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29 of 29 found the following review helpful:
 Rent to Pay, People to See, and A Job That Needs DoneAug 19, 2004
By prisrob
"pris,"
Stephanie Plum is one of my heroes. She has such a cute way about her; loves her job, doesn't really care how she looks most of the time, has a personality and looks that attract the men, and is not wonder woman! Janet Evanovich, author of "To the Nines" has created characters that have me laughing and chuckling to myself. They are so real that I can see them in my mind. I have an image of Lula, the big size ex-ho, turned bonds-woman; Ranger, the ex-Special Forces turned bond enforcement; grandma, the woman who likes wigs and is as crazy as Stephanie-wonder whom Stephanie takes after; and Morelli, the cop, Stephanie's lover. Janet Evanovich has such a wonderful imagination- I want to meet that woman.
Stephanie is in trouble again. She is working with Ranger to find Samuel Singh, a missing computer nerd who is out on bail. Vinnie, Stephanie's boss will lose money if Mr. Singh is not found. Stephanie does all the right things, she looks in all the right places, asks all the right questions, and of course, she is a marked woman. Trouble seems to find her, she is left flowers with a devious message, shot at with a dart, email messages of a dark nature left on her computer. This mystery takes her to Las Vegas and has one of the funniest scenes with Lula I have read. Lula may just be taking some of the best scenes from Stephanie- Stephanie should talk to the author about what is going on:-)
Stephanie's family seems to take front page in this mystery. Her sister Valerie, is pregnant, large as a house and eating as much as she can. He boyfriend wants to marry her, but she isn't quite ready, and Valerie's two children are all living with Stephanie's mom and dad. No one is happy about this, and the house is getting too small, especially since Grand mom lives there also. What a mess.
This novel is one of the better ones. Many readers of Janet Evanovich, complain that her books tend to follow the same format-well, they do, but each one is different and so enjoyable. Ms. Evanovich lives near my hometown- I have to meet this woman who has brought me so much enjoyment, A mystery novel that brings humor to the forefront- what more could one ask? prisrob
34 of 37 found the following review helpful:
 An Almost Perfect Plum!Jul 23, 2003
By Donald Mitchell
"Jesus Loves You!"
Anyone who has enjoyed any of the eight previous Stephanie Plum novels would be very foolish to skip this one. If you haven't read any of those, you can safely start with this one . . . but don't expect the earlier ones to be nearly this good.Stephanie Plum, the down home city girl from the Burg in Trenton, continues in her bounty hunter job, and she takes on some pretty unusual ones in To the Nines. As Stephanie describes it, her retrievals have more to do with Lucy Ricardo from I Love Lucy than with Wonder Woman. The book opens with Stephanie and Lula, her sometimes heavyweight sidekick, trying to pick up Punky Blalog. The rest of the escapade has to be read to be believed . . . but Vaseline plays a large role. When she returns to the office, she discovers that her cousin Vinnie faces an enormous embarrassment if he cannot find and bring in one Samuel Singh, a temporary worker from India, for whom Vinnie wrote a visa bond. Vinnie sends Stephanie and her mentor (and sometimes squeeze) Ranger out to find Singh. A major plot line of the book revolves around this search which takes her to Las Vegas before the book is done. A secondary and engrossing plot involves the mystery of who is threatening Stephanie and killing people around her after she has lunch at McDonald's. Because of the threats, Ranger or his men play bodyguard for Stephanie whenever her undercover policeman boyfriend, Joe Morelli, isn't around. In many of the novels, Stephanie goes through cars like tissue paper. In this one, the bodyguards take it on the chin . . . and just about everywhere else. A third and happier plot involves Stephanie and Morelli becoming much closer to one another. A fourth plot focuses on Stephanie's unmarried sister, Valerie, who is nine months pregnant and the family's desire to get Valerie married and out of her parents' house. There's also a fine and funny story line about Lula trying different diets so she can become a super model. On top of these interesting plots and subplots, the mystery is quite engrossing. I had no idea what was really going on until about 60 pages from the end. On top of this, the book is filled with hilarious little scenes featuring the manic members of the Burg, including her man-crazy Grandma Mazur, Morelli's Grandmother Bella who has visions of dead women all the time, the generously endowed Connie Rossolli from Vinnie's office, and even Stephanie's mother who's having trouble coping. The pace of this book is amazing. There's something significant happening on almost every page. The scenes intersect with each other in truly inspired ways. For example, while Stephanie is finishing up her first bounty hunting gig, she gets an emergency call from her Grandmother Mazur. And you'll never guess what the problem is. The result of that scene then cuts into a woman making off-color comments about Stephanie because she seems to have an excess of Vaseline about her. And on it goes. The laughs come almost as fast. I was thoroughly delighted with this book . . . except for one little problem. It was totally clear who the evil doer was in the last 60 pages. The attempts at misdirection seemed strangely inept. If Ms. Evanovich had cut down that section, this book would have been the perfect Plum. As it is, I think To the Nines is my favorite Plum to date. After you finish racing break-neck through these pages, think about where your heart's desires may be leading you in contradictory directions. Then, go do something about it!
14 of 15 found the following review helpful:
Janet, you never disappoint me.Jul 19, 2003
By Karen Kirsch
"blazerlib"
I got to Border's at 9:10 on Tuesday to get the new Stephanie Plum and raced through it. Stephanie's cousin Vinnie has bonded
Singh and he's going to lose much money if Singh doesn't show up before his visa expires. As Stephanie tracks down leads, the people surrounding Singh turn up dead...one killed right in front of her. The search takes Steph, Lula, and Caroline to Las Vegas. Will Vegas ever be the same again? Not after a confrontation between Tom Jones and Elvis impersonators brought on by our lovely ladies and a giant pink thong!
Flowers and notes from the psycho killer follow Stephanie wherever she goes. The bodyguards that Ranger assigns to protect our heroine are dropping like flies.
There are many funny food moments as Lula consumes huge amounts of meat on her new high protein diet (animals are following her everywhere) and Stephanie's sister Valerie, 9 months pregnant, consumes everything in sight.
While Evanovich has not departed from laugh-out-loud adventure, 2 things were missing...Stephanie's vehicle did not get demolished and we did not visit the funeral home this time.
I do not read this series for the plot, although this one was
a little more intricate that most of the others. I read it for
the zany cast of characters that I have grown to love.
P.S. Ranger, come see me sometime...anytime!!!
10 of 10 found the following review helpful:
 How could she last this long??Jun 11, 2004
By Danny M. Hobbs
"deebledd"
Any mystery series writer has to walk a very fine line, continuing to work the formula that made the series a success, while adding enough novelty with each volume to keep it from reading like a formula re-run. The problem with "To the Nines" is that it's too long on formula, too short on novelty. After nine books, Stephanie hasn't grown as a character at all. She still can't remember her bullets, still can't get a skip into cuffs and down to the station. The joke's getting old. Don't get me wrong. I love -- repeat, ***LOVE!!!*** -- Stephanie and her entourage, especially Grandma Mazur. And the scene in "Hot Six" when the guys take off with the dog in the black Lincoln is one of ten funniest things I've ever read. But I keep waiting for Stephanie to **move**, to learn how to use cuffs and charge a stun gun and move on to bigger, more complicated, more subtle mistakes (or car explosions). I'll continue to read Stephanie novels, regardless. But here's hoping that "Ten Big Ones" breaks some new ground. Steph, I'm rootin' for ya!!!
12 of 13 found the following review helpful:
A perfect 10 for To the Nines!!!!!!!! A must read!!!Jul 23, 2003
This is ellen in Atlanta, and can think of no better read than the world of Plum! This book is a perfect blend of sex, humor, adventure, mystery, etc. Moreso than the other 8 books. The side trip to Vegas was an added treat - This book also blends the perfect combination of sexy hunk Joe Morelli and the steamy Ranger - tag teaming to take care of Stephanie - Although the murderer is suspected early on, what a ride to the last page - Only wish Grandma Mazur was featured more - her visits to Stiva's Funeral Home are legendary and any page with her and you have to dry your eyes from the tears of laughter -
Ms. Evanovich continues to impress with her wit and perfecting Stephanie's life and adventures - Love the Yellow Escape! My brother drives one and it is a fun car and perfect for her adventures, but I have a vision of an explosion coming on - Stephanie isn't too good with cars, although with this book, Ranger's (oooh Ranger) merry men get the brunt of the damage -
If there are some and I cannot see many - who haven't read all of the Stephanie Plum books, go back and enjoy them from One for the Money on to this wonderful book - This is the best! I read this book in one day and swore to myself to stretch it out but from the first page I was laughing so hard I couldn't put it down - will never think of Winnie the Pooh again without thinking of vasoline...
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