOILERS
Stephanie Plum lost her job her job as a lingerie buyer and was desperate enough for money to agree to work for her cousin Vinnie as a bond enforcement agent.
Set in a working-class community in Trenton, New Jersey, the books (22 and counting) take us through Stephanie’s adventures as she struggles to improve from being a completely inept bounty hunter to merely mediocre.
She is helped along the way by a cast of characters that include but are not restricted to: Lula (an ex-ho with a … flexible attitude towards dressing for her size, and a colour sense that can only be described as fearless), Ranger (a handsome and somewhat mysterious individual with mad skills and almost superhuman sex appeal) and Joseph Morelli (an American-Italian ex-school peer of Stephanie’s who is now too good-looking for her own good, and with whom she has a sort-of-but-not-quite-defined relationship).
It’s safe to say that, with the exception of her somewhat senile grandmother, Stephanie’s family are not happy with her career choice and want her to do something less blowy-uppy and shooty. Despite this, they take the bizarre cast of characters that Stephanie brings home for dinner (something of a family ritual) in their stride.
Stephanie has her own superpower of getting the weirdest people either completely on her side – or completely hating her. The characters are all larger than life and the stories frankly ludicrous (the number of cars that Stephanie gets through alone…) but it works – and there is just enough actual, real, serious danger to occasionally bring you back to reality. This is chick-lit, but chick-lit par excellence. I personally, find these books a welcome break when I feel I’ve been reading too much heavy stuff. Word of warning however, you WILL start to crave junk food when reading them!
Reviewed by:
Debbie McCarthy
Added 24th April 2016
