Book Review: Curious Minds: A Knight and Moon Novel

Author collaborations are always interesting. Each writer has their own unique style, so when you combine two of them you can wind up with two results: a disaster or an enjoyable story. Fortunately, all the ones I’ve read so far, have been very enjoyable. That’s why today, I’ll be reviewing Janet Evanovich’s recent collaboration with Phoef Sutton: Curious Minds: A Knight and Moon Novel.

Here’s the synopsis:

“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 rating: *****

I really enjoyed this story. Riley and Emerson are both enjoyable characters, Emerson especially so. He’s a pretty big departure from Janet Evanovich’s usual male leads. Oh, he’s still attractive, just like Ranger, Joe, and Nick are, but his personality is pretty different. Emerson is pretty much a mash up between Sheldon Cooper and Sherlock Holmes. And that makes for a very entertaining character.

The story itself is a pretty average one, nothing spectacular, but it wasn’t bad either. The mystery was interesting, and I was curious to see where the story was going to go. Much like most of Janet Evanovich’s books, it’s the characters that leave a lasting impact, not the story itself. But I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. I do have to say, that I love the various pop culture references that this book makes. If you manage to make superhero references in a story, I’m pretty much guaranteed to increase my liking of it.

All in all, this is a series I would like to see continued.