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
The Bounty
by
Janet Evanovich, Steve Hamilton
romantic suspense in a Kindle edition that was published by Atria Books on March 23, 2021 and has 320 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon, Audibles.
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, Pros and Cons, 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, Full House, The Recovery Agent, Thanksgiving
Seventh in the Fox and O’Hare romantic suspense series and revolving around an international thief and his FBI handler, tasked with conning the criminals.
My Take
I was disappointed with The Bounty. I don’t know if Evanovich is getting bored with it or if it’s the change in co-author, but it wasn’t as funny as previous stories and felt ho-hum. A real bummer, as I’d been looking forward to a humorous adventure.
Sure, there’s plenty of action and derring-do. And I do adore Kate’s dad. Even if he is feeling his age, lol. I don’t understand why Kate and Jake suddenly don’t get along. They’ve always made for a great partnership… There is also an unfortunate lack of tension. A lack that could have been infused with keeping us guessing about Quentin. Or the professor.
That said, I did enjoy how smoothly Nick and his dad worked together. As smoothly as Kate and her dad operate. It is a crack-up to read about Kate’s childhood “training”. The “vacation” this “crack” team keeps referring to is another crack-up…and a piece of cake. Yeah, juvenile humor but at least it’s something.
It was a smooth “info dump” about how Lewis became interested in German literature.
I must say, Franz is certainly the forgiving type. And why Kate is trusting him has me confused. It does, however, make for an easy lead-in to the next arc in the series.
I’d say this is a global subjective point-of-view with the majority of the perspectives coming from Nick and Kate. Quentin and Jake do have their bit parts.
So the action in the story was tough and adventurous, but the story was too easy, although Nick does prove that once a thief, always a thief. Luckily, he always tells a good story, lol.
The Story
The threat of that vast, shadowy international organization known only as the Brotherhood joining up with the Roter Stern Korps and using the hidden treasure of $30 billion in Nazi gold to finance more terrorist plots is enough to send Special Agent Kate O’Hare and international con man Nick Fox on their trail.
It’ll take the combined efforts of them and their dads on a desperate scramble to stop their deadliest foe in the biggest adventure of their lives.
The Characters
Special Agent Kate O’Hare of the FBI, a former Navy SEAL, is supposed to be detached in handling international thief, Nick Fox. Oh well. Jake O’Hare is Kate’s dad and a retired Marine living in a garage casita on sister Megan‘s property.
Special-Agent-in-Charge Carl Jessup is Kate’s long-suffering boss.
Quentin Fox is Nick’s dad with a very shady, if patriotic, history. He majored in economics and art history and opened a gallery. After which, he married Olivia Price, Nick’s mom, a painter with wealthy parents.
The SAS is…
…Special Air Service, a special forces unit in England. Major Hannon is their contact. Captain Richard Duckworth is retired. Technically.
Professor Hardian Lewis teaches Germanic literature at Oxford University.
The Gruppo Intervento Rapido is…
…the Vatican’s Rapid Intervention Group led by the inspector general of the Vatican Gendarmerie, Lorenzo Vitali. Pope Francis.
Die Bruderschaft was/is…
…a secret Nazi organization, the Brotherhood, who had hidden 400 tons of gold, supposedly. Klaus Egger, grandson of one of the founding members, Gerhard Egger, who used to work for Hermann Göring, is its leader. Their members include Nils; the indestructible Franz Gruber, Egger’s lieutenant; Oskar; Moritz; and, Rolf.
The Roter Stern Korps is…
…the Red Star Corps, a terrorist organization.
A Red Notice is issued by Interpol, a global most wanted notice. Raubgold is the gold stolen by Nazi Germany.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a cool blend of grays and blues in a stormy blue-gray sky above Paris and the Eiffel Tower that gradates into the black of Kate and Fox in the upper half of the cover against that silvery gray background. The silhouette effect of Kate and Nick gradates into a hint of flesh in their faces. The primary text is embossed with the primary author’s name large and in white in the top half. The secondary author’s name is in a deep sky blue below it. The title is in white and spans the Eiffel Tower. About the middle of the tower on the right is the series info in black.
The title doesn’t suit, mostly because I’m thinking of Captain Bligh. I suppose the intention of The Bounty is the treasure at the end of this adventure.
