By Sara Hailstone
Content warning: guns and violence
Janet Evanovich is well known for her mystery series featuring strong female leads paired with the comedic relief of masculine counterparts. Born in South River, New Jersey in 1943, Evanovich made a name for herself with the creation of her first strong female lead, Stephanie Plum, a sharp-tongued Jersey girl who pushes her way into tracking down bail jumpers by blackmailing her own bail bondsman. Plum’s character led to a series and the cookie-cutter template for Evanovich’s New York Times bestsellers. Evanovich is now a household name. The Recovery Agent is the first book of a new series in alignment with this Evanovich template. Now, Evanovich introduces readers to the duo of Gabriela and Rafer.
Gabriela is a recovery agent, retrieving missing treasure, family valuables, or stolen property for the rich. Evanovich thrusts Gabriela into the throes of personal crises with a hurricane that has levelled her family’s home. With the supernatural guidance of an ancestor named Annie, Gabriela’s family wants her to find Blackbeard’s treasure map that will lead her to the Ring of Solomon. Annie had sent a message to Gabriela’s grandmother with knowledge of a historical diary that the infamous Blackbeard had: a diary with a map to the famous treasure sought by others. With this long-kept family secret, Gabriela would be able to help the family start over after devastation. But first, Gabriela has to find the treasure in a case in the basement of her old house where her ex-husband Rafer lives. He insists on joining her when she comes to retrieve the map and case.
Rafer is funny. With his quick-witted interjections and stubborn persistence in helping protect Gabriela while simultaneously driving her crazy (much like the dynamics of their marriage of antler smashing), the duo takes on the jungles of Peru and are soon trekking across various geographic hotspots, dodging snakes, going toe-to-toe with drug cartels and cults, and finishing with the climax of facing an unhinged antagonist who has stalked them throughout the plot. The Recovery Agent throws the reader in hard; they hit the ground running.
The Recovery Agent meets the genre’s needs and is an anticipated first book of a new series for devoted readers. A text suited for escapism and entertainment, it secures the plotline with historical anchors. It took me some time to feel emotional ties to the characters and I read courageously through a template feel, but investment in the characters was not fully achieved as I knew they would always be okay. I appreciated Rafer’s comic relief and the chemistry between he and Gabriela that moves the narrative along. With the inclusion of a supernatural subplot, I was impressed with the experimentation in cross-genre writing between mystery and the elements of magic realism found in literary fiction. I could be stretching and inserting my own creative wondering into my reading, but those familiar with the mystery genre will walk away satisfied and wanting more.
Thank you to Atria Books of Simon & Schuster for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review!