This is the 12th book in Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series about a New Jersey bounty hunter with a very good sense of humour but not much skill at bounty hunting. Actually I thought it was the newest one when I bought it, but apparently number 13 is already out and 14 is lurking around the corner – so much for me having my finger on the pulse.
Anyway, Twelve Sharp restored my faith in Stephanie Plum because we had lost touch in recent years. I read the first seven books (one for the Money, Two for the Dough, Three to Get Deadly … get the picture?) with alacrity. In fact oP Katherine Rich and I had quite a little fan club going there for a while but then I fizzled out around about the Hard Eight point.
There is a mood, however, that is exactly right for Stephanie Plum and I was in it when my hand reached out in an airport bookshop earlier in the month and snatched this off the shelf. The book’s in a really small, light, format, for a start. And you know how much I like a small, light book.
Also, it’s laugh-out-loud funny. Stephanie is a lovable whack-job with a loony funeral-obsessed granny, a voluptuous under-dressed sidekick, a parade of slippery but largely incompetent villains to track down and an ongoing love triangle with local cop Morelli and mystery man Ranger. I defy anyone with even half a sense of humour to not wet their pants laughing after reading the scene where Grandma oazur joins Lula’s band and performs – wearing leather hot pants – while the Plums are having dinner. Heck, I didn’t get past the description of the hot pants. Sometimes the plot can be a little hard to find in Stephanie’s travels, but it’s clear as a bell here. Some sociopath has stolen Ranger’s identity and his daughter, and Stephanie is helping to get her back.
It’s got plot, laughs, and can be held up without the use of wrist supports – what’s not to like?
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