A review by stephanimichelle
Turbo Twenty-Three by Janet Evanovich

3.0

Stephanie Plum is a Fugitive Aprehension Agent working in Trenton New Jersey. She usually ends up solving crimes through pure luck and tenacity. She is in love with two men, Joe Morelli a Trenton cop, and Ranger, ex-special forces Security Entrepreneur.

Stephanie is called in by Ranger to do some undercover work for his security business, when the owner of a local icecream factory suspects sabotage.

I don’t really know what else to say; Lula and Stephanie get up to their usual shenanigans – I nearly wet myself laughing at Lula’s method to quit smoking- Grandma Mazur is an adorable oddball and Stephanie is torn between her feelings for Joe Morelli and her lust for Ranger. Objectively there is nothing wrong with this book, it is a solid Stephanie Plum adventure, with all the elements that usually amount to a winning formula…but that’s the problem. This could easily be novel 23, or novel 12. There has been no real development in the overarching plot. Stephanie has danced around her feelings for the two men in her life for the last… 15 books?

The last real development in the series was when Stephanie and Ranger slept together, and I think that was in book 8 of the series. With each book this series gets a bit more tired, and irritating. I seem to recall saying something similar in my review for No22, but one book further down the line and still no changes. I may seriously think about not buying the next book unless Stephanie makes a choice.

I don’t understand why Evanovich is dragging this out – there is so much potential for future storylines if Stephanie chooses Morelli or Ranger. How would she balance marriage and fugitive apprehension? How would her life change if she chose Ranger? Every book where she leads on the two men in her life I get a bit more judgemental. It is not okay to be practically living with one man whilst constantly snogging another.

Also! she has the audacity to get mad at Morelli for not making a commitment either – I’m pretty sure he’s proposed to her at least 3 times during the series, and she is the one that keeps calling it off.

I even feel that Grandma Mazur could have some sort of development – it’s the same story in every book; she becomes enamoured with some sort of hobby, as a result of a man or crazy escapade with Lula, spends her social security money buying new clothes and dying her hair, and then goes back to square one.

Also, Rex must be in the Guinness Book of Records for being the world's oldest hamster.