I was embarrassed more than a couple of times by laughing out loud while reading this book in public places. Evanovich writes a truly funny murder mystery. It’s like Starsky & Hutch change genders and combine with Larry, Curly, and Moe. Evanovich’s hero and first-person narrator, Stephanie Plum, makes her seventeenth appearance in this book and it is quite a romp. The Starsky to Stephanie’s Hutch is a well-rounded ex-hooker named Lula.
Stephanie apprehends fugitives for a bail bonds agency. Sounds hot. Sounds glamorous. But in Evanovich’s skewed worldview, the fugitives turn out to be a feeble old man who thinks he’s a vampire, a truly stupid convenience store robber, and, yes, a trained bear. Her weapons include a handgun, but also a stun gun, sauerkraut, and the spiked heel of a shoe.
Stephanie’s romantic escapades involve a mysterious thug-turned-security-expert and a hunky police officer. She is being pressured by her parents (and the cop’s grandmother) to make some sort of decision between the two. The grandmother is old-world and puts the Evil Eye and various curses on Stephanie. Stephanie’s parents introduce a third suitor for Stephanie’s hand, adding to the complications and to Stephanie’s guilt over not being able to make a choice. Lots of healthy sex only adds to the confusion.
And, oh yes, there is a murder mystery going on also. Dead bodies keep turning up and they keep getting closer and closer to Stephanie. Thank you, Janet Evanovich, for not turning Stephanie into one of those detective-as-victim women that seem so prevalent in contemporary women’s detective fiction. Stephanie goes right on out to find the guy, and she’s pretty tough about it. I won’t go into details. A book review always flirts with spoilers, but I do my best to preserve the book’s surprises.
Evanovich also manages my other pet peeve—the amount of time an author spends updating all the characters in a continuing series. Evanovich got it done, but I didn’t notice it. Her updates were all cleanly integrated into the narrative.
My favorite element of Smokin’ Seventeen is Stephanie’s voice. As a first-person narrator, she is fresh, funny, frank, and distinctive. (Sorry, couldn’t think of another f-word.) Stephanie quickly becomes a friend, a pal, who lets you in on her strange and sordid adventures in the land of petty crime.
The setting of the book is confined to a set of neighborhoods in Trenton, New Jersey, in which Stephanie grew up. Her first step in locating a bail jumper is to call some friend of her mom’s who she knows will help locate the perp. The crimes and criminals are petty and grimy and often plain old stupid. Stephanie scrapes out a living one outrageous felon at a time. Her friends, family, and co-workers are wacky and distinct. The whole concept is pretty far out of the realm of normal, but instead of distancing me from the book, I could totally relate. The privately narrated story of anyone’s life is probably pretty strange—the indecisions, contradictions, paradoxes, competing drives. They make Stephanie easy to relate to, sort of an everywoman, in a blue collar sort of way.
You can tell that I loved this book. It’s a good quick read. It’s tremendously funny. Please check it out from your library and enjoy.
Best bits: The imagination of the author, which takes the action in directions unexpected. And the writing is top grade. I never questioned the plausibility of any sequence. Here’s a sample:
I sidled up to Merlin and the man standing behind him elbowed me aside…Merlin looked over his shoulder at me, and recognition registered. I reached out to stun gun him, he batted my arm away, and the stun gun flew off into space. By the time I retrieved my stun gun Merlin…was already... leaving the lot. I was holding a lot of anger, and it was directed at the idiot who elbowed me aside. I casually sidled up to him and accidentally stun gunned him. He went down to the floor, wet his pants, and I felt much better.
Special favorite item: Watch out for the granny panties.
Trouble spots: Every single element of the book ended up having relevance by the end of the book (masterfully done), but I couldn’t keep track of every octopussian plot line. I couldn’t figure out who Regina Bugle was and why she was tailing Stephanie. So keep your eyes open, folks.
Physical features: Nicely book-sized, not much fuss in the front and end matter; 39 chapters, 308 pages. Adequate layout and typography (book club books don’t generally push the edges of design).
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