Top Secret Twenty-One

Book 14 of my 2015 Reading Challenge

read from Feb. 8 - 9

Top Secret Twenty-One by Janet Evanovich

book 21 of the Stephanie Plum series

Summary (via Goodreads)

Trenton, New Jersey’s favorite used-car dealer, Jimmy Poletti, was caught selling a lot more than used cars out of his dealerships. Now he’s out on bail and has missed his date in court, and bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is looking to bring him in. Leads are quickly turning into dead ends, and all too frequently into dead bodies. Even Joe Morelli, the city’s hottest cop, is struggling to find a clue to the suspected killer’s whereabouts. These are desperate times, and they call for desperate measures. So Stephanie is going to have to do something she really doesn’t want to do: protect former hospital security guard and general pain in her behind Randy Briggs. Briggs was picking up quick cash as Poletti’s bookkeeper and knows all his boss’s dirty secrets. Now Briggs is next on Poletti’s list of people to put six feet under.
To top things off, Ranger—resident security expert and Stephanie’s greatest temptation—has been the target of an assassination plot. He’s dodged the bullet this time, but if Ranger wants to survive the next attempt on his life, he’ll have to enlist Stephanie’s help and reveal a bit more of his mysterious past.
Death threats, highly trained assassins, highly untrained assassins, and Stark Street being overrun by a pack of feral Chihuahuas are all in a day’s work for Stephanie Plum. The real challenge is dealing with her Grandma Mazur’s wild bucket list. A boob job and getting revenge on Joe Morelli’s Grandma Bella can barely hold a candle to what’s number one on the list—but that’s top secret.

My Opinion

I keep reading because I'm incapable of giving up but at least it was a quick read.  

My general unhappiness with the series remains.  I'm tired of coincidences, the guy literally ran into her and she didn't get him, and there's a standard formula anyone who's read more than 3 of the books will be able to predict (the crazy animal sidebar in this story is a group of demon Chihuahuas).  On top of that, I didn't like the central mystery in this case.

I gave it two stars because even though I didn't like it, it didn't make me angry like my (rare) one-starred books do.  I'll continue to read the series, checked out from the library so I don't have to pay, but I hope the series wraps up soon.  With a choice of men already!

Quote from the Book

"I stepped inside, took Morelli's gun out of my messenger bag, and crept up the stairs, feeling like an idiot. I had eight Chihuahuas and a gun in my hand. Could it get any more ridiculous?"