A to Z Book Review: One For The Money
My letter “O” pick for the A to Z Book challenge was ONE FOR THE MONEY by Janet Evanovich.
Janet Evanovich is a writing superstar, NY Times bestselling author over and over, and a total badass. Along with that, she’s goes above and beyond to help other authors – especially those that are new to the craft. I adore her. I don’t, however, read her. I confess I’m not a big mystery fan (I always skip to the end after a few chapters in), but the whole point of this challenge is to stretch and read outside my normal picks, and this first book of the wildly popular Stephanie Plum mystery/crime series seemed like an ideal pick.
Stephanie Plum is an instantly engaging down-on-her-luck protagonist who just got laid off, needs to pay rent, and is desperate enough to take work as a bail bondsperson working for her cousin. Her target is a cop who was accused of murder – a cop she grew up with, once had a fling with in high school with, and a jerk who never called her after.
She’s snarky, plucky, and generally good fun, but I had a really hard time with her being so smart at times, and then doing really stupid things (like hanging around the area near a gym where a prizefighter came precariously close to raping her). Along with that, when the prizefighter finds her home address and comes to find her (along with leaving some rather disgusting DNA on her door when he can’t seem to get her to let him in), she just shrugs it off and doesn’t bother filing a police report or anything. Along with that, she was sexually molested as a kid by none other than the cop she’s after – a man she still holds a torch for despite all he’s done to and with her. It should be noted he was also a child at the time of the assault (though a bit older), but still. I had such a case of ick over it it cast a pall over the story for me.
Other than that, the plot was masterfully executed, and Stephanie was nearly, nearly a hilarious, lovable character I wanted to see more of. This may be thousands of reader’s cup of tea, but I’m not one of them. Three stars.
