I’m a huge Janet Evanovich fan. My introduction to Ms. Evanovich was the first book in the Barnaby series, Metro Girl. I was hooked. I switched gears and read the whole Stephanie Plum series, one after the other. I recently had the pleasure of reading her latest Barnaby novel, Motor Mouth, which continues the Barnaby and Hooker escapades.

Alexandra “Barney” Barnaby works as the race-day spotter for NASCAR driver Sam Hooker. The book opens with Barney, a lip glossed, bleached blond wearing a pink lace thong under her black jeans, on the roof of the track grandstand watching Hooker lose the last race of the season. Trouble starts right then and doesn’t stop until the end of the book.

Barney, when she’s not working as a spotter or off on a harebrained adventure with Hooker, is an engineer on the research and development team of Stiller Racing and could just as easily slip into her little black dress as she could strip down and rebuild an engine.

She doesn't like cheating. Well, she doesn't mind it as long as she's not the one being cheated. As the book opens, she suspects the race team of the number 69 car of cheating. That mediocre driver is just driving too good, and has over the past several races, so there must be some illegal technology somewhere. The engineer in her wants to figure it out. The competitor in her wants to stop them and help her driver, sort of.

You see, Sam Hooker, the driver whose ear she whispers into during races, cheated on her. They were an item, and now she's over him, mostly.

Remember the trouble I mentioned earlier? The trouble that starts up on the spotter's roof? Well, Gobbles, the spotter for another driver on the Stiller Racing team, starts acting all weird after his driver crashes and is afraid to walk down to the driver's area by himself after the race. Then somehow, Gobbles ends up trapped in the tractor-trailer with the same car Barney suspects of cheating, and it's up to Barney and Hooker to rescue him. Yes, it involves grand theft auto, or in this case, grand theft tractor-trailer. Then add a dead body into the mix, and, well, I can't say more. You'll have to read it for yourself. Rest assured, the fun doesn't stop there. It actually doesn’t stop until the last page.

Janet Evanovich is the best at taking everyday characters, placing them in improbable situations, and making us believe. She makes the mundane hilarious, which has made me a long-term fan. It's not often I laugh out loud while reading a book. I've read almost everything she's written, and it won't be long until I've read them all.

Motor Mouth is the sequel to Metro Girl. Both are fast paced, full of action and snappy dialog. They are good reads and worth your time. I'm hoping that we'll get to enjoy a third in the series soon.

Enjoy!

Reviewed by Susan
© June 2008