Trenton, New Jersey's most infamous bounty hunter, Stephanie
Plum, may not have a reputation for keeping her promises. But when
it comes to a kid, does she have a choice? Her latest adventure
begins with an offhand remark to a mother who failed to appear at
her court hearing that she didn’t have to worry --- Stephanie
would pick up Zook, the woman’s teenage son, from school if
Mom hadn’t finished the paperwork at the police station in
time. Stephanie wouldn’t do this for just anybody, but the
mother is Joe Morelli’s cousin Loretta (he’s related to
half of Trenton), so she’s almost family. Simple,
right?

If you’re a Stephanie Plum fan, you already know that nothing
in her life is simple.

Loretta is kidnapped and held for a $7 million ransom of hot money
from a bank job her brother Dom went to jail for that may be buried
in Joe’s basement. This would explain the strange men who
start coming and going through Joe’s cellar door ever since
Dom got out of jail last week. When one of them winds up dead with
a bullet hole in his forehead in the middle of Joe’s basement
floor, he hires a friend to guard his house.

Joe and Stephanie are surrogate parents to Zook, the nerdy
14-year-old whose ears are permanently attached to his iPod and his
fingertips connected to his laptop computer. When things turn nasty
at Joe’s house, they move Zook and his entourage (he’s
something of a gamer guru and has established a following) to
Stephanie’s apartment.

Meanwhile, Stephanie is moonlighting for Ranger as a bodyguard for
has-been country western singer Brenda, playing Trenton on a
farewell tour. Brenda decides that bounty hunting would be a great
new career choice after watching Stephanie and Lula in action, so
she tags along as they try to rescue Zook’s mom from the
kidnappers. That job becomes more urgent after a well-manicured toe
arrives attached to a brick through the window with threats of more
body parts to come.

Somehow, a nasty little monkey named Carl gets involved but
doesn’t meet the end he so richly deserves.

Janet Evanovich introduces several new characters, most of whom are
related to Joe, and some effective new weaponry in the form of
potato shooters. The computer gamers ride to the rescue along with
the professionals, and all is calm in the burg once again. The
crime is resolved, but Stephanie’s complicated relationship
with Joe and Ranger is not. Hopefully we won’t have to wait
another year to get our hands on book 15!