Evanovich, Janet: One for the Money
One for the Money: A Stephanie Plum Novel
Writer: Janet Evanovich
Genre: Mystery, Humor
Pages: 320
While this is a writer a friend of mine has long bragged about, I've never been interested in this sort of series. However, since it was required reading for the January residency at SH, I borrowed my future mother-in-law's copy and got it out of the way. I know I'll be discussing this when I get on campus, but journaling my reactions and notes now will help, especially since it's fresh in my head.
Characters:
Stephanie Plum: just your average smart-ass, at the bottom-of-the-barrel girl who'd do just about anything for money. Like take on a bounty-hunting job, even though she has absolutely NO experience. The good thing about her character was that this combination of who she is and what she was doing provided for lots of opportunity for humor, simply because it was painfully obvious at times this girl didn't have a clue. Though, there was a certain inconsistency to her character: she was tough when she didn't need to be, and completely unaware of the immediate danger when she REALLY needed to be. So while I liked her, I didn't like her enough to keep wanting to read her adventures in the rest of the series.
Joe Morelli: just your average cop-getting-busted-for-something-he-righteously-did guy. Okay, sure, he's an ass when he's younger (and trust me, you hear ALL about that), but there's no question, in this reader's mind, that when it turns out he's the bounty? That what he did "wrong" wasn't really wrong and would be easily "righted" in the end. And I was right. The hard thing about Morelli's character was that while he had a certain rough-guy appeal (and he was certainly likable toward the end), I could never really buy his reactions. Granted, there was some consistency in his character, but at times, it went a teeny-bit over the top in a way that made me want to keep flipping the pages, which isn't great.
Ramirez: just your average boxer who doesn't know how to treat women and is mixed-up on the wrong side of the law. No, this man doesn't have a heart of gold. He's an animal in the most stereotypical sense of the word, and is never, at any time, interesting. The whole book spends so much time showing us how BAD he is that we never get a real satisfying conclusion with his character. Sure, Stephanie maces him towards the end, but that's it. The real showdown is with his boss, who I thought had more to do with the story all along anyway, so the BIG TWIST at the end of the story wasn't so much a twist at all.
The best character in the book? Grandma by a long-shot. That woman was so richly and believably painted that I often saw my fiance's grandmother instead of her. Heh. Why is it the minor characters always steal the show, hmmm? And her best scene was definitely the gun-at-the-dinner table by far. That's the one part that made me laugh out loud.
Plot:
Honestly? I was never in suspense. Which, I guess is bad for a mystery? I dunno. As a reader and a writer, I spend a lot of time examining what's going on and fitting the pieces together in my head. Did I ever wonder if Stephanie would catch Morelli? Nope. Was I surprised at the end when it was revealed the boss was responsible for the whole deal? Hardly. Was I shocked and appalled by the hanging of Lulu and the exploding Jeep? Let's ponder:
Both of these incidences are what I call scare tactics. The reader has been strung along by a certain vibe and feel of the piece, and suddenly, the reader MUST be woken up so they pay attention. It's not to say what's going on before is boring, but I guess a good comparison would be those slasher movies: you have a story going along and all of a sudden, something SCARY happens to make you jump in your seat. Does it serve the story? Sometimes. Often, it's just trying to scare you.
I think Lulu's hanging didn't scare me so much because Stephanie seemed to have forgotten that Ramirez was going to leave a surprise for her. I was EXPECTING something. So while it took me a moment to digest what I read (which I felt was a bit over-the-top, despite the background we have on Ramirez), I was never surprised, never put in suspense.
Now the exploding Jeep caught me by surprise, because it literally came out of nowhere and made me giggle. Yes, exploding Jeeps are funny, especially when jerks are trying to steal them. Nice touch with the singeing of the eyebrows, too. I think that scene worked so well because the reader wasn't expecting it, and Stephanie wasn't expecting it either. These are the scare tactics that work well, especially when they serve a greater purpose.
Overall, I think this mystery was a bit easy to put together. While I didn't have ALL the details figured out, nothing really surprised me. I know I keep saying that, but I want my mysteries to keep me in such a tight ball of suspense that I snap when I get the big reveal. But I couldn't with this because my main character--my guide through the story--kept ignoring clues that I would've followed ASAP. You never, ever want your reader smarter than your main character, unless it's in YOUR favor as a writer. Oh well. Lesson learned, moving on.
Setting:
Now, I'm all for regional writing and incorporating little details into a story to make it more realistic. And I'm sure that if I lived in the Burg, I would've been loving this, cause I would've recognized all sorts of stuff. Okay, so maybe not the burg, but New Jersey, you know? But there was so much detail given in such random ways that I didn't care about the setting. Nor did I care about the constant description (appearance REALLY bothered me, because there were only, like, TWO occasions where what she was wearing had some bearing on the story). I don't like books that date themselves, especially when the stories could take place in almost any year. Here, I got a very distinct late eighties feel at the very latest, and when I flipped back to the copyright and saw this was published in the early nineties? Well, let's just say I could've done without the dated reminders of when this book was really written.
Style:
First person: it worked. Not my favorite use of the first person, as it was far too chatty. There was also the whole believability factor with the character, and the fact she kept describing stuff I didn't care about, which didn't help the style much at all. Still, the style allowed for a quick, fast, and light read. Something good to speed through in a couple days, easily.
Overall, it was an enjoyable read, though I can't say I'm inspired to go and read the rest of the series. Don't get me wrong, it's a light, fast, fun read. It's got humor and a strong-willed female character to boot. But it's not my personal thing, and I have a love/hate relationships with serial novels, because I reach a point where I question just HOW MUCH can happen to a character and it still be semi-believable. Granted, I'm not sure novels in this genre are going for COMPLETE believability, but still...I've got my Star Wars books for that. *winks*