TWO FOR THE DOUGH BY JANET EVANOVICH

rating
(Stephanie Plum, #2)
MYSTERY


This one's double the fun!

Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is still learning the ropes at her cousin Vinnie's bail bond office, so when she sets out on the trail of Kenny Mancuso - a suspiciously weatlhy, working class Trenton boy who has just shot his best friend - the stakes are higher than ever. That Mancuso is distantly related to vice cop Joe Morelli - who is trying to beat Stephanie to the punch - only makes the hunt more thrilling...

Taking pointers from her bounty hunter pal, Ranger, and using her pistol packing Grandma Mazur as a decoy, Stephanie is soon closing in on her mark. But Morelli and his libido are worthy foes. And a more sinister kind of enemy has made his first move... and his next move might be Stephanie's last.




This is one of those times where I remembered liking a book more the first time I read it. Re-reading it, I found I'm just not a big Evanovich fan. She has a style of cutesy, short and abbreviated writing style that doesn't suit me. I will say at least it's easy to read and quick to breeze through.

There IS genuine humor that works - I laughed out loud a few times - but some of it comes off as forced and a little contrived. Stephanie is motivated by the greed of success, but I don't see much else about her as a realistic character. Morelli is probably the best part, as he's amusing too but his dialogue is well constructed (the scene with Ranger and the truck was probably the best part of the book.) I know many love the Grandmother, and she is cute, but she's also stereotypical - as is the mother and father.

These books are fun - the plots are creative enough for this type, the humor is real, the writing easy to digest, characters enjoyable to a point....but it doesn't have a deep core or that much substance other than some predictable staples.



   Book Quotes:

“It's a penis,' Grandma said. 'Stephanie got it in the mail. It's a pretty good one too.”

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