Review: Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich (audio)

Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich

Read by Lorelei King

Audio Renaissance

2006

Length: 6 hours, 54 minutes

Source: Library

From the back of the audio case: While chasing down the usual cast of miscreants and weirdos, Stephanie Plum discovers that a crazed woman is stalking her. This stalker carries a 9mm Glock, has a bad attitude and a mysterious connection to dark and dangerous Carlos Manoso…street name, Ranger. When somebody dies, the action turns deadly serious, and Stephanie goes from hunting skips to hunting a murderer. Now Ranger and Stephanie are working together to find a killer, rescue a missing child, and stop a lunatic from raising the body count. When Stephanie Plum and Ranger get too close for comfort, vice cop Joe Morelli (her on-again, off-again boyfriend) steps in. Will the ticking clock stop at the stroke of twelve, or will a stranger in the wind find a way to stop Stephanie Plum…forever?

My thoughts: Oh…Stephanie Plum – you seem to attract trouble wherever you go. And usually it’s coupled with hilarious antics, but this time around, things take on a bit more serious a tone. That’s not to say that there’s not some comic relief interspersed because of course there is – how could it not with characters like Lula and Grandma Mazur.

In Twelve Sharp, we find out quite a bit about the ever-mysterious Ranger. It seems his daughter has been kidnapped and some man from his past is trying to hunt him down. Stephanie ends up working alongside Ranger to figure out who this guy is and what his next steps will be. Of course, this doesn’t bode well for the on-going love triangle Stephanie has found herself in with Ranger and Morelli, but Morelli does offer his help here and there.

And what would a Stephanie Plum book be without a trip to the local funeral home for Grandma Mazur to check out how the person was laid out. Are the new owners of the funeral home ready for all Grandma Mazur’s antics? Between that, Lula recruiting Grandma Mazur to be in her band and the bond office having to interview people for a new bounty hunter position, the seriousness and tension of the Ranger plot is well-balanced.

I liked that this installment was a little heavier than the previous ones. After all, this is the 12th book and the books can’t all be filled with crazy antics, laugh-out-loud moments and the ever-present love triangle. There’s no typical Stephanie Plum book and that’s what keeps me plodding on!

Audio Thoughts: Once again, Lorelei King does a good job with the voices and manages to impart the right amount of humor or tension as the scene calls for. I’ve only listened to her narrate the Stephanie Plum books and if you remember I wasn’t all that crazy about having her take on the books at first, as I loved when CJ Critt narrated them. But now, as she continues to grow on me, I would be interested in seeing what else she narrates.

Books in this series:

     1.  One for the Money                         12.  Twelve Sharp
     2.  Two for the Dough                         12.5  Plum Lovin’
     3.  Three to Get Deadly                      13.  Lean Mean Thirteen
     4.  Four to Score                                   13.5  Plum Lucky
     5.  High Five                                           14.  Fearless Fourteen
     6.  Hot Six                                                14.5  Plum Spooky
     7.  Seven Up                                           15.  Finger Lickin’ Fifteen
     8.  Hard Eight                                         16.  Sizzling Sixteen

     8.5  Visions of Sugar Plums              17.  Smokin’ Seventeen

     9.  To the Nines                                      18.  Explosive Eighteen

    10.  Ten Big Ones                                    19.  Notorious Nineteen

    11.  Eleven on Top