Customer Reviews

Four to Score (Stephanie Plum, No. 4)

5 star:		(184)
4 star:		(64)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This fourth book in the series is one of nonstop falling off your chair laughter. Stephanie Plum, bounty hunter is after Maxine Nowicki, who is free on a stolen automobile charge. Her boyfriend, Eddie Kuntz, also offers Stephanie money in hopes that she can retrieve something extremely valuable to him...love letters, he claims.

The chase is on in this page-turning craze, and all of the extra added details that makes this adventure that much more funny! The cast of characters is helpful to Stephanie once again. Stephanie's family, especially Grandma Mazur, add pizzazz, depth, and a heck of a lot of humor to this great plot.
Joe Morelli is also back and yes him and Stephanie finally get together!
Lula, the large prostitute-turned-file clerk-slash-wannabe is hysterical in this book. Her quick wit and street humor keep you rolling.
This fourth book also introduces Sally Sweet, a code-breaking transvestite 'drag queen" musician. Grandma Mazur comes right out and asks Sally what a drag queen does with his ding-dong and I died laughing. Stephanie's enemy, Joyce Barnhardt, also has a larger roll in this book, as the newest bounty hunter at the Vincent Plum bail bonds agency.

This book is truly hysterical, pages keep turning with the fast paced humor and wit. This is the best book yet in the series and I thought three was good. This series is highly recommended!

Stephanie's back and better than ever with Four to Score, a funny, sexy romp through Trenton, New Jersey. Stephanie Plum, bounty hunter from hell, is on the trail of Maxine Nowicki, who forgot about her court appearance and jumped bail. In the process of tracking Maxine down, she uncovers murderers, counterfeiters and a fire bomber. Unfortunately, Stephanie's apartment is at the top of the fire bomber's hit list and she moves in with Joe Morelli. Now the fun really begins. As always, Ms Evanovich fills her story with quirky, wacky characters that just add to the fun and we get to see a lot more of the Plum and Morelli families. The writing is smart and down to earth and Ms Evanovich has a wonderful ear for dialogue. You'll laugh out loud at the antics of this fine cast. Do yourself a favor, start with One for the Money and read the whole series. Ms Evanovich doesn't disappoint.

A few weeks ago I clicked on the icon for "High Five" by an author I had never heard about. All the reviews seem to say how good the plot was and how funny the book was. Since I hadn't heard of the author before I did what I usually do and find the earliest book by the author and start there. The early books are usually in paper back and cheaper. Generally an author develops characters along the way so that is what I did. I bought "One For The Money". Well I just loved it and quickly read 2 and 3 and am finishing "Four To Score". This is one of the funniest and most enjoyable series I have read. The only negative thing I have to say is that I have finally ordered "High Five" and when I am done I will have a long wait before the next novel comes out. If you havn't read any of the books I do recommend that you start from the beginning of the series and I hope you get as much enjoyment from them as I have.

In this installment, Stephanie Plum is back with a bang. The accident prone ditzy bounty hunter manages to get blown out of her car and apartment, and into Joe Morelli's spare bedroom.

In addition to her trusty sidekick Lula, she now has a nearly seven foot tall transvestite musician (who's not gay), and her pistol-packing Grandma in her conspicuous entourage.

The case this time is to bring in a waitress who's skipped bail. Like all her other assignments, this one sounds easier than it looks, and before you can say "pepper spray" things start heating up. To make matters worse, Morelli's family has the grapevine buzzing, and her sleazy cousin Vinnie has assigned her long-time arch rival to the same case.

The steam picks up this time around, and the sparks between Stephanie and Joe are as hot as Trenton in a heat wave. The plot is a bit jumpy, but the fast pace and humorous situations make it a worthwhile read.

Amanda Richards, April 3, 2005

(In memory of Bob Zeidler, a very funny guy and great reviewer, who left us to our own devices on April 2, 2005.)

Nah, that would be just too unbelievable. Not for the bad-luck-with-hair bounty hunter, Stephanie Plum. This fourth book in the series is one of non-stop outrageous humor.

Stephanie Plum is after Maxine Nowicki, and FTA who is free on a stolen automobile charge. Her boyfriend, Eddie Kuntz, also employs Stephanie's services in hopes that she can retrieve something extremely valuable to him...love letters? The chase is on in a page-turning frenzy, and all of the extra added elements that Janet Evanovich throws in makes the adventure that much more complete.

The cast of characters is sensational once again. Stephanie's family, especially the show-stealing antics of Grandma Mazur, add color, depth, and a heck of a lot of humor to the already well-developed plot. Straight-faced cop Joe Morelli is also back to steam up the personal scenes, and do they ever get hot in this epic. Lula, the large prostitute-turned-file clerk-slash-wannabe skip tracer is also back, adding a hilarious friendship element with a touch of street humor. This novel also introduces Sally Sweet, a code-breaking "regional" transvestite musician who spouts out the F-word every chance he can get. Stephanie's main nemesis, Joyce Barnhardt, also has a seemingly larger voice in this novel, as the newest bounty hunter at the Vincent Plum bail bonds agency.

This book is outright hysterical. Evanovich weaves together an amazing story of intrigue and thrilling suspense that flows so nicely, and ends in high speed mayhem that is just truly unbelievable. The witty dialogue, sensational Trenton setting, and fast-paced thrilling plot make FOUR TO SCORE a real winner. This is one of the best books in the series.

I came to the "Stephanie Plum"/Janet Evanovich books late in life (they were recommended to me at a review website) I proceeded to check out the first four at my local library. Of the four I have read so far, "Four to Score" has been my favorite. I loved it most because it delved more into the relationship between Stephanie and Morelli, sigh! I hope the next books continue on the same path! I love all the secondary characters too. Ecspecially Stephanie's grandma. What a hoot. I see a little bit of my family in hers, maybe that is why the book so appealed to me. I like the way the author pulls you into life in the berg or is it burg? whatever, I love these books, they are so different from everything else that is out there now. Keep up the excellent work Ms. Evanovich.

FOUR TO SCORE by Janet Evanovich

Here's the fourth book in the popular Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich, FOUR TO SCORE. In this installment, Stephanie teams up with Lula the ex-hooker (who now works for her uncle Vinnie) and a transvestite musician named Sally Sweet to find her latest criminal-on-the-run. This time it's Maxine Nowicki they are looking for, who was charged for stealing her boyfriend's car. However, there is more to this crime than meet's the eye.

In the meantime, Stephanie and Joe Morelli get closer (she moves in with him temporarily) and her ex-husband's indiscretion -- Joyce Barnhardt -- decides to become a bounty hunter too, to Stephanie's irritation. Grandma Mazur also makes an appearance, but is not as big a participant in this one as she was in some of the previous novels.

I found this fourth book in the series just as funny as the others. The character of Sally Sweet I found irresistible. I find that as I read each new book in this series, her stories are becoming more and more "solid". Practice makes perfect, they say. Anyway, this book I give 4 stars, and am looking forward to reading the next one, HIGH FIVE.

At the risk of appearing to be the dog in the manger while everyone else is giving this book glowing reviews I'm going to add my 2 cents worth. I've read all of the Stephanie Plum novels and felt that this one was the weakest of the five. While I always enjoy Stephanie's antics I felt that the author is introducing too many wacky characters. By novel #4 we now have crazy Grandma Mazur, flamboyant Lula the ex-'ho and now Sally Sweet the cross dressing rock star. It's beginning to look like a dog and pony show in here! I also thought that the central crime story was boring in this one. BUT, I still do love the Stephanie Plum character and the author's following book, High Five, was an improvement over this glitch so I'm giving Janet Evanovich my vote of confidence and looking forward to book six of the series. Bottom Line: Read Four to Score for the full Stephanie Plum experience!

This is only the second book I've read in the Stephanie Plum series. I started with Ten Big Ones, which I enjoyed, but, for my money, this one is definitely better. It's funnier and fresher (perhaps the rumors that others are participating in the writing of the series have some merit). Evanovich's sense of humor rides high in Four to Score, much more so than in Ten Big Ones. Little things struck me, like the description of Mrs. Nowicki as "faded glory in a bathrobe," the fact that Stephanie's grandfather "went heavenward to dine with Elvis," and Stephanie's reference to "Catholic guilt" when she awakes one Sunday morning feeling "apologetic" and thinks about the "multifaceted experience" of being Catholic: "If you lose the faith," she thinks, "chances are you'll keep the guilt, so it isn't as if you've been skunked altogether."

FTS is full of Stephanie's wacky, unconventional thought processes and antics that had me LOL frequently. There's the requisite mayhem and misdeeds with one Maxine Nowicki as the skipper. Max's boyfriend, Eddie Kuntz, would like to find her for his own reasons, but there's more to Maxine's skipping than meets the eye. Maxine's mother gets scalped (she lives), someone else loses a finger, and one unfortunate person is murdered. While all this bad business is going on, the book as a whole is more comical than it is spine tingling.

Another character on a similar wavelength as Stephanie Plum, though wackier and more outside the mainstream, is Christy Tillery French's Natasha Chamberlain, sexy, bumbling bodyguard and protagonist in French's The Bodyguard. Natasha and Stephanie have a lot in common, but Natasha is far more of a loose cannon. There's a hunky guy, Jonce Striker (kind of a cross between Morelli and Ranger), and an assortment of zany, oddball characters. So, if you like wild and crazy girls doing tough guy jobs, add Nattie Chamberlain to your list.

Carolyn Rowe Hill

This was one of the first Janet Evanovich books I got my hands on. I soon bought them all in book and unabrided (recorded books.com) audio form. I began Four to Score at work on audio unabridged from (Recordedbooks.com) narrated by C. J. Critt. Let me start by a review of her performance it was fabulous. She does fantastic variations in each voice to distinguish each character clearly. She has excellent timing so people thought I was absolutely insane because I was laughing so hard I was crying with this book. The book has those spit take moments where you better not be drinking or eating anything while you are reading or listening to it because it will be all over you or your computer/dash/etc.
I am a member of the Janet message board where fans talk about the books. I mention it because this one I have read so many complaints about, it drives me nuts. This book does have a lot of cussing in it, so if you are sensitive to that beware, but so what it is hilarious. This book will require you to wear DEPENDS to get through it. From the horrible Eddie and the various scavenger hunts Stephanie has to go through with him in order to earn her finders fee for searching for his ex-girlfriend/the skip (she is looking for anyway), to her meeting up with Cross-dressing Sally Sweet(the genius puzzle decoder). I absolutely love this book. Janet manages to have every funny experience Stephanie could possibly go through with her gang of Lula, Grandma Mazur, Sally and still add in Joe and Ranger. There are moments of emotion that you can feel Stephanie go through without being too much to take away from the humor or story. You add in Eddie (the pervert/jerk), Sugar (the pyro), Joyce Barnhardt(Stephanie's enemy that Vinnie has just hired to do skip tracing) and you begin feeling sorry for the skip Maxine. Then you add in Eddie's weird relatives, Joyce Barnhardt finding a naked man (as if anyone else would find him) and a the best wet your pants scenes I have read in quite a while. The dancing napkin, tattooed man, and big bag of doodie are just a few. If you haven't tried Janet's books and aren't prepared to do the whole series try this one. It gives you some of the back story as well as a stand alone hilarious tale of a woman trying to make a living in a job that everyone says she's wrong for, but she just happens to fall into bit of luck and every pitfall possible with great humor. I love the Stephanie Plum series and it's the first book series I recommend to my friends and family for a good fun read. Fans of the series all have their favorite books, so I tried to give you my favorite that can easily stand alone if you are new to the series. Also, check out CJ Critt's version for the best audio version of the series they are available from Recorded books there is no comparison to her reading of the series.