false 2292384 0312349513 9780312349516 9485 1549 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2292384.Fearless_Fourteen 2384 Janet Evanovich 258027 16488 1 4 false Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 05 22:12:03 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 05 22:13:58 -0700 2008 Evanovich, Janet – 14th in series
St. Martin’s Press, 2008, US Hardcover – ISBN: 9780312349516

First Sentence: In my mind, my kitchen is filled with crackers and cheese, roast chicken leftovers, farm fresh eggs, and coffee beans ready to grind.

Stephanie keeps suspecting someone has been in the basement of her boyfriend, police detective Joe Morelli. Stephanie is baby-sitting teenaged “Zook” after him mother was arrested. Zook’s uncle isn’t happy that the kid is spending time at Morelli’s house and claims Joe is Zook’s actual father. But the uncle, Dom Rizzi, is no saint as he did time for a bank robbery in which the money was never recovered.

Having grown up in “Jersey,” I loved the earlier Plum books. Not this one.

It’s one sight gag after another—oh, but wait, we’re reading. What would probably be very funny visually, just doesn’t quite work here, in spite of Ms. Evanovich’s best efforts. She’s a good writer, but this is so chaotic, you lose the focus, and the impact, of the main story.

Stephanie is a character who hasn’t grown. She’s the type I might enjoy at first, but would never have as a friend as she is just too much of a ditz. Men might love her; most women would just shake their heads in disbelief.

Give me a strong, smart, independent female protagonist; I think Stephanie and I are done.]]>