Motor Mouth

Janet Evanovich

Barney is the race day spotter for Sam Hooker, a top NASCAR driver. For a while she had been connected with him, too, until he spent a very public night with a sales clerk. Hooker finishes his last race in Miami. He comes in second. They are certain that the driver who came in first was cheating, but when the NASCAR officials did the follow up car check, nothing was found.

When it comes to anything off the race course, inept is a good description for both Barney and Hooker. Shortly after the race is finished and everyone has left the course, the two of them end up "borrowing" the hauler for the winning car. They had planned on rescuing a friend and leaving the truck to be found. But the best laid plans and all that. They not only find their friend but also a dead body on the truck - the owner of the company that sponsers the winning race team. Before they're done they have to clear their names of murder, avoid being arrested for stealing a NASCAR hauler and taking two expensive race cars apart, and prove there is new technology being used to cheat the system. Oh, and they have to avoid being killed themselves and have Hooker up to New York City in three days...

I put finished this book with one main descriptive word in my head - dumb. It has a couple moments where I had to chuckle, but otherwise it doesn't come together believably in any way. Evanovich is playing to her audience of the Stephanie Plum novels and has done it poorly. Hooker is a one dimensional character. The only reason Barney has two or three dimensions is because this is a first person narrative. Even then, the major adjective that I have for Motor Mouth is dumb. I'm really glad I borrowed it from the library rather than buying it. I certainly won't be anticipating the next Barnaby novel.

Notice: Suggestive dialogue or situations

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