Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum never
seems to have a dull day. Her life in “Smokin’ Seventeen” is not an exception,
either. After all, how often is it that someone has not one or two, but three
people who would really like to bring about one person’s demise? With any luck
as a bounty hunter, hopefully not too often, so apparently it is not
Stephanie’s lucky day or week or month.
Someone is dumping bodies on the
currently empty lot of Vincent Plum Bail Bonds, where Stephanie works. The
backhoe operator inadvertently finds one of the bodies in a shallow grave on
the lot, which is under construction after a fire destroyed it. Another day
someone comes across another body, but it was in a different part of the lot
and in a deeper grave. Cameras are installed and too soon after that, a third
body is dumped, though the killer doesn’t bother with burying it. Stephanie
watches the video of the dumping seeing the tall man in the Frankenstein mask,
and he reminds her of someone, but she can’t put her finger on it. Worse yet, on
the third body, he attached a note: “For Stephanie.” What does the killer want
with her?
Stephanie goes through vehicles at
an alarming rate. At the beginning of the book, she has a “seen-better-days”
Ford Escort. It gets an insult spray-coated on it before it’s stolen. She’s
given a Jeep Cherokee by Ranger from Rangeman’s fleet of vehicles. That one
ends up with a dead man “For Stephanie” behind the wheel in her apartment’s
parking lot. After that, Ranger grants her a Shelby, which is a very sweet ride
until it gets blown up. Her final car of the book is a new, black Ford Escort. How
long will it last? (“Explosive Eighteen” comes out Nov. 22, 2011.)
A fifth body is found stuffed in the
trunk of the deceased’s car, which was placed in Pine Barrens, a heavily wooded
area. While the placement of bodies may differ, the modus operandi with which
the killer kills does not. Can Stephanie figure out who the killer is before he
kills again?
There are many colorful characters
in the Stephanie Plum novels, those characters who are regulars and those who
play minor roles in the book (usually characters who have to be hauled in
because they missed their court dates). Two prominent men are Joe Morelli and
Ranger. Morelli is Stephanie’s on-again/off-again boyfriend and Ranger is a
fellow bounty hunter and “interest.”
There are co-workers: Lula, the file
clerk and Stephanie’s occasional bounty hunter partner, who prefers clothes
which are too tight and tall-heeled designer shoes; Connie, the receptionist
who can get information on just about anything or anyone; and Vinnie, owner of
the bonds office and Stephanie’s cousin. Also look for Grandma Mazur,
Stephanie’s maternal grandmother; Stephanie’s parents; Dave Brewer, a man with
a possibly sketchy past who Stephanie went to school with and her mom now wants
her to date/marry; Mooner, who owns the motor home the office is working out
of; Morelli’s dog, Bob; Rex, Stephanie’s roommate, a hamster; and Grandma
Bella, Morelli’s grandmother, a peculiar woman whose main threat involves
giving “the eye.”
As for some of the others, look out
for a man who thinks he’s a vampire, a bear on a leash, a man who wants to off
Stephanie since she offed his brother years back, a big man missing a pinky
toe, and a woman who repeatedly tries to run her over in her black Lexus.
You will not be totally lost if you
didn’t read the first sixteen books. This was my first book from the Stephanie
Plum series. The major characters are introduced all over again. The book had
an element of chase (bounty hunting) and be chased (three who want to off
Stephanie), but it also had moments of lust and passion. If you’re interested
in Stephanie’s life about to go up in smoke, try “Smokin’ Seventeen.”
Note: Since I wrote this review
last year, Explosive Eighteen (Nov. 22, 2011) has been released and Notorious Nineteen is planned for release on Nov. 20, 2012. Smokin’
Seventeen is still currently the only
book of the Stephanie Plum novels which I’ve read.
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