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Stephanie Plum, girl bounty hunter, the terror of Trenton, the bane of her boyfriend Joe Morelli's existence, and the delight of her crazy grandma's heart, is in the wrong place at the wrong time--as usual. Just happening to be indulging her nachos jones at a local deli when it's robbed by the... read more

Summary edit see section history

She's accidentally destroyed a dozen cars. She's a target for every psycho and miscreant this side of the Jersey Turnpike. Her mother's convinced she'll end up dead...or worse, without a man. She's Stephanie Plum and she kicks butt for a living (well, she thought it would sound good to put it... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

She's accidentally destroyed a dozen cars. She's a target for every psycho and miscreant this side of the Jersey Turnpike. Her mother's convinced she'll end up dead...or worse, without a man. She's Stephanie Plum and she kicks butt for a living (well, she thought it would sound good to put it that way). It begins as an innocent trip to the deli-mart, on a quest for nachos. But Stephanie Plum and her partner, Lula, are clearly in the wrong place at the wrong time. A robbery leads to an explosion, which leads to the destruction of yet another car. It would be just another day in the life of Stephanie Plum...except that she becomes the target of a gang. And the target of an even scarier, more dangerous force that comes to Trenton. With super bounty hunter Ranger out of town (and Stephanie on the outs with vice cop Morelli), she finds herself alone, with a decision to make: how to protect herself and where to hide while on the hunt for a killer known as the Junkman. There's only one safe place, and it has Ranger's name all over it-if she can find it. And if the Junkman doesn't find her first. With Lula riding shotgun and Grandma Mazur on the loose, Stephanie Plum is racing against the clock in her most suspenseful novel yet. Ten Big Ones is page-turning entertainment and Janet Evanovich is the best there is.

Characters edit see section history

  • Stephanie Plum: Bounty Hunter working for Vinnie Plum and heroine of the novels. Not the greatest in the world, admits that a lot of her captures are more due to luck than anything else. Lives with her hamster Rex. Has an on again off again relationship with Joe Morelli. Describes herself as being 5'7, having blue eyes and curly brown hair. Is infamous for destroying cars, and not always her car either. Described as the Bounty Hunter from Hell by cops.
  • Joe Morelli: Trenton PD vice cop and Stephanie's on again off again boyfriend. Has a Ducati and later on a big orange dog named Bob. Described as being 6 feet of hard lean Italian muscle with dark hair and dark eyes and in the words of Stephanie "Yum". Would like to marry Stephanie, on the provision that she quit being a bounty hunter. Calls Stephanie Cupcake.
  • Ranger: Bounty Hunter who works for Vinnie, and also owner of his own security consulting firm in later novels. And also later a romantic interest for Stephanie. Formerly Special Forces. Two months older than Stephanie and described as being 6 feet or a few inches under or over. Cuban American with skin the color of a mocha latte, dark hair and dark eyes, always dresses in black, very muscular with no extra fat on him and also Yum. Say he loves Stephanie in his own way. Always drives very expensive black cars. Full name is Ricardo Carlos Manoso. Got the nickname Ranger in Special Forces. Calls Stephanie Babe.
  • Vincent "Vinnie" Plum: Owner of Vincent Plum Bail Bonds. Stephanie more or less black mails him into giving her a job. He's Stephanie cousin. Said to have had a romantic relationship with a duck at one time. Described as looking like a weasel.
  • Lula: File clerk for Vinnie Plum, though how much filing she does is pretty debatable. Used to be a Hooker and still dresses like it. Is described as being short, plus size with a propensity for spandex. Has a talent for jamming her size sixteen body into size ten clothes. Changes her hair color on a regular basis.
  • Grandma Mazur: Stephanie's grandmother. Crazy and eccentric. Loves going on busts and adventures.
  • Valerie: Stephanie's sister. Once the perfect sister.
  • Connie Rosolli: Works for Vinnie. Sometimes explained as having a '5 o'clock shadow' Wears lots of mascara and red lipstick
  • Sally: friend of Stephanie's. Cross-dressing singer.
  • Anton Ward: FTA, gang member
  • Carol Cantell: Stephanie's friend, attempted suicide a few times because of going to jail.
  • Cindy: Sister of Frito thief Carol.
  • Harold Pancek: FTA who is squashed by Lula during capture.
  • Rodriguez: Ranger's employee
  • Comstock: The name of the street of The Slayers.
  • Lincoln: Add a description of this character.
  • Eddie
  • Buick: 1952 huge blue and white car with no power anything. Men love it; Stephanie hates it. She drives it periodically when yet an another of her cars is blown up. Known as Big Blue
  • Shoshanna: Girl apprehended by Stephanie. Easy to catch as she needed dental care provided by incarceration.
  • Albert Kloughn: Valerie's husband. Terrible lawyer, but very loyal and kind.
  • Costanza: Old friend of Morelli and Stephanie. Police officer
  • Marty Sklar
  • Lowanda
  • Bob: Stephanie and Joe's dog. Eats anything he can get his paws on and LOVES chinese food.
  • Mary Alice: Valerie's Daughter, thinks she's a horse.
  • Lauralene Taylor: pregnant girlfriend of Red Devil, AKA Anton Ward.
  • Ella
  • Esther
  • Hamilton
  • Roger Banker: FTA who defies capture.
  • Robin Russell: High school friend of Stephanie's who becomes a cop to everyone's surprise
  • Eugene Brown: member of The Slayers who tangled with Stephanie in the Buick.
  • Anthony
  • Angie
  • Hal: Works for Ranger. Moves like a stegasaurus.
  • Francine
Show all 36 characters
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Quotes edit see section history

  • “That's the way it is with disaster. In an instant your future can disappear. And nothing can adequately prepare you for the moment. There's a millisecond of surprise and then a heaviness of heart when finality is recognized.”
    Stephanie Plum
  • “I was surprisingly calm. My life had taken on a feature film quality. I was living Die Hard in Trenton. And Bruce Willis was in drag.”
    Stephanie Plum
  • “The way I see it, life is a jelly doughnut. You don't really know what it's about until you bite into it. And then, just when you decide it's good, you drop a big glob of jelly on your best T-shirt.”
    Stephanie Plum
  • “This is a high-stress business, and you're comedy relief for my entire team. Plus, I get a tax break.”
    Ranger
  • “I was a damn good ho.”
    Lula
  • “Life was fudging complicated.”
    Stephanie Plum
  • “I was a shower gel slut!”
    Stephanie Plum
  • “The good thing about living with a cop is that you never have to call home when disaster strikes. As you might suspect, that's also the bad part. Seconds after the emergency call goes in on the robbery and the car fire, describing my yellow Escape, at least forty different cops, EMTs, and fire fighters will track Morelli down and tell him his girlfriend's done it again.”
    Stephanie Plum
  • “"What's the deal on Harold?" I asked Connie. "He's local. Moved to the Burg three years ago from Newark, lives in one of those row houses on Canter Street. Got drunk two weeks ago and tried to take a leak on Mrs Gooding's cat, Ben. Ben was a moving target and Pancek mostly got the side of Gooding's house and Gooding's favorite rose bush. Killed the rosebush and took the paint off the house. And Gooding says she washed the cat three times and he still smells like asparagus."”
    Connie
  • “"Apparently she was on that no-carbohydrate diet, got her period and snapped when she saw the truck parked in front of a convenience store. Just got whacked out at the thought of all those chips. She threatened the driver wtih a nail file, filled her car with bags of Fritos, and took off, leaving the driver standing there in front of his empty truck. The police asked him why he didn't stop her, and he said she was a woman on the edge. He said his wife got to looking like that sometimes, and he didn't go near her when she was like that, either"”
    Connie
  • “"We wouldn't shoot you" Lula said "unless, of course, you drew a gun. What we'd do is gas you. We got pepper spray. Or we could zap you with the stun gun. My choice would be the stun gun on account of we're using my car and there's a lot of snot produced if we gave you a face full of pepper spray. I just had my car detailed. I don't want the back seat full of snot."”
    Lula
  • “Those dogs humped all over you. And you got something in your hair from that bull dog.”
    Lula
  • “I rolled free of Banker, and Lula sat down hard ohim, simultaneously expelling every molecule of air out of both ends of Banker's body.”
    Stephanie Plum
  • “No Cap'n Crunch, no peanut butter. No Entenmann's coffee cake. How could anyone live like this?”
    Stephanie Plum
  • “Well, excuse me, but I think that's tacky. He could at least steal something with a bigger backseat. This here's a pregnant woman he's slippin' into.”
    Lula
  • Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
  • The way I see it, life is a jelly doughnut. You don’t really know what it’s about until you bite into it. And then, just when you decide it’s good, you drop a big glob of jelly on your best T-shirt.
    Highlighted by 43 Kindle customers
  • If you buy chocolate with loose change the calories don’t count.
    Highlighted by 29 Kindle customers
  • If God had wanted me to lose weight he would have made sure there was creamed spinach for dessert.
    Highlighted by 24 Kindle customers
  • “I like you. We all like you.” He grabbed me by the front of my shirt, lifted me two inches off the ground, and kissed me. “The truth is, I love you . . . in my own way.”
    Highlighted by 18 Kindle customers
  • “Play the role,” Lula said. “That’s what we do. We pick a role and we play it. What role you want to play?” “I want to be smart, and I want to be brave.” “Go for it,” Lula said.
    Highlighted by 17 Kindle customers
  • “I said there was no monetary way to justify your security. The truth is, you’re a line item in my budget.”
    Highlighted by 12 Kindle customers
  • Sometimes it felt like Ranger could look you in the eye and know all the stuff that was inside your head. It was a little unnerving, but it saved a lot of time since talk wasn’t necessary.
    Highlighted by 10 Kindle customers
  • Ranger was leaning one shoulder against the doorjamb, his arms loosely crossed over his chest.
    Highlighted by 9 Kindle customers
  • Ranger nudged me into the shadow of the alley, pressed me against the brick wall, and kissed me. When his tongue touched mine my fingers curled into his shirt, and I think I might have momentarily lost consciousness.
    Highlighted by 8 Kindle customers
  • Everyone crossed themselves at the mention of the IRS. Street gangs and the mob paled in comparison to fear of the tax code.
    Highlighted by 6 Kindle customers
Show all 25 quotes from this book

First Sentence edit see section history

The way I see it, life is a jelly doughnut.

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 10 of 18 in Stephanie Plum by the Numbers. (standard series)

Preceded by To the Nines, and followed by Eleven on Top.

This is book 59 of 146 in Whitcoulls Top 100 (2011). (authoritative list)

Preceded by Life of Pi, and followed by Dolci di Love.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Janet Evanovich (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Country: US
Publication Date: May 31, 2004
ISBN: 0312289723
Page Count: 312

Classification edit see section history

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
  • Wicked Appetite
  • Back to the Bedroom
  • The Grand Finale
  • Hero at Large
  • Full House

Books with Additional Background Information edit see section history

   
  • One for the Money
  • Two for the Dough
  • Three to Get Deadly
  • Four to Score
  • High Five
  • Hot Six
  • Seven Up
  • Hard Eight
  • To the Nines

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