Book Review: Janet Evanovich & Lee Goldberg’s “Pros and Cons”

Posted October 27, 2014 by Kathy Davie in Book Reviews

I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Source: the library
Book Review: Janet Evanovich & Lee Goldberg’s “Pros and Cons”

Pros and Cons


by

Janet Evanovich, Lee Goldberg


romantic suspense in Hardcover edition on May 21, 2013 and has 28 pages.

Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon


Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Smokin' Seventeen, Love in a Nutshell, Explosive Eighteen, Wicked Business, Notorious Nineteen, The Husband List, The Heist, Takedown Twenty, The Chase, Top Secret Twenty-One, The Job, Two for the Dough, Stephanie Plum #3 – #7, Visions of Sugar Plums, Wicked Charms, Love Overboard, Stephanie Plums, Plum Spooky, , Tricky Twenty-Two, The Pursuit, The Scam, Curious Minds, Turbo Twenty-Three, Dangerous Minds, Hardcore Twenty-Four, "The Shell Game", Look Alive Twenty-five, The Big Kahuna, Twisted Twenty-six, Fortune and Glory, The Bounty, Full House, The Recovery Agent, Thanksgiving

A short story prequel in the Fox and O’Hare romantic suspense comedic series and revolving around FBI Agent Kate O’Hare obsessed with capturing her arch-nemesis, Nicolas Fox.

This short story was in the back of Evanovich’s Top Secret Twenty-One, 21, (the hardcover).

My Take

Outré and funny with Nicolas posing as a wedding planner, setting up every little detail to make it easy to do a smash-and-grab on Royce’s possessions. Fox has way too much fun setting this up, and Caroline and Milton are way too stupid to get his jabs. They do deserve everything they get, or don’t, as the case may be.

Poor Kate, she’s always a day late and a dollar short when it comes to nabbing Fox. He’s always several steps ahead, no matter what conspires against him.

The Story

It’s the wedding of Caroline’s dreams and a huge drain on Milton’s pocket book, but it’s perfect for what Merrill Stubing has planned as the perfect capper for this wedding.

The Characters

Kate O’Hare is with the FBI and has been hunting this guy down for years. And fighting her attraction to him.

Nicolas Fox is a clever thief, and he’s been on Kate’s hot list for years. He likes to pick out aliases from old TV series.

The FBI
Ryerson. Cosmo Uno is a short, very annoying FBI agent with a terrible sense of humor in the cubicle next to Kate. Carl Jessup is the Special-Agent-in-Charge. Reginald Gunter is Kate’s FBI contact in Chicago.

Caroline Boyett is about to get married, and her wedding planner, Merrill Stubing, aka Fox, who’s planning to rob the bunch of them during the ceremony. Milton Royce is her fiancé. The minister is part of Fox’s crew. Hoppy Howard, a pickpocket, is one of the servers at the wedding.

Jerry Bodie was a swindler who sold timeshares to people who couldn’t afford them. He was also targeted by Fox for his cars. Fox’s persona then was Tod Stiles from Route 66.

The Cover and Title

The cover is a swirl of anger in its red, orange, and yellows while Fox stands in a cocky, confident stance, his legs spread, hands in pockets, casting a shadow, a metaphor for how much he looms in Kate’s mind.

The title seems to be all Fox. His crew are both “Pros and Cons”.