Janet Evanovich has written forty-seven bestsellers in her thirty-year career. In addition to her wildly popular Stephanie Plum novels, she has authored other bestselling series including: Recovery Agent series, Lizzy and Diesel series, Fox and O'Hare series, Knight and Moon series, the Alexandra Barnaby novels, and the graphic novel Troublemaker with her daughter. This is the second novel in this new series and I had no problem picking up the storyline.
Author: Janet Evanovich
Copyright: Nov 2025 (Atria Books) 352 pgs
Series: 2nd in The Recovery Agent
Sensuality: Occasional swear words, some "f" bombs, adult topics
Mystery Sub-genre: Women Sleuth
Main Character: Gabriela Rose, a high-end recovery agent
Setting: Modern day, US, Italy, and Egypt
Obtained Through: Library find
Book Blurb: "Gabriela Rose, recovery agent extraordinaire, can find just about anything. Too bad she can’t seem to lose her gorgeous-but-infuriating ex-husband Rafer Jones. And now he needs her help. His cousin, Harley, is in trouble…big trouble.
As the president of a too-big-to-fail bank, he [Harley] invested an astronomical amount of money in insuring some of the world’s most priceless artifacts at the urging of his board. It seemed like a low-risk, high-reward business move, so he jumped in with both feet. But recently, these insured pieces started going missing and worse, there’s no paper trail of Harley being directed to make these risky investments. Unless the artwork can be recovered soon, it looks like Harley is going to be heading to jail as the fall guy for an ingenious crime.
Gabriela knows what she must do: travel around the world with Rafer to find the missing works of art, keep Harley out of jail, and save both his skin and his bank. Along the way, she’ll encounter corruption, threats, murder, mysterious dark forces behind a global conspiracy to destroy the world’s wealth, and a nefarious villain who will stop at nothing to bring the world to the brink of ruin."
My Thoughts:
Gabriela Rose is resourceful and a go-getter who has built her reputation around the world. She also has a fondness for the cartoon Scrooge McDuck.
Her ex-husband, Rafer Jones, is handsome and knows how to get under her skin and tries to charm her, which she counters smoothly. Rafer's cousin, Harley, is handsome and charming but very naïve and wants wealth without working hard for it.
"Jim" is the guide and driver in Egypt for the crew. I loved this character, he was the break-out gem. He always has a relative who can help them with whatever they need.
This novel was a touch of "Lara Croft" meets the 1979 movie "Scavenger Hunt." A little clarification on what Gabriela does: recovery agencies or the agents are people who pursue the debt owed by customers and businesses for banks or financial institutions. But in this series she's hired to seek lost treasures, stolen heirlooms, or missing assets of any kind.
The blurb doesn't say what the items stolen were. There were several paintings but key were the Rosetta Stone, and a solid gold funeral casket from a lesser known half brother of King Tut. I chose to read this because both those items peeked my interest.
I enjoyed the vicarious thrill as I felt the heat of the Egyptian desert and Cairo's bustling atmosphere. Great sense of place in this writing. There is some humor with Rafer-Gabriela banter and oddball characters, but it is unevenly paced (some high action moments then some slow rather dull scenes).
There is an exciting and dangerous thief confrontation, but I particularly like the wrap-up. Nicely done on both counts.
I would consider this a lighter mystery read with some action-adventure vibes. It's good to break out of a rut or to read something that isn't dark or serious.
Rating: Excellent - A fun read, I'll follow this series
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