The Bounty by Janet Evanovich and Steve Hamilton

Photo Credit: Atria Books

This book was sent to Traveling With T for review consideration.

The Bounty

Summary: FBI agent Kate O’Hare and charming con man Nicholas Fox race against time to uncover a buried train filled with Nazi gold in this thrilling adventure in the “romantic and gripping” (Good Housekeeping) Fox and O’Hare series from the #1 New York Times bestselling author Janet Evanovich.

Straight as an arrow special agent Kate O’Hare and international con man Nick Fox have brought down some of the biggest criminals out there. But now they face their most dangerous foe yet—a vast, shadowy international organization known only as the Brotherhood.

Directly descended from the Vatican Bank priests who served Hitler during World War II, the Brotherhood is on a frantic search for a lost train loaded with $30 billion in Nazi gold, untouched for over seventy-five years somewhere in the mountains of Eastern Europe.

Kate and Nick know that there is only one man who can find the fortune and bring down the Brotherhood—the same man who taught Nick everything he knows—his father, Quentin. As the stakes get higher, they must also rely on Kate’s own father, Jake, who shares his daughter’s grit and stubbornness. Too bad they can never agree on anything.

From a remote monastery in the Swiss Alps to the lawless desert of the Western Sahara, Kate, Nick, and the two men who made them who they are today must crisscross the world in a desperate scramble to stop their deadliest foe in the biggest adventure of their lives.

Traveling With T’s Thoughts:

Many moons ago, an ex-boyfriend’s mom gave me One For The Money by Janet Evanovich ( to put the timeline in perspective- that summer To The Nines was published). And thus began my journey for reads by Janet Evanovich. Oh sure we had some stumbles over the years- the In-Between Plum books were really not that great- but I could count on every summer having a new Plum to read- to stay up for most of the night and basically finish the day I got the book.

Until I couldn’t.

I quit reading the Plum’s in the early 20’s. They just weren’t holding my interest. The triangle was just going on and on. And the capers were not even that original anymore.

Then enter Fox and O’Hare. Goodness, they were like a breath of fresh air- with some of that old Joe and Stephanie chemistry, some fun capers and an Ocean’s 11 meets White Collar setting.

I LOVED books 1-5.

And then… book 6. The Big Kahuna. The book that needlessly killed so many trees. Because it,my reader friends,- was to put it mildly… trash.

It took EVERYTHING I loved about Nick and Kate and ruined it. It went back through all the previously published Plum novels and found the gags and characters that bothered the most and recycled them, attempted (but failed) to shine them up.

I wondered after I finished reading it 2 things: 1. What would it take to get Lee Goldberg back (give him EVERYTHING he wants, people!) and 2. Was 2 Evanovich writers too much on one story? Because Peter (Janet’s son, I believe) had taken on the role as co-writer.

The ONLY saving redemption to The Big Kahuna was an excellent A-Team reference.

When looking around on Amazon one day and seeing The Bounty was the new Fox & O’Hare book- but Peter was still attached as co-writer, I was all “Nope. Not falling for that again.”

Then a few weeks later- an Atria publicist emailed me a widget. And it has a new co-writer (Steve Hamilton) and ya’ll- I’m not saying that Steve can completely fix the wrongs that The Big Kahuna did to this series- but The Bounty is a step in the right direction.

What I liked:

This cover. It’s different from the 1-5 Fox & O’Hare, but I like the change.

While I missed the crazy capers of books 1-5, Janet has proven with the Plum series that eventually she cannot be trusted with crazy capers and ventures into way too much fart type humor. So I was pleasantly pleased to see that this book relied way less on crazy capers and more on skills of career criminals, an FBI agent, and army intelligence (along with some patented Nick Fox charm).

The chemistry between Nick and Kate. It’s not back up to book 5 standards- but it’s closer to where it should be.

Bottom line: I’m going to be honest- Steven Hamilton has some big shoes to fill with Lee Goldberg’s 1-5 books being so good and to right the wrongs of Peter Evanovich in The Big Kahuna. But I am (cautiously ) optimistic about where the series is headed and would love to see this series get an ending it deserves in a couple or 3 more books.

*This book was sent to Traveling With T for review consideration. All thoughts and opinions are mine alone.*