Audiobook Review: Turbo Twenty-Three by Janet Evanovich

Series:	Stephanie Plum #23
Pub. Date:	Nov. 16, 2016
Publisher:	Random House Audio
Narrator:	Lorelei King
Length:	6 hrs 16 min
Source:	One Click Digital

Sigh, I don't know what happened with this book. I am usually such a sucker for Evanovich's slapstick comedy, and I have loved the Plum audiobooks from the beginning. But I felt pretty ambivalent about this one. I do think it started before I even got the book... and it had to do with the price tag. Seriously - $14.99 for a Kindle book and $18 for a paperback? The audio was only 6 hours so I know the book isn't that long. What is going on with this pricing? I didn't pay that for my holy grail Outlander books and they are like 1,000 pages! So I was happy to pick up this audio from my library an save myself some cash. But I was grumpy about the price and that may have bled over into my thoughts about the book.

I listened to this book on my road trip home from the holiday celebrations this year, and it's been a few days since I finished it. I'm actually blanking on some of the bigger details of the story - it just didn't stick with me. Stephanie is, of course, still carrying out her bounty hunter theatrics and going after extreme and bizarre criminals. This time she happens to fall into the midst of a hunt for a weird killer that coats his first victim in chocolate and nuts to resemble a popular ice cream bar. It's no secret that she will fall into the killer's crosshairs as she seems to in every book... but at least this one kept me guessing as to the villain's identity. 

I have always been Team Ranger in this crazy love triangle, and normally I am all about things getting hot and bothered with our mysterious Cuban commando. But this time I actually had a problem with it. It felt much more like cheating than normal, and that didn't feel right.

I mean, it wasn't like Stephanie and Morelli were on a break. They were still dating and she wasn't objecting when Ranger kissed her, or when she jumped into his bed. I don't remember it being like that in prior books... it seems things always heated up with Ranger when she and Morelli were on the outs.

And can I just say that the abrupt fade-outs to deprive us of any sexytime is uber-frustrating? I would at least like some good sexual tension if you are gonna rob us of the bedroom theatrics.

Well this is just sounding like a total Negative Nancy review. It's so hard to write a review for something that was just "okay." The book wasn't BAD. And I did like it - kinda. It was just a "meh" kinda like. I was entertained as a captive audience in my car. If I wasn't driving and was listening to this at home... I probably would have zoned out. There were some of the ridiculous humorous moments that I love, but there wasn't anything spectacular or stand out. Grandma Mazur was great, and Lula's Naked and Afraid bit was funny.  I think this is where the price tag was bothering me... I expect something exceptional at that price point and this was not Evanovich's best work.

Let's hope #24 gets back that classic Evanovich comedy.