Reviewer: Connie Payne
Title: Motor Mouth - 2nd in the Barnaby series
Author: Janet Evanovich
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0-0605-8403-3
Release Date: October 2006
Genre/Sub-genre: Mystery/Chicklit
Year/Setting: Present Day - FL and NC
Overall rating: 4.75
Sexual Content Rating: None (alluded to/innuendo)
Language (Profanity) Content Rating: Moderate +
Violent Content Rating: Moderate
Janet's Website:
www.evanovich.com
From practically page one the trouble begins for Alexandra Barnaby and Sam Hooker. And that’s trouble with a capital T in case you were interested.
Alex is an engineer and mechanic with Stiller Racing. She’s also a spotter for race car driver Sam "Hooker". It’s near the end of the final race of the season when trouble begins, though neither Alex nor Hooker thought they’d be involved with anything more than stealing...er, borrowing, a competitor’s hauler to save a co-worker’s behind. You see, Gobbles, their co-worker, is locked in the hauler with the cars.
Once they rescue Gobbles, they figure they might as well take the time to check out car 69, because Alex is sure they cheated somehow, and Gobbles knows that Huevo Motor Sports and car 69 was involved with some kind of cheating, among other things.
They should have just grabbed Gobbles and ran, but when a dead body wrapped in shrink wrap falls out of a locker, well you just have to do something don’t you? Like get rid of the body? You also have to do something with the pieces of the cars you tore apart looking for evidence of cheating, right? Like send them to the scrap yard to be compacted? And when you take the hauler to a place where it will be found, you have to chase it down when you discover your dog was left sleeping in it, don’t you think?
But what do you do when you find another body and you’re a suspect? How about when you’ve got "goons" coming after you because you have something they want? What happens when you start to get too close to the truth? You gather evidence while on the run. And you outsmart the "goons" with lots of help.
The off the wall and illogical ideas that Alex and Hooker act on seem to only dig them into deeper trouble, yet somehow gets them closer to figuring out the truth and who’s behind it and why.
Some may think the character development is slow or nonexistent, but take a closer look, see between the lines...Hooker comes across as perhaps shallow and uncaring, but when it comes down to it, he’s right there in the crossfire, willing to protect Alex and take the heat. Alex is both feminine and hard-nosed; she’s not afraid to step in it, yet she wants to be treated as a woman should and show off her feminine side, too.
Rosa, Felicia, and Suzanne are colorful accomplices to some of Alex and Hooker’s plans. They add an extra dimension to an already 3-dimensional book.
Not a big fan of the Stephanie Plum series (I hear the gasps), I was unsure of reading this series. But I was won over immediately.
Plus, any book that doesn’t overly offend me with the use of the "F" word, among others, gets extra points.
Motor Mouth will not only bring a smile to your lips, it will have you shaking your head in wonder while at the same time have you racking your brain trying to figure out just what is going on.
A well-paced wild ride that’s fun and flirty with lots of action and sass.
Connie
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