Metro Girl Janet Evanovich HarperCollins Publishers £12.99 Rel: Sep 2004 Reviewed by Ayo Onatade

First of all this is not a Stephanie Plum book. In fact it appears that Ms Evanovich is about to embark on a new series.

In this latest saga we are introduced to perky and vibrant thirty-year old Alexandra “Barney” Barnaby who would rather be working on a car engine than doing her current job. When she receives a frantic phone call from her brother Bill she begins to worry as it is not his usual type of call asking her to come and rescue him from whatever mess he has found himself in and heads off to Miami to try and find him. This brings her into contact with NASCAR driver Sam Hooker who is also looking for her brother. The two of them soon find themselves involved in espionage, diving in international waters and Castro and Cuban missiles.

This is typical Evanovich fare. With witty and snappy dialogue this series is bound to be a massive hit with fans of her Stephanie Plum series. As expected there are laugh out loud scenes and characters, wacky scenarios and sexual innuendo galore. Some of them are quite tasteless but always creative. But of course this is what one has come to anticipate from Ms Evanovich. Highly entertaining, funny and sexy Metro Girl is not an easy book to put down. While there are bound to be comparisons between her successful Stephanie Plum series and this current one, “Barney” Barnaby comes across as a much more grown up and sensible person compared to Ms Plum. Not one to rest on her laurels this is bound to be another winning series.