Customer Reviews

Hard Eight (Stephanie Plum, No. 8) (Stephanie Plum Novels)

5 star:		(160)
4 star:		(92)
3 star:		(74)
2 star:		(43)
1 star:		(28)

 

 

When Evelyn Soder disappears with her daughter, it means big trouble for her mother, Mabel Markowitz. The judge in Evelyn's divorce insisted on a child custody bond and Evelyn's ex-husband is intent on collecting it. Mabel co-signed for the bond, and now she may lose her home. Stephanie Plum, unlucky in love and fugitive apprehension, becomes involved because Mabel is her parents' neighbor. Mabel bakes when she is upset, and the Plums are drowning in bread loaves and coffee cakes.

And so, begins yet another comic adventure in the strange world of 'The Burg,' Trenton's own twilight zone. Soon she finds herself in conflict with Eddie Abruzzi, who is a sociopathic crime lord when he isn't being a sociopathic war gamer. Eddie wants Stephanie out of the Soder investigation, and is perfectly willing to make her crazy before he finally kills her. In addition, Stephanie must deal with Andy Bender, a bond-skipping drunk with a talent for getting Plum to trip over her own feed.

Nor should I fail to mention a lawyer whose name is not spelled c-l-o-w-n, a female apprehension agent who is almost as good as Ranger (and who doesn't keep losing cars, purses and handcuffs), and that usual mad gang of crooks, cohorts and lovers. Yes, Stephanie's love life becomes even more complicated while everything else is going on. Without TastyCakes and pizza, Plum would be well on the way to a nervous breakdown.

This all is typical Evanovich. In fact, it is a bit too typical. Very few writers are able to avoid formula writing when a series begins to stretch out into extra innings, and 'Hard Eight' has started to show the inevitable signs of strain. As a plot, it is very reminiscent of 'High Five.' But while that was fun and original, this time the sight gags and sarcasm are beginning to wear thin. Evanovich's solution seems to be to have the same things happen, but even more often. This time Stephanie loses enough cars and handcuffs to stock a small police department.

The single thing that bother's me most is the degeneration of Stephanie's character. Not all that long ago, she was a feisty woman who was down on her luck but determined to make things come out right. The humor was clever and she often gave as good as she got. Now she is a near incompetent who spends to much time being a victim of her own poor choices. The humor has shifted to slapstick and too often Stephanie is the joke. And she has started to rely on anyone but herself when problems occur. Often this is funny, but I keep finding myself wincing rather than laughing. I want the old Stephanie back.

Hard Eight is a great addition to the Stephanie Plum series. It gives you everything the other seven books have. Hillarious scenes with the classic characters of wacky Grandma Mazur, Lula, and the rest of the Plum family plus unexpected new twists that break away from the romantic plot line. New involvement with Ranger and Joe, he is still in the running.

This installment is about the search for a missing woman named Evelyn and daughter Annie. Evelyn's grandmother Mabel is a neighbor of the Plum family and she asked Stephanie for her help. Evelyn's ex-husband is about to get a child custody bond funded by Mabel as she put her house up for this. Mabel fears she'll lose her home if Evelyn isn't found and she fears for her great-granddaughter. So, Stephanie, our bounty hunter and her good friend Lula start snooping around and before long they have a run in with Evelyn's landlord, Eddie Abruzzi. Abruzzi, is a nasty man who adds a much needed dark edge to this story.

The humor you expect in a Stephanie Plum book is still there. Stephanie is still between Joe and Ranger. Stephanie still is blowing up cars and the drama from her friend Lula is still a riot. I liked this book the least out of the series but it is still well worth the read and I still found myself laughing out loud several times. If you enjoy this series and who couldn't, this is a must read!

We thoroughly enjoyed Janet Evanovich's first six Stephanie Plum series about a bounty hunter who has trouble getting out of her own way. With a crazy supporting cast family, especially Grandma Mazur; and two male romantic interests -- Ranger, a fellow mysterious bounty hunter; and Morelli, a cop who deflowered Plum in high school, and who seems to be the best bet for her long term -- the humor and enjoyment seemed to come as a natural byproduct of the stories and the author's writing style. However, book #7 seemed so forced out it was a huge disappointment to almost all but the die-hard fans. Thankfully, Hard Eight is more of a return to the earlier work. Our only quibble is that now the ineptitude of Plum, and her tendency to burn up cars and find dead bodies all over the place, is getting a bit stale. It may be the set has little remaining life expectancy as is.
But this one continues to entertain with a light story about Plum's inability to capture one of her assignments; about a lawyer named Kloughn, the [brunt] of innumerable "clown" jokes, who follows Plum around like a puppy; and Steph's inability to resolve her own conflicts about the two men in her life and what to do about them. She finally "gets lucky" about halfway through the book, at which point we were almost relieved for her. But the book ends on some of the same querulous notes about her and Morelli as we've heard before.
A plot about a missing neighbor and her daughter was a slight shift from earlier books, but pretty much continued to pose as the excuse for the Plum goings-on throughout. In sum, Hard Eight represents a pretty typical entry in the Evanovich Plum series, but for those that have read all eight, the title may have some subtle ulterior meanings. Before we get "Nine Ball" (or whatever), perhaps somebody can figure out how to give Plum's life a facelift, as she does not seem to be growing older on us gracefully.

I got turned onto this series by a friend who sent me 1-7. I read them quickly and anxiously awaited 8...mainly because I wanted to see where Stephanie/Ranger went.

This was the best Evanovich could do with them? After the buildup, this was an incredible letdown and affected the rest of the book for me. One would think that at least a couple of pages could've been used on this relationship instead of the wham-bam resolution we got. A horrible effort.

And to top it off, the series itself is just starting to get redundant and silly. Enough blowing up cars already -- it was funny in the first book, mildly amusing in the second book, and outright annoying in the third book. Enough with Grandma sticking her nose into everything all the time. Enough with thugs on the balcony. Enough with quirky FTAs who evade capture. It'd be really nice, just once, to see something original in these books.

With Evanovich's other new series being so awful, I hope she's invested her money wisely...because if she doesn't start improving soon, I'm betting she can kiss much more income from her writing goodbye.

I've recently discovered this series and have read books 1-8 in a matter of days. First off, the series itself is EXCELLENT. Fresh and inventive, and outrageously funny. However, Hard Eight was a bit of a disappointment.

Mrs. Evanovich, some things for you to consider:
Enough with the cars blowing up. We get it. Let's not go overboard and beat a dead horse.

Characters need to grow. Grandma needs a steady boyfriend. Lula needs to start working full time as a bond enforcer ON HER OWN, not just as Steph's wacky sidekick. Morelli needs to find a new girlfriend, if only to realize it's Steph that he truly loves. Steph needs space to become independent. Ranger needs more than a 2 paragraph resolution on the sex issue. We need to see the BatCave. Put a blindfold on Steph to get here there if you have to, but we need to know more about Ranger!

And as for our heroine. First, she needs to practice with the gun more. For someone who is very smart, she occasionally acts very stupidly when she forgets to bring or won't use her gun. Plus, she needs to take some damn self defense courses. It wouldn't hurt to see Steph kicking some butt once in a while.

I know that this series is not where near "great literature," but if you want a good laugh, a little mystery, and a dash of romance, then this series is right for you.

In Book 8, bumbling bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is back. She's faking her way through a new case, while trying to lose weight and forget Joe Morelli at the same time.

Some people have said this book has a darker theme than the previous seven -- I thought all of those were equally dark (Ramirez stalking Stephanie, Kenny stabbing Grandma Mauzer in the bakery, etc.). This time, Stephanie is searching for a missing mother and daughter -- a case that at first seemed like they were trying to get away from an ex-husband, but then the body count starts rising and Stephanie knows she's in over her head ... again.

All of the great characters are back -- Morelli, Ranger, Lula, Grandma Mauzer, Vinnie, Connie, Stephanie's parents, sister and neices, even Bob the dog and Rex the hamster. A few favorites are missing -- Joyce Barnhardt and Mooner, but Janet Evanovich has said she'll be writing them in future novels. I guess Stephanie was too busy "fighting off" Ranger's advances to deal with arch-enemy Joyce.

If there was one complaint I had about this book was the fact that when Ranger and Stephanie finally got together, it was too short. My second complaint? We have to wait a year until book 9.

In many ways, "Hard Eight" is a typical Stephanie Plum novel. You've got your love triangle, you've got your bad car-ma, you've got your tag-along bounty hunter wannabe's. There are some fun moments, but overall, the book reads like a rough draft rushed to the press.

"Hard Eight" hits the ground running as neighbor Mabel Markowitz makes a tearful plea to Steph - find her granddaughter and great-granddaughter or she'll lose her house. Nothing makes a Burg woman more uncomfortable than an outright display of emotion, and Steph reluctantly agrees to help. In the course of her search, she crosses the wrong kind of folks, and, as usual, finds herself up to her neck in very bad guys.

Unfortunately, a story with so much promise fizzles out in the midst of tepid new characters - such as lawyer Albert Kloughn, whose big recurring joke is that people call him "clown" and he's forced to repeatedly spell his name - and storylines which wrap up a bit too hastily for all the time and emotion invested.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment is in how the Ranger/Morelli love triangle is handled, with swift, forced, and out-of-character pronouncements stuffed in between dead bodies and exploding vehicles. One of the series' most endearing qualities has been the emotional tango Steph has been dancing with these two sexy guys. In "Hard Eight" the tango turns into an awkward clomp through muddy terrain, with no one staying true to character.

While I don't begrudge Evanovich her well-earned success, I wish it didn't come at the cost of the quality of the work. The more visible an author is, the higher the pressure to turn out the next money-maker, and sadly that's how "Hard Eight" felt to me as I read it. Another draft would have done wonders for the book... here's hoping Evanovich has the time to do the series justice with "Nine."

The book is just a bit different from previous Stephanie Plum novels. Stephanie has just moved a bit into the darker side (but so has Spielberg in Minority Report).

Stephanie Plum fans will enjoy the book, still has the humor and the fun characters you've come to know and love.

New readers looking for mystery will enjoy the story and should appreciate the humor which is far different than any other mystery writer.

If you are looking for humor and romance with a touch of mystery in the background....read one of the other seven Stephanie Plum books first.

Janet Evanovich has created a very loveable, bumbling, character in Stephanie Plum. Hard Eight, is the eighth book in her number entitled series about this amateur bounty hunter and her exploits. Stephanie works for her slimy cousin Vinnie as a bond enforcement officer. The idea being she is supposed to earn a living in capturing your run of the mill criminals who haven't fronted up for their court dates. Only Stephanie always has trouble with that part and as a result, usually gets more than a scrape on the knee and has to call for back up. Enter the two male interests that are more than professional, Joe Morelli the Cop and Ranger the Cuban heart throb and renegade bounty hunter.

In Hard Eight, Stephanie actually shows some backbone and a little bit of improvement in her law enforcement job skills and it's about time too. It's good to see the action is plentiful, the laughs and one liners are original. Janet Evanovich has finally let Stephanie grow up with her skills and have some luck in life. Considering it has taken eight books for her to improve, from a screaming pair of legs with `Jersey hair' who lives off junk food.

This time round, Stephanie's paycheck depends on whether she can catch Eddie Abruzzi. Without getting killed by the ex mobster boss and all around psychopath. Besides trying to make dinner time at her parents house, dodge death callings from Abruzzi, cars exploding, Stephanie has to deal with a few other matters at hand. Her confusion over Ranger her sometimes partner in crime and bounty hunter back up and Joe Morelli's role in her life, and hers in his. Plus there is the added bonus of the disappearance of a child involved in a custody case of a family friend.

All the good parts that Evanovich had in her first Plum novel are still here. Rex the hamster and survivor extraordinaire, the grandma from hell - Grandma Murzer, Steph's car issues, the ex-prostitute and Cagney and Lacey wannabe - Lula.

Janet Evanovoich has gone all out with Hard Eight, making it a full on novel of action and laughs which is good to see. I felt she got a little mundane in a few of the other Stephanie Plum novels. However, she retains me as an avid fan with this one.

I can't wait to see what Ms Evanovich and Ms Plum have install for us in the next two books in this series!

I know writing this review will yield a lot of negative responses but I can't let my feelings go unheard. I have previously read and enjoyed the Stephanie Plum mysteries (1 through 7) and in my opinion (which I never dreamed I'd say), "it's time for Stephanie to get a new job".

I waited an entire year to find out what would happen with Stephanie and Ranger/Stephanie and Morelli and what did I get -- disappointed.

You would figure after 8 outings Stephanie would at least have become more competent in her line of business but the character remains clueless.

Why does every novel have to explain how Stephanie met each person, i.e. Morelli, Ranger, Lula, etc.? Those entries take up a good 20 pages explaining what we already know.

Why keep rehashing events from the previous novel, i.e. the funeral home getting burned down, someone getting murdered on the fire escape. The moments were funny the first time around but it becomes a little stale repeating it over and over again.

Nothing new really happens in Hard Eight, it's the same old thing: Ranger/Morelli comes to the rescue, Stephanie loses another car, dead bodies end up in her apartment, Stephanie can't find the bullets to her gun, etc.

Hard Eight adds up to thing: It's time to MOVE ON Janet, this series has run out of steam.