Wit short-lived in ‘Metro Girl’ after strong start

“Metro Girl”

by Janet Evanovich (HarperCollins, 304 pages, $26.95)

Janet Evanovich has built her career as a mystery writer on outlandish humor and unconventional characters. Her novels about inept New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum have an in-your-face attitude that makes readers want to go along for the ride.

Few writers of any genre have been able to get away with such an unorthodox approach. But Evanovich has built up a legion of fans who often turn out by the thousands at her book signings, and she has earned her spots on myriad best-seller lists.

But with “Metro Girl,” Evanovich takes a departure from her long-running series about the plucky Plum to lay the groundwork for what may become a second series. “Metro Girl” is Alexandra “Barney” Barnaby, a Baltimore insurance investigator who has come to Miami looking for her brother, Wild Bill.

Evanovich’s trademark humor, sexy male characters and bizarre situations are in place, and “Metro Girl” gets off to a strong witty first chapter, aided by one of the funniest opening sentences in mystery fiction.

But it quickly stalls, becoming a one-joke plot that never ignites. “Metro Girl” is Stephanie-lite. Sure, Alex is a bit more sophisticated and more educated, but “Metro Girl” lacks the attitude and connection to the characters that have made readers Plum crazy.

All their lives, Alex has been bailing out her brother, who in high school was voted “Most Popular … and Least Likely to Succeed.” But when Bill literally disappears during a late-night phone call to Alex, big sister is on the next plane to Miami. There she finds his South Beach apartment ransacked.

At the marina she meets Sam Hooker, a very angry, quite good-looking NASCAR driver who accuses her brother of having stolen his boat. Alex and Sam take an instant dislike to each other. Naturally, the sexual tension between the two is palpable.

In trying to find Bill, the two come across lost treasure, an array of stupid hit men and rabid NASCAR fans as they travel from Miami to Key West and over to Cuba. Along the way, they pick up a few sidekicks.

Evanovich has a 10-year record of putting an absurd spin on bare-bones plots and making humor out of the most volatile situation. This tradition is most evident in Evanovich’s villains, who are among her dumbest and funniest. And Alex has a terrific screwball fight with a bad guy, redefining grrl power.

But such gems are rare in “Metro Girl.” Full-of-himself Sam repeatedly refers to himself as “NASCAR Guy”; it’s funny the first 10 times but eventually peters out, although a truly funny scene finds him trapped by fans who won’t take no for an answer.

Sam may be a speed demon behind the wheel, but he’s also a bland excuse for a hero.