- Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: Headline Review (Jun 6 2005)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0755329074
- ISBN-13: 978-0755329076
- Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 2.3 x 31.7 cm
- Shipping Weight: 259 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (321 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
In Hard Eight, Stephanie Plum picks up a case a little nastier than anything the wisecracking bounty hunter's seen before. Evelyn Soder and her young daughter have gone on the run, leaving an angry ex-husband who's planning to collect on a child custody bond that will leave Evelyn's grandmother homeless. Stephanie's first clue that there's more to it than that comes in the form of Eddie Abruzzi, a shady local businessman who warns her to butt out of the case. Stephanie doesn't scare easily, but when Abruzzi's henchmen leave a bag of snakes on her doorknob and tarantulas in her car, she has no choice but to call Ranger, the hunky man of mystery whom she already owes too many favors. Steph knows that Ranger will soon be calling in his marker, but with her ex- fiancé Joe Morelli out of the picture, that should be OK--shouldn't it? In the meantime, she's got other fugitives to catch, aided by the usual band of misfits, plus a bumbling correspondence-school lawyer who's developed the hots for Stephanie's sister, Valerie. And Steph's in for a surprise from her mother, who proves she's not above wielding a dangerous weapon to save her daughter's life.
Author Janet Evanovich has made a bold move in using a soupçon of child jeopardy to pull this series out of the comfortable but formulaic pattern it was threatening to fall into. It's still funny, and yes, some cars are destroyed, but now there's a real edge of darkness under the humor. Fans needn't fear, though: Jersey girl Stephanie is still full of sass and Tastykakes. --Barrie Trinkle --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
The menace is more personal for Trenton's favorite bounty hunter and the energy more manic in this latest outing than in last year's Seven Up. As a favor to her mother's next-door neighbor, Mabel Markowitz, Stephanie agrees to check up on the lady's granddaughter, Evelyn Soder, who has suddenly taken off with her little girl, Annie, leaving behind a child custody bond against Mabel's house. The son-in-law is a bad guy who lost his bar to Eddie Abruzzi, a very nasty character who owns evelyn's building. Soon someone in a bunny suit is trailing Stephanie, her car is blown up, her apartment infiltrated and a dead body appears on her couch. She calls in her associate, Ranger, the gorgeous and mysterious Cuban bond agent, while her sometime boyfriend, Morelli the cop, also gets on the case - a real doozy for which she's not getting paid. On the home front, ever-raunchy Grandma Mazur is eager to assist. Sister Valerie and kids have moved back in as well, so there's nowhere but the couch for Stephanie and one bathroom for all. Valerie is inexplicably attracted to Evelyn's goofy lawyer, who's been tagging along with Stephanie and the ever-outrageous file clerk and ex-hooker Lula, further complicating this twisted case. Life in the Burg takes on a sinister turn with serious results. Evanovich does it again, delivering an even more suspenseful and more outrageous turn with the unstoppable Stephanie, heroine of all those who have to live on peanut butter until the next check comes through. Waiting for nine will be tough.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
LATELY, I'VE BEEN SPENDING A LOT OF TIME ROLLING on the ground with men who think a stiffy represents personal growth. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
LATELY, I'VE BEEN SPENDING A LOT OF TIME ROLLING on the ground with men who think a stiffy represents personal growth. Read the first page
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining yet predictable,
By
This review is from: Hard Eight: A Stephanie Plum Novel (Mass Market Paperback)
Even knowing how most of the characters would react, knowing that Stephanie would fantasize over Ranger and Morelli, knowing that her car would be destroyed and that Grandma Mazur would be obnoxiously witty and smarty - it was still a good read. I loved the introduction of new characters and Kloughn is one of the best.The handcuffs act got old after a while but the dialogues, inner thoughts and comments made up for it. The scene with Ranger was great although she will probably end up with Morelli in the end. The plot to this one was on the thin side but then everyone can't be an Elizabeth George.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good listen for working out,
By A Customer
This review is from: Hard Eight: A Stephanie Plum Novel (Audio Cassette)
Stephanie Plum novels are terrific to listen to while working out. A walk or a run goes by more quickly while listening to these light and funny mysteries. Sure, the characters sometimes don't seem to learn how to avoid their many mishaps, but their mishaps are entertaining!
4.0 out of 5 stars
Stephanie is beset by geese, spiders, snakes and a bunny,
By
This review is from: Hard Eight: A Stephanie Plum Novel (Mass Market Paperback)
Anyone starting the Stephanie Plum series with HARD EIGHT is sure to get hooked. It's Stephanie at her wackiest.Plum is a disaster-prone bounty hunter working for her cousin Vinnie, a bail bondsman in Trenton, NJ. In this novel, Stephanie volunteers to help out her parents' next door neighbor, Mabel, who's put up her home to guarantee a child custody bond taken out on her granddaughter, Evelyn, who had one imposed on her by the judge in a recent divorce ruling. Now, Evelyn has skipped town with her daughter, Annie, and Mabel will be tossed into the street if the missing child isn't found. But, as becomes evident in all of Stephanie's adventures, there's more to the story than is obvious. Especially after the corpse of Evelyn's aggrieved husband, Steven, is left on the couch of Plum's apartment. Steven had been sawed in half. The imagination of author Janet Evanovich worked overtime in making HARD EIGHT perhaps one of the craziest to date. It's a nice touch that Stephanie faces off against a virtual menagerie. And she's finally beginning to take her .38, usually kept unloaded in a cookie jar, seriously. And her unfortunate association with fire-bombed vehicles reaches a record high. Notwithstanding these plot devices, however, books one to eight in the series are basically interchangeable. (I'm struggling, perhaps unsuccessfully, to keep from writing the same review over and over.) Evanovich needs to mature her heroine, who seems to have a slow learning curve. I suggest that Plum finally marry, or at least permanently set up house, with Detective Joe Morelli. It might not be a relationship made in heaven, but it would supply grist for any number of new episodes. And Lula, Stephanie's sometime partner in her Keystone Cop takedowns, is growing tiresome, as is the fact that the author refuses to bring Stephanie's Dad more into the limelight. Mind you, I'm still finding the Plum novels immensely enjoyable in a mindless sort of way. But even the best of a good thing, like a premium chocolate chip cookie, begins to get stale after awhile. Perhaps I've read too many in too short a time, and should alternate with the likes of WAR AND PEACE and the works of Plato.
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