Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich (2006, Hardcover)

I decided to get Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich because I’m in love with all of the Stephanie Plum novels by Janet Evanovich. Stephanie is a bounty hunter who everything go wrong with. In her books she can't keep a car (they mysteriously get blown up) and she can't keep a job except for being a bounty hunter. Stephanie also has a part time partner named Lula. She is an African American woman who is severally overweight and wears her clothing 2 sizes too small. Stephanie also has an on again off again boyfriend named Joe (who I’m voting for her to marry) but she can't decide if she has other feelings for a man named Ranger who is VERY mysterious. In this book, Stephanie finds out that Ranger has a wife and doesn't know exactly how she feels about that. Join Stephanie and the gang to reveal the identity of Rangers wife. I think this is the best book that Janet Evanovich has written and that I have read.

"Twelve Sharp" is an extremely funny book and much better than the last Stephanie Plum book, "Eleven on Top". Maybe not as good as some of the originals, but holds one of the top five spots for sure! Most of the regular characters are included: Stephanie's parents, Grandma Mazur, Stephanie's on and off boyfriend Joe Morelli, Lula, Connie, and Sally Sweet are all there. I personally was thrilled that Janet Evanovich gives a little more insight into the mysterious Ranger's private life. He is so yummy and this makes him even more human and well his "babe" just gets better and better! Evanovich adds a new character, Melvin Pickle, who brings a lot of fun to the book. Some of the captures that Lula and Stephanie make are wonderful, typical screw ups that make you laugh till it hurts. Evanovich wisely ditches some of the tired plot lines such as Stephanie's car always being blown up and breathes new life into other plot lines - especially an incredibly funny scene during a wake. Yes Grandma is up to it again! When Ranger and Morelli BOTH move in with her...well ths takes the book to new heights! The book is hilarious, even the tension filled ending has laugh out loud moments.

A wonderful read.

Sorry Stephanie Plum Lovers ! This was my first Janet Evanovich novel. I had a very difficult time with it. She seems like the two men Ranger and Morelli are like toys in her life she can just use and kinda of abuse. The women is totally fickle.
I did find subtle humor in her grandmother... kind of like an escape to get away from the drag of her story line. And the story did have quite a bit of drag to it. It was slow and had no real story.. I will admit she can take quite a bit of violence away from a scene, and almost make the shooting, or explosion seem funny.
NY Times says it was a best seller... but to who?
There are too many GREAT series writers out in the book world now
If this is one of her best novels, Janet Evanovich is not one of them.

I've been reading the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich since she started it. Reading number twelve was a "must". The book follows the activities of all the main characters: Stephanie, Joe, Ranger, Connie and the others and introduces new cases that Stephanie becomes involved in. It's funny, scary, serious, sometimes a little predictable but overall quite enjoyable. I love all the characters but I was glad that Stephanie's sister and her three kids were less visible this time.

The book is hard to put down. I can hardly wait for number thirteen to be released. I hope it shows a closer relationship for Stephanie and Ranger. I like Joe but it doesn't seem that their "on again-off again" relationship is what Stephanie really wants or needs in her life.

After reading and enjoying all of the Plum books, I would certainly keep buying any others in the series. I would suggest starting at the beginning and reading books one through eleven to get a better feel for the characters and story line. It is possible to enjoy book twelve by itself as Ms. Evanovich does give brief backgrounds of each character as they become active in the story. I just enjoyed each book.It really makes me look forward to the next one even more.

Read the book,you'll enjoy it.

First off, I LOVE the Stephanie Plum series...I read them all over and over. Twelve Sharp doesn't seem like it was even written by Janet Evanovich. It was very short...large font, lots of spacing. But the fun and the endearment of the characters wasn't there in this book. While, I still enjoy "the triangle", in this book, the normally wonderful Ranger has taken a turn. His daughter is kidnapped, Joe is kind and wonderful to him, but all he seemed to do in the book was look for ways to have sex with Stephanie. He was more in tuned to that then the grief a father should have over having a child kidnapped. Stephanie seemed whiny and one-dimensional. Valerie and Albert are absent. Grandma is more a distant remnant, than the fun lady. This book doesn't feel like it is written by Ms. Evanovich, and I know because I have read all the other books at least 5 times. It feels flat and churned out, rather than thought out. Joe hardly even figures in the book. The fun of Rex and Bob is basically down to a couple lines. This feels more like the uninteresting Metro Girl, than our beloved Stephanie and crew.