Title :: One for the Money
Author :: Janet Evanovich
Publisher :: Orion Books
Rating :: (out of 5)
Recommendation :: Astouding introduction to Stephanie Plum. I truly believe that no one can ever claim to be a reader unless they have read at least one or two of Evanovich's books.

:: Full Review
Miss Evanovich has me hooked on Stephanie Plum and Joe Morelli - hook, line and sinker! She really does. You know, I have been known to be a sucker for anything even remotely serial....like serial TV series....serial killers....serial eaters....you get the picture.

This is the first book all the other amazing Plum novels that she has ever written in her lifetime. And what a marvelous introduction this book is. It didn't matter that I already read High Five and Hot six, both follow-ups on Stephanie Plum's life, the introduction was well worth it.

You see, I never really knew what Stephanie meant that she said that she and Joe Morelli spent some time in his father's garage playing trains. And it was a little different from the other books that I have written when the temperature of the room always seem a little hotter than normal whenever Stephanie and Morelli are around each other. That's because Joe is not really interested in Stephanie yet - not yet because she tried to run him over with her car after they slept together! You see....I didn't know that from all the other books.

Somehow or the other, Stephanie's begging-for-rent-money situation will easily strike a chord in anyone reading! I mean, who isn't struggling to make ends meet, huh? Stephanie lost her job, don't have the money to buy a new car, no money to buy petrol....pushing the car's petrol tank to the limit and testing her luck out! Will she actually reach her destination first or will the last drop of petrol in her tank actually go 'poof' first? She's got nothing in her fridge, feeds her pet hamster nothing but junk food and have no money to buy ciggarettes...you know, she's written out to be like any other Jane, Mary or Helen.

She was so desperate for work (MONEY, really) that she agreed to work for her cousin Vinnnie, whom she thinks is a sleezeball. So, she blackmails her way into Vinnie's office and gets her first job....HUNTING FOR JOE MORELLI, the man who played train with her during her childhood days. The man who sets her pants on fire and sends her brain flying out the window.

Despite her very obvious lack of experience, she wants the commission for bringing Joe in for Vinnie. If she does, she gets 10,000. So, she goes for it.

I find her fear for guns, blood and gore, physical violence very real and so rib-tickling.

And another great introduction in this book is her wonderful writing on a monster called Benito Ramirez, a boxer, a figher...a psycho of the highest degree. In fact, it was so well written that when Benito comes hunting her down, leaving eerie and very taunting messages on her phone really sent chills down my spine! Real ones.

Funnily, I didn't think Ranger was as cool a guy as he later would be. In this introduction, Ranger seems a little offbeat, the way he talks is not the way he will be. He even appeared a little goofy too - being shot by someone they were trying to apprehend. On top of that, even when Ranger had to rescue Stephanie from a very NAKED situation, there was so sexual chemistry whatsoever.

Later on, Ranger becomes such a handsome and slick hunk - in this book, Ranger is just a side-kick who came in to help Stephanie out when she got into trouble and then he simply disappeared. Who would have thought that Ranger will become a large part of Stephanie's life later on?

:: One for the Money - Janet Evanovich