Top Secret Twenty-One

A Stephanie Plum Novel

By: Janet Evanovich

Narrated by: Lorelei King

Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

Number-one New York Times best seller

Catch a professional assassin: top priority. Find a failure-to-appear and collect big bucks: top score. How she’ll pull it all off: top secret.

Trenton, New Jersey’s favorite used-car dealer, Jimmy Poletti, was caught selling a lot more than used cars out of his dealerships. Now he’s out on bail and has missed his date in court, and bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is looking to bring him in. Leads are quickly turning into dead ends, and all too frequently into dead bodies. Even Joe Morelli, the city’s hottest cop, is struggling to find a clue to the suspected killer’s whereabouts. These are desperate times, and they call for desperate measures. So Stephanie is going to have to do something she really doesn’t want to do: protect former hospital security guard and general pain in her behind Randy Briggs. Briggs was picking up quick cash as Poletti’s bookkeeper and knows all his boss’ dirty secrets. Now Briggs is next on Poletti’s list of people to put six feet under.

To top things off, Ranger - resident security expert and Stephanie’s greatest temptation - has been the target of an assassination plot. He’s dodged the bullet this time, but if Ranger wants to survive the next attempt on his life, he’ll have to enlist Stephanie’s help and reveal a bit more of his mysterious past.

Death threats, highly trained assassins, highly untrained assassins, and Stark Street being overrun by a pack of feral Chihuahuas are all in a day’s work for Stephanie Plum. The real challenge is dealing with her Grandma Mazur’s wild bucket list. A boob job and getting revenge on Joe Morelli’s Grandma Bella can barely hold a candle to what’s number one on the list - but that’s top secret.

Praise for Top Secret Twenty-One

“The combination of biting dialogue, outrageous characters and intense story lines are consistent throughout. And [Janet Evanovich] novels are the true definition of a guilty pleasure.” (Associated Press)

“Evanovich doesn’t disappoint.... [She] weaves setting, family, romance and crime to pull the plot of Top Secret Twenty-One forward.” (Bookreporter)

©2014 Janet Evanovich (P)2014 Random House LLC

Funniest Grandma Mazur event ever

This story revolves around the case of the dying poker players. Stephanie is assigned to bring in Jimmy Poletti when he misses his court date, but one calamity after another keeps her from catching him. Then there's the problem of Randy Briggs. Someone is trying to kill him and he asks Stephanie for help. And to make matters even worse, Ranger's life is on the line when an assassin tries and fails to kill him.

Stephanie is back and better than ever!! She is independent, and a slightly better bounty hunter.

The real challenge, however, is dealing with her Grandma Mazur's wild bucket list. A boob job and getting revenge on Joe Morelli's Grandma Bella but those two can barely hold a candle to what's number one on the list - but that's top secret. Prepare to hold your sides while laughing.

Ranger also addresses his bucket list when he smiles and says, "There are times when I seriously consider marrying you (Stephanie), but then I get yet another black mark on my path to enlightenment and forgiveness and I scratch marriage off my bucket list."

Not As Exciting as Previous Books

Minimalistic and there are no great scenes. Plot characters etc is pretty average I this one

Always Good!

I've read all Janet's books and I can't wait for more!
I get started and can't quit till the book is over. I feel like the characters are like family.
Janet always puts a new spin on the characters.

Fun novel! I love all these novels.

Great beach novel! Can completely loose yourself in this book and the other Stephanie Plum novels.

Love the Plum!

Stephanie is getting better at take downs and her Gramma is a hoot! For an entertaining romp you can’t go wrong with a Stephanie Plum novel,

Stephanie needs to learn

I do love this series but it really is cut and paste at this point. I would really love to see Stephanie learn to be a real bounty hunter. She keeps making the same stupid mistakes like not wearing proper bounty hunter equipment. Utility belt, charges max power stun gun, pepper spray, gun with bullets etc. Ranger started to teach her early on but he hasn’t insisted she continue advancing. I think she needs to continue working with Ranger and hone her skills. And Lula though her hysteria was funny the first several times the fact that she also hasn’t learned to keep her gun where she can find it is getting old. Surely there are other funny things you can come up with. That said I do still enjoy listening to the light books we just want more. Morelli is not really that interesting anymore. He’s just a guy that always wants nothing more than sex from Stephanie she needs to move on if he can’t be more in her life.

Stephanie Plum never fails to make me laugh

What did you love best about Top Secret Twenty-One?

I seriously love this series. It may be considered to be stagnant by some but to me its a fun filled time with the characters I love. No matter what anyone says about the Stephanie Plum series I know that I can pick up anyone of the books (Top Secret Twenty-One included) and relax. They never fail to whisk me away from all my problems and give me a hefty dose of fun and laughter. While I will admit that I would like to see more of a progression with the love triangle, I'm not ready for that to happen just yet. I enjoy the fact that Stephanie has the best of both worlds even if I'm dying for her to get some more "hands on Ranger" time.

What did you like best about this story?

The story took me away from all my real life problems and gave me a healthy and much needed dose of laughter and joy.

What does Lorelei King bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Lorelei King is by far my favorite narrator ever. There is only one thing I love more than reading the Stephanie Plum series and that is listening to Lorelei King's audio book version of it. She manages to bring the characters to life and make them sound exactly how you pictured it.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Another Good Installment in the Series

Janet Evanovich does not disappoint with another fun story line. And, Lorelei King does an amazing job in keeping us entertained and brings each of the characters come alive.

Love the Stephanie Plum stories!

I love the book!! I have read all of them I'm just starting to listen to them...... I thought the narrator did a great job. She added to the enjoyment of the book. I highly recommend this book.

Loved it.

I'm a long time fan of Evanovich. Steph not so bumbling made for a more entertaining book. She also seems to have found her morales. Gramma was even more believable. Lorelei King is the perfect compliment to Plum's character. Going up to see if 22 is up yet!!!