25: Troublemaker (an Alex Barnaby Graphic Novel), by Janet Evanovich and Alex Evanovich (2010 hardcover)

I always enjoy Janet Evanovich's Stephaine Plum novels, in which a Jersey-girl-turned-bounty-hunter stumbles in and out of trouble, accompanied by her ex-prostitute, spandex wearing sidekick, balancing attraction for a longtime flame/cop and a dangerous, top-of-the-line bounty hunter, dodging bullets and explosions--and, upon occasion, catching a bad guy.  I try not to read Stephanie Plum novels in public, lest my frequent bursts of laughter lead passersby to think I am mentally unbalanced.

So, when I heard that Evanovich had teamed up with her daughter to write a graphic novel, I was immediately interested.  When it was released, I learned that the book is actually the third in Evanovich's Alex Barnaby series--the first two, Metro Girl and Motor Mouth, printed in standard print form.  Undaunted, I read that the book is a good stand alone as well, not depending on the previous two novels.  

It's that last statement that I now dispute, and I wish I had read the other two books before reading Troublemaker.  The book isn't without its charms, but it doesn't take the time to introduce the characters or premise as a first issue of a comic does.  The reader is simply presented with characters and an improbable plot and expected to go with it.  Slowly I figured out that Alex is a auto mechanic and spotter for the handsome love interest, Sam Hooker, but I never felt like I understood the relationship or the personalities of the duo to understand how they would end up involved in voodoo-related kidnapping in the swamps on Miami.  Fans of the earlier two books will likely enjoy this a bit more, and I may come back to it--and to the second graphic novel release in the series--once I've read them.  For now, though, I'm going to pick up where I left off with Stephanie Plum (around book 11, I think).  

And laugh in public.