It’s Gender Reversal Day here on Goodreads as I review One for the Money. So Samuel Plum is an underwear buyer for a retail store who has recently lost his job. Desperate for cash, he blackmails his pervert cousin who runs a bail bonds agency into letting him go after a cop named Jane Morellie who was accused of murder and then skipped. There may be a personal revenge motive for Samuel in this because Jane is the girl who seduced him and took his virginity in high school. Since she never called him again, Samuel felt justified in running her over with a car and breaking her leg shortly after that. Now Jane is worth $10,000. Even though he has absolutely no experience or training in law enforcement or as a bounty hunter, Samuel decides he’s going to capture her. He almost immediately stumbles across Jane who basically laughs at him and walks away. So Samuel gets a pistol he doesn’t know how to use or even load. He also allows his senile grandfather to get a hold of the gun because who doesn’t love it when the elderly start waving handguns around in a room full of family members?Samuel’s inexperience quickly gets him into more trouble after he gets assaulted by a female boxer who tries to rape him. Rather than pull his gun on the boxer, he panics and hits her with his man purse. Things get even worse as Jane repeatedly shows up to humiliate him and then get away again. Samuel also gets another person shot when a fugitive takes away his man purse with the gun while Samuel just stands there and allows it to happen. Plus, Samuel’s failure to report the boxer to the police for the attack on him because he doesn’t want to look weak allows two innocent people to be brutally raped and assaulted.Samuel is obviously a moron who has no business running around with a gun and hand cuffs. He also seems to be criminally negligent, and he probably should have been in prison already for running over a sex partner. He also steals Jane’s car when he gets tired of driving his own piece of shit so even though he’s supposedly on the side of law and order, he’s guilty of carrying a concealed weapon and grand theft auto. Samuel is such a nitwit that I have no idea how I’m supposed to relate or sympathize with him. If this was some kind of comic farce, then I could see how a loser getting humiliated by the fugitives he’s supposed to be chasing would be funny, but that kind of goes out the window with the psychotic rapist boxer thing and people getting shot due to Samuel’s utter failure as a bounty hunter.In conclusion, I’ll say that Samuel Plum is a fucktarded asshat who should be beaten with….Oh, wait. Gender Reversal Day was yesterday? And it’s Stephanie Plum, not Samuel? Oh….. I guess in that case she’s just a spunky heroine and her vehicular assault on a former lover, overall gross incompetence and insistence on trying to do a job she has no training or qualifications for is just another example of womanly independence. Girl Power!Now, Stephanie, if you’d just step into this dark alley, there’s a few ladies who’d like a word with you. Oh, don’t worry, it’s just FBI Special Agent Clarice Starling, US Marshal Karen Sisco, Ree Dolly from the Ozarks and Lisbeth Salander from Sweden. They’d like to have a little talk regarding what you’ve done to the image of female heroes in crime fiction.
Book: ★ ★ ½ Narration: ★ ½ I'm new to audiobooks, and at this point I'm not exactly sure how much they're for me. I can listen to whatever I want during my workday, so I figure, why not catch up on some reading while I do it? The problem is, I seem to come across more audiobooks that rub me the wrong way than those that don't. When the narrator is female and she reads the part of a male and is trying to either be sexy or menacing, I have a hard time with it. The same goes the other way as well. I've tried getting through Odd Thomas but when the narrator speaks for Odd's girlfriend, I can't help but imagine a drag queen. It's that jarring that it takes me out of the story, and the same thing happened in this book as well.I enjoyed this story for what it was: a down on her luck Jersey girl who decides to try her hand at bounty hunting and hilarity ensues. I didn't find myself laughing all that much, although I did smile at some of Morelli's lines, but then quickly cringed at the sound of the female voicing them. It was a weird experience.Throughout the novel, Stephanie isn't all that smart. This being the first in a very long series, I expected that going in, so I wasn't all that surprised when she decided to hit her would-be rapist over the head with her purse instead of taking her gun out of said purse and pointing it at his face. She doesn't do so many dumb things that it made me want to slap her though, and that can be a fine line to cross. I actually thought a lot of characters toed that line; her Mom was pushy but in a funny way, her Grandma was crazy but not annoying, and Morelli played sexy and dangerous in a delicious way. Ranger, I'm on the fence about because he played such a small part, and also because I think some of his lines would have been sexier in my head than out of a woman's mouth.I was surprised at some of the darker parts of this book, although now that I think of it, this kind of reads like a Lifetime movie. Think murder, torture, rape, all that fun stuff. Throw in some prostitution and drugs and now we're having a good time! Honestly though, I think the grittier bits made me like the story more because it wasn't just fluffy chick-lit all the time, but then, I'm twisted like that.I liked that I was kept guessing up until the end. I had my suspicions, but I was actually wrong and I enjoyed that! All too often I figure out the mystery before half the novel is over but that wasn't the case here so that was a pleasant surprise.I don't think the narrator did a poor job for most of the novel; it was just the sexy and evil men that she was trying to do that wasn't working for me. I feel like I was missing out on some of the atmosphere with the characters by not hearing the men in my head. Maybe this isn't an issue for others that are used to one narrator doing a whole cast of characters, but it just isn't something that's clicking with me.I will continue on with this story, but in regular ol' book form. I hear the love triangle continues on for eternity, but I think I've proved I'm a glutton for punishment since I'm still reading Anita Blake, so I'll definitely pick up the next installment of Stephanie Plum's series soon.
What do You think about One For The Money (2015)?
Stephanie Plum: a 6 anni gioca al trenino con Joe Morelli. A 16 gli vende il bignè, nonostante tutti, mamma compresa, continuassero ad avvertirla di stare lontana dal bad boy. Per tanti anni non si sono più cagati, come da copione: Joe Morelli è il tipo da "una botta e via". Ma poi, sulla soglia dei 30, senza uno straccio di lavoro e senza qualcuno da cui farsi mantenere, decide di diventare un'agente di recupero. Allettata probabilmente da quei bei soldoni se mai fosse stata in grado di consegnare alla polizia nientepopodimeno che... Morelli.Sentite, a me aveva già convinto a pagina 2.Se poi considerate le innumerevoli gag comiche tra i due (da Morelli che si introduce in casa della Plum e l'ammanetta alla doccia, alla completa immersione nei cassoni dell'immondizia per recuperare le chiavi dell'auto, al diffamare Morelli con delle prostitute), la sbadataggine universalmente riconosciuta di lei, e le assurde situazioni in cui viene coinvolta avete fatto tredici.Oh, è pure breve!
—•Anna•
Honesty time.I'm among the 1%. Whoa, folks. Not this 1% (although how awesome would that be? Owning attack hounds. Rocking a monocle. Wearing titanium shoes. Using fancy words like 'indubitably' and 'mustachioed'. I'd be the best billionaire evah.)I'm talking about the other 1%. You know, the people who read One for the Money and didn't like it. People such as: The Church Lady Grumpy Old Man These guys ...Me...(I guess this means I'm officially old and boring or whatever.) But yeah, I totally do not like this book unlike 99% of the GoodReads population. As far as I'm concerned One for the Money is a dated, exceptionally lame version of The Jersey Shore in which everyone is sporting spandex, big hair, and sexist attitudes. So basically it's almost exactly the same as every episode of The Jersey Shore. Except with more guns. Not these guns... Now that's more like it.Exactly like the Jersey Shore with lots of real guns. And a really dumb grown woman who cannot be bothered to learn how to shoot a gun even though she's carrying one with her at all times. Why, you ask? Because she's being stalked by a rapist. A really violent, super-dangerous raping-rapist who totally wants to rape her. A lot. But that's not all, folks. There is also a really mysterious mystery. (A rape-y mystery.) This really attractive MENSA candidate wrapped in spandex who can't shoot a gun to save her life is named Stephanie Plum. Stephanie is trying to solve a mystery so she can help clear the name and reputation of the guy who sexually assaulted her when they were children the smoosh-worthy skeevy man-whore love interest. All so she can haul him into jail for jumping bail and collect the $20,000 bounty on his head, or whatever. In the meantime sexual tension is building between the two. They're tripping over all the innuendo. It's sexy and mysterious. And full of (dumb-)damsel-in-distress like situations. How could I not love this book, you ask? I just don't. Although, I think I just proved I'm old and boring. If you're not old or boring, and you really love the Jersey Shore, One for the Money might just be the book for you.
—Penny
Funny and light-hearted book with a likeable heroine who never loses track of her goal to earn 10,000 dollars as a bounty hunter. Too bad it´s an old ex-lover she has to find but then - she still has a bone to pick with him....This first book in the series made me jump outright on the Stephanie Plum-bandwagon and I prepare myself for an enjoyable ride!
—Inara
