Curious Minds - Janet Evanovich & Phoef Sutton (Review)

Curious Minds by Janet Evanovich & Phoef Sutton
Series A Knight and Moon Novel
Genres: Adult Fiction, Mystery, Action
Publication date: August 16, 2016
Publisher:  Bantam
Format: ebook, 336 pages
How I got it: Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
Buy it: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
My rating: 3/5
 
Emerson Knight is introverted, eccentric, and has little to no sense of social etiquette. Good thing he’s also brilliant, rich, and (some people might say) handsome, or he’d probably be homeless. Riley Moon has just graduated from Harvard Business and Harvard Law. Her aggressive Texas spitfire attitude has helped her land her dream job as a junior analyst with mega-bank Blane-Grunwald. At least Riley Moon thought it was her dream job, until she is given her first assignment: babysitting Emerson Knight.

What starts off as an inquiry about missing bank funds in the Knight account leads to inquiries about a missing man, missing gold, and a life-and-death race across the country. Through the streets of Washington, D.C., and down into the underground vault of the Federal Reserve in New York City, an evil plan is exposed. A plan so sinister that only a megalomaniac could think it up, and only the unlikely duo of the irrepressibly charming Emerson Knight and the tenacious Riley Moon can stop it.

..............................................................................

  

My thoughts:

I am a huge Janet Evanovich fan and love her books.  They are easy, quick reads, that I can typically laugh the whole way through and finish in one sitting.  I love books that you don't have to focus that much on to read because they are the easiest ones for me to get lost in.

This is the first book of the A Knight and Moon Novel following Riley who is working from the Blane-Grunwald bank when Emerson wants to see his gold, she is the one they send to convenience him his gold is safe.  Riley just started working for the bank so she really doesn't know exactly what is going on or really what to say to convenience Emerson the gold is safe.   Emerson then decides to take Riley directly to the bank to see his gold.

The book flows in typical Janet Evnavoich style where it doesn't really make sense how one event leads to the next, but somehow it really does make sense in the end.  So Riley and Emerson know team up to find the missing gold and also missing Grunwald.   They work up an investigation that Emerson is pretty much leading and putting the facts together.  Riley basically becomes the sidekick and driver for the getaways. 

Things I loved was Emerson as a character.  He has a zillion quirks to him and his character took on a life of his own.   From the wild animals running around his house to his jumping from one clue to the next you could tell he was very intelligent and maybe to intelligent for his own good.  I loved the schemes he would come up with to get out of different situations throughout the book.   He has a great set of friends in high places and lives a crazy life with all of this traveling.  Emerson is extremely smart.

Although, this is another series that I felt like didn't captivate my attention enough while reading.  I didn't really find that much humor in the book, which is what I have personally come to expect from Janet Evanovich writing.   The book is an easy read, but nothing struck out as to crazy to me or very memorable.   I probably would read the next book in the series, but for me Riley and Emerson didn't really click as a pair that would bond together.   I have also come to expect instant chemistry between the main characters and I didn't get that vibe at all in this book.   Emerson's personality is so different from any other character I have read by Janet so I don't think he relates well to Riley.

I would suggest this as a nighttime read, it was easy to pickup and put down while reading.  It is easy to follow along in the story and remember what was going on or even just dive right back in and pick up on what is going on.     

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley for the purpose of providing an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

 ..............................................................................

About the Author

 

Janet Evanovich is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Stephanie Plum series, the Lizzy and Diesel series, twelve romance novels, the Alexandra Barnaby novels and Trouble Maker graphic novel, and How I Write: Secrets of a Bestselling Author, as well as the Fox and O'Hare series with co-author Lee Goldberg.


  

Phoef Sutton started as an actor and playwright in college; he was lucky enough to go to a small liberal arts college in Virginia, James Madison University, which encouraged student playwrights. Phoef was one of the only undergraduates to win the Norman Lear Award for Comedy Playwriting. After graduation, Phoef had plays produced at various regional theaters around the country, had his award winning play BURIAL CUSTOMS selected for publication by the Theatre Communications Group and was awarded a National Endowment for Arts Playwrights Fellowship.

After marrying and moving to Los Angeles, Phoef started his career at the NBC television show CHEERS. He stayed with the show for eight years, working his way up from staff writer to executive producer, winning two Emmys and a Writer’s Guild Award. A greater training ground for a writer could not be imagined.

After CHEERS, Phoef has produced and created a number of television shows and consulted on others, including NEWS RADIO and BOSTON LEGAL. He is honored to have won a Peabody Award, a GLAAD award and a Television Academy Honors award for this work on BOSTON LEGAL. Recently, he has worked on critically acclaimed series TERRIERS for FX and THE SOUL MAN for TV Land, DEFIANCE for SyFy Channel and ALPHA HOUSE for Amazon.

He has directed a short film – a suspense tale called ‘TIL DEATH. ‘TIL DEATH has been shown and various film festivals around the world and received prizes at the Garden State Festival and WorldFest in Houston, Texas.

Phoef has also worked for many years as a screenwriter and script doctor. MRS. WINTERBOURNE, directed by Richard Benjamin was an adaptation of a novel by one of his favorite authors, Cornell Woolrich. THE FAN, directed by Tony Scott and starring Robert DeNiro was an adaptation of the novel by Peter Abrahams.

Phoef is a published novelist – FIFTEEN MINUTES TO LIVE, a romantic-thriller; DEAD MAN: THE MIDNIGHT SPECIAL, a horror novel and its sequel DEAD MAN REBORN.
2015 is a promising year for Phoef, with the debut of his collaborations with Janet Evanovich, WICKED CHARMS and publication of his hard-boiled crime novel CRUSH.

Phoef lives in South Pasadena, California with his wife Dawn and his daughters Skylar and Celia.