Ten Big Ones (Stephanie Plum, No. 10)

Ten Big Ones

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Stephanie Plum, girl bounty hunter, the terror of Trenton, the bane of her boyfriend Joe Morelli’s existence, and the delight of her crazy grandma’s heart, is in the wrong place at the wrong time–as usual. Just happening to be indulging her nachos jones at a local deli when it’s robbed by the notorious Red Devils, Plum is the eye witness who could put the gang leader, known as the Junkman, behind bars… if he just lets her live long enough. Looking for a place to hide out from the killer until the cops catch up with him, Stephanie sneaks into her fellow bounty hunter Ranger’s apartment without telling Morelli, who’s not overly fond of him. All the usual suspects in this long-running series are along for a wilder than ever ride, including Lula the gun-toting ex-hooker, Grandma Mazur, Stephanie’s pregnant sister Valerie and her fiancé, as well as a host of minor characters who bring Trenton’s seedier environs to life. Ten Big Ones is another madcap caper by a writer whose fans will doubtless catapult this easy beach read to the top of the bestseller list. –Jane Adams –This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly
“I think of myself more as an entertainer than as a writer,” Evanovich says in a bonus interview at the end of this audiobook, and indeed, her latest offering (following To The Nines) will leave listeners with little doubt that she is a master of screwball comedy. At the start of this adventure, bumbling New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum and her sassy sidekick, Lula, witness a gang member known as the Red Devil rob a convenience store and attempt to bomb it with a Molotov cocktail, which hits Stephanie’s car instead. Stephanie gets a good look at the Red Devil, making her a key witness and a target for a nasty gang called the Slayers. Her sometime boyfriend, vice cop Joe Morelli, insists she stay home and out of danger, but Stephanie would rather be bringing in two-bit criminals than lying low. Narrator King steps neatly into Stephanie’s shoes, her agile voice conveying not only Stephanie’s fear and frustration, but her plaintive, why-does-this-always-happen-to-me attitude. King also nails the manly, mysterious voice of gorgeous bounty hunter Ranger, Stephanie’s sometime superhero. Although the high-pitched voice King gives Stephanie’s adventure-loving grandmother may grate on some listeners nerves, her vocal stylings are generally as superb as Evanovich’s zany characterizations.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. –This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

From AudioFile
New Jersey bond enforcement agent Stephanie Plum’s tenth outing gets an adequate, if uncompelling, performance by Lorelei King. She does well enough with the supporting players but is wrong for Steph herself–not young-sounding enough, not Jersey enough, and not emotional enough. Even in the midst of carnage, she sounds like an executive briefing the board. In the abridged format the story, in which Steph is targeted for killing by a Trenton gang because she can ID a robber/arsonist member, is thin and abrupt even for this series. All that said, King’s portrayal of the regulars, the over-the-top humor, and Steph’s continued flirtation with Ranger and affair with Morelli should keep fans listening. W.M. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine– Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine –This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

From Booklist
Although the strain of keeping her formula fresh and funny shows a bit in this latest adventure of New Jersey’s most unusual bond enforcement agent, Stephanie Plum, there’s still enough to entertain readers hooked on the wacky, wildly popular series. Plenty of familiar characters and running gags are here: Lula and Grandma Mazur are as comical as ever, and Stephanie still can’t hang on to handcuffs and cars or decide between the two men in her life–sexy cop Joe Morelli and scary Ranger, who is hot, hot, hot. This time, though, the tale starts quickly (Stephanie pegs a convenience-store robber as a member of a vicious Trenton gang, then becomes a target on a hit list) but seems swamped by more than the usual absurdities. Fortunately, a dynamite finish–unexpected and very funny–saves the day for both Stef and her fans. Also on the plus side this time are some extraordinary new, hope-to-see-again additions to the roster[...] Not the high mark of an outstanding series, then, but still good fun for the legions of devotees. Stephanie Zvirin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved –This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

USA Today
“If you prefer your protagonists with big hair and based in Jersey then Stephanie Plum is your crime solver of_choice.” –This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Description

Janet Evanovich is the hottest author in America, and her Stephanie Plum novels have taken the nation by storm!#1 New York Times#1 Wall Street Journal#1 Los Angeles Times#1 Entertainment Weekly#1 Publishers WeeklyShe’s accidentally destroyed a dozen cars. She’s a target for every psycho and miscreant this side of the Jersey Turnpike. Her mother’s convinced she’ll end up dead . . . or worse, without a man. She’s Stephanie Plum, and she kicks butt for a living (well, she thinks it sounds good to put it that way. . . .).It begins as an innocent trip to the deli-mart, on a quest for nachos. But Stephanie Plum and her partner, Lula, are clearly in the wrong place at the wrong time. A robbery leads to an explosion, which leads to the destruction of yet another car. It would be just another day in the life of Stephanie Plum, except that she becomes the target of a gang—and of an even scarier, more dangerous force that comes to Trenton. With super bounty hunter Ranger acting more mysteriously than ever (and the tension with vice cop Joe Morelli getting hotter), she finds herself with a decision to make: how to protect herself and where to hide while on the hunt for a killer known as the Junkman. There’s only one safe place, and it has Ranger’s name all over it—if she can find it. And if the Junkman doesn’t find her first. With Lula riding shotgun and Grandma Mazur on the loose, Stephanie Plum is racing against the clock in her most suspenseful novel yet. Ten Big Ones is page-turning entertainment, and Janet Evanovich is the best there is.

–This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Bestselling author Janet Evanovich is the recipient of the Crime Writers Association’s John Creasy Memorial, Last Laugh, and Silver Dagger awards, as well as the Left Coast Crime’s Lefty award, and is the two-time recipient of the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association’s Dilys award. She lives in New Hampshire.Narrator Lorelei King has recorded over 100 audiobooks. She won the Radio Times Performer of the Year for 2001 for her reading of The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. In addition to narrating Janet Evanovich’s Full House, Full Tilt, Hard Eight, Visions of Sugar Plums, Full Speed, To the Nines, and Full Blast, she was nominated for Performer of the Year 1999 for her reading of Four to Score, also by Janet Evanovich.