EXPLOSIVE EIGHTEEN

Explosive Eighteen is the latest instalment of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series. For new readers, Stephanie is a rather inept Bail Bond apprehension agent for her cousin Vinnie and each tale leads us through a hilarious sequence of events involving her, her co-worker Lula, her eccentric family (including gun toting grandmother) and her two love interests; cop Joe Morelli and the enigmatic Ranger.

This book starts with Stephanie escaping from Hawaii, leaving an angry Morelli and Ranger behind, and a simple flight starts a sequence of events that has her tangling with the FBI, the fake FBI, a psychopath, her arch enemy and various other individuals all hunting the mysterious photograph someone stuffed in her bag.  The someone who is now dead, leaving Stephanie as the only person who knows the focus of that photo.

As usual, Explosive Eighteen also treats us to the totally unskilled and inexpert efforts of Stephanie and Lula to apprehend the bail jumpers, which always causes me to laugh out loud.  Not a deep crime novel, but a fast fun rollercoaster ride of mayhem and madness in New Jersey.