Just as I was starting to feel the love of new Stephanie Plum adventures starting to fade, Sizzling Sixteen came along and started to change up the Stephanie Plum books again. One of my favorite books in the series was Twelve Sharp where we got to spend the entire book learning more about Ranger. We didn’t get to spend all of Sizzling Sixteen with Ranger, but we got to know a lot more about another one of the main characters throughout the series, Vinnie.
Vinnie, the weasel that he is, has made a number of bad gambling deals and has found himself pretty far indebted to a number of mobsters. He goes missing early on in the book and Connie gives Stephanie the challenge of finding him. Lucille, Vinnie’s wife, has kicked him out of the house after finding out that he was found with another women at the time of his capture. Once they find Vinnie, they are tasked with hiding him somewhere until things are cleared.
Mooner is back for another appearance and he is sharing his RV that he has recently acquired and ready to take on a roommate. Unfortunately a trip to the bakery, a Joyce Bernhardt appearance & a bored Vinnie result in Vinnie going missing yet again and Mooner not really having a clue what happened.
Morelli and Stephanie spend this book fighting with each other, something about a jar of peanut butter and the two of them being their stubborn selves. Stephanie spends some time with Ranger but ultimately nothing happens and we continue down the road of who will she choose.
When the mob gets a hold of Stephanie and Mooner (in an attempt to get to Vinnie), an unlikely group of friends save the day.
As usual, Janet Evanovich leaves you wanting donuts by the end of the book.
“Ranger sent us to check on you,” Hal said. “We just got here, and we heard shots.”
“Some moron ate my jelly doughnut,” Lula said. “So I shot him.”
― Janet Evanovich, Sizzling Sixteen
Thanks Lula.
As I mentioned above I thought Sizzling Sixteen (and coming up on Smokin’ Seventeen) were a turning point in the Stephanie Plum series. For awhile the books were getting repetitive and I still loved the story lines so I kept going. These books seem like Janet Evanovich has taken a hold of the series again and is starting to change things up.
I really liked that we got to learn a little bit more about Vinnie in this book. He has always been an important character to the series (he owns the bonds office) but at the same time he was never really featured as anything more than his love of barnyard animals. Do I like him anymore? Not really, but I still like that we got to know more about him as a character.
Consider this your warning, I may have gotten hooked this weekend and there is a lot more Plum Fun to come this week!