Twelve Sharp
Janet Evanovich
St. Martin's, Jun 2006, $26.95
ISBN: 0312349483

Trenton, New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is still sleeping with the man she loves, Joe Morelli while lusting after security specialist Ranger rarely known by his real name of Ricardo Carlos Manoso. She gets a little breathing room from her conflicted emotions when Ranger tells her that he is going to Miami on an important case.

Not long afterward someone claiming to be Carmen Manoso enters Stephanie's office insisting she is Ranger's wife and that he walked out on her after six months of marriage. This is followed with the news that Ranger kidnapped his daughter who legally belongs to her mother and her second husband. Ranger returns to Trenton seeking Stephanie's help in rescuing his daughter from a person who looks like him. Though skeptical about a doppelganger, Stephanie believes Ranger and becomes the bait to draw the kidnapper out into the open though she knows the danger she faces as the culprit has already killed Carmen.

Readers get to see a different vulnerable Ranger whose confidence is somewhat battered with the abduction of his child, but he has no time to wallow. As the audience learns more about his past, he obsesses on the rescue. Stephanie jumps from one dangerous escapade to another while also trying to balance her love life. The support cast adds either humor or tension as the clock winds down towards a TWELVE SHARP literal deadline in this action-packed thriller. Janet Evanovich will please her myriad of fans with this excellently entertaining crime caper.

Harriet Klausner