PLOT OR PREMISE

This is the second book in the Stephanie Plum series, new bounty hunter. This time around first love’s distant cousin, Kenny Mancuso, is supposed to be a relatively easy pickup. Sure, he shot a guy, his best friend, but he’s not all that bright. Except that he’s fresh out of the army and suddenly wealthy.

WHAT I LIKED

I liked the expansion of the role by Plum’s grandmother, even though I thought she was over the top in the first one. Here, it’s funny, as she is out of control. She goes to a funeral with a closed coffin for a guy who was shot, and she opens the coffin to see what he looks like. Another dead guy has a strange looking ring so she touches the hand and the finger comes off. Don’t even ask about her shooting a gun. The love story with Morelli moves along a bit until he screws up (as all men do) and the brakes come on hard. Add in the sub-plot of 24 missing coffins, and the read is a riot. An improvement over the first book, and further expansion of some nice supporting characters.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

There are a few too many guys running around with no real explanation, and the major baddie Kenny does a pretty good job of going wherever he wants to despite a large number of people looking for him (remembering that he wasn’t too bright to begin with).

MY RATING

Original: November 29, 1999

Legend: 1/5 Finished 2/5 Not bad 3/5 Good 4/5 Enjoyable 5/5 Excellent

THE BOTTOM LINE

Another great one in the series.

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