Lean Mean Thirteen Review

What makes these books so funny is that Stephanie is a very normal woman, with very normal problems, and she is probably just a little bit more clumsy than the average person. She solves her mysteries more out of luck than skill, but she is getting smarter as the series goes on. A delightful and witty cast of supporting characters makes this series a fun and humorous distraction from my everyday life.

Lean Mean Thirteen starts off with the same old Stephanie Plum. She is kind of hanging on the edge of her in and out long term relationship with Joe Morrelli, a Trenton Police Detective, and she is still apprehending skips (people who fail to appear after borrowing money from her cousin Vinnie's Bail Bonds business.) to make her living, and she is still bringing LuLa (former Ho, turned file clerk, turned bounty hunter assistant), along for the ride. She is also still being turned on by her mentor and super hot bounty hunter Ranger.

Ranger, is the perfect bounty hunter, and possibly a perfect man.  He has a lot of money, a lot of cars, and a lot of muscle to back him up.  Because he likes Stephanie's he mentored her, and has given her a lot help in the past with her FTA's providing advice and back up and lending her about a gazillian cars.  So when Ranger asks Stephanie for a favor, she can't really refuse. After all, Ranger has helped Stephanie out of more messes than Ricky caught Lucy in. Unfortunately this favor will force Stephanie to get in contact with her sleazy ex-husband Dickie.

Several years ago Stephanie was married to Dickie for about 15 minutes before Stephanie caught him cheating on her with her biggest rival Joyce Barnhardt. Of course any contact between Dickie and Stephanie couldn't possibly be civil and they have a bit of a confrontation. Soon after her confrontation with Dickie he appears to be missing and from the looks of his home he is quite possibly dead. Stephanie finds herself becoming the biggest suspect in his disappearance and possible murder.

Now Stephanie must try to figure out what happened to Dickie, while earning a living catching skips. As more bodies start to appear the whole situation puts Stephanie her self in a lot of danger, and to make matters worse Joyce Barnhardt isn't taking Dickie's disappearance lying down, and she will make an already difficult situation even more troublesome for Stephanie.

My Thoughts

You do not need to read the first 12 books in this series to catch on to Lean Mean 13 but it may help you to understand the characters a bit better.  Plus what makes this series so good is how it is progressing, yet certain things stay the same all the time, and those are things most of us fans like, such as the Stephanie's wacky family and friends, they always add some humor to every book.

The biggest change in this particular book is that Stephanie her self is under suspicion. Other than that the book is typical of all of the other books in the series. But fortunately for her fans that works for us. The fact that Stephanie has lots more people tracking her than normal only gives the opportunity to provide more humorous situations, and this book is quite possibly just a bit more funny than the rest.

My final thought is that this book is very formula, and it pretty much runs along all of the same lines as the rest of the series. Not a lot new here. But it is still quite funny and as always has some really exiting moments, and of course all of the people that you love to read about. I would love to see Stephanie out of her element someday, but still have the other characters appear in the book somehow. But for now I am still very satisfied with the status quo. Lean Mean Thirteen sticks to the typical formula of the other books in the series but since I like that typical formula I will have to recommend Lean Mean 13, by Janet Evanovich.