To the Nines Return to Book Review Page Return to Home Page

By Janet Evanovich

St. Martin’s Press 2003

Like “The Sopranos” TV series, Janet Evanovich’s mystery novels gain special appreciation from those who have lived in the state of New Jersey. Jerseyites are privy to a deeper meaning in the author’s description of the protagonist’s cousin and employer, Vincent ‘Vinnie’ Plum:

“Vinnie sat on a rotting branch of my family tree. Only a couple of roaches from my Aunt Tootie’s kitchen sat lower than Vinnie. Her was a pervert, a con man, and a paranoid grouch, and in spite of all that—or maybe because of it—he was liked. He was Jersey. How can you not like Jersey.”

As the title suggests to readers of Evanovich’s “Stephanie Plum” mysteries, this is the ninth installment. Plum is a bounty hunter in Trenton, New Jersey, who predictably finds herself in over her head in her efforts to make a living locating and hauling in people who have skipped court appearances.

Many mystery writers pay homage to the electronic age by incorporating technology in their offerings. But in this book Evanovich obliquely examines what is perhaps the darkest human side of computer gaming in a way the leaves a reader looking over his or her shoulder after finishing the book.

Evanovish’s “Plum” mysteries are characterized by a degree of comic book ambience. Her early efforts were generously sprinkled with episodes of the heroine’s cars being bombed and replaced by an indestructible old Buick as well as of threats of Stephanie Plum being dismembered. The fantasy in her more recent books has gravitated more to the characters. Those who assist in her crime fighting efforts are either totally inept buffoons or superheros. In “To the Nines,” the supernatural focuses on her boyfriend Joe Morelli, whose physique would make an NFL linebacker envious, and on a man known only as Ranger, equally endowed physically. Both cause women to swoon on mention, let alone on sight. And Ranger, who dresses in nothing but black, is further endowed with an ability to acquire an unlimited number of luxury vehicles (also all in black) as well as muscular assistants. But in the end, the supernatural aspects of her male friends are easily outweighed by the dark aspects of the computer gaming subculture that Evanovich brings to life—and death!