The Cassandra Compact by Robert Ludlum
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Very enjoyable espionage thriller. Ludlum’s writing style is clear and just suspenseful enough to give the reader a good ride but without too many out of this world twists and complications that make it impossible to follow (or even half way believable). Even though it’s an older book, it maintains relevance since it is about the theft of a collection of small pox virus from a Russian lab for not very altruistic purposes 🙂 I think what really appeals to me about Ludlum’s stories is that I feel like the hero is always just one half step ahead of the villains. I like that feeling of control. I *don’t* like it when every new reveal comes out as some sort of surprise or smack to the forehead (see Brown, Dan).
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I absolutely LOVE Stephanie Plum!! Yes yes, I am waaay late as always to these things but I am marking every one of Janet Evanovich’s books in this series for future reading. I’m thrilled that I happened to inherit both this one and the next one so that I can spend more time laughing my butt off.
Because this gal is funny as hell. Totally, completely inept at her job as a bounty hunter, but oh so amusingly so. Set in small town New Jersey I think there is every Jersey stereotype you’ve ever seen from TV in this book. All of them funny. Honestly unless I was reading a book written by a comic, I have never laughed so hard and out loud at a novel. It was just such a hoot to spend part of every night with these characters. Grandma, Mooner, Dougie, shoot even the villains Mitchell & Habib were a riot. And no automobile can survive Stephanie! Not even ones NOT driven by her 🙂
Trees & Flowers & Birds! 
I’ve loved reading the Stepanie Plum series for exactly the reasons you mention. Warning: the earlier ones are definitely better than the later ones. I’d suggest going back now and starting with the first one before reading the seventh. My recollection is that they started declining in quality after around the 8th or 9th book–but that hasn’t stopped me from continuing to read each new one that comes out!
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Being the anal accountant that I am, I will definitely go back to #1 once I can jump back into her books next year. I’m already half way through #7. I did notice on the Goodreads reviews that your opinion of declining quality was shared so we will see how far I get.
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