Sunday Synopsis

The Scam by Janet Evanovich
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I usually enjoy Janet Evanovich, especially the Stephanie Plum series, but I can't say that I really liked this book. I can't say I really disliked it, either. It was just average.

The Scam is the fourth novel in the Fox and O'Hare series co-authored with Lee Goldberg. I received this book as a prize at a conference, so I had never read the beginning of the series. That didn't stop me, though, because Evanovich is good at writing series books that can also stand alone. The fact that I hadn't read the first three did not negatively impact my reading.

Kate O'Hare is an FBI agent partnering with Nicholas Fox who used to be her prey. Now, they team up to bring down big criminals. This time, their target is Evan Trace, a casino owner who is using his business to launder money for other criminals. Fox and O'Hare devise a complicated, elaborate scheme to catch Trace and others. And therein lies the problem.

First, the scheme was not believable. When one reads an entertaining adventurous story such as this, one must suspend belief... somewhat. This isn't fantasy, though.. It should have the essence of reality. This one crosses the line between entertaining and completely implausable.

It is also a bit cliche'. The super-criminal has a pond filled, not with koi fish, but piranhas. Flesh-eating, vicious piranhas. Typical. One of the criminals from Hawaii speaks using (fake) Hawaiian pidgin. He is also rotund and tattooed like Maui in the Disney film Moana. This character didn't require much imagination. One of the main villains stabs himself in the hand with a fork to prove a point. As it turns out, he has no nerve sensations in his hand. Hasn't this been done before?

And last, the book ends on a complete cliff-hanger. This might be okay if I wanted to read the next book, but I don't, so I guess I will never find out. And that's not a good thing.

If you're looking for a fun, imaginative book, this is for you. If you like a little originality or realism, you may not enjoy it much. Or, like me, you may just consider it average.

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