Visions of Sugar Plums: A Stephanie Plum Holiday Novel (Hardcover)

by Janet Evanovich (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Christmas in bounty hunter Stephanie Plum's world isn't quite like Christmas in Whoville. With only four days to go before December 25, she doesn't have a decorated tree in her apartment or any presents bought. Plus she's chasing an elusive bail-jumper named Sandy Claws; a hunky guy named Diesel is literally popping in and out of her apartment; and a mob of manic elves is threatening to assault her with cookies. The end result is that Stephanie is feeling a tad stressed over the holiday season. Life isn't any calmer over at her parents' home in the Burg, where Grandma Mazur is dating a new octogenarian stud muffin; sister Valerie is wailing over some unwelcome news; and Stephanie's mother is coping by belting back tumblers of Red Roses in the kitchen. Just where is the elusive Mr. Claws hiding, and why? What's causing the power blackouts all over Trenton? And what about the mysterious villain, Mr. Ring? Is all of this real, or is Stephanie just having a very bad dream?

Janet Evanovich's mysteries are eagerly awaited by fans everywhere and this holiday installment won't disappoint. With a returning cast of entertaining, quirky characters and a rock-solid setting in New Jersey wrapped around an intriguing mystery, Evanovich delivers yet another hilarious adventure featuring irrepressible bounty hunter Stephanie Plum. --Lois Faye Dyer

From Publishers Weekly
A sugar plum for Christmas, indeed! Stephanie Plum, Evanovich's delightfully zany New Jersey bounty hunter, is the star of this too short but hilarious holiday romp. Grousing about the approaching Yule is something many of us can relate to and wishing for a helpful angel might strike a chord with some. But it takes a special imagination to conjure the handsome, if sort of grungy young stranger, Diesel, who magically pops into Stephanie's kitchen one morning just four days before December 25. Diesel joins Stephanie in her hunt for a bail skipper, Sandy Claws ("It was probably Klaus and got screwed up at Ellis Island"), though in fact he's after another target entirely and Stephanie's skipper is a means to that end. In addition to trying to catch Sandy Claws, Stephanie has to get ready for Christmas-which gives Diesel the opportunity to meet her unconventional family. "I'm always knocked out," he observes, "by the way a family can be at the upper end of dysfunction and insanity and still work so well as a unit." When that family includes a pistol-packing grandma, a niece who thinks she's a palomino and a sister on the verge of crisis, that's quite a statement. Throw in some elves, a mad hunt for a Christmas tree and a few fires and you have a Plum-crazy Christmas classic.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; First Edition edition (November 5, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312306326
• ISBN-13: 978-0312306328
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (262 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #48,425 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Too pricey, November 16, 2002

By A Customer

This book was not of the same caliber as One for the Money. Janet can write better than this. The stoy line is thin, of course the characters are zany as always and thats the one good thing about this novella. However the characters can't always carry the book you need a good strong story line as well. Stephanie is after an FTA named Sandy Claws. One morning she wakes up and finds a man in her apartment. It started off well, the idea was interesting and it could have worked. But in the end, the plot was rushed and I didn't feel like all my answers about the character Diesel were answered. Diesel would have been interesting but in the middle of the book he turned out to be a copy of Ranger. I don't recommend you buy this in hardcover. You will feel cheated. I paid for this in Canadian dollars and it was close to 30$. If readers are going to spend this much money the publusher, writer and editor better make damn sure its the best novella ever written. I think the publisher should stop rushing Janet to produce books because the quality of the writing and the story telling is declining as the series progresses. I rather wait for 2 years for an awesome book than 1 year for a book.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Honestly, I Really Wanted to Love It, November 30, 2002

By	Amanda (Maine) - See all my reviews

As a person who has read every book in the Stephanie Plum series, who has recommended them to a number of people, who has eagerly awaited the arrival of each new installment, I really wanted to love this book. Or, at least like it. Well, I can't say I don't like it, but that warm and fuzzy feeling I used to get when reading one of Stephanie Plum's adventures? It just wasn't there. I'm ashamed, and saddened to say that. No one could be more disappointed than a true fan. I have followed Stephanie since the first time she tried to apprehend a bad guy, and I will admit that the 7th and 8th installments haven't been as great as the first 6. But Visions of Sugar Plums just doesn't deserve to be called a Stephanie Plum novel. At a scant 149 pages, it's not worthy of it's price, nor is it really worthy of your time. There's none of that simmering sexual tension between her and Ranger, or her and Morelli for that matter. Instead, the main man is Diesel - a mysterious guy who just "appears" in Stephanie's apartment one day, and who can unlock doors like magic. It sounds a bit too supernatural to me, which is a little bit silly, considering that Stephanie Plum books have never even touched on the supernatural. Overall, the story feels rushed, and it feels like we've been there before. Her grandma is still crazy (along with the rest of her family), she's still got her cute hamster, she's still having Morelli issues, but...well...this novel doesn't make us care. I sure hope that this was just a bad fluke, and that Janet Evanovich will give more TLC to her next Stephanie Plum novel.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars One for the Holiday Money, November 24, 2002

By A Customer

I love Stephanie Plum. And lucky for Janet E, I will still love Stephanie, despite this short, expensive fairy tale. I can suspend disbelief with the best of the, but Stephanie is supposed to live in a wild, wacky but somewhat real world. This book deals with a fantasy hero which is fine in fantasy books, but last time I checked, Plum books were classified as mysteries.

It was an expensive, totally unsatisfying read that smacked not of author intrusion, but publisher intrusion as a gambit to drain some holiday bucks from loyal Plum readers. A non-worldly hero who pops in and out of Stephanie's life, a missing Santa, a workshop manned by elves. Take the typical crazy Plum elements that we always love and take them two steps too far, making a parody of a parody of a parody. And now we know the defintion of "derivative."

Folks, we were used....

I'm still going to be first in line for the numbered books because I have faith that JanetE will deliver the goods. SMP, we'll forgive you this time, but we won't forget. Don't try our patience and make such a calculated attack on our wallets again without giving us anything substantial.