Metro Girl (Alex Barnaby Series #1)

Herein lies the problem with a characterr like Stephanie Plum and the book series in which she is featured. It is just too good. Once you have written something that good, it just can't be beaten.

Metro Girl features another female protagonist with a posse of colorful characters she picks up on the way to saving the day. She's not Stephanie Plum, but she is fun and entertaining. Go ahead, read it.

Alex Barnaby - Barney to family and friends - heads to Miami after receiving a frightening phone call from her little brother, Bill. When she arrives at Bill's apartment, it's been trashed and a man with a fake eye tries to kidnap her. If that isn't bad enough, it seems Bill has disappeared with NASCAR driver Sam Hooker's boat. And Hooker's not a happy camper. Hooker trails Barney as she tries to find out the whereabouts of her brother, intrigued by her rebuffs to his advances. Things turn serious when two men threaten to kill them if they don't stop. Which only encourages the dynamic duo to search far and wide for Wild Bill. Their adventure takes them into international waters, where they find a cache of gold bars and a mysterious container that creepy men from America and Cuba are anxious to get their hands on.

This is a wonderful read. Evanovich's witty sense of humor shines through to perfection. The characters are fun, the plot entertaining, and the dialogue/situations zany.

I love the Stephanie Plum series and think Janet is off to a great start with this one, also. All of her books have great unique characters, realistic settings, snappy dialogue and totally unbelievable plot twists which just add to the fun.

Having lived in South Florida for ten years, I really enjoyed this setting and could tell Janet knew what she was talking about. (I've never been to the Burg.) She also had the language, dress and attitudes of Cuban-Americans down pat.

This isn't great literature, but that's not what I'm looking for when I pick up one of Janet's books. I'm looking for an engaging story with a lot of laughs. And that's what you get with Metro Girl.

Keep 'em coming Janet!

I always enjoy the writing of Janet Evanovich. In METRO GIRL, she introduces us to a new character: Alexandra Barnaby. As we meet tomboyish "Barney," she is fixing cars in a garage in Baltimore when her younger brother, Bill, calls from Miami begging her to help him, and then he promptly disappears. Well, what's a girl to do? She heads south to find him, taking us with her to sunny Florida. Once there, she runs into "NASCAR Guy" Sam, who won't leave her alone. He's a celebrity with a swollen head and wants to be the object of her affections, but what does she think of him?

This is a real adventure with lots of action -- they're playing spy in the city, they're on a boat speeding toward Cuba, and there are some really nasty bad guys after them. Want some sunken treasure? How about a weapon of mass destruction? They're in there. And oh, yeah, there's a lot of chemistry in the air and flirting going on. The book reads like driving around a race track -- fast paced with lots of curves and a few spills. And the ending is really fun.

Now, I love Evanovich's Stephanie Plum, but Barney is a breath of fresh air. Warning: Do not compare the two characters, because you may just be cheating yourself out of a fun ride and a great read. Evanovich says she's going to write about this character again, and I say, "Good!"

I think I like Barney better than Stephanie. Both characters are great but I really enjoyed Hooker and the other supporting characters in the Barney series. In the Stephanie Plum books, you've got all this tension and question about Stephanie's relationships with Joe Morelli and Ranger. With Hooker, he's right out there with what he wants and it is hilarious. The friends Barney meets, Felicia and Rosa are a kick too. The story in Metro Girl is strong, the mystery has some nice complexity to season the hilarity. And as always, villains who meet up with a Janet Evanovich heroine are in for way more than they bargained for.