Wicked Business by Janet Evanovich

Wicked Business by Janet Evanovich
Buy Wicked Business by Janet Evanovich at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Women's Fiction
Reviewer: Ani Johnson
Summary: Another literary candyfloss creation from Janet Evanovich: fun and fluffy, but satisfying if you're in the mood.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 320	Date: June 2012
Publisher: Headline Review
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 978-0755384921
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Following on from Wicked Appetite, pastry chef Lizzy and paranormal bounty hunter Diesel continue to seek the seven powerful stones linked to the seven deadly sins. They're looking for the stone associated with lust and it becomes a bit of a treasure hunt as, accompanied by Gloria (the slightly wizardy un-witch) and Carl (the ill-mannered monkey) they have to work their way through a string of clues. However, they aren't the only ones looking; for wherever goodies seek power, the baddies lurk also. The baddies in question are again the deliciously dark (on many levels) Gerwulf (Wulf) Grimoir and his medieval minion Hatchet. Wulf may be Diesel's cousin but there's not a lot of family love in any room they both occupy so let the race to the stone commence.

American author Janet Evanovich writes with the authority of someone who doesn't need reviewer comment. Having built up and assured audience from a hugely prolific back catalogue and a repeated position as New York Times best seller, her future is pretty much secure. Her secret? She has the ability to deliver into a niche and, as pointed out by my fellow Bookbagger, Linda, when she reviewed the first book in the series, Ms Evanovich enjoys working to a formula that seems to pay off.

However, reading a Lizzy and Diesel book for the story line is like buying chocolate breakfast cereal for the cocoa flavour. It's in there but too thin to be considered a major feature. How can I put it? This isn't a book that's going to set the literary world alight but it does spread sunshine. The best thing about Lizzy and Diesel isn't what they do, but how they do it and what they say as the whole novel is a vehicle for the dialogue and one-liners which are really rather good. Alongside the baking and chasing across New England, Lizzy and Diesel deal in witty banter.

The characters are there too. Carl the un-pc monkey is more like a cross between a toddler and a cantankerous geriatric than a member of the ape family but that adds to his charm and the book's smile quotient. Hatchet the medieval minion (love that phrase!) is 2-dimensional, speaks pigeon medieval that grows and shrinks in concentration whilst being mixed with modern slang but he's my favourite. (My excuse is that, when you think about it, cartoons are 2-D but they still entertain.) His boss Wulf's main purpose seems to be materialising, injecting a moment of menace and then vanishing again so, since he's not funny, I can quite happily ignore him. Gloria is the formulaic ditzy one, muddling spells and creating the basis of this story's fart joke which we'll all pretend isn't funny whilst our internal 6-year-old-selves smirk shamelessly. As for Diesel and Lizzy, they provide a fair bit of the stand-up comedy and, for those who need it, the sexual tension. Indeed they can't do the deed in case it impairs their powers but they go to bed together naked anyway which doesn't seem odd at all does it?!

Wicked Business is indeed a pleasure as guilty as the frosted cupcakes that Lizzy sells. Every now and again between the more involved (and, indeed, involving) books some of us crave something light just like this. Once we've finished it we may not fancy another for a while, but whilst reading it a purpose is fulfilled and we're left with a smile of sugary satisfaction.

I would like to thank Headline Review for providing Bookbag with a copy of this book for review.

If you've enjoyed this, then there's still the first Diesel and Lizzy to enjoy or if you'd like to branch out into another of the author's series, then how about Twelve Sharp?

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You can read more book reviews or buy Wicked Business by Janet Evanovich at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
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