Book Review: The Big Kahuna by Janet and Peter Evanovich (as audiobook)

The Big Kahuna
by Janet Evanovich with Peter Evanovich, narrated by Scott Brick (Compact Disc Evanovich)

After a three-year gap, the fast-paced Fox & O’Hare series returned in 2019, still written by Janet Evanovich, but her co-author has changed — from Lee Goldberg, who co-wrote the first five, to Peter Evanovich, Janet’s son.

Unfortunately, you can tell. The Fox & O’Hare novels were fun character-driven adventures, but I always felt like the events — outlandish though they might be — could actual happen. But this time, everything that happened seemed completely unbelievable and over-the-top, instead of potentially plausible.

Nick Fox is an international con man, and Kate O’Hare is the obsessed FBI agent who tracked him for years until she finally caught him. After he was in custody, Nick struck a deal with Kate’s superiors, to work for the FBI by setting up big-name targets for con jobs that would allow the FBI to sweep in and arrest them. The earlier books in the series took on an almost Mission: Impossible-like tone, as Nick (and Kate, who became his handler) set up a big con/sting, using a variety of colorful supporting characters, and something would invariably go wrong, forcing Nick and Kate to improvise to salvage their mission. And always, in the background, was Nick and Kate’s increasing romantic and physical attraction to each other, never quite fulfilled.

In The Big Kahuna, Nick and Kate are saddled with an annoying and officious new FBI partner, assigned to help them rein in their expenses. As they investigate the mysterious disappearance of a Silicon Valley billionaire inventor, they encounter Czech mobsters, a cybernetics inventor who’s gone “off the grid” into the wilderness, internet “influencers” and self-obsessed Instagram Supermodels. But both the fun and the charm are surprisingly absent. And what little “con artist” business comes up later in the story seems perfunctory. The supporting characters are either too idiotic or too crass, and although Kate’s retired military vet dad is a fun character (he loves blowing things up), having him along for the entire mission became tiresome.

For me, this was a significant disappointment. I absolutely loved the first five volumes in the series, especially the audiobooks as narrated by my favorite audiobook voice, Scott Brick. But this felt flat, and I didn’t have any emotional investment in Nick and Kate’s relationship. In fact, Kate felt like she’d taken several steps back as a character. I’m hoping things will improve in the 7th volume, due in 2020, in which we finally meet Nick’s father, also a world-class grifter. But, I caution anyone who had been following this series, that it has noticeably changed in tone and quality with this 2019 entry. Your mileage may vary…

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the five earlier novels in the Fox & O’Hare series, by Janet Evanovich with Lee Goldberg, preferably the audiobooks, narrated by Scott Brick!]

[ official The Big Kahuna page on the official Janet Evanvovich web site ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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