Product Description

Evanovich fans rejoice! Stephanie Plum is back in town, along with her sidekick Lula, her Grandma Mazur, and an ever-widening cast of freaks, criminals, deranged felons, and lunatics looking for love. And just when Stephanie thinks her life can’t get any more complicated, in walks the mysterious Diesel. A man who seems to show up at the most inconvenient moments.  This time, he’s the instigator for Stephanie’s new adventure, which involves camping in the Pine Barrens with Lula, and perhaps even a sighting of the Jersey Devil…so hang on for a Stephanie Plum novel that is sure to send chills up your spine – it gives new meaning to the words hilarious, and ‘spooky.’ 

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32808 in Books
• Published on: 2009-01-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

About the Author
Janet Evanovich now lives in New Hampshire but, like Stephanie Plum, grew up in New Jersey. She has won major crime fiction awards for her Stephanie Plum novels: ONE FOR THE MONEY was presented with the Crime Writers’ Association John Creasey Award and the Dilys Award, TWO FOR THE DOUGH won the CWA Last Laugh Award and THREE TO GET DEADLY was awarded the CWA Silver Dagger for 1997.

Customer Reviews

A Plum Full of Fun!

In the past, Between-the-Numbers Plums have been somewhat disappointing . . . with lots of Diesel (the now-you-see-him, now-you-don't spook who seems to be connected to The Men in Black), but little or no Morelli and Ranger. Well, Ms. Evanovich has solved that problem in Plum Spooky by putting in decent amounts of Morelli and Ranger to season the minor chemistry between Diesel and Stephanie. As a result, this is a full-fledged Plum . . . just as though it had its own number . . . you know, something like Frightening Fifteen.

As usual, Diesel appears out of nowhere with no warning. Stephanie has three accused who have missed their court dates, and none of them seem to be particularly challenging. There's Gordo Bella who ran over his ex-wife's new husband twice and is otherwise law-abiding. Denny Guzzi shot himself in the foot while robbing a convenience story, so he probably isn't going to run very fast. The other is Martin Munch, a skinny, five-foot two-inch scientist who looks like a kid in a SpongeBob T-shirt.

Now all that would seem pretty straightforward, but there's a complication. Susan Stitch has left her pet monkey, Carl, for Stephanie to baby sit while Susan is away on her honeymoon. You guessed it. Carl's part of the investigation team. Now, Carl's not your usual monkey. You'll have to read the book to understand what I mean, but it's all very funny.

The story has one other complication. Have you ever read any of the Carl Hiaasen novels about cleaning up the creeps who are ruining the environment? Well, Carl Hiaasen could have been a coauthor for parts of this story as we read about the Pine Barrens in southern New Jersey and the mythical men and beasts of that area (including the Jersey Devil who flies noisily above the trees at night).

Oh, and there's also a plot to control the world. Diesel has a cousin, Wulf Grimoire, who is partnered with Martin Munch to develop some pretty dangerous technology. Diesel claims that he needs Stephanie to join him so that Wulf will not be able to detect him.

As you might expect, Stephanie is happy to help . . . but she's got to meet her other responsibilities, including those other skips, helping Morelli's brother, and advising women on how to handle their men.

With so much at stake, you might not realize that there will be more fun than a barrel of monkeys (perhaps because there are lots of monkeys in the story). Lulu's love life takes an unexpected turn. And you'll meet one of the most dangerous characters ever . . . who has a most remarkable secret problem (that doesn't remain secret for long).

This story is so off-the-wall you could almost imagine it ending with Stephanie waking up from a dream to be relieved that it's all over. But it's no dream, it's Plum Spooky.

The only thing that's missing is some movement of Stephanie permanently toward one of the men in her life.

Have a ball!

Much better than the usual Between The Numbers
The Between the Numbers series do exactly what they say on the tin, provide instalments of the Stephanie Plum stories between the numbered novels. This latest fitting between numbers 14 and 15 in the series.

Previously the between the numbers books have been slim volumes, more like short stories. They're tied together by the appearance of a semi super natural hero called Diesel and all revolve around festivals such as Christmas and Easter. This one is slightly different in that although it is called 'spooky' it is not about Halloween and is also a much meatier book in terms of number of pages. Stephanie gets entangled with a vampiric character called Wulf, a crazy scientist called Martin Munch and the latest bunch of oddball skips on her regular bounty hunting routines.

This is, in my opinion, a distinct improvement. I have enjoyed the others in the series but was beginning to think that the price for such slender fare was one I was no longer willing to pay. This is much more the thing.

As with the numbered series the material is the same, Stephanie encounters freakish characters, bizarre pets and exploding cars whilst wrestling with the complications of a love life trapped between men she wants to sleep with but can't commit to. Rex is now the oldest hamster in the world and Grandma Mazur is older than God.

The ending to this book is slightly rushed and too neat, but other than that an enjoyable read.

Having said this, if you enjoy Evanovich's sense of humour and her writing and are willing to suspend all belief and any hope that the mainframe plotting will ever move forward you will enjoy yourself.

Hysterical. A fantastic read
I agree with a previous reviewer that the between the numbers novels are usually a little bit disappointing but this one is brilliant. I found myself giggling long into the night and unbelievable as the storyline is, I enjoyed every little bit of it. The characters are as eccentric as ever, and all three men in Stephanies life (I'm including Diesel here)are around. The monkey is almost human and an integral and important part of the storyline. I would recommend anyone to read this, especially if you want to laugh until you cry. The three "skips" that Stephanie is trying to find are as difficult and elusive as ever, and throw in Diesels extremely strange cousin who is trying to take over the world and you have one very good story. The only thing that could have made it even better was a bigger part for Grandma Mazur who is missing in this one. Janet, keep it up, I can't wait for number 15.