Ten Big Ones

Janet Evanovich

Stephanie Plum and her friend Lula have stopped to get some food. While standing beside the car debating, they witness a store robbery. The devil-face masked robber throws a molotav cocktail into the store. The store owner throws it back at the robber getting away on a bicycle. It bounces off the thief and hits...Stephanie's car, of course. BOOM! While getting angry about her car, Stephanie sees the robber pull off his devil mask long enough to see his real face.

While trying to follow some leads, Stephanie drives the Buick into the middle of the worse area of Trenton, the neighborhood of the Slayers - a gang that has no problems killing. After being trapped, she runs the car through a number of gang members to get away. The gang is now after her. A nationally known hit man, the Junkman, is after Stephanie. Joe Morelli tries to protect her and shuts her in his house. She hates being cooped up, picks a fight with Joe, and walks out. Stephanie now needs a place to hide, needs to continue picking up "failure to show" clients of her bailbondsman uncle, wants to find the robber who blew up her car, and find a house for her sister's family.

OK, so this isn't great literature. But every Stephanie Plum novel is guaranteed to make me laugh out loud. This one isn't exactly a mystery, but more of a thriller that is comedy as well.The characters carry over from the previous books, and get better. Guns may be blazing, but I'm laughing. This is a chick book, but guys may like it too. They'll certainly sympathize with Joe and Ranger.

I'll tell you my three favorite parts - when Grandma Mazur is worried about ET, when Stephanie discusses Ranger's budget with him, and the scene with the red dress and sequined heels at the end of the book.

Notice: Strong indecent language, Strong sexual content, Suggestive dialogue or situations

The Series:

One for the Money
Two for the Dough
Three to Get Deadly
Four to Score
High Five
Hot Six
Seven Up
Hard Eight
Visions of Sugar Plums
To the Nines
Ten Big Ones
Eleven on Top
Twelve Sharp
Plum Lovin'
Lean Mean Thirteen
Plum Lucky
Fearless Fourteen
Plum Spooky
Finger Lickin' Fifteen
Sizzling Sixteen
Smokin' Seventeen
Explosive Eighteeen

The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz