Stephanie Plum and vehicles--not a good combination!

Tricky Twenty-Two 
by Janet Evanovich

I found this book to be a bit different from the norm for a Stephanie Plum installment.
Although it was a very enjoyable read, I felt it was a bit more serious and less hilarity all the time! 
That wasn't a bad thing...it just had a bit different feel!

Stephanie asks Morelli, 

  "How did you happen to turn up here?"

  "Dumb luck. I had dinner with Anthony, and I was on my way home when I saw Lula's Firebird parked half a block from a disaster scene. I thought chances were good you'd be involved." (p 8)

He does know her well, doesn't he? :)

And Lula definitely has her own unique 'fashion sense':

  Lula was wearing ankle boots with studs and five-inch spike heels, a black spandex skirt that barely covered her butt, a poison green tank top that was stretched to its limit over her big boobs, and a sparkly, fluffy, pink angora cardigan. Every time she moved, some of the angora floated off the sweater and swirled in the air. (p 15)

Even if I was still young, I can't imagine I would ever dress like Lula does! However, that is definitely part of her 'charm'! :)

Of one perp Lula states,

  "It says here this moron attached the dean of students. I imagine this cut his college career short. I'm no college graduate, but I know you're not supposed to try to kill the dean of students." (p 16)

Speaking of the upcoming meeting with "Gobbles":

  "I just don't want to go all animal on him," [Stephanie] said. "I want to give him a chance to talk."

  "I get that," Lula said. "I'm all about that."

  "No shooting."

  "Sure. Unless it's necessary."

  "I don't think it's going to be necessary."

  "Yeah, but if it is."

  "It won't be." 

  "Boy, you know how to take the fun out of stuff." (p 159)

Stephanie and Lula discussing the fact that Lula is "the worst shot on the planet..."."
  "Boy, that's hurtful. As it happens I have an eyesight problem."
  "I didn't know that. What wrong with your vision?"
  "I can't see real good."
  "What about glasses?"
  "I got them but they ruin my appearance."
  "Are you supposed to wear them when you drive?"
  "Only if I want to see things like signs. I can see big things like cars."
  "Good grief. Put your glasses on."
  Lula searched through her purse, found her glasses, and put them on. They were shocking pink and oversized with rhinestones embedded in the frame. She looked like a black Elton John. (p 183-184)
I felt Janet was dating herself a bit on this one! I remember Elton John's get-ups quite well since that was my young era! I quite remember a concert of his in Indianapolis when I was 20. He was amazing! Of course, I was a bit 'impaired' from overcelebrating by the concert's end, but really, he is quite a showman! 

Morelli is sick and considering quitting the police force...what?!? Really?!? Yep...and...he's made some changes in his personal life!
...Morelli had always seemed invincible to me. He waded through crap every day and it all washed off in the shower. Even as a kid he was constantly getting into trouble and landing on his feet. He broke his leg and he was fine. He was shot and he was fine. Never defeated. And now he was the victim of cramping and diarrhea and he wasn't sounding good. It was so atypical for Morelli that it was hard for me to wrap my head around it. (p 208)

See what I mean about this book seeming a bit more serious? 

As the creepy guy is explaining to Stephanie...
  "Healthcare is just another way of allowing employers and the government to control you. What's the first thing they do when you step into a doctor's office? The take your clothes. It's a power grab. A naked man has no power."
  Clearly he doesn't know Ranger.  (p 212)
Mmmmm...Ha! I bet that's so, Stephanie! We do get quite a bit of Ranger in this book! 

I must admit that when Mintner supposedly just hands over a copy of a student's schedule along with home address, etc., that really could never happen because of FERPA. I can't imagine a bounty hunter commands the same authority as the police...but maybe they do. :) Though Mintner was his own kinda creepy, too! Not as if he was overly concerned with following the law! 

And guess who tackles the main creep in the end? Stephanie? Nope... Lula? Nope... I almost stood up and cheered! 

Did anyone else feel this one was a bit different from the other 21 preceding books?

I really liked it, but didn't feel it was as laugh-out-loud funny.

Laugh out loud funny every single time!

I keep realizing that I have yet to blog about some of my absolute favorite books of all time! I blame that on the fact that I am so anxious to read more books, it is a task to pull myself away...to do anything else! :)

   

I adore the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich! There is no reading experience that compares to this for me! Each installment makes me laugh out loud...not just once or twice, but many many times. The characters and situations are so crazy and "unbelievable" as to be, well, almost believable! 

There are 21 books in this series at present. They are perhaps easily recognizable by the fact that their titles are sequentially numbered: One for the Money, Two for the Dough, Three to Get Deadly,...all the way to Top Secret Twenty-One. I own each and every one of these books as well as the "between" novels: Visions of Sugar Plums, Plum Lovin', Plum Lucky, and Plum Spooky. These latter novels tend to be much shorter. 

Although you most certainly do not have to read these in order, I really like to reread them in order every few years. I just feel it gives me much more appreciation for Stephanie's development (or lack thereof) through all her bizarre experiences. Perhaps the most entertaining part of reading this series is getting to know the "supporting cast" of characters. I find it difficult to believe that one person can create and develop such specifically oddball and unique characters! Evanovich has more than a fertile imagination--it qualifies as out of this world! 

Perhaps the two most scintillating characters are Ranger and Morelli; one the man who took Stephanie's virginity and the other sometimes rescues her and/or employs her. I'm going on record--I never want Stephanie to choose only one of these men! I think one of the most enjoyable aspects of this series is the fact that she has both of them in her life and they both (in their own way) do love her, and she them...

Then there is Stephanie's family: her mother who 'tipples' and irons when she gets extremely upset; her father who rarely speaks, communicating mainly using grunts; her Grandma Mazur who much prefers open casket funerals and will do her darnedest to attend every single funeral held in the Burg and make sure the casket IS open; and her perhaps-not-so-perfect sister, Valerie and her two children and new attorney husband... Morelli's Grandma Bella and "the eye." Don't forget the ex-husband, Dickie Orr, and new arch-nemesis fellow bounty hunter Joyce Barnhardt, the woman Stephanie caught with Dickie about 15 minutes before filing for divorce...

Who could ever forget Lula, the neon-colored 3-sizes-too-small spandex wearing "big-boned" but vertically-challenged ex-hooker, Vinny's file clerk and sometimes Stephanie's personal apprehension assistant! Transvestite rocker Sally Sweet, an obnoxious short person Randy Briggs, the I'll-eat-anything gigantic dog Bob, stoners Mooner and Dougie, office manager Connie, Mr. Jingles the alligator, Salvatore Sunucchi, to name just a few!

Interestingly, I notice readers post disgruntled reviews on Goodreads about this series, complaining that things never seem to change--each book is the same--yada yada yada. However, they keep reading and posting with each new release! Their complaints are exactly what I love about this series...so very predictable, especially the fact that I will laugh as I do at no other writing! 

I can't really pinpoint in detail what makes these books so darned appealing to me--I just know they are! How 'bout you? Have you tried one yet? If not, I suggest you do! Fun, fun, fun...