Fearless Fourteen: A Great Novel by Janet Evanovich

Fearless Fourteen is definitely one of Janet Evanovich's better efforts. Janet writes a long-running series about a New Jersey woman, Stephanie Plum, who is a bounty hunter. She is a product of her environment and still has strong connections to the 'Berg, a community that is inhabited by ordinary people. That is, they appear ordinary until viewed through the kaleidoscope provided by Janet Evanovich. Much of the Berg has Mob connections. These are families who consider driving the get away van for a nine million dollar bank robbery an excellent job opportunity.

Adding to the fun are the two men in her life, Joe Morelli, bad boy turned good cop and Ranger, bounty hunter turned successful entrepreneur. Her family can be counted on to always be there with dinner on the table precisely on time and skewed comedy.

Janet's last three books have been excellent reads for those of us addicted to her Stephanie Plum series. Early in the series there were some books that were much better than others. Lately though Janet Evanovich has hit her stride, producing one good read after another.

Fearless Fourteen offers some great moments that leaves the reader gasping with laughter at times. Warning: put the book down before drinking coffee or eating something. There are more than a few spew moments in Fearless Fourteen.

For those who are regular readers of the series some of the better moments include Ranger in a tuxedo; Morelli and Stephanie becoming parents, and a return of Mooner, who we last saw with a spoon of peanut butter stuck in his hair. I'm not even going to mention what Lula and Grandma Mazur get up to in Fearless Fourteen.

The mystery involves a nine year old robbery that netted nine million dollars. It all gets very complicated when Stephanie's FTA (that's Failure To Appear for those of you not in the know) is kidnapped, people start turning up dead, Morelli's house is targeted for destruction, and Ranger needs a favor.

The Plum series is not for everyone, but for those of us who are looking for a combination of mystery, adventure, and comedy it is one of the most satisfying around. Janet has a deft touch with comedy, which is much harder to write than dark and scary. Not that there aren't a few of those moments in her books because after all Stephanie's job is that of BEA, Bond Enforcement Agent (bounty hunter) and some of her cases involve really bad guys, who are beyond scary straight into terrifying.

While the mystery may seem obvious, when you get to the end of the story there is as usual, a twist that leaves you marveling at Janet Evanovich's clever misdirection.