Between the Numbers Time!

Turn on all the lights and check under your bed. Things are about to get spooky in Trenton, New Jersey.

According to legend, the Jersey Devil prowls the Pine Barrens and soars above the treetops in the dark of night. As eerie as this might seem, there are things in the Barrens that are even more frightening and dangerous. And there are monkeys. Lots of monkeys.

Wulf Grimoire is a world wanderer and an opportunist who can kill without remorse and disappear like smoke. He’s chosen Martin Munch, boy genius, as his new business partner, and he’s chosen the Barrens as his new playground.

Munch received his doctorate degree in quantum physics when he was twenty-two. He's now twenty-four, and while his brain is large, his body hasn't made it out of the boys' department at Macy's. Anyone who says good things come in small packages hasn't met Munch. Wulf Grimoire is looking for world domination. Martin Munch would be happy if he could just get a woman naked and tied to a tree.

Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum has Munch on her most-wanted list for failure to appear in court. Plum is the all-American girl stuck in an uncomfortable job, succeeding on luck and tenacity. Usually she gets her man. This time she gets a monkey. She also gets a big guy named Diesel.

Diesel pops in and out of Plum's life like birthday cake: delicious to look at and taste, not especially healthy as a steady diet, gone by the end of the week if not sooner. He's an a bounty hunter with special skills when it comes to tracking men and pleasing women. He's after Grimoire, and now he's also after Munch. And if truth were told, he wouldn't mind setting Stephanie Plum in his crosshairs.

Diesel and Plum hunt down Munch and Grimoire, following them into the Barrens, surviving cranberry bogs, the Jersey Devil, a hair-raising experience, sand in their underwear, and, of course . . . monkeys.

Title: Plum Spooky
Author: Janet Evanovich
Series: Plum Between-the-Numbers, Book 4
Start & Finished: 2/26/09
Published: 2008
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Pages: 309 (Hardcover)
Genre: Popular Fiction- Mystery/ Humor

The famous fictional New Jersey bounty hunter created by Janet Evanovich stars in a new adventure called Plum Spooky. It’s the first full-length novel that is a part of the Between-the-Numbers series which takes place as its name suggests, between the main Stephanie Plum series. These spin-off stories were created for many reasons but they’re not a part of the main series at all even if the characters do crossover into these. They’re very distinguishable from the main Plum books as they have a little bit of an almost paranormal edge and Stephanie gets another guy in her life called Diesel (who is a bit like a magic Ranger) and even though they don’t have the same kind of relationship, sparks do fly whenever he’s in town!

Janet Evanovich has written quite a few books and even collaborated with other authors but the Stephanie Plum books are her "bread and butter series." Therefore, although these particular books are slightly different than what her readers are used to, she does try to give her audience a "consistent reading experience" and she fully succeeds with Plum Spooky. Evanovich talks about writing differently than any other author I know (she calls books her "products") and in her interviews it seems like she takes an almost clinical approach to writing. She has even said, "You can't go wrong with monkeys (this book) and midgets (Plum Lucky)". However, as pretentious as that sounds, I did laugh almost throughout the entire novel as par usual with her books.

This writer truly isn’t out to write the next “Great American Novel”, she simply wants to entertain her audience, which she does consistently. On the other hand, once the book is through and I sit back to think about it critically, I felt like Evanovich just said, "What do people find funny nowadays? Ah-ha, monkeys and fart jokes!" so she put those in. Crude though it sounds, she just has this magical way of not only making her audience love her books by making them laugh so hard they’ll cry no matter what… flaming fart jokes notwithstanding.

Plum Spooky had many things against it right from the start, the least of which is that it is not one of the original Plums but for some reason I still liked it. I honestly think the character Diesel had a major hand in that so I was very excited to learn that January of next year Diesel will be getting his own series separate from the Plums. Yes, I should be disappointed in this book, especially since Grandma Mazur is only in a few scenes but nonetheless, it was extremely funny and entertaining- everything a great Stephanie Plum book should be.

Stephanie Plum Between-the-Numbers Series
Visions of Sugar Plums (2002)
Plum Lovin' (2007)
Plum Lucky (2008)
Plum Spooky (2009)

Related Posts: Lean Mean Thirteen and Fearless Fourteen
Links: Author Wikipedia,
Interview: Bestsellers Books (Audio), Audio Excerpt



Picture Explanations
Fart Fire: Elmer the Fire Farter helps Diesel and Stephanie out while in the Barrens
Pine Barrens: All of the characters spend a ton of time out on these roads in the Barrens
Monkey: This is Carl, he's shown up a few times in this series but has a HUGE part in this story

Other Blogger's Opinions: Savvy Verse & Wit, ReadingAdventures, Books & other thoughts, Un-Mainstream Mom Reads

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