num_pages: 339
description: In Hard Eight, Stephanie Plum picks up a case a little nastier than anything the wisecracking bounty hunter's seen before. Evelyn Soder and her young daughter have gone on the run, leaving an angry ex-husband who's planning to collect on a child custody bond that will leave Evelyn's grandmother homeless. Stephanie's first clue that there's more to it than that comes in the form of Eddie Abruzzi: a shady local businessman who warns her to butt out of the case. Stephanie doesn't scare easily, but when Abruzzi's henchmen leave a bag of snakes on her doorknob and tarantulas in her car, she has no choice but to call Ranger, the hunky man of mystery to whom she already owes too many favours. Steph knows that Ranger will soon be calling in his debts, but with her ex-fiancé Joe Morelli out of the picture, that should be OK--shouldn't it? In the meantime, she's got other fugitives to catch, aided by the usual band of misfits, plus a bumbling correspondence-school lawyer who's developed the hots for Stephanie's sister, Valerie. And Steph's in for a surprise from her mother, who proves she's not above wielding a dangerous weapon to save her daughter's life. Author Janet Evanovich has made a bold move in using a soupçon of child jeopardy to pull this series out of the comfortable but formulaic pattern it was threatening to fall into. It's still funny, and yes, some cars are destroyed, but now there's a real edge of darkness under the humour. Fans needn't fear, though: Jersey girl Stephanie is still full of sass and Tastykakes. --Barrie Trinkle, Amazon.com
language: English
title: Hard Eight
titlecomplete: Hard Eight (Stephanie Plum, #8)
characters: Ranger (Rangeman CEO), Lula, Albert Kloughn, Stephanie Plum, Evelyn Soder, Joe Morelli, Eddie Abruzzi
genres: Fiction, Mystery, Comedy, Mystery Thriller, Humor, Romance, Adult, Chick Lit, Contemporary, Crime
ratings_count: 123553
places: Trenton, New Jersey
series: Stephanie Plum
awards: awardedAt: 1041408000000
name: All About Romance (AAR) Annual Reader Poll
category: Most Disappointing Read, awardedAt: 1041408000000
name: Lefty Award
publisher: Headline Review