Janet Evanovich - Explosive Eighteen

As of October, this is my third and final review of the Stephanie Plum series as Notorious Nineteen isn't out in paperback as of yet and I'm not rushing out to buy it as I've become slightly disenchanted with the series.  While it is one of my favourite series still, the earlier books were much better and the new ones feel a bit repetitive.

Explosive Eighteen is the eighteenth full length novel from Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series which follows Stephanie Plum, a bail bonds agent who struggles to even complete a single capture without something going wrong, like her car being stolen repeatedly by a FTA for example.  Not only is her professional life chaotic, so is her love life; she is in an on-and-off relationship with Joe Morelli, a homicide detective, but also has an occasional fling with Ranger, her former bounty hunter mentor.  Stephanie is not alone when she bumbles her way through her FTAs as she has assistance in the form of Lola, an ex-hooker that Stephanie met during her first case.  It's not all bad for Stephanie though because she is still very close to her family, physically as well as emotionally, as she only lives ten minutes away from her parents' house in the 'Burg where she grew up.

Rating: 5

Recommended To: Chick lit lovers; crime readers

Favourite Characters: Morelli; Annie Hart

Favourite Part: Okay, so my family's a little dysfunctional.  It's not like they're dangerous.  At least we all sit down and have dinner together.  Plus, by Jersey standards, we're pretty much normal. - Page 87

Good Points: Steph is thinking about her love life more; humour; good old bonkers family

Bad Points: Wasted opportunity

Explosive Eighteen takes place a couple of weeks after Smokin' Seventeen after Stephanie gets back from Hawaii which she refuses to talk about, despite the fact that she has a tan line on her ring finger and both the men in her life have war wounds from a fight and aren't exactly happy with Steph.

One thing I've always been annoyed about the later books in this series is the fact that Steph can't seem to make up her mind up about which bloke she wants in her life but still hops between beds.  However, this time round she seems to be thinking more about her love life after her holiday, refusing to even see either man (and Morelli refuses to see her too) let alone sleep with them.  Like I've said before, she looks like she's playing both Morelli and Ranger off one another and this culminates in some kind of conflict occurring between these two during Smokin' Seventeen and Explosive Eighteen.  This forces her to realise that she needs to decide which man she wants and this is what I think has been needed for many books now.

I haven't mentioned in either of the Stephanie Plum book reviews before because I don't want them to be too long but I've always loved the humour in these books and always have, even in this one.  The way the characters are with one another, light and joking, which in turn makes light of the random, more severe situations Steph gets herself in from being followed by various groups of people, going after her FTAs, and even the fact that someone was killed that she was connected to for a moment.  I think the humour is what draws me to this series over and over again because I am guaranteed to laugh at whatever stupid thing happens to Steph and Lula no matter what it is.

Family has always been an important part to the Stephanie Plum series no matter how dysfunctional they seem because at least they provide Stephanie something to fall back on when she needs it, like food, a car, or even somewhere to sleep when her apartment is destroyed by some random act of violence.  The Plums reminds me of my own family (my mum's side at least) because they're all so close and stick their noses into anyone's business, even when it's not wanted, especially regarding relationships.  And much like the Plum house, you walk into my grandparents' house and there's enough food to feed the five thousand which is always good when there are a lot of you that turn up in one go.  A quirky family can make you interesting and the Plums certainly do that for Steph.

I love two characters that I love from this book, one has been my consistent favourite since the beginning of the series and the other is fairly new in comparison.

I've already said before that Morelli is my favourite character because he's hot, protective, flirty, dependable, and up for a laugh but at this point, I'm starting to think the Italian Stallion has lost something, whether it's because the way Evanovich writes him feels stale.  He seems to be less possessive which made him get this wild eye thing about him (he did in my head anyway) which was hot because it implied that he cared.  Granted, he and Ranger finally duke it out but it seems anti-climactic because it goes unseen (except for a little mention) and neither Morelli nor Ranger seem to have won the heart of fair Lady Plum.

My absolute favourite character in this book was Annie Hart for a few reasons; one, her reappearance is completely random which I found funny at the time; two, unless the book, Plum Lovin', was read, she is a complete mystery and even more unusual; and three, she's not changed at all which I love because she only plays a small part but has inspired me to reread the Stephanie Plum books that feature Diesel soon because they were even weirder than normal.

The absolute worst thing about Explosive Eighteen is that Evanovich wasted a great opportunity with this series by skipping over Steph's holiday and going straight back into Trenton following a cliff-hanger in Smokin' Seventeen.  She could have mixed it up by bringing complete focus onto Stephanie without bringing less significant supporting characters in to interfere which would have allowed Stephanie's character to have some development which she has lacked for ages along with every other character in this series.

Okay, so my family's a little dysfunctional.  It's not like they're dangerous.  At least we all sit down and have dinner together.  Plus, by Jersey standards, we're pretty much normal. - Page 87

This just summarised the Plums for me and I connected with it because it reminded me of my own family; by Bradford's standards, we're pretty normal.

As I have said before, Evanovich should finish this series; even though I love it but it just seems dragged out now.  She should focus on other characters and let the people of Trenton rest for a while.

Predictions

1. Steph isn't pregnant but has a scare

2. A car death, hasn't had a good one for a while
3. This series will end for the love of God

Other Books by Janet Evanovich