Smokin' Seventeen: A Stephanie Plum Novel (Stephanie Plum Novels) [Kindle Edition]

Janet Evanovich (Author)

Book Description

Where there’s smoke there’s fire, and no one knows this better than New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum.
 
Dead bodies are showing up in shallow graves on the empty construction lot of Vincent Plum Bail Bonds. No one is sure who the killer is, or why the victims have been offed, but what is clear is that Stephanie’s name is on the killer’s list.

Short on time to find evidence proving the killer’s identity, Stephanie faces further complications when her family and friends decide that it’s time for her to choose between her longtime off-again-on-again boyfriend, Trenton cop Joe Morelli, and the bad boy in her life, security expert Ranger. Stephanie’s mom is encouraging Stephanie to dump them both and choose a former high school football star who’s just returned to town. Stephanie’s sidekick, Lula, is encouraging Stephanie to have a red-hot boudoir “bake-off.” And Grandma Bella, Morelli’s old-world grandmother, is encouraging Stephanie to move to a new state when she puts “the eye” on Stephanie.

With a cold-blooded killer after her, a handful of hot men, and a capture list that includes a dancing bear and a senior citizen vampire, Stephanie’s life looks like it’s about to go up in smoke.

BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg's The Heist.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for Janet Evanovich
 
“No less than her plotting, Evanovich’s characterizations are models of screwball artistry. . . . The intricate plot machinery of her comic capers is fueled by inventive twists.”—The New York Times
 
“Chutzpah and sheer comic inventiveness . . . The Evanovich/Plum books [are] good fun.”—The Washington Post


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Review

'Evanovich's series of New Jersey comedy thrillers are among the great joys of contemporary crime fiction...' -- GQ Magazine 'Packed with her familiar wicked ear for dialogue...Plum is not just a smart private eye but a heroine with a sense of humour' -- Daily Mail

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 1401 KB
• Print Length: 320 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; 1st edition (June 21, 2011)
• Sold by: Random House Digital, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B004HFRJCG
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Not Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,015 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #27 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Romance > Mystery & Suspense > Mystery
  • #34 in Books > Literature & Fiction > United States > Humor
  • #34 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Romance > Romantic Comedy

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1,699 of 1,755 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars I've had enough, nothing ever changes, and it never will July 1, 2011

By Nurslings

Format:Kindle Edition

Posted at [...]
You don't know me. I'm a fan of your work, have been for years. I have gotten many friends and family hooked on Stephanie, Joe, Ranger and Lula. I had every one of your books. I love your work with Charlotte Hughes and the Full Series. I have laughed and teared up, I have giggled and gasped for years, but it's time I stand up and shout.

Your last three Stephanie Plum Novels have left me feeling cheated. With each new installment I hope for more. But I get the same old antics. I read a recent interview with you, in which you say that when an author finds a winning formula, to stick with it and milk it for all it's worth. I take issue with this. How can an author expect their fans to keep buying a novel with the same plots, same games, same lines, same everything? The books seem to be getting shorter, the font larger, and the quality poorer, all with a hardcover price. I used to recommend your books to all who would listen, but now? I shy away and that sucks!

In your latest installment of the Stephanie Plum Series, Stephanie turns into a Hoochie. I'm sorry to say it. I don't like the word, I don't like the meaning, but it's what you turned her into. I didn't mind so much previously when she would steal a few kisses here and there between Ranger and Joe (and hell Diesel) but having her sleep with both men, in the same book, on back to back nights is just shameful. Gramma Bella SHOULD put the eye on her! Joe SHOULD dump her, so should Ranger. So what, now that Joe and Stephanie have an 'open' relationship they can sleep with whomever they want, whenever they want, and each other? Yuck.... I was a Joe fan in the beginning of the series, but then he turned rather chauvinistic, spouting how she should be barefoot and pregnant and not working, and that got my feminist hackles all up and pissy. I've always been a Ranger girl, but I can't understand how he can still be around playing for scraps. Is her vagina magic? Are you gearing up to make her like Anita Blake? Because if So, please for the love of books don't!!!

Characters need growth in a series. Stephanie has not grown, in fact I could argue that she has regressed. After seventeen books, she STILL can't shoot her gun, she can't use handcuffs, she blows up cars, and has no desire to learn self defense. I'm sorry, but she's an idiot. And not a funny one anymore.

To me, and I know that I am not alone, Stephanie used to be a source of comic relief. She made me laugh and took me out of the seriousness of my life or other more suspenseful books I was reading at the time. But she's no longer funny, she's a joke.

If you are tired of writing her, then please stop.
If you think your fans will stop reading if she chooses to stay with ONE of the men, they won't.
If you are doing this for the money, I'm sorry.
I won't be buying anymore of your novels.

If this alienates me in the book blogging world, so be it. I can't stand it anymore. I've held my council for the last three books and I can't do it anymore. It's my opinion, but I am not alone. I implore you to see reason. Please go back to writing meaningfully. Make Stephanie grow up a bit. Make her see that she has to learn.

I hate to see her the way she is. I hope you have a plan. I pray to the editors that you have a plan. Please don't string us along. Don't make us hate her. We fans, and Stephanie as well, deserve better than what you are giving us. Read more ›

501 of 527 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Another Disappointing Plum Book... June 23, 2011

By Booklover848

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I was horribly disappointed in books 13 - 16 and I wasn't going to buy 17 but I saw some decent reviews as well as the mention of Steph/Ranger sex and I caved. Is this book better than 13 -16 - Yes. Is it good? No. This book feels forced and completely disjointed. I don't believe it was written by JE or at least not completely and many of the characters are, once again, out of character. Grandma is tame, Ranger is devoid of personality and Morelli is resigned.

I love Ranger, I'm thrilled we got some S/R loving and I would like to see what would happen with a Steph/Ranger pairing. Morelli has always made it clear that he hates Steph bounty hunting and wants her to settle down and be a good Burg wife regardless of what she wants. If Steph ends up with Morelli then JE needs to end the series because no one wants to read about Steph learning to make pot roast. At some point she needs to make a decision. It would have been nice to see Steph actually struggle with choosing one of her men but instead she has sex with both of them and believes she is doing it because of a curse put on her by Bella. Pathetic. Why can't JE have Steph grow up a little, get some skills, look at her life and really consider whether she wants to be Morelli's Burg wife or Ranger's Wonder Woman?

Instead JE keeps doing these idiotic and repetitive plots and in this book...the characters don't feel real. There was no connection between Steph and Morelli, little connection between Steph and Ranger and the concept of Steph starting to sleep with Ranger again out of the clear blue after all these years was never addressed. Even the dynamic between Steph and Lula was off. The early Stephanie we all fell in love with is gone and in her place is this poorly written caricature. The whole book just felt wrong.... And lazy. What's the point in having a killer when you make his identity obvious almost from the beginning? I don't know what I'll do about 18....other than hope JE fires Alex and her other ghostwriters and writes it herself! Or goes out to Fanfiction and hires a ghost who truly loves the series! Read more ›

223 of 242 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Tired plots? Check. July 2, 2011

By C. Crabtree

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Let's see:

Stephanie blows up a car? Check.

Grandma ruins a funeral? Check.

Stephanie can't decide between two men? Check.

Poor grammar and inexcusably poor editing? Check.

Another disappointing effort by JE that leaves those of us who purchased yet another lame book hating ourselves for doing so? Check.

JE laughing all the way to the bank? Check.

My deciding to finally drop the series after all of these years and finally feeling okay about it? Check,,

JE, you should be ashamed of putting your name on this crap.

73 of 79 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars I wasted battery life on this book? June 26, 2011

By Ami

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I hesitated to buy this book and read the reviews before I finally caved and downloaded it to my Kindle. It took me days to read it, instead of hours, and I'm sorry I bothered. I feel bereft, like friends that I have known and loved for years have moved away and the new neighbors are nowhere near as fun or interesting. I love books one through twelve--there was character development, there were actual plots, and they were fast paced. But Twelve was the last truly good book in this series.

What is good about Seventeen? Gone is the fart humor. Lula and Grandma Mazur don't team up for any shenanigans. There is not a bird-flipping monkey anywhere in Trenton. Stephanie actually goes after FTAs, AND!!! she takes Ranger out for a spin...

What is bad about Seventeen? The characters are flat and lack the spark that made them so lovable. Dialogue has been recycled from earlier books. The plot is transparent and a little insulting. The only red herring is not developed or present enough to be a viable alternative.

**Spoiler Alert**

Morrelli and Ranger curiously seem to have lost any trace of testosterone. Morrelli loves Stephanie, but isn't concerned about where she goes or the strange man who waits outside her apartment for her? He's confident about himself and Stephanie, but he's a cop! Shouldn't the strange guy make some kind of warning bells ring? I guess we could argue that maybe he's just used to Steph and has learned to back off, but, again, he loves her!

What made Ranger so hot is gone. Ranger has kept his distance because he knows he would be bad for Steph--enjoyable, but bad. His intentions are good, but they don't mask the attraction he and Steph have for one another.... It was constant foreplay, but there isn't any in this recent installment. Ranger just lets Stephanie have her way with him, and more disappointing, Steph can't even own it. She does the deed with Ranger because of a curse? Ugh! To make matters worse, Stephanie, whose middle name up to this point has been "Guilt", doesn't harbor any guilty feelings about what she has done, which JE solved by making the Steph/Morrelli relationship open. There is no introspection on Stephanie's part--she is no longer trying to figure out who she is or how she fits into her world, but she hasn't solved these problems either.

Grandma Mazur is still behaving badly at funerals. Lula is still shooting people and escaping any kind of legal repercussions. The action still centers around food, although Grandma does not shoot anything at the dining table. I don't know how many pages are in this book because I read it on my Kindle, but once again, the story plods along with no apparent resolution in sight, only to be wrapped up in a way that reads as an afterthought...once again the bad guy traps Steph, alone, in her own apartment and makes a crazy confession, and I couldn't even muster up any fear for her safety because he was SO OBVIOUSLY the bad guy, she should have seen it coming! Oh! and don't foget the other, ahem, bad guys, all of whom are assembled in the parking lot so the conflict can be tied up with a big bow. And then--then!--JE ends the book with a cliffhanger so abrupt I thought pages were missing.

(Big sigh) I am sorry I bought Seventeen instead of the other book I was considering, and it breaks my heart to say that. I am done with this series; I just can't read anymore, can't stand to see characters I love turn into sloppy caricatures of themselves. Read more ›

More About the Author

Janet Evanovich is the #1 bestselling author of the Stephanie Plum novels, twelve romance novels, the Alexandra Barnaby novels and graphic novels, Wicked Appetite (the first book in the Lizzy and Diesel series,) and How I Write: Secrets of a Bestselling Author.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

(What's this?)

#6 Overall (See top 100 authors)

#1 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Mystery

#3 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

#3 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers

#3 in Books > Romance

#4 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Romance

#1 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Mystery

#3 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

#3 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers

#3 in Books > Romance

#4 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Romance