The Chase
Fox and O’Hare, Book #2
By Janet Evanovich & Lee Goldberg
ISBN# 9780345543080
Janet’s Website: http://www.evanovich.com/
Lee’s Website: http://www.leegoldberg.com/
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Heidi
The pairing of FBI agent Kate O’Hare with international con man, Nicholas Fox, in order to fight crime in a less than legal fashion was a success with their first elaborate scheme that played out in book one of this imaginative series! Now the duo are back on the hunt with the newest case handed to them.
The Chinese want an artifact that they donated to the Smithsonian back, which the museum has agreed to do. The problem? It was stolen decades ago and replaced with a fake without their knowledge. Now it’s up to Kate and Nick to get it back and return it … and oh yeah they only have two weeks to do it! But the case leads them to an even bigger crook, one with government backing and who has his own group of missionaries at his disposal. Can Kate let his crimes go unpunished in order to save their mission?
I absolutely adore this series. Crime, espionage, scheming, plotting, acting, action, an over-armed ex military dad, a sexy expert thief and con man, sexual innuendo, and humor. What more could you possibly want from a series? This is the second book in the series and I could see either one of these being played out on the big screen! They would make awesome movies, makes sense considering Lee Goldberg is a screenwriter afterall!
I of course have a love affair with Nick Fox, ever since they detailed all his escapes from Kate’s clutches in the first novel, I was hooked! I thought for sure the duo would hook-up in this installment!
“Kate knocked on his door and sucked in some air when he opened the door fresh from a shower. His hair was wet and he had a towel wrapped low on his hips.
“Jeez,” Kate said, staring at the towel, her mind running amuck over what the towel was hiding, unable to drag her eyes to Nick’s face.
“Is that a good jeez or a bad jeez?”
“It’s just jeez. Don’t you have a robe?”
“The room didn’t come with a robe.”
“Okay, so that’s why you’re wearing the towel. I can see that. Makes perfect sense.”
A smile twitched at the corners of Nick’s mouth. “Is there something I can do for you?”
“No! Gosh. Absolutely not.” Kate stared at the towel. She was pretty sure she saw it move.
Nick tightened his grip on the towel. “Kate?”
“Yep?”
“You’re staring.”
“I know. I can’t help myself.”
“Cute,” Nick said.
Kate squinched her eyes shut and wrinkled her nose. “Ugh! I hate being cute.”
“Cute is good.”
“It’s not. I’m an FBI agent. There’s no cute in the FBI. Cute is goofy.”
“I’d grab you and kiss you, but I’d lose my towel, and I’m afraid you’d faint at the sight of me naked.”
“I think I could handle it.”
Nick dropped his towel”
If they don’t get together soon I will just have to sacrifice myself to Nick’s wily ways! It would be a real hardship, I’m sure, but I’m willing to take it on for the greater good of everyone:) But all joking aside, I really enjoy him, his constant flirting is fun, not to mention his charisma that just bleeds through the pages of this book, and of course his uncanny ability to get out of every sticky situation!
“You’re my bodyguard and lover.”
She shook her head. “Just your bodyguard.”
“He’ll never believe I’m not sleeping with you.”
“You aren’t.”
“Even I find that unbelievable,” Nick said.”
Another bright spot of this book is Kate’s dad, Jack! He always cracks me up with his quick willingness to break out rocket launchers and whatever else he has on hand, much like others break out cell phones!
“Dad’s on a fishing boat in front of Carter’s estate. If we get into trouble, all I have to do is press the button on the tiny transmitter in my pocket and he’ll destroy the dome on top of Carter’s house. Is that enough of a distraction for you?”
“Maybe we can work out something a little more subtle.”
He is too funny and you just never know what’s going to come out of his mouth next! He reminds me a lot of Stephanie Plum’s grandma, so I have to assume Jack is Evanovich’s influence, but I could be wrong on that front!
As much as I loved this book there were a few things that really bothered me, not a whole lot, but a little. First was how quick Nick was to offer astronomical pay days to the players in his schemes or buying expensive items to make his schemes work, a couple million here and there.
“Nick stopped on the sidewalk, pulled a ring from his pocket, and handed it to Kate. “Your wedding ring.”
It was a platinum band inlaid with diamonds. Simple but elegant.
Kate put the ring on her finger. “That’s got to be the least romantic proposal in history. Where did you steal this?”
“I bought it,” he said.
“That must have been a new experience for you.”
“It was. Cost me ten grand.” He slipped a matching platinum band onto his finger. “I want that ring back when this marriage is over.”
“No way,” she said. “You can keep the dishes.”
I have a hard time believing he has this much saved up or that there is that kind of bank in the FBI slush fund. And, if Nick, a lifetime criminal, did have that kind of money, I don’t think he’d be spending it on helping the ‘good guys’ now!
Then there is the final take-down in this book. Kate was pretending not to know where the stash was, but went directly to it when she leads the sheriff into the house, and nobody questioned it. It sounds a bit fishy to me!
And, finally, the last handful of chapters in this book about Nick and Kate’s meet-up after the heist? I WANTED MORE! It was such a tease! I wanted to be a fly on the wall during their little rendezvous. There was really no romance to speak of in this book. At least give me that!
“Kate heard from Nick two weeks after the events in Hawesville. He invited her to a mansion on Broad Beach in Malibu. The place belonged to an actor who was shooting an eight-hour gothic miniseries in Bulgaria. Nick was an actor friend from England who was housesitting. At least that’s what he told the neighbors.
Kate wore her favorite date-night outfit of jeans, Glock, and navy FBI windbreaker. Nick had Tolberones and caviar set out.
“If I didn’t know better I’d think you were trying to seduce me,” Kate said, eyeing the Toblerones.
“You could be right,” Nick said.”
It’s just mean to leave it like that … left to only imagine the things they did! But hopefully it means they’ll be a little closer, maybe even intimate in the next book? Of course, I thought the same with how The Heist ended as well so I guess we’ll have to hold out until the next installment is released and find out for ourselves!
