Book Review: 'Explosive Eighteen' by Janet Evanovich

Janet Evanovich strikes gold again with her latest Stephanie Plum novel, Explosive Eighteen. Evanovich seamlessly weaves together another page-turner with the usual suspects plus some quirky character additions.

What I love about the Stephanie Plum series is how Evanovich makes it easy for a reader to pick up any of the 18 books and be immediately drawn to Stephanie and the gang. If you don’t start at number one, no problem, Evanovich does an excellent job of giving you the background of each character without too much mundane detail. Although on a side note, I recommend you read all of the books.

Chapter one of Explosive Eighteen begins with sometimes successful bounty hunter Stephanie returning from her Hawaiian vacation. As soon as she steps off the plane Stephanie is neck deep in bad guys, the FBI and for some reason her arch-nemesis Joyce Barnhardt has moved into her apartment. Not good. Stephanie has inadvertently picked up a key piece of evidence in a national case. Now, the feds and less-than-polite thugs all want a piece of Stephanie, dead or alive.

Find out how Stephanie stays one step ahead and also whom she took on her gorgeous Hawaiian getaway. Was it sweet-talking, hottie Trenton cop Morelli? Or did she cross over to the dark side and give in to uber-sexy but secretive Ranger? I’m not telling.