|
|
|
|
|
Okay, so I think we�ve already established the fact that I�m
hooked on Janet Evanovich�s Stephanie Plum novels. And at a recent book sale held at our
local library, I hit the jackpot. I was scanning through boxes and boxes of books when I
saw it: the first Stephanie Plum book. I shoved through the crowd, snatched up the book,
and clutched it in my arms as I ran off.
Yep. I like these books that
much.
Now that I�ve read several of the more recent Plum novels, it was
exciting to read the first one�the one that started it all. In One for the Money
Evanovich sets up the story. Stephanie Plum is down-and-out. She�s been out of a job
for six months, her car has been impounded, and she�s sold all of her furniture to pay
the rent and keep herself and her hamster, Rex, fed. Desperate for cash, she goes to her
cousin Vinnie, a bail bondsman, to beg for a filing job. Instead, she ends up taking a
job as a bounty hunter (how hard can that be?)
Stephanie�s first job is
to hunt down Joe Morelli, a guy who grew up down the street from Stephanie�and with whom
she had an, er, encounter behind the �clair counter at the donut shop where she used to
work. Now Morelli�s a cop. Or at least he was until he supposedly killed an unarmed man
and then disappeared. It�s Stephanie�s job to find Morelli and bring him in�but it
turns out to be easier said than done. Even with the help of Ranger, a veteran bounty
hunter, Steph finds that while she keeps running into Morelli, she can�t seem to capture
him. And to make matters worse, she�s become the obsession of a criminally insane boxer
who�s determined to make her his next victim.
One for the Money
isn�t Evanovich�s best. Her writing has definitely gotten a lot more solid since this
first book in her series. But the important things are still there�namely the laughs and
the eccentric characters (like Stephanie�s Grandma Mazur and Lula, the queen-sized
hooker). And it�s worth reading just to see how it all began.
If you�ve
never read a Stephanie Plum book before, you don�t have to start with the first
one�though it definitely won�t hurt to start from the beginning. Pick up One for the
Money. It�s a super-quick read (it only took me about three or four days of
spare-time reading), and once you�ve read it, you�ll be eager to move on to the next
one.
|
|
|
|
