Curious Minds by Janet Evanovich and Phoef Sutton

Title: Curious Minds
Authors: Janet Evanovich and Phoef Sutton
Publisher: Headline Review
Date of Publication: 16th August 2016
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley

Summary: 

CURIOUS MINDS by No. 1 bestselling author Janet Evanovich and screenwriter Phoef Sutton is a must-read thriller for fans of the Stephanie Plum mysteries including ONE FOR THE MONEY and TRICKY TWENTY-TWO.

They couldn't be less compatible, but they make a great team...

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.

Riley Moon has just graduated from Harvard. Her assertive (some people might say aggressive) spitfire attitude has helped land a dream job at Blane-Grunwald bank. At least, Riley Moon thinks it's her dream job until she is given her first assignment: babysitting Emerson Knight.

An inquiry about missing Knight money leads to 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 could hope to stop it...

Review:

I love the Stephanie Plum books. They're funny and clever and their formulaic nature doesn't really matter because you enjoy them anyway, and the formula becomes part of the joke.



This is not a Stephanie Plum book.

Riley Moon has landed a job at a big investment bank, and her boss has sent her to visit a very important client, and assure him that his money is safe with them. Emerson Knight is an eccentric multi-millionaire whose request is simple. He wants to see his gold and make sure it's okay.

What follows is a caper that should be hilarious and exciting, but isn't.

I found the writing clunky and awkward and the story somewhat cliched. Emerson is gorgeous and a genius, but socially inept and reliant on his aunt to look after his life. Riley is driven and determined to succeed in banking, but she can fire a gun and drive an RV because she's from Texas. The banter and flirting between the two of them didn't really work for me.

The premise is pretty ridiculous. The bank's bosses are messing with people's gold and they're committing murder to cover it up.

This book kept me interested enough to follow through to the ending, but I won't be picking up others in this series.

If you enjoy comedic crime capers with a hint of romantic potential, then you might like to give it a try.