Goodreads/Amazon
Release date: August 16, 2016

Publisher: Bantam

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Goodreads blurb:

Janet Evanovich, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Stephanie Plum series, teams up with Emmy-winning writer Phoef Sutton for a brand-new series of thrillers featuring the invincible and incompatible pairing of Knight and Moon.

Emerson Knight is introverted, eccentric, and has little to no sense of social etiquette. Good thing he’s also brilliant, rich, and (some people might say) handsome, or he’d probably be homeless. Riley Moon has just graduated from Harvard Business and Harvard Law. Her aggressive Texas spitfire attitude has helped her land her dream job as a junior analyst with mega-bank Blane-Grunwald. At least Riley Moon thought it was her dream job, until she is given her first assignment: babysitting Emerson Knight.

What starts off as an inquiry about missing bank funds in the Knight account leads to inquiries about a missing man, missing gold, and a life-and-death race across the country. Through the streets of Washington, D.C., and down into the underground vault of the Federal Reserve in New York City, an evil plan is exposed. A plan so sinister that only a megalomaniac could think it up, and only the unlikely duo of the irrepressibly charming Emerson Knight and the tenacious Riley Moon can stop it. 

Review: 

I’ve never read anything by Evanovich before but of course I’ve heard of her series as well as seen them in bookstores and libraries. When this popped up on Netgalley I was pretty excited to finally read something by her. Unfortunately, this book didn’t excite me and make me want to read her other work.

My first problem is that it’s categorized as a Mystery/Thriller. I honestly don’t even understand how that happened as there really isn’t even a mystery whatsoever. The reader knows who the bad guys are, I guess the mystery is in seeing how things play out? Thriller is all wrong as well. There is really no suspense unless you count the wacky scenes that Riley and Emerson find themselves in. I suppose one could find these thrilling, however I did not. Categorizing this book as a cozy mystery would be a better fit in my opinion.

Both Riley and Emerson have potential as a lead character duo in a series, they’re just not fleshed out enough for me. Riley is a spicy redhead who could be a really fun character. She’s smart, independent and confident. Emerson is a quirky goofball who has no social skills though he’s filthy rich. Their banter was really funny a few times and they had some great scenes. But for me the problem was more with the scenarios they were in. 

The whole book reads like a wacky caper. It’s all highly unbelievable and outrageous. It reminded me of a cross between Austin Powers and Oceans Eleven. Weird, right? The bad guys were so over the top I couldn’t help but think of Dr. Evil. Don’t get me wrong, Austin Powers is fun and all, but I think I was just expecting something totally different.

Overall I just think that I was the wrong type of reader for this sort of book. I was anticipating something completely different and I was bummed once I realized that I wasn’t going to be reading a true mystery. As I said before, people who enjoy cozy mysteries would like this one. I just want more substance in my thrillers. If you like kooky and zany, this one is for you. 

Overall rating: 2.5/5

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House/Bantam for my copy in exchange for an honest review.