2005; 283 pages. Book 11 (out of 31, soon to be 32) in the “Stephanie Plum” series. New Author? : No. Genre : Crime-Humor; Women Sleuths; Beach Read. Overall Rating : 8½*/10.
Stephanie Plum has quit her bounty hunting
job! She didn’t even give a two-weeks
notice, she just walked in Cousin Vinnie’s bail bond office and turned in her
handcuffs.
Stephanie’s tired. Tired of stalked by crazed killer, taunted by
naked fat men, shot at, spat at, cussed at, and having her cars destroyed at an
alarming rate. She’s going to find a job
with a lot less stress, a lot less violence, and hopefully a bit more pay. It shouldn’t be too hard to find such a job,
right?
Right. Well, her first new job was at a button factory,
where she got fired on the first day for not showing up on time. The second job was at Kan Klean, a
dry-cleaning place and was similarly brief, due to Steph’s dispute with the
owner. The third job, at a fast-food
called Cluck-in-a-Bucket, where employees are required to say “Have a clucky
day” as customers depart, also canned her.
For burning down the place.
Hmm. Stephanie’s job history is turning into a nightmare. I can’t wait to see how her fourth try at new employment turns out.
What’s To Like...
Eleven On Top
is the first book where Stephanie Plum isn’t working as a bounty hunter for her
cousin Vinnie. It was kinda neat to see
her out on her own. It’s not a spoiler
to reveal that her friend and coworker Lula gets promoted to the vacant bounty
hunter job, and it was fun to watch her step into Stephanie’s shoes.
As usual for this series, the
plotlines quickly multiply. Steph finds
herself being stalked by an unknown psychopath. Four local, middle-aged men jump in their cars
and simply disappear. Stephanie’s sister
Valerie is getting married and Steph’s been tabbed to be both the maid of honor
and the music maestro—playing a cello solo. The problem is she’s never played a cello in her life, but how hard can it be? Last but not least, the
Steph-Ranger-Morelli romance triangle continues to keep all three participants on
edge.
There is a plethora of
characters to meet and greet; many new, many recurring. Newly promoted Lula gets lots of ink; so do
Grandmas Mazur and Bella. The action
starts right away as Stephanie finds notes and explosives presented to her by her stalker.
The story is once again told
in the first-person POV: Stephanie’s. Eleven
On Top was published in 2005, and some objects, such as phone books, landline phones, Tastykakes, and
the Fosbury Flop, remind the readers
of things which were once commonplace, whose glory days are long gone.
The ending is exciting
and twisty-yet-logical. I knew a plot
twist was coming, but it still surprised me (and Stephanie) how and when it unfolded. The timing of some of the climactic events seemed a bit convenient, but hey, Stephanie has always had luck on her side.
Ratings…
Amazon:
4.6/5
based on 8,874 ratings and 983 reviews.
Goodreads: 4.17/5 based on 117,862
ratings and 2,539 reviews.
Excerpts...
“You were different,” he said to
Valerie. “I mean, you had a reason for
being a dope. Well, not a dope
actually. I don’t mean to say you were a
dope. Okay, you might have been a little
dopey. No, wait, I don’t mean that
either. Not dopey or dope or any of
those things. Okay, okay, just a teensy
bit dopey, but in a good way, right?
Dopey can be good. Like dumb
blond dopey. No, I don’t mean that
either. I don’t know where that came
from. Did I say that? I didn’t say that, did I?” (pg. 90)
“Now that I’m a bounty hunter I’ve got a
lot of demands on my time. I’ve got a
real nasty case that I’m working on. I
should be out tracking this guy down right now, only I figured I could take a
break from it and help you out.”
“What kind of case is it?” Val asked.
“He’s wanted for AR and PT,” Lula
said. “That’s bounty hunter shorthand
for armed robbery and public tinkling.
He held up a liquor store and then took a leak in the domestic table
wines section.” (pg.
108)
Kindle Details…
The Kindle version of Eleven On Top presently costs $9.99 at Amazon. The other e-books in the series range in
price from $5.99 to $9.99, with the exception of
Book 30, Dirty Thirty, which is discounted
to $2.99 for a limited time.
“I’m not a
cakeaholic”. (. . .) “I only eat cake on special occasions.” Like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday . .
. (pg. 204)
The cussword frequency is moderate in Eleven On Top, I counted 15 instances in the first
10%, mostly of the milder ilk. Later on a couple f-bombs show up. There were also four rolls-in-the-hay, with
one being a tripleheader. None of them
were rendered in graphic terms.
I can’t think of anything to quibble
about. I didn’t spot any typos. There was no progress on Stephanie’s romantic
quandary, but hey, do we really want those tense relationships to be resolved?
Eleven On Top is a fast-paced,
action-packed blend of humor and crime-solving, with just enough romance
blended in to attract the female readers without scaring off the male
readers. So far, I’ve been reading the
series in chronological order, and the next book, Twelve
Sharp, is on my Kindle awaiting my attention.
8½ Stars. One last thing. For those who keep count of these things: *Total cars trashed* during Stephanie’s sleuthing: Two. About average for her.
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