Series getting stale and predictable...but still funny

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	• Lean Mean Thirteen (Stephanie Plum, No. 13) Janet Evanovich St. Martin's Press, 2007 - 320 pages average customer review:based on 353 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Series getting stale and predictable...but still funny

Let's face it fellow readers. Janet Evanovitch has harvested from these same fertile fields many times and she still produces a good crop. Has the time come to rotate her crops? Probably. Is the current crop as good as those harvested when her soil was fresh? No. Is it still worth your while to eat from this particular harvest. Yes. Are things getting a bit, shall we say stale, in this particular field. Absolutely! That being said, a few things are glaringly apparent.

First, I'm way past wanting Stephanie to choose between her love interests. I just want the woman to GROW UP! If she is going to remain remotely interesting she needs to change. Whether the decision to keep Stephanie in a box is made by author or publisher remains to be seen; but both would be well advised to let this 30-ish adolescent grow up just a tad.

Second, Grandma Mazur needs a new pasttime. Hanging out at the funeral home is way past creepy.

Third, please let Stephanie get a real job for a change and moonlight as a bounty hunter. Do something to get this woman a little money in her pocket.

I could go on, but the point is that this series needs to grow. From the reviews of the 14th installment that didn't happen this year. Dear Janet, a word to the wise, give your characters some growing room. Dear Publisher, let the series progress. But in the meantime, the book has a few laugh-out-loud moments and that's enough for paperback entertainment. But my days of spending hardback bucks on Stephanie have long since passed.

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Not bad for one of the later Plums

I thoroughly agree with all of the reviewers who say that it's time that Janet Evanovich brought the Stephanie Plum series to an end. I can't, for the life of me, understand why Ranger hasn't given up on Stephanie and found someone else; I don't see why Stephanie and Morelli don't just get married; and I want closure on the series. And yet, every time a new Plum novel comes out, I still find myself buying it, reading it, and generally enjoying it. Some of the more recent Plum novels have been less than fantastic ("Eleven On Top" was pretty terrible), but fortunately for Plum addicts, like myself, Evanovich returned to form with "Twelve Sharp" and continues at this form with "Lean Mean Thirteen".

Evanovich's trend in these more recent Plum novels seems to be, in each book, to write a mystery centered on one of her recurring characters. "Twelve Sharp" was Ranger's book, "Lean Mean Thirteen" centers on Stephanie's ex-husband, Dickie Orr, and I've heard that "Fearless Fourteen" is all about Morelli (although I have yet to read this one). I really like this idea and think it makes the mystery more interesting. It also makes the mystery plot and the inevitable sub-plot about Plum's personal life integrate better. In "Lean Mean Thirteen", Dickie Orr is missing, and as his disappearance occurred shortly after Stephanie attacked him in his office, Stephanie is the prime suspect and has to solve the mystery in order to clear her name.

I just finished reading this book about half an hour ago and now that I come to think about it, I realize that there are a number of loose ends not tied up at the end of this novel. Nevertheless, I didn't notice these while I was reading the novel and I had a good time while I was reading it. I still want to see an end to this series, but as long as the books continue to be of this standard, I'll still keep buying them.

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Anther good novel in the series

Our favorite bounty hunter, Stephanie Plum is back again in Lean Mean Thirteen. Stephanie is asked by her friend, Ranger to plant bugs on her ex-husband Dickie Orr. Stephanie does not like Dickie too well, so when she, LuLu and Connie give him a visit, it is no surprise that Stephanie and Dickie end up fighting on the floor. Stephanie can't help herself especially after she learns that Dickie is back in bed with her archenemy Joyce Barnhardt. The following day Stephanie learns that Dickie has gone missing, presumably dead, and their number one suspect is Stephanie. Forced into this situation by Ranger, she joins up with him to try and find out what happened to Dickie and how it ties to his law firm and its cast of suspicious partners. The plot is a little too extravagant, but Janet Evanovich provides some great characters along the way that overall make the story work. As always she fills her pages with scenes that will leave you laughing out loud, including exploding animal specimens and graveyard antics. Plus, she gives us just enough Ranger to have us begging for more or the mysterious and sexy bounty hunter. Fans of the series will not want to miss Lean Mean Thirteen. Valerie Jones mrsvaljones@netzero.net

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Still one of the best

I agree with some other reviewers that things are getting a bit repetitive, and I wish something would happen one way or another with the men in Steph's life. But these are minor quibbles with a great series. It's still laugh out loud funny and one of the best mystery series out there. It's hard to find books with genuine wit and a good plotline; the closest to this I've read recently are fantasy, Karen Chance's Cassie Palmer novels. So yeah, this is still five stars for me!

reviews: 1, 2, 3, page 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

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