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| Fearless Fourteen (Stephanie Plum, No. 14) | 
 enlarge | Author: Janet Evanovich
Creator: Lorelei King
Publisher: MacMillan Audio
Category: Book
List Price: $34.95
Buy New: $19.89
You Save: $15.06 (43%)
New (36) Used (15) from $15.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  438 reviews
Sales Rank: 88008
Format: Unabridged
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Items: 7
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 5.8 x 5.2 x 0.8
ISBN: 1427204179
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9781427204172
ASIN: 1427204179
Publication Date: June 17, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Personal vendettas, hidden treasure, and a monkey named Carl will send bounty hunter Stephanie Plum on her most explosive adventure yet. The Crime: Armed robbery to the tune of nine million dollars Dom Rizzi robbed a bank, stashed the money, and did the time. His family couldn’t be more proud. He always was the smart one. The Cousin: Joe Morelli Joe Morelli, Dom Rizzi, and Dom’s sister, Loretta, are cousins. Morelli is a cop, Rizzi robs banks, and Loretta is a single mother waiting tables at the firehouse. The all-American family. The Complications: Murder, kidnapping, destruction of personal property, and acid reflux Less than a week after Dom’s release from prison, Joe Morelli has shadowy figures breaking into his house and dying in his basement. He’s getting threatening messages, Loretta is kidnapped, and Dom is missing. The Catastrophe: Moonman Morelli hires Walter “Mooner” Dunphy, stoner and “inventor” turned crime fighter, to protect his house. Morelli can’t afford a lot on a cop’s salary, and Mooner will work for potatoes. The Cupcake: Stephanie Plum Stephanie and Morelli have a long-standing relationship that involves sex, affection, and driving each other nuts. She’s a bond enforcement agent with more luck than talent, and she’s involved in this bank-robbery-gone-bad disaster from day one. The Crisis: A favor for Ranger Security expert Carlos Manoso, street name Ranger, has a job for Stephanie that will involve night work. Morelli has his own ideas regarding Stephanie’s evening activities. The Conclusion: Only the fearless should listen to Fourteen. Thrills, chills, and incontinence may result.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 433 more reviews...
 Slainte agus Saol Agat! June 18, 2008
313 out of 364 found this review helpful
I'm not going to give a book synopsis. What I am going to do is say goodbye to one of my all time favorite series. The last couple of books have been horribly silly and ridiculous; this one was no exception.
The characters I once loved and looked forward all year to hearing from are barely visible. The little quirks that used to make them unique and funny are now taking over their entire persona making them slightly moronic. The dialogue that used to be naturally witty seems forced and contrived. Jokes, gags and antics that once made me laugh have been recycled and reused so much, it's sad.
No one in this series is growing or getting anywhere, they are all just going in circles. I want Stephanie to get better at the bounty hunter thing; I want her to grow up. I don't want her or Ranger or Joe to change, but after so many years you expect SOMETHING of substance to happen.
I barely got through this book. Janet has provided hours of entertainment for me in the past with this series and for that I will always be grateful. But I can't for the life of me see myself shelling out the big bucks for these hardcover books filled with drivel anymore.
I hope that Janet rethinks what she has been doing with this series lately and gives it a much needed overhaul. The last couple of books have seemed rushed and phoned in, a huge departure from the earlier books in the series.
My days of rushing to the bookstore on release dates are over. When book 15 comes out I will wait to read reviews, first. If the reviews make the book look promising, maybe I will read it. But from where I sit now, I don't see me opening another `new' Plum adventure. I will reread the older and much better books in the series if I need a Plum fix.
Cherise Everhard, June 2008
 Can I get my money back? June 17, 2008
97 out of 117 found this review helpful
After plunking down some hard earned cash on this year's installment of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum, I raced home to read.
What the? Is there a book return policy? What a waste.
If you love Plum for the edgy writing, great wit, fantastic plot, and wonderful characters, forget Fearless Fourteen. Plum has always been more than just a breezy, silly, summer read for me.
I am invested in the lives of these characters. What I got this year is slapstick, unresolved sub plots, villains with no names, subject matter bordering on the distasteful, recycled plots and my favorite characters very out of character. I even recognized things said by one character in past books, now being uttered by a different character in this book. Bizzare.
No sense rehashing the pitiful storyline. What storyline? This book reads like a major hit on all those that I have grown to love. Morelli's character takes a nosedive as a belching, inept detective with a dead body in his basement and he`s more concerned about the concrete floor or playing softball with his cronies. Stephanie is no longer the gutsy, edgy woman that she was in past books but rather either now babysitting some teenager or flouncing around Trenton in some idiotic reality Bounty Hunter fiasco. Grandma Mazur, dressed in Goth - a master gamer? Lula reduced to sneaky tricks and turning into Bridezilla? Tank fainting and babbling? Mrs. Plum downing a glass of whiskey? And where the heck was Ranger? Reduced to a mere side character?
Speaking of unresolved, and there is a lot unresolved.....like, whose toes were they, anyway?
This book reads like a bad episode of the Three Stooges. The World of Plum in the Twilight Zone. Unrecognizable. A bad dream.
I should have saved my money. Waited to borrow the library copy. Or better yet, not have read it at all.
Sadly, I think it is time to say goodbye to Janet Evanovich and Plum.
Gee, I wish I could get my money back on this one. Are you sure there isn't a better return policy on a really bad book?
Not her best... June 18, 2008
80 out of 99 found this review helpful
Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich is the latest in her Stephanie Plum series. I thought much of it was amusing and there was at least one good belly-laugh (where I had tears rolling down my cheeks). But overall, I think Fearless Fourteen is a bit of a stretch--even for Stephanie Plum.
Plum is a bounty hunter from Trenton, NJ and as usual, her life is utter chaos. She ends up babysitting the teenaged son of a skip, Zook. Zook is addicted to an interactive Internet game called Minionfire. He also likes to spray paint everything. Ranger (a fellow bounty hunter and owner of a security firm) hires Stephanie to help babysit an aging singer, Brenda, who acts like a diva and is inclined to get into trouble. Plum also finds herself in the middle of a 10-year-old $9 million unsolved bank robbery, and it appears that the money might be somewhere in boyfriend Joe Morelli's house. Brenda decides to start a reality show and follows Plum around as she's trying to do her job. And when things couldn't get any worse, Lula is engaged to boyfriend, Tank, and is driving Plum crazy with wedding plans. All of these situations play out with the usual Evanovich zaniness. Unfortunately, I think there was just way too much going on here--especially toward the end.
Evanovich is skillful at describing life in Trenton. Of a fast-food restaurant, she writes "Cluck-in-a-Bucket is a zoo on Sunday. It's the lunch of choice for the lazy, the fat, the salt-starved, the emotionally injured, the families on budgets, the cholesterol-deprived and the remaining ten percent of the population who just want a piece of chicken." My favorite character (next to Plum) is Lula, "former `ho, turned bonds office file clerk and wheelman. She's a plus-size black woman who likes to squash herself into too small clothes featuring animal print and spandex. Lula's cup runneth over from head to toe." I'm glad that Evanovich has turned Lula into a regular.
Although I don't think this is Evanovich's best Plum book, I still enjoyed reading the exploits of Stephanie. When I need a break from serious female detectives and private investigators including Kinsey Millhone, Sharon McCone, Nevada Barr, Kathy Mallory and Temperance Brennan, reading about Stephanie and Lula is like watching "Lucy and Ethel" on television.
 Did I read the same book? June 18, 2008
71 out of 95 found this review helpful
I read this book last night, and laughed out loud several times.
Unlike some of the reviewers who were disappointed in Morelli, my thoughts are (1)we all knew he was a tomcat; (2)he's mellowing as he matures; and (3)he's made no secret of the fact that he wants a domesticated Stephanie.
Ranger is Ranger. He's hot, but he's not a keeper. Primarily because he doesn't want to be. I can't imagine the shrieks of outrage that would accompany the book if he suddenly proposed to Stephanie.
And Steph? I am so thankful that she is finally learning from her mistakes! The series was getting old when she just kept doing the same stupid stuff over and over and over again. She, too, is maturing. Finally.
I will agree - Grandma Mazur as a super-gamer is a stretch. On the other hand, she lives with gusto and she gives everything she does her all. I would rather see that than yet another viewing at one of the Burg's funeral homes.
Lulu is Lulu. Her "engagement" sounded very in-character. Let's face it: she's not the first woman who tricked a man into marrying her.
All in all, I enjoyed the book.
 New characters with the old June 17, 2008
47 out of 85 found this review helpful
This book is a hoot. As in "Plum Lucky" (the last between-the-numbers novel), Evanovich introduces some new characters to the series to keep it vibrant. We have Zook, the teenage son of one of Morelli's cousins, who is a likable character whom I would hope to see pop up in future novels in the series. We also have Brenda, a 61-year old version of Briteny with the same bad girl habits. We see a lot more of Morelli's family in this novel, but still a little of the Plum family, including Grandma Mazur. Of course we also have Ranger, whom Stephi can call on for help if she needs a little B&E to gain entry to a building or a file of information on an individual. Every man has his uses. Of course there is Lula, and there is Bob (woof). Yes, there is a monkey that shows up in a couple scenes.
Janet Evanovich may not win a Pulitzer, but she does provide some very good light entertainment. A member of an Internet Forum compared her to Carol Burnett. You can expect things to be blown up (usually at least one vehicle) or set on fire. Some reviewers complain that she reuses the same plot devices, but there are many ways to blow up a vehicle. She also introduces a few new things. In this novel you are introduced to the potato gun. Don't do this at home. More to the point, don't let your children do this at home.
There is a plot in all this. There is the $7 million in loot missing after a robbery 10 years previously where one of Morelli's cousins was involved. There are people from the Burg and a couple dead bodies. And there is Brenda, an aging star looking for a new lease on life. The novel has earthy language and sex by reference.
It has come to my attention that there is a small, vocal group of Ranger fans making an attempt to give this novel a bad rating. They are easily identified. The best you can do is ignore their squaking.
As a side note, an interview with Janet Evanovich appears in "Speaking of Murder - Volume 2." She said her first novel (unpublished) was "this very strange book about a fairy who was living in this scary forest in Eastern Pennsylvania." She obviously has a creative mind when it comes to characters, and only she could come up with the ones used in the novels.
If you are interested in characters created by a different author, I would recommend independent insurance investigator Fifi Cutter and her freeloading half-brother Bosco Dorff in "Murder...Suicide...Whatever," a novel by Gwen Freeman.
For something different, you might also try PI Izzy Spellman in "The Spellman Files," the first novel in a fairly new series by Lisa Lutz.
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