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Trouble Maker

A Barnaby and Hooker Graphic Novel
by Joelle Jones
Evanovich, Janet & Alex Evanovich (text) and Joelle Jones (illus.). Trouble Maker: A Barnaby and Hooker Graphic Novel. Dark Horse. 2010. c.112p. ISBN 9781595824882. $17.99.F
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Fans of Metro Girl and Motor Mouth can now find Evanovich's disaster-prone duo in comics. Alexandra Barnaby ("Barney") and Sam Hooker don't drink martinis as invitingly as The Thin Man's Nick and Nora, but they do fight funny. Sam's a NASCAR racer and Barney his mechanic and spotter, so chase scenes figure prominently in these lighthearted tangles of repartee and rotten villains. This time, Barney's friend Rosa has been taken hostage by a voodoo cult. Off scurry Barney and Hooker to rescue her, and we're in for a diverting mix featuring a swamp chase, breaking and entering, a botanica proprietress, and a meddling cougar of a mother. Jones's art gets the goofball frenetics just right, but there's not nearly as much story or hormonal zing as in the novels, especially without book two yet.
VERDICT Comics aficionados may be entertained, but prose-inclined fans won't get much of a fix, and everybody will kvetch about getting fewer pages and less story than they should in one volume. Purchase with caution. The light innuendos make this teen-safe but likely less appealing to Evanovich's original audience.
Reviewed by Martha Cornog , Sep 15, 2010
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