The Recovery Agent by Janet Evanovich

Item: The Recovery Agent
Rating: 5
Author: BaronessMom

Posted July 15, 2022 by BaronessMom in Mystery, Review, Romance, Series / 0 Comments

The Recovery Agent

by Janet Evanovich

Series: Gabriela Rose #1
Series Rating:

Published by Atria Books on March 22, 2022
Genres: Humorous Action and Adventure Mystery
Pages: 320
Format: Hardcover
Goodreads
BookBub
Get Your Copy at: Amazon

Lost something? Gabriela Rose knows how to get it back. As a recovery agent, she’s hired by individuals and companies seeking lost treasures, stolen heirlooms, or missing assets of any kind. She’s reliable, cool under pressure, and well trained in weapons of all types. But Gabriela’s latest job isn’t for some bamboozled billionaire, it’s for her own family, whose home is going to be wiped off the map if they can’t come up with a lot of money fast.
Inspired by an old family legend, Gabriela sets off for the jungles of Peru in pursuit of the Ring of Solomon and the lost treasure of Cortez. But this particular job comes with a huge problem attached to it—Gabriela’s ex-husband, Rafer. It’s Rafer who has the map that possibly points the way to the treasure, and he’s not about to let Gabriela find it without him.
Rafer is as relaxed as Gabriela is driven, and he has a lifetime’s experience getting under his ex-wife’s skin. But when they aren’t bickering about old times the two make a formidable team, and it’s going to take a team to defeat the vicious drug lord who has also been searching for the fabled ring. A drug lord who doesn’t mind leaving a large body count behind him to get it.
The Recovery Agent marks the start of an irresistible new series that will have you clamoring for more and cheering for the unstoppable Gabriela Rose on every page.

The Recovery Agent by Janet Evanovich is a fast-paced search for treasure that makes it hard to put down.

Will Gabriela find the Ring of Solomon and save the town of Scoon?

Gabriela Rose

Our main character and investigator is Gabriela Rose. She has major skills, but she isn’t always lucky. Luck plays a more significant part in treasure hunting than you would expect. Gabriela’s hometown of Scoon has been torn apart by a hurricane, and a developer wants to turn it into a fancy resort. This prompts a ghost ancestor of Gabriela’s to reach out through Gabriela’s Grandmother with the location of a treasure. Then getting the treasure map brings Gabriela face to face with her ex-husband, who is now her partner in the treasure hunt.

Things I like about Gabriela

Her company name is G. R. McDuck. I loved watching Ducktails with my kids when they were little.
She takes her job seriously and trains appropriately.
Her taste in the finer things in life is superb, but it doesn’t stop her from also enjoying the smaller things in life.
Gabriela’s New York apartment is fabulous.
Fanny, Gabriela’s Grandmother, has a big heart and believes that her granddaughter can achieve anything.
She is her own person and lives by her own rules.

I wasn’t sure I would like Gabriela after meeting her in Stephanie Plum’s last book, Game On. Yet, I was wonderfully surprised at her depth of character, strength, and vulnerabilities. I also enjoyed the occasional sarcasm and the banter between her and Rafer.

The Settings

Gabriela moves fast. She starts on one adventure in the jungles of Ecuador, which becomes a bust. Then, after deciding to accept her Grandmother’s treasure hunt, she quickly moves from her home base of New York to the Caribbean to South America, to California, and back to South Carolina. The scenes are lovely, and it feels like we are transported there with her. Although, she can keep the snakes. Seriously, yuck.

Five Stars

Ms. Evanovich continues to create brilliant, brilliantly believable characters whose lives keep me on the edge of my seat but also make me laugh out loud. My rating for The Recovery Agent is five stars. I highly recommend this book.

Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of The Recovery Agent by Janet Evanovich.

Until the next time,

If you like Janet Evanovich, check out Karen’s interview with Janet from a few years back.

Interview with Janet

About Janet Evanovich

Janet’s Bio (quoted from her website)

When I was a kid I spent a lot of time in LaLa Land. La la Land is like an out-of-body experience –while your mouth is eating lunch your mind is conversing with Captain Kirk. Sometimes I’d pretend to sing opera. My mother would send me to the grocery store down the street, and off I’d go, caterwauling at the top of my lungs. Before the opera thing I went through a horse stage where I galloped everywhere and made holes in my Aunt Lena’s lawn with my hooves. Aunt Lena was a good egg. She understood that the realities of daily existence were lost in the shadows of my looney imagination.After graduation from South River High School, I spent four years in the Douglass College art department, honing my ability to wear torn Levis, learning to transfer cerebral excitement to primed canvas. Painting beat the heck out of digging holes in lawns, but it never felt exactly right. It was frustrating at best, excruciating at worst. My audience was too small. Communication was too obscure. I developed a rash from pigment.

Somewhere down the line I started writing stories. The first story was about the pornographic adventures of a fairy who lived in a second rate fairy forest in Pennsylvania. The second story was about …well never mind, you get the picture.

I sent my weird stories out to editors and agents and collected rejection letters in a big cardboard box. When the box was full I burned the whole damn thing, crammed myself into pantyhose and went to work for a temp agency.

Four months into my less than stellar secretarial career, I got a call from an editor offering to buy my last mailed (and heretofore forgotten) manuscript. It was a romance written for the now defunct Second Chance at Love line, and I was paid a staggering $2,000.

With my head reeling from all this money, I plunged into writing romance novels full time, saying good-by, good riddance to pantyhose and office politics. I wrote series romance for the next five years, mostly for Bantam Loveswept. It was a rewarding experience, but after twelve romance novels I ran out of sexual positions and decided to move into the mystery genre.

I spent two years retooling –drinking beer with law enforcement types, learning to shoot, practicing cussing. At the end of those years I created Stephanie Plum. I wouldn’t go so far as to say Stephanie is an autobiographical character, but I will admit to knowing where she lives.

It turns out I’m a really boring workaholic with no hobbies or special interests. My favorite exercise is shopping and my drug of choice is Cheeze Doodles.

I read comic books and I only watch happy movies. I motivate myself to write by spending my money before I make it. And when I grow up I want to be just like Grandma Mazur.

Reading this book contributed to these challenges: