Take a photo of a barcode or cover
lilith_elinor 's review for:
Agnes and the Hitman
by Bob Mayer, Jennifer Crusie
This is Crusie back on top form ! This book was brilliant, hilarious, chaotic madness. This time I couldn't tell where Mayer had a hand, I know he must have been behind the action scenes but in this book the collaboration was seamless, I think they managed to iron all the kinks out and it really works. Take the beginning for instance : this one sucked me right in, I was hooked right away, unlike the beginning of Don't Look Down where I struggled.
Cranky Agnes is a cooking columnist with anger management issues who just bought her dream house, on the condition that she must put on her best friend's daughter's wedding. The problem is, people keep turning up and trying to kill her. And everything that could go wrong with the wedding is going wrong. It's almost as if someone doesn't want the wedding to go off... Thank goodness her friend Joey, an ex-mobster, is there to help.
Shane is a hitman. His latest hit didn't go to plan, and then his uncle Joey calls and asks him to protect "his little Agnes". But when Shane arrives it turns out Agnes isn't so little and knows how to wield a frying pan to devastating effect. What's more, she seems to attract an amount of chaos he has never encountered before.
This book is a wild ride of complete insanity, so first of all, suspend all disbelief and strap in for the ride. Some things you'll encounter are old mobsters, 5 million lost somewhere around the house, a secret den in the basement, several hitmen of various levels of competence, several fierce Southern ladies, flamingoes, a bridge that threatens to collapse at any moment, a court-ordered psychiatrist, frying pans used as weapons, some delicious breakfasts, and a wedding. There is even a cameo of Moot. It's wonderful.
This time around we get some of Crusie's trademark top-notch characters : I really liked Agnes and Shane. Agnes is warm and caring, she has that spark that makes her relateable, she's also a strong character who knows what she wants, and she has a delicious streak of complete lunacy : let's just say you don't want to cross her. I loved that and wanted to cheer her on every time she lost it. The voice of her court-ordered psychiatrist in her head slowly transforming as the story went on was gold. I LOVED that. It was a perfect touch.
Shane was good people. He felt real and three dimensional (much better than Wilder) and he was really good to Agnes, he appreciated her and helped her out. He had some sweet moments and I liked them as a couple.
Then there is a whole slew of colourful secondary characters, all of them memorable and fun. There was a lovely feeling of found family, and I love books where you get that feeling of one big crazy family coming together, even when they quarrel. It reminded me a bit of the Dempseys.
This book has a lighter, wittier tone, more like some older Crusies, and for me, this is when she is at her best. Some bits of dialogue had me laughing out loud and that's not easy to get out of me when I read. I loved it.
There were a couple breathless action scenes with Shane, he is definitely very competent at his job (what a man !)And that first scene when Agnes has rage-sex with him was hot. There is also quite a bit of violence, but the story is zipping along in such a zany, madcap way, it doesn't feel very brutal.
I don't really know what more to say except that this book was delightful and fun and such a treat.
Cranky Agnes is a cooking columnist with anger management issues who just bought her dream house, on the condition that she must put on her best friend's daughter's wedding. The problem is, people keep turning up and trying to kill her. And everything that could go wrong with the wedding is going wrong. It's almost as if someone doesn't want the wedding to go off... Thank goodness her friend Joey, an ex-mobster, is there to help.
Shane is a hitman. His latest hit didn't go to plan, and then his uncle Joey calls and asks him to protect "his little Agnes". But when Shane arrives it turns out Agnes isn't so little and knows how to wield a frying pan to devastating effect. What's more, she seems to attract an amount of chaos he has never encountered before.
This book is a wild ride of complete insanity, so first of all, suspend all disbelief and strap in for the ride. Some things you'll encounter are old mobsters, 5 million lost somewhere around the house, a secret den in the basement, several hitmen of various levels of competence, several fierce Southern ladies, flamingoes, a bridge that threatens to collapse at any moment, a court-ordered psychiatrist, frying pans used as weapons, some delicious breakfasts, and a wedding. There is even a cameo of Moot. It's wonderful.
This time around we get some of Crusie's trademark top-notch characters : I really liked Agnes and Shane. Agnes is warm and caring, she has that spark that makes her relateable, she's also a strong character who knows what she wants, and she has a delicious streak of complete lunacy : let's just say you don't want to cross her. I loved that and wanted to cheer her on every time she lost it.
Shane was good people. He felt real and three dimensional (much better than Wilder) and he was really good to Agnes, he appreciated her and helped her out. He had some sweet moments and I liked them as a couple.
Then there is a whole slew of colourful secondary characters, all of them memorable and fun. There was a lovely feeling of found family, and I love books where you get that feeling of one big crazy family coming together, even when they quarrel. It reminded me a bit of the Dempseys.
This book has a lighter, wittier tone, more like some older Crusies, and for me, this is when she is at her best. Some bits of dialogue had me laughing out loud and that's not easy to get out of me when I read. I loved it.
There were a couple breathless action scenes with Shane, he is definitely very competent at his job (what a man !)
I don't really know what more to say except that this book was delightful and fun and such a treat.