Plum Spooky (A Between-the-Numbers Novel) (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: fart fire, body receipt, bonds office, Gail Scanlon, Martin Munch, Miss Gloria (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Klutzy bounty hunter Stephanie Plum teams up with mysterious Diesel and the monkey left on her doorstep to track down a nerdy genius and his sinister business partner in the depths of the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Lorelei King does her usual superlative job for the Evanovich oeuvre, adding juice and dimension to each wacky character. She deftly handles everyone, from bail bond receptionist Connie's classic New Jersey accent and outrageous sidekick Lula's brash outbursts to Ranger's smooth purr (it's amazing how he, as voiced by King, can make the word babe mean so many different things). The structures of Plum novels tend to be similar; it's the laughs that keep readers coming back. King enhances the humor of this series, so much so that Evanovich fans should consider putting down that book and plugging in the CD player instead. A St. Martin's Press hardcover (reviewed online). (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

From Booklist

Those who know and love Stephanie, Ranger, Morelli, Lula, Bob the dog, Rex the hamster, and the rest of that wacky crew in Evanovich’s Trenton-set series, have also clasped Diesel, who appears only in these “between-the-numbers” tales, to their collective hearts. Big, blond, dimpled, and paranormal, he flits into Steph’s bail-bondswoman life with unnerving irregularity, and he has special powers that extend well beyond bounty hunting. This time Diesel has a cousin named Wulf, pale, black-clad, and dead-eyed, who has hidden a nerdy scientist and a lot of equipment in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. The repartee sparkles and shimmies from razor wit to toilet humor (and back again), and the plot involves mud, food tossing, explosive farts, occasional kissing, and hilarious (and true-to-life, alas) allergic reactions (that would be from Lula). A group of monkeys, and one in particular named Carl, figure mightily in the plot, in one instance actually making the stoic, understated Ranger burst into laughter. Don’t miss Morelli’s brother-in-law, the sly Star Trek and vampire tropes, and the Jersey Devil. Incredible amounts of fun. --GraceAnne A. DeCandido

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1 edition (January 6, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312383320
• ISBN-13: 978-0312383329
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (204 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,820 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #14 in	Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Authors, A-Z > ( E ) > Evanovich, Janet
  #45 in	Books > Literature & Fiction > Comic
  #65 in	Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Action & Adventure

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

185 of 209 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars More silly nonsense...., January 8, 2009

By	Happiness is reading (Yardley, Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

With a sticker price of almost $29 and even with a discount price of almost $16, Plum Spooky is another waste of money. At 309 pages, it is the first full length, between the numbers, book featuring Diesel and the world of Plum.

The Plum series used to be fun books. Wonderful to read. Deserved to be read many times. They were purchased. They were keepers. I loved them. This series of books had many dog-eared pages from being lovingly read many times.

To me, Plum used to represent a book filled with wonderful characters, heart pounding fear, laugh out loud till I cried moments, fantastic one-liners from Stephanie, Lula, Ranger, Grandma Mazure, Vinnie, Connie, and Morelli. Words like edgy, sexy, funny, witty, sharp, thrilling, and emotional filled my mind as I read.

This book is another episode of the three stooges, running amok in the world of Plum.

Well, on with my difficult-to-write review. Synopsis: It is a sad, sad day when an author who gave us the Plum series has to issue a book filled with monkeys and characters that revel in gross bodily functions.

This book takes place in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. It should be very scary. It's not. The characters that live in the Pine Barrens should be scary. They are not. E. Bunny (retired Easter Bunny), Sasquatch (retired something) and, good grief, there is Elmer The Fire Farter! They are not scary. They are ridiculous. The villain is Gerwulf Grimoire. He is supposed to be scary. He's not.

There is a lot of Lula and Tank in this book. But who are They???? Tank lives in a cute little old lady bungalow, has three cats, carries their pictures in his wallet and Tank sweats a lot. Lula sneezes and farts throughout the book.

Of course, Carl the Monkey is back. He's not alone. There are a lot more monkeys. Wearing helmets with antenna's. Morelli? Yup, he's in there. He's babysitting his loser, cheating, brother Anthony. Ellen/Helen Plum's in there. Drinking whiskey disguised as ice tea. Connie and Vinnie are in there.

Ranger. He's in there. I'm assuming that when he told Janet he wanted to pass on being in this book, she didn't listen. He should have begged.

It goes without saying that Stephanie Plum is in there. She is apparently in an on-again with Morelli, sleeps in bed every night with Diesel (no sex, of course) and yet still relies completely on Ranger to always find her and keep her safe.

Diesel. Diesel is cute, sexy and funny. He needs his own world. Janet should have argued more with her publisher on this. Quite honestly, Plum does not need a third alpha male.

I have a suggestion for you, Janet Evanovich. Take your old Plum books off the shelf. Starting with One for The Money - read them. Then go back into your office and write.

When the next Plum book is released and I take it off the bookstore shelf, I want the pages between the front and back cover to be filled with the great Plum writing that I loved. The stuff that earned you that best selling status. I want a great book.

Plum Spooky is silly, slapstick nonsense. It might appeal to a lot of readers. If you like silly slapstick, the three stooges and stuff like pull my finger jokes, you will love this.

But is it the Plum that I have know and loved for years? No it is not. Doesn't even come close. It's juvenile and drivel.

Simply put, this was the last Plum book I will read until I get to read reviews that tell me that the nonsense and slapstick is over and the World of Plum as I knew and loved it is back.

54 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Desperately Seeking Stephanie, January 8, 2009

By	samurai_sally - See all my reviews

I admit it. I am a Ranger fan. I look forward to each book hoping to learn more about him. Some books have more Ranger in them than others, but I'm an addict and I'll take what I can get. When it comes to literary heroes, I've never been as smitten as I am with Ranger. He trumps even Jane Austen's Mr. Darcy.

But no matter how much I love Ranger, I am first and foremost a Stephanie fan. She came onto the scene, armed with mascara and attitude, and I couldn't help but root for her. I wanted Stephanie to succeed, to get everything she ever dared dream, and I wanted to be there to see it when she did. Ranger may be my romantic fantasy, but Stephanie Plum is my hero.

Plum Spooky did not sit well with me. I didn't hate it, but I didn't like it, either. In a week's time, I doubt I'll remember anything about it. (I can't remember much about it now.) It wasn't romantic or funny or witty. I didn't walk away feeling empowered or uplifted, like I used to do after a Plum book. In fact, I didn't walk away feeling anything at all...except maybe a little sad.

Some people are angry about the money, $30 for a book they felt wasn't worth it. Others are angry about the content, Diesel and fart jokes and monkeys. Those are both valid and reasonable complaints regarding this book. But what I was most disappointed with was Stephanie. This is her story. These books revolve around her. They don't work without her.

So where was she?

I know there are a lot of people who either think Stephanie should get married already and pop out a few kids, or on the flip side, train to be an assassin. I don't care for either of those scenarios. Neither mesh with the spirited bounty hunter we've grown to love, and you know what? I like Stephanie. I don't want her to change. I want her to grow and I want her to develop, but I don't want her to change. At her core, she's a kind-hearted, loving, resilient person whose mistakes and flaws make her human. What is there to fix?

The last several books have tampered with that, though. Her character hasn't grown or developed. It has withered under the weight of guilt and obligation. This character who used to admit freely (to us, anyway) that she had feelings for two men, has suppressed that honesty in favor of a politically correct (and fanbase pacifying) beauty queen speech. It isn't that she sincerely feels one way or another, but more accurately, that she thinks she should. And that has allowed her character (and the series) to stagnate.

Part of the the problem is her relationship with Joe Morelli. The difference between Morelli and Ranger is that Morelli is the person he will always be, both good and bad. Ranger, on the other hand, may not be relationship material right now, but he's still evolving, a character trait he shares with Stephanie. It doesn't take much to imagine what a life with Morelli would entail - messy house, messy kids, family dinner, Bob the Dog, and an SUV - but is that who Stephanie is, or is that who Morelli wants/needs her to be for their relationship to work? Before she settles down with either guy, I want to see Stephanie learn to accept and love herself. But for that to happen, Evanovich will have to take Stephanie out of her comfort zone and let her form her own shape before she tries to force her into some prefabricated mold of what a Burg wife "should" be.

When I close the last book in the series, I don't want to be plagued with nightmares of Stephanie ending up a stereotypical Burg wife like her mother, or worse, like Angie Morelli, Joe's sister in law. I want the satisfaction of knowing that whatever she got, it was exactly what she wanted, and she worked hard to get it. There may have been setbacks, but there were NO substitutions.

But when I read a book like this, the fourth book in a row that has made no progress whatsoever in the development of the three main characters, I can't help but wonder, what the hell happened?

26 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars LOL PLUM FUNNY but Enough Carl...Please , January 14, 2009

By	Chrissy - See all my reviews

I am a HUGE Janet fan. But by chapter 8 I was about ready to take out Carl the Monkey myself. Enough with the monkey giving everyone the bird! I did not find it funny when he keeps doing it over and over and over.
Carl a side... I love the Plum books.
I do not look at the Between the Numbers books as "real". I think of them as Stephanie's dreams. They are not realistic for a reason. There is a "magical" tone in them. Diesel just popping in out of no where and such...like magic.
These are NOT like the number books.
Not that the number books are realistic either but they are not like the in betweens. I hope this makes sense. I think some people think they are the same when I read their reviews.
Take the in betweens for what they are. Entertainment while we wait for the next number book to be released. As fun as ever! ENJOY!
Something that has me upset is the book should be a small version book like the other betweens and not a full size edition. It looks like the font and spacing are to big for the book. I feel like they just wanted to get more money out of the readers. They are really pushing it by saying this is a full sized book. It was not worth $16 for the amount of reading material.