Hard Eight (Stephanie Plum)

by Janet Evanovich

Hardcover, 2002

Status

Available

Publication

St. Martin's Press (2002), Edition: 1st, 320 pages

Description

Fiction. Mystery. Romance. Humor (Fiction.) HTML: The #1 bestselling phenomenon continues in the eighth Stephanie Plum novel. The stakes get higher, the crimes get nastier, the chases get faster, and the men get hotter. This time Stephanie, Morelli, Ranger. Lula, Valerie, and Grandma Mazur are strapped in for the ride of their lives. Stephanie is hired to find a missing child. But things aren't always as they seem and Stephanie must determine if she's working for the right side of the law. Plus, there's the Morelli question: can a Jersey girl keep her head on straight when more than just bullets are aimed for her heart? And with the Plum and Morelli relationship looking rocky, is it time for Ranger to move in for the kill? Janet Evanovich's latest thriller proves that Hard Eight will never be enough..… (more)

Rating

½ (1678 ratings; 3.9)

User reviews

LibraryThing member sdtaylor555
Eighth in this wonderfully funny series! Steph finally gets some Ranger action!!!
LibraryThing member kariannalysis
There was quite a bit of hype to follow Seven Up. Needless to say, Hard Eight didn’t do it.

There were a few things I liked about the book.
1: I love Stephanie’s niece Mary Alice. How can you not love a kid who thinks she’s a horse?

2: I also like the creativity of the murder. I know it’s
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morbid, but you gotta love the brain of someone who can be so creative. To get a dead man into an apartment, he is cut in half and placed in gym bags so they are inconspicuous. Clever, to say the least.

3: After so many books, you have to get creative with the bad guys. This time they wore costumes. I like the creativity, but it’s hard to take a guy in a bunny suit seriously, even if he is throwing fire bombs at you.

4. Albert Klaughn (Clown) .. enough said. I love the Clown. He reminds me of an 8 year old girl wanting to know everything she can about the world in as little time as possible. I imagine the numerous questions he asks come out a mile a minute.

On paper, it seems like “What else can you ask for?” But, I thought the book was kind of blah. Those things stood out, but in 300 pages, that’s really not a lot. They can’t all be 5s.

I give Hard Eight 2 bookmarks.
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LibraryThing member Brandie
Okay, now I feel like beating my head against the wall for the main character Stephanie Plum. Girl, get out of this job. I don't know why, but throughout this book I just wanted to smack her, tell her to get a different job, get her personal life in order, and stop playing a bounty hunty before she
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gets herself killed.
Of course, she never will, because she has her two men who are amazingly always able to save her at just exactly the right moment, which comes in handy. But I don't know, all of a sudden I just want her to stop, settle down, get a different job and buying that wedding dress!
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LibraryThing member MsBeautiful
Fun, fasting moving book with interesting characters and story lines
LibraryThing member kikianika
Not that many left until I've caught up, and the age gap begins to lessen. Her earlier books had a distinct nineties contemporary feel to them. But is it just me, or is there less and less meat to the stories?
LibraryThing member SimonW11
Suprisingly good, definately better than To The Nines. not as darkas a spoiler free summary might make you think.
LibraryThing member carrjr
Stephanie is asked to find the grandaughter (Evelyn Soder & her daughter Annie) of her parents next door neighbor. Steven Soder, the estranged husband, has his bar blown up and is linked with Eddie Abruzzi. Albert Kloughn is introduced as the bumbling lawyer who works out of a laudromat. Ranger &
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Morelli come to the resue. Her sister, Valerie, who has moved back home from Calif. after a failed marriage saves Stephanie when she is kidnapped and about to be tortured. In the end, Abruzzi is found dead.
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LibraryThing member hjjugovic
Stephanie Plum goes on the hunt for a missing girl while a killer rabbit hunts her.
LibraryThing member miyurose
Just when you think Stephanie can't get herself into more trouble...
LibraryThing member kikilon
Not that many left until I've caught up, and the age gap begins to lessen. Her earlier books had a distinct nineties contemporary feel to them. But is it just me, or is there less and less meat to the stories?
LibraryThing member bleached
Comic genius. Another absurd and brilliant Stephanie Plum adventure. In this mystery, Stephanie's parent's next door neighbor asks her to help find her missing granddaughter. But, as always, there's more to the story and the more Stephanie gets involved the more people come after her leaving snakes
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on her door and spiders in her car and she has to ask the mysterious Ranger for help...again.
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LibraryThing member bookheaven
Stephanie Plum is always a hoot!
LibraryThing member pocket_saviour
Realistically, this is one of those series that has limited appeal after the first few. The "female bounty hunter who has a smart mouth and worries about her lip gloss more than her gun whilst falling over things" was kind of cute for the first few books but is definitely wearing thin for me now.
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After all, you'd think that after being shot at, beaten up, firebombed, kidnapped, threatened and insulted multiple times through eight books, our heroine might have learned a little discretion by now, or possibly found an alternative career.
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LibraryThing member x_gussa
This series is such an easy read. It's like watching a really bad sitcom, that you love despite it being bad. I love it.
LibraryThing member TadAD
This may be my least favorite of the series so far. It's mostly Stephanie wandering around in a funk and being even more chuckle-headed than usual.
LibraryThing member les121
Since the last few Stephanie Plum novels haven’t quite lived up to the standards set by the first several, my expectations for this series have dropped. That being said, Hard Eight was still exciting, fun, and laugh out loud hilarious, and I still greatly enjoyed it. The ending was disappointing,
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but the newly introduced Kloughn (pronounced “clown”), a shootout with a snake, and an attack by a flock of geese provide more than enough comic relief to make up for the mediocre plot. Stephanie’s romantic relationships take new and interesting turns in this installment. Deep down I’m still rooting for Morelli, but the whole Morelli/Ranger business has dragged on so long that I’ve ceased to really care what happens. I do not expect much character development, or any real change or progression in these relationships, but I’ve decided that’s okay. Evanovich has stumbled upon a formula that works, so why mess with it? At this point, I’ve resolved to simply enjoy the ride, which is sure to be entertaining. Overall, Hard Eight isn’t a classic, but it’s fun and funny, as usual, and fans of the Stephanie Plum series will certainly love it.
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LibraryThing member allthesedarnbooks
In the eighth book in the series, Stephanie and Morelli are on the outs and Ranger is threatening to cash in on their "deal". Stephanie's parents' next door neighbor, Mabel Markowitz, is about to lose her house because she put it up as collateral for her granddaughter, Evelyn's, custody bond, and
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now Evelyn and her daughter Annie have disappeared. Stephanie starts to search for Evelyn and Annie and runs afoul of bad guy Eddie Abruzzi. A fun, slightly dark (for Stephanie), read, pretty typical of the series, and just what the doctor ordered. Three and a half stars.
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LibraryThing member erambeau77
Hard eight, was another good one of the Stephanie Plum series. I am really liking this series. This one was a little slow, but a good read.
LibraryThing member RelaxedReader
This book was a little slow, however, I did enjoy the read. I will continue with this series.
LibraryThing member tipsister
Hard Eight, by Janet Evanovich, is the eighth book in the Stephanie Plum series. I've grown terribly fond of the characters after reading eight novels. The books are easy to pick up and jump right in because I know what I'm getting into. It's like going to a party where you know everyone! No
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awkward moments. Some books in the series are pretty light and don't have much substance but I didn't find that with Hard Eight.

Hard Eight is one of the few books in the series where I really felt that Stephanie was in big trouble. Stephanie started off trying to find a mother who had disappeared with her young daughter. In the process she angered a very bad "business" man who made it his job to terrorize her. And he terrorized her in some severely creepy ways. There was also the very needed humor -especially with the introduction of Albert Kloughn. Such a needy little guy!

Throughout the story, I was completely drawn in to see what was going to happen to Stephanie next. It was actually pretty dark and scary. This is definitely one of the better books in the series as far as suspense goes. I really enjoyed it and look forward to continuing the series.
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LibraryThing member SimoneA
I got this book sort of by accident, so I read it while on holiday. It's not a bad book, but it hasn't encouraged me to read more books of this series.
LibraryThing member MonicaLynn
Stephanie has her perfect or no longer so perfect sister to deal with in this one. Grandma Mazur, is a pip in her own right. She is so funny I just love the way her character is. I think I secretly want to be as outspoken as she is. With the laugh out loud parts and the attempts to collect her
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FTA's and of course the cars being burned or blown up, this was another action packed great addition to the series. I wish the would make a Tv show out of these, I would be a definite on my DVR to record every episode.
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LibraryThing member Bookmarque
So in this one Stephanie finally gets it on with Ranger. It’s a one-night stand tough, since Stephanie still wants something structured and permanent and Ranger is obviously not the type. Instead, she and Morelli get back together. We’re not sure on what terms since Morelli has said that he
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wants her to quit being a bounty hunter and become more of a “regular” girl. That won’t happen. As idiotic as Stephanie is, she usually lands on her feet. Once again, she hasn’t learned a thing about her job or anything. She stupidly goes after belligerent FTAs without backup or a gun or any other weapon at her disposal. She makes stupid judgments about her diet and gets into idiotic situations. Like once she is in the park and makes the fatal mistake of tossing a piece of Cracker Jack at a goose. Instantly, she is swarmed and knocked over and left smeared with goose shit. It’s like she watched Keystone Kops movies as basic training. I think I'm done with this broad.
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LibraryThing member brokenangelkisses
Stephanie Plum, bounty hunter, is searching for a runaway mother and child while trying to avoid both the child's father and Eddie Abruzzi, the stereotypical madman with willing henchman. Unfortunately, she is not a very good bounty hunter, which leads to much of the humour in the book. While
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searching for the mother and child she is also attempting to apprehend two other bail bondees, one of whom she attempts to capture several times but fails even though he is a drunk, the other she happens to come across without even bothering to look! Stephanie requires police help so often they have a pool, and draw lots to see whose turn it is to enjoy her latest predicament. Meanwhile, she is 'helped' by an array of characters including: Lula, who is supposed to do the office filing but would much rather watch Stephanie get cars blown up; Albert Kloughn, who is an attorney at law without many clients; Ranger, mysterious guy who makes her weak at the knees; Morelli, her on-again/off-again boyfriend who hates her job; and the fantastic Grandma Mazur, who tends to scare the bozos who try to scare her by wishing she were twenty years younger!

I must confess to having very mixed feelings about this book. I'm familiar with the other Stephanie Plum books and the format hasn't changed: there are still many moments that are laugh out loud funny. Better than that, there are moments that are go-back-read-it-again-immediately and laugh-out-loud-again funny. There's not much point in quoting pieces out of context, but suffice it to say that the dialogue is often very funny. The book is very easy to read and the storyline is hardly taxing - it's certainly NOT a whodunnit, or even a whytheydunnit, more a how-many-times-can-she-let-them-escape-h​er? For those of you looking for strong, interesting plotlines and complex humour, this is not the place to look. If, however, you are looking for something undemanding and amusing, you've struck gold.
Except...there are two things that bothered me about this latest installment.

Firstly, and least importantly, Evanovich breaks the cardinal rule of will-they/won't they tension by letting Stephanie and the mysterious Ranger fall into bed together. It is noticeable that in Friends and similar comedies, it is always funnier when there's an element of doubt, when the protagonists aren't together. Ross and Rachel had to be split up as the writers of the show realised that they lost their comic edge when they were lovers. Anyway, getting back to the point, no matter what happens between Stephanie and Ranger now, that element of sexual tension has been well and truly lost, and with it, the humour such tension generated. There is more comedy to be found in frustration that in action and these novels are intended to be comic.
Secondly, and far more importantly for me, important events and meanings are skimmed over. There are references to Lula's former occupation as a 'ho' which are utterly devoid of any kind of feeling about her past. Even the fact that Lula was extremely brutally treated by Benito Ramirez in a previous book is treated in a very off-th-cuff manner. As the death toll rises, Stephanie reassures people who come accross her that she hardly ever kills anyone and worries that her couch has death cooties as a result of being the last refuge of sawed-in-half Steven Sodor. As in previous books, the cavalier attitude to arson attacks, kidnapping, sexual threats and extreme violence leads to humour and prevents the reader being overly concerned by the harsh treatment meted out to crooks and minor characters. However, the more I read the more I felt that too much grotesque violence was being happily skimmed over by the narrator and Stephanie herself. Although this is meant to be a light read, I felt it would have benefitted from either less violence or a slightly more considered response to it. It reminds me of a bit in Huckleberry Finn in which Huck is asked if anyone was hurt when the boat blew a cylinder head. He replies that only a black man was harmed and his aunt responds, in all seriousness, that it was very lucky, because sometimes people did get hurt. Yes, Steven Sodor got sawed in half but there isn't a moment of pity or thought spared on him as he is, in Evanovich's world, completely villainous and expendable.

Anyway. I'm probably taking it all too seriously! An easy, light-hearted and very humorous read, if you don't stop and think too much.
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LibraryThing member KR_Patterson
Sometimes I like to read stuff that is very bad for me. To say that I read this book for the story is a little like saying I eat ice cream for the health benefits. And yet I read on. The stuff I like, I really like. But there's also a lot of yuck guised as what I suppose is her attempt at being
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funny. Also, that reminds me. About her funniness, sometimes she reminds me of a little kid, that, when a joke works really well once, they use it over and over again, hoping for the same effect. And, like that little kid, it just gets more and more annoying. But obviously, there's something that draws me in and makes me keep coming back against my better judgment. Must be the charaters. Or at least a few of them.
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Awards

Lefty Award (Nominee — 2003)

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

2003-06-16

Physical description

9.2 inches

ISBN

9780312265854
Page: 1.5093 seconds