Review: The Chase

Title: The Chase
Author: Janet Evanovich
Genre: Mystery, thriller, humor

My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

Goodreads Summary:
Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg, New York Times bestselling authors of The Heist, return in this action-packed, exciting adventure featuring master con artist Nicolas Fox and die-hard FBI agent Kate O’Hare. And this time around, things go from hot to nuclear when government secrets are on the line. Internationally renowned thief and con artist Nicolas Fox is famous for running elaborate and daring scams. His greatest con of all: convincing the FBI to team him up with the only person who has ever caught him, and the only woman to ever capture his attention, Special Agent Kate O’Hare. Together they’ll go undercover to swindle and catch the world’s most wanted—and untouchable—criminals. Their newest target is Carter Grove, a former White House chief of staff and the ruthless leader of a private security agency. Grove has stolen a rare Chinese artifact from the Smithsonian, a crime that will torpedo U.S. relations with China if it ever becomes public. Nick and Kate must work under the radar—and against the clock—to devise a plan to steal the piece back. Confronting Grove’s elite assassins, Nick and Kate rely on the skills f their ragtag crew, including a flamboyant actor, a Geek Squad techie, and a band of AARP-card-carrying mercenaries led by none other than Kate’s dad. A daring heist and a deadly chase lead Nick and Kate from Washington, D.C., to Shanghai, from the highlands of Scotland to the underbelly of Montreal. But it’ll take more than death threats, trained henchmen, sleepless nights, and the fate of a dynasty’s priceless heirloom to outsmart Fox and O’Hare.

This book wasn't nearly as entertaining or clever as I expected this to be. The premise seemed similar to White Collar (which I love): a con artist smooth-talks his way out of jail time by agreeing to work with the only person who has ever caught him. The obvious difference is that in this case, the person who catches the con artist is also the only woman he's been interested in. This is usually my cue to start the eyerolls, but I was willing to suspend my usual disbelief and give this book a fair shot.

I have to admit, it started getting difficult to give this a fair shot when there were so many absolutely ridiculous moments. The cons themselves seemed to simple, and far too easy. This book can be summarized as "Oh look, we need to steal this multi-million dollar thing from an alleged criminal. [10 pages later] Mission accomplished! Now let's run around and get chased by bad guys." I guess The Chase is an apt title for this book.

The way the characters talked was so...cheesy. That's not quite the right word, but it was pretty much a case of "oh look I'm so witty" when their conversations were really not. Someone on GR aptly described it as "dad jokes, dad jokes, everywhere!"

It was also hard to restrain eyerolls at Kate denying her attraction to Nick. It just got so tiresome to read her internal monologue. He's so attractive...NO NO I'M NOT ALLOWED TO LIKE CRIMINALS I'M AN FBI AGENT, DAMMIT! Nick's arrogance was supposed to be charming, I think, but I just found that annoying too. It was just all so cheesy and over-the-top that it stopped being funny and was just kind of sad.

I don't think I'll be reading any more of this series. I was hoping for something a little more witty and a little less cheesy.

*A free copy was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*