Top Secret Twenty-One

Another good Stephanie Plum book. This was good to read at work during lunch. I liked this one better than #20. I like how her relationships with Joe and Ranger seem to each have their purpose in her life. This story has just a hint of mystery, but plenty of the sarcastic humor I love. #22 is already in my hands.....

I got a little behind on the Stephanie Plum mysteries, so I got to enjoy two Plums this summer. Enjoy is a good word when it comes to the Plums. You aren't going to take away any great insights from these stories. You aren't going to rethink your life. You aren't going to learn any new ideas. It's okay. These books are all about getting lost in a fun ride and hanging with some zany folks for a couple of hours. So, enjoy.

I enjoyed this book! It made me laugh out loud like some of the earlier books in the series. Great easy and quick read.

At one point I was laughing so hard I was crying. Definitely the best of the Plum novels I've read during my recent binge of them. Hopefully #22 will come up to the same standard. These are all pretty much the same by now, but I keep reading them basically for the comfort of it. You come into it knowing you're going to have a whole lot of Lula falling out of her clothes, Stephanie causing (or being the target of) large quantities of mahem, and Morelli and Ranger vying for Stephanie's bed (and heart?). Same old same old...it's good because it's comforting in the sameness of it. I really would like to see some kind of movement on the relationship lines though...but I guess that might mean the end of the series as we know it.

What to say, what to say . . . I mean seriously, these are like 80's sitcoms at this point. A big reset to the status quo at the end of the novel, most of the jokes are variations on previous novels. Which makes it hard to talk about them. Let's break this one down quickly:

• The Good: Vinnie didn't appear. Joyce Barnhardt only appeared as an allusion. The pacing was a bit different, I thought. Stephanie's main target was taken care of pretty early, freeing her up to help Ranger.


• The Bad: The main target for Stephanie was so close to the guy in Takedown Twenty that I briefly wondered if I'd already read this one.


• The Surprising: The other big case for this book – Ranger's case, was a lot more serious (grading on a Plum curve here) than we're used to. Involving a bit more peril than one expects. Grandma was used well, and Evanovich showed a little restraint with her and her antics.


• The Funny: There was the standard amount of general amusement. But, and this is important, (at least until Evanovich figures it out and drives it into the ground), Bob + Ranger = Comedy Gold. Who knew? I actually laughed out loud. That whole scene lifted this from a 2-2.5 star rating to a three. It's been a long time since I actually laughed at one of these.

Meh.

A light and easy read. Found it a bit predictable with Stephanie, Morelli and Ranger all very much unchanged from earlier Plum novels and the story line feeling very much like a re-hash of earlier books with very similar things happening. Good but not great.

Sometimes you need to suspend reality and read something light, something slapstick that doesn't require too much brainpower. The Stephanie Plum series ticks all those boxes.
All the usual suspects are back in “Top Secret 21”, sexy Morrelli and smouldering Ranger, Grandma Mazur and Lula, and Stephanie's long-suffering parents. With the usual expolsions and wayward skips this book is a catalogue of disaster that is the life of Stephanie Plum. Funny, fast paced and hugely entertaining.