Review: Takedown Twenty by Janet Evanovich (audio)

Title: Takedown Twenty   

Author: Janet Evanovich   

Series: Stephanie Plum, #20   

Narrator: Lorelei King  

Published: November 2013, Books on Tape  

Length: 6 hours, 12 minutes  

Source: Personal copy 

New Jersey bounty hunter
Stephanie Plum knows better than to mess with family. But when powerful
mobster Salvatore “Uncle Sunny” Sunucchi goes on the lam in Trenton,
it’s up to Stephanie to find him. Uncle Sunny is charged with murder for
running over a guy (twice), and nobody wants to turn him in—not his
poker buddies, not his bimbo girlfriend, not his two right-hand men,
Shorty and Moe. Even Trenton’s hottest cop, Joe Morelli, has skin in the
game, because—just Stephanie’s luck—the godfather is his actual
godfather. And while Morelli understands that the law is the law, his
old-world grandmother, Bella, is doing everything she can to throw
Stephanie off the trail.

It’s not just Uncle Sunny giving
Stephanie the run-around. Security specialist Ranger needs her help to
solve the bizarre death of a top client’s mother, a woman who happened
to play bingo with Stephanie’s Grandma Mazur. Before Stephanie knows it,
she’s working side by side with Ranger and Grandma at the senior
center, trying to catch a killer on the loose—and the bingo balls are
not rolling in their favor.

With bullet holes in her car,
henchmen on her tail, and a giraffe named Kevin running wild in the
streets of Trenton, Stephanie will have to up her game for the ultimate
takedown.

My thoughts: Oh, Stephanie…you never fail to make me laugh with all your crazy antics that you seem to find yourself involved in. In this latest installment, it’s clear that you are no closer to figuring out what you really want to do with your life career-wise than you are to deciding what man you really want to be with.

Stephanie’s latest case has her trying to locate Uncle Sunny – who happens to be Joe’s godfather – which of course means that Joe’s grandmother Bella is sure to show up once or twice with her crazy curses! On top of that, Ranger asks for her help when older women start showing up dead – the common thing being they all play bingo. Oh – and there seems to be a giraffe running around town and Lula has named him Kevin. She feels bad for him and goes around leaving him food where she thinks he might show up.

I love the relationships between all the characters – they are fun, and make the book that much more enjoyable. Even the ones that are don’t get along are fun to listen to as they banter back and forth. There are the swoon-worthy men – Joe and Ranger – as well as the comical characters – Lula and Grandma Mazur. It’s these types of characters that really make the series memorable and have me looking forward to the next book.

I’m not sure how long Janet plans on having this series go on for, but I do know there is at least one more book, due to come out next year. Will that be the end? How does an author know when a series has come to an end?

Audio Thoughts: Once again Lorelei King brings her A-game to narrate the latest installment of this series. How she manages to maintain the same voices for each of the characters is mind-boggling to me, but so very effective and appreciative! She really does rock as a narrator!