Metro Girl

Janet Evanovich

Despite her fear of flying, Alex Barnaby leaves Baltimore for Miami when her brother, "Wild Bill" disappears after a weird phone call in the middle of the night. He had told her not to tell anyone where he was and that Sam Hooker can "kiss my exhaust pipe". She knows her younger brother is in trouble. She calls her work and takes a few days off and flies south to the rescue.

She finds Bill's apartment - which has been sacked. She goes to the marina hoping to find some clue to Bill's whereabouts. Instead she meets Sam Hooker. Hooker is the "NASCAR guy", a winning driver on the NASCAR circuit. Wild Bill had "borrowed" Hooker's boat. Hooker was looking forward to a fishing vacation before the circuit starts up again.

Alex grew up working on cars in her father's garage. She even raced them a year or two before she tired of being "one of the guys" and cars. Now she works in an office and tells herself she is happy. She and Hooker start working together trying to find her brother. Instead they find dangerous men threatening them and looking for Wild Bill and the woman who may be with him. When they have guns pointed at them, Alex and Hooker know that Bill is tied up in something that is darker and more dangerous than fit the younger man's laid back personality. Will they find Bill alive? And how will they get away from an organization of Cuban killers? Will Hooker get Alex into his bed before they die?

Stephanie Plum now has a more coordinated, self assure counterpart. Where Stephanie is a walking accident, Alex Barnaby is able to handle herself. She has the same lost feelings that Stephanie does, searching for her place in life. And Alex gets into the laughable situations like her Trenton sister. Evanovich writes funny fluff cozy mysteries, and Metro Girl is a good example of her work. This is a fun diversional book and worth excaping into for a few hours.

Metro Girl
Motor Mouth