Curious Minds: A Knight and Moon Novel

Curious Minds by Janet Evanovich is A Knight-Moon Novel (first book in a new series). Riley Moon has just graduated Harvard Business and Harvard Law and has landed her dream job as a junior analyst at Blane-Grunewald in Washington, D.C. The second week on the job her boss Werner assigns her to Emerson Knight. Emerson Knight lives in Mysterioso Manor and is very eccentric. The bank has sent him numerous requests to visit since the death of Emerson’s father, but he has ignored each and every one of them. So, the bank sends Riley to Emerson. Riley is actually glad to get away from the office. Her boss is slightly smarmy and keeps calling her “Moonbeam”. Emerson presents Riley with an unusual request. He wants his gold (he owns actual gold bars). Riley explains that it is not that easy. So, Emerson will settle for seeing his gold and he would like a meeting with Gunter Grunwald. Emerson’s simple requests turn out to be not so simple. Gunter has disappeared. There is also money missing from six clients (Emerson is one of them). Riley and Emerson set out to get answers. They are in for one thrilling and dangerous adventure. Curious Minds had some snippets that I liked, but, for the most part, I did not enjoy Curious Minds. It was too silly to be enjoyable. We have an extremely eccentric millionaire. Emerson wears Converse sneakers (I liked that part), sleeps in a tent in the library, the weird house, the various zoo animals, extremely brilliant, etc. Emerson is many various characters slapped together (Sherlock Holmes for one and Richey Rich is another—I am dating myself with this reference). Let us not forget his Aunt Myra and the pet armadillo. I found the characters to be flat. If there is supposed to be chemistry between Riley and Emerson, I did not feel it. The “mystery” is no mystery. It is a storyline that must play out (we are not given the opportunity to solve the mystery). We follow Riley and Emerson as they investigate the gold issue and the bad bank men (another cliché). I was very disappointed by Curious Minds. It is not my type of story. I prefer more serious mystery novels (with a mystery that I can try and solve). I am just not a fan of slap stick comedy (I do not like the Three Stooges either). I give Curious Minds 2 out of 5 stars. I will be steering clear of this series in the future.

Emerson wants to see his gold! He's wealthy, arrogant, direct and eccentric. Riley is a new lawyer sent from his bank to redirect him; not happening, he's determined to see his gold! He requests Riley assist him in finding the man, Gunter, in charge of his gold holdings. They're off on a dangerous, wild adventure! Witty barbs, supporting characters, and the fun of the hunt makes for a good story. Repetitive at times; the animal antics are overdone. Book free for honest review.

I enjoyed this book, but didn't love it. I've long been a fan of the author, but this book just didn't strike a cord with me. The characters felt flat and the writing a bit more simplistic than her usual books. Yes, there were some big words in the novel, but that doesn't change the writing style. In fact, after I finished the book, I double checked the classification to see if it was actually a YA book. If it were a YA, I would have given it a higher rating. I loved the premise of the novel and, since it is the beginning of a series, am hoping that the first novel was just setting it up and future books will be more like what a read would expect from an Evanovich novel. If you are a die hard fan of the author, you might enjoy this book. This is one I would have let my children read when they were teens.