Ten Big Ones: A Stephanie Plum Novel

Written by Janet Evanovich

Narrated by Lorelei King

Janet Evanovich is the hottest author in America, and her Stephanie Plum novels have taken the nation by storm!

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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 thinks it sounds 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 of an even scarier, more dangerous force that comes to Trenton. With super bounty hunter Ranger acting more mysteriously than ever (and the tension with vice cop Joe Morelli getting hotter), she finds herself 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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio
• Release date: Jun 22, 2004
• ISBN: 9781593974619

Janet Evanovich

Bestselling author Janet Evanovich is the winner of the New Jersey Romance Writers Golden Leaf Award and multiple Romantic Times awards, including Lifetime Achievement. She is also a long-standing member of RWA.

Reviews for Ten Big Ones

[CourtneyCaldwell · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Too many skips while listening to #10... also, Debi Mazar is a much better character fit for narration. Lorelei sounds older than Stephanie & does not imitate black characters realistically.

[laurochka-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Oh God! Usual rubbish. Ends improbably and suddenly.

[mskeens_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Just when you think what could happen next, she comes up with another scenerio. The on again off again relationship between Stephanie and Joe is entertaining and keeps you wondering. Then with Ranger factored in there it makes it very interesting I think once you read this you will agree who Stephanie should be with and she does also, but she can't bring herself to make that committment. Some of her stunts while Bounty hunting are hysterical and the gang twist this time made for an interesting action packed book.

[Jessica Buss · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a one of a kind series and number 10 lived up to all before it!

[pamkaye · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Stephanie and Lulu witness a robbery. Somehow (we won't blame Lulu) the perps getaway bike is damaged, and then another one of Stephanie's cars catch fire. When Stephanie sees the robbers face, she gets tangled up with a gang called the Comstock Street Slayers. And becomes the target for a hired hitman named Junkman.She must also try to get Carol Cantell to court. She was arrested for holding up a Frito Lay truck and stealing all the chips.Sally Sweet is back. Along with Joe Morelli, Ranger, Connie, Grandma Mazur and the rest of the family. Plus a new family member.

[seriousgrace · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It is three months later and Stephanie has broken up with Morelli again. Same old, same old. Grandma Mazur is still attending funerals as a dating ploy. Stephanie's mom is still plying people with baked goods. Valerie is very pregnant. Lula and Stephanie are still trying to bring in the bad guys. There is always something dangerous and something goofy going on with Stephanie's collars. For the goofy, this time she needs to bring in a woman addicted to potato chips and other snack items. For the serious, Stephanie and Lula are witness to a deli being robbed then firebombed. The culprit is a member of an increasingly violent gang, the "Red Devils." Because Stephanie can identify the Red Devil she is a target and must go into hiding...in Ranger's high-tech posh apartment. How convenient. Speaking of same old, the sexual tension between Ranger and Plum has not diminished. Rex still lives in a soup can (now at Ranger's) and Bob the Dog still lives with Morelli...If you are keeping track of the vehicles Stephanie destroys: her canary yellow Ford Escape survived book nine. It wasn't so lucky in book ten. It gets firebombed pretty early in Ten Big Ones.

[payday1999-430350 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have read all of the Stephanie Plum novels so far and I just love these books. They are a very easy read and are something to read when you just wanna relax after a long day. They are just so humorous and I love all the characters, especially Grandma Mazur. It has a little bit of everything thrown in, while still being lighthearted.

I would recommend these books to anybody.

[jonimfisher · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Always hilarious to follow Stephanie Plum's disastrous love life and career as a bounty hunter. My favorite character in this book was the bus-driving wedding planner rock band member Sally. Don't read this book while eating or drinking or you are likely to choke. The dialogue snaps along in rapid fire and the spot-on prose nails characters with the telling details that make them stick in the brain from book to book in the series.

[literaryfeline · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

For yet another series’ book that I just could not wait to read, I dropped in Barnes and Noble the day this one hit the stores. I was that impatient. I even started reading the book while stuck in the parking lot after work that same day, waiting for my husband to come rescue me (car trouble). Good thing I had it with me! What a better way to pass the time than with my favorite bounty hunter, Stephanie Plum, and her crazy friends and family? Stephanie is the only one who can identify the Red Devil, a man wanted for armed robbery and assault, and finds herself at the top of the hit list of a dangerous Trenton gang. While trying to keep a low profile and hiding out, Stephanie must earn her living and she continues to join forces with Lulu to catch bounty jumpers. The sexual tension between Stephanie, Joe and Ranger continues to smolder, and Grandma Mazur is as witty and charming as ever in her own sort of way. There were moments in the book where I found myself slapping my forehead wondering what in the world Stephanie was thinking, and yet with every page, I found myself laughing and wanting to see what would happen next. With a mixture of mystery, romance, and humor, Janet Evanovich serves up a delicious read in Ten Big Ones.

[polywogg · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

BOTTOM-LINE:Not bad, good ending.PLOT OR PREMISE:Ten Big Ones (St. Martin's Press, 2010, ISBN/ASIN: B00179FNRI, Plum (10)) is the tenth outing in the Plum series, and this one has Stephanie starting a mini-war with a gang after she sees one of them committing a robbery..WHAT I LIKED:Hijackers of chip trucks, Sally Sweet still in a dress, and school buses all show up to enliven the plot..WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:The whole shower thing for Valerie gets old real fast, adding nothing to the story. And I don't really care about wannabe gang kingpins..DISCLOSURE:I received no compensation, not even a free copy, in exchange for this review. I am not personal friends with the author, nor do I follow her on social media.

[chermoon · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ok, but quite frustrating.

[bragan_8 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Yet another installment in Janet Evanovich's series about Stephanie Plum, the bumbling bounty hunter from Trenton, New Jersey. This time out Stephanie gets threatened by some gang members and finds an interesting new place to stay for a while.It's mildly entertaining, in the pleasantly brainless way typical of this series, and I did like it better than the last one-and-a-half installments, which left me decidedly "meh." But the plots are getting increasingly formulaic and thin -- which, considering where they started, is saying something -- and I do wonder how many more of these I'm going to get through before I finally decide I'm completely tired of them. Especially as I'm already tired of certain elements, like the love triangle stuff, and the constant jokes about women getting fat. Still, for the moment the series is still filling its function of always being there for me when my brain is tired and needs something light and easy.

[hemlokgang · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another fun romp with Stephanie Plum and her band of merry cohorts: Italian Stallion Joe Morelli, James Bondish Ranger, Lula the hooker turned file clerk and bounty hunting muscle, along with Sally, the cross dressing bus driver and wedding planner. Yes, it is quite a group, and of course there is Stephanie's family who are a hoot. The best part of this series is that it makes me laugh out loud!

[dearheart_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is on hand to witness the robbing of a store by the Red Devil, a masked guy who robs stores, sets fire to them and gets away on his bike. Discovering he’s part of one of the local gangs, she makes the mistake of cruising through their territory trying to spot him, and to escape when her car is mobbed, has to run a few of them over. Now there’s a contract on her head and they seem to find her wherever she goes. To add to her problems, Ranger is out of town, although this turns out to be a good thing as she discovers the location of the Bat Cave. While trying to lay low and avoid gang members, she still has to bring in skips, deal with the preparations for her sister’s wedding and her relationship with Morelli.As with the prior stories, chaos reigns and there is both plenty of action as well as humor and sexual tension. And the ending is rather unexpected.Forget common sense and the fact that Stephanie doesn’t seem to grow and many of the gags have been used before. It’s still a fun story and a great way to escape reality for a few hours.

[kr_patterson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The best plotting in all of her books so far, I think. I didn't like Sally in the earlier books, but I really liked him in this one for some reason. Several laugh-out-loud moments. And I liked that Stephanie found a Ranger hide-out. A book for people who occasionally need a dose of light-minded levity.

[mlg11031112 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

After the movie, One for the Money (I loved it), I wanted to read the books. I was half happy and half disappointed (to be fair the first few books were better than the rest - I've read 17 or 18). The writing isn't anything special but there is banter and wit (which is waning). I love her grandma, the ex-hooker, and some other random side characters - that and the witty moments kept me coming back for more.By the time of the 5th book (or at least by the 10th) you would think she would start to get the hang of her job or get a new one - nope. At a certain point she is just a pretty woman of 30ish who can't pick from 2 men (or choose to move on from both), who is bad at her job, and relies on luck and the men in her life to save her (to be fair I think of one time she was saved by a woman).So why do I keep reading? In spite of how annoying she is, and how she is hopelessly in love with 2 mildly mentally abusive men? Despite all the half attractive or good guys being over 6 ft tall for some reason and all the other men are taken or ugly? The reason is the supporting crazy characters, and the fading wit.

[vincentdarlage · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I just flat out enjoyed this one. Lots of fun. Sally, Grandma, and Lulu are still over the top a bit, but it was a fun read. Stephanie's weight can change in a matter of hours... one day her fat overhangs her belt, the next, she can snap her jeans without the overhang (weird; too bad real life doesn't work that way).

Another reviewer said: "Also, I'm not a big Lula and Grandma Mazur fan. When they start hanging around with Steph, the collective IQ drops, no surprise. It's like The Wacky Adventures of the Three Stooges." I have to agree with that reviewer. I thought Grandma was cute at first, but now she is annoying me.

I liked the plot in this one, and several instances made me laugh.

[judithdcollins · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Funny! performed by Lorelei King – my favorite via audio! 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 acting more mysteriously than ever (and the tension with vice cop Joe Morelli getting hotter), Stephanie finds herself 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.

[y2ash · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In Ten Big Ones, Stephanie Plum is the only one who can identify a gang member known as The Red Devil, leader of a local gang called The Slayers. Of course, Stephanie being Stephanie is targeted by a gang hitman known as Junkman. Having no place to go without endangering her loved ones and losing her car to an unfortunate explosion, yet again, Stephanie leaves Morelli's house and lies low in Ranger's almost bat cave.

Ten Big Ones was a simple story that didn't tie in to one of Stephanie's original F.T.As. She was actually quite competent in capturing all of them. Or maybe they just couldn't get away. Either way, her character continues to grow and gets tougher. This isn't the same Stephanie Plum from One for the Money. She's not Supergirl but she isn't your ordinary human either.

The love triangle between Stephanie, Morelli, and Ranger is oddly not annoying. It's probably the most realistic thing in the novels itself. This is probably because it's not a main component of the story but the added seasoning. The supporting characters are becoming more three dimensional and given more to do especially Connie. Give me more Connie! All in all, Ten Big Ones was very good.

[kayceel_4 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

More suspenseful than most of the others, this, I think, is the first time I actually worried about Stephanie – when the gang hires out for her murder. She decides to hide out at Ranger’s apartment (she was living with Morelli, but both worried about putting him in danger, and chafing at his overbearing “Stay at home!!!”, she leaves), which makes for sexiness, but no sex… Hmmm. This one also sees the return of Sally, the ugliest transvestite on the planet, and the upcoming marriage of Steph’s sister Valerie to the dumpily sweet Albert, and Lula, on a carb-free diet, who carts around meat in her purse, making her a favorite of dogs everywhere…

[indygo88 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Once again, Stephanie finds herself in the midst of trouble. I generally read Evanovich books as a filler between more serious novels, and this one fit the bill just fine. Realistically, Stephanie should've been dead a long time ago, and in this one she escapes a Trenton gang. As in other Plum novels, my favorite parts are the sexual tension between Stephanie & Morelli and/or Ranger.

[dpappas_25 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Overall I did enjoy this one but Stephanie's immaturity and stubbornness really got on my nerves. Her ineptness just didn't seem humorous in this one but annoying. I really liked that we finally got to see were Ranger lives (it wasn't that bat cave but at least it was something). I still plan on continuing the series but I hope that the books start to pick up and that there are some changes.

[melissarochelle_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I haven't started Eleven on Top, but it seems that the ending to this one was a little too easy. I mean, gangs don't just leave you alone. From what I've heard, they don't stop until your dead...perhaps Stephanie has more visits from the Slayers.

[jaguar897 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Somehow I skipped this book when I was catching up on the series. I’ve already read up to Notorious Nineteen and like I had observed in that review, you can pretty much pick up this series anywhere without skipping a beat. Morelli and Plum are off and on again every other page, another car blows up, Ranger is still a man of mystery, lots of slapstick comedy…same old bullshit, etc. The only difference is that Val contemplates marriage and we learn Ranger’s choice of shower gel. Bvlgari…yummy!

What made this one comedic for me is that it starred one of my favorite side characters- Sally Sweet. I love Sally. Something about an extra hairy man in drag tickles my funny bone. I also liked some of the skips featured, like Carol who held up a Frito Lay truck in sheer PMS salt craving desperation and the woman who only gets into trouble for dental coverage. As crazy as these skips sound, you know in real life there are those that do even crazier crimes and they are what make the job fun. Kudos to Evanovich for not forgetting the crazies.

[terribooks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I always enjoy Stephanie and her crew, but one of the best things about this series is the new characters introduced as the books go on. The cross-dressing school bus driver-cum-wedding planner is rolling-on-the-floor delightful. And Stephanie's Mom with her tumberfuls of whiskey is a subtle contrast to the nuttiness of everyone else, as well as a hint as to how I would react. I think we just have to accept that Stephanie is not going to be good at the technical aspects of her job, but we all have fun while she messes up.

[mrslee_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The ending of this book is absolutely perfect. I have to say that I am fed up with Stephanie continually remaining incompetent and putting those who care for her in danger. If she were trying to learn, it might be tolerable, but she i too self indulgent to learn it seems.

[maaike15274 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It was nice to read a Stephanie Plum once again. Although I know what to expect (burnt down, trashed or stolen cars, lots of Lula and Grandma Mazur) the books still amuse me. And Stephanie is sympathetic again and also coureagous this time. I would not hold myself together like that if I was on a gangs deathlist. I would hide in Morelli's bathroom and cry. New addition to the team this time is Sally Sweet, musician, transvestite and chauffeur of a schoolbus, oh and also weddingplanner of Valerie, Stephanie's sister.

[cozy4reader · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

TEN BIG ONES is the tenth book in the hugely popular Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich.This time Stephanie is in more trouble than ever as she becomes the focus of local gangs, who plan to hunt her down and kill her. In between avoiding the gangs Stephanie becomes deeper in her lusting for Ranger and trying to define her relationship with Morelli.I'm not sure I would define TEN BIG ONES as a cozy mystery as there was no real "murder mystery". There were murders but it was pretty clear to the killer since the reader was told right away.Nonetheless the series is a mystery/crime series so I'm going to review it for my mystery blog.I've loved this series from the very beginning. The first book, ONE FOR THE MONEY, was one of my all time favourite books, but now, ten books later, the plot lines seemed very thin. Instead TEN BIG ONES mainly centres on the romantic interaction of the love triangle between Stephanie, her copy boyfriend, Morelli, and sexy bounty hunter, Ranger.TEN BIG ONES was a fun read and I still find the love triangle enjoyable (I'm #TeamRanger). However the plot lines were pretty weak so this is just a 3-star read for me.I will likely read the rest of the series but I won't be going out of my way to read them right now.

[monicalynn-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Just when you think what could happen next, she comes up with another scenerio. The on again off again relationship between Stephanie and Joe is entertaining and keeps you wondering. Then with Ranger factored in there it makes it very interesting I think once you read this you will agree who Stephanie should be with and she does also, but she can't bring herself to make that committment. Some of her stunts while Bounty hunting are hysterical and the gang twist this time made for an interesting action packed book.

[les121 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Basically the same as the last two books, but not quite as funny. Don’t get me wrong, Ten Big Ones is still very funny, and I rejoiced over the return of Sally Sweet, who is still a transvestite but now drives a school bus. This book just didn’t have as many hilarious moments, and it was a little same old, same old. Stephanie is being stalked by a scary, dangerous bad guy - again. She’s attracted to two men, has relationship issues with both of them, and can’t decide which one she wants to be with - again. The story was definitely entertaining and it had its moments - I especially enjoyed the tension produced by the whole Bat Cave situation - but this wasn’t one of the series’ best. Hopefully book eleven will shake things up a bit while maintaining the steady stream of laughter inducing difficulties that fans have come to expect from Stephanie Plum.