Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Gabriela Rose, the recovery agent famed for being able to find almost anything, goes looking for the Rosetta Stone. And that’s only the beginning. You didn’t know the Rosetta Stone was missing? That’s because the British Museum, wanting to keep its theft hush-hush, has been displaying a copy in its place. And Gabriela’s involvement is equally secretive. Her ex-husband, Rafer Jones, has pressed her to find it because his idiot cousin, Harley Patch, who improbably became president of the Searl and Junkett bank, has taken it upon himself to insure a slew of priceless artifacts—many of which have now gone missing. The stone, as it turns out, is surprisingly easy to find. Following the trail of Leon Blake, a new operations officer at the museum who quit two days after the theft, and John Mackey, a museum security guard who was shot to death that same day, Gabriela successfully beats out rival recovery agent Ahmed Ed Ghaly, who’s been tasked with bringing the stone back to Egypt, in the hunt. An altogether more elusive prize is the golden inner coffin of Tutankhamen’s half brother, unofficially dubbed “Brendan.” This search is more dangerous, too, because Ahmed kidnaps Harley to make sure that Gabriela turns the coffin over to him. Jim, the Cairo cabbie Gabriela hires to drive her around, takes to calling himself Jim Bond once he sees her in action; and he’s on to something—not because the fate of the free world hangs in the balance, but because “the heist to end all heists” gradually dissolves into an amusing, episodic travelogue whose climax feels like just one more picturesque tableau. Despite the stakes, the heroine’s second adventure is a generally lighthearted anti-caper. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Publishers Weekly
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Bestseller Evanovich’s fun, frothy sequel to The Recovery Agent follows contractor Gabriela Rose on a globe-trotting quest for stolen treasures. Gabriela’s latest client is Harley Patch, cousin of her ex-husband, Rafer Jones. Recently promoted to interim president of a privately owned bank in New York, Harley spearheads a new program to insure rare artworks and artifacts, including the Rosetta Stone, a couple of Van Goghs, and a sarcophagus, collectively valued at $12 billion. Then those masterworks go missing, and the bank has insufficient funds to make the necessary payouts. Unless the items are retrieved soon, “someone is going to jail, and Harley is set up perfectly to take the hit,” as Gabriela puts it. She, Rafer, and the hapless Harley set out to retrieve the items from whoever swiped them. Their pursuit takes them to London, Cairo, Paris, Athens, and Milan, each of which Evanovich renders with dazzling precision. Gabriela, meanwhile, is an ideal action protagonist: resourceful, daring, shrewd, and sexy. The result is a swift and enjoyable adventure that proves this series has legs. Agent: Celeste Fine, Park & Fine. (Nov.)

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Evanovich’s latest in her Recovery Agent series (after The Recovery Agent, 2022) features attractive, smart, feisty Gabriela Rose, whose occupation is recovering high-value items involved in insurance fraud. Her latest adventure begins when her ex-husband, Rafer (great at sex, disastrous at marriage), shows up with his cousin Harley and begs Gabriela to help Harley out of a huge jam. Despite being a self-professed moron, Harley’s a gifted schmoozer and has been appointed president of a private-wealth bank that also insures rare, priceless items. Trouble is, some of the items—a gold sarcophagus, the Rosetta Stone, some Van Goghs—have disappeared, and unless Harley finds them, he’s certain the bank will inflict “massive misery” on him. Reluctantly, Gabriela agrees to help, not realizing that she’ll risk life and limb, confront corrupt businessmen and British, Italian, Russian, and Egyptian thugs, travel across oceans and continents, and be forced to rely on all her skills—lock picking, disguise, fence scaling, hurling flash-bangs, stunt driving, firing stun guns, even digging up the mummified body of a dead Italian sausagemaker. Along the way, readers are treated to Evanovich’s laugh-out-loud humor, diabolically clever plotting, outlandish characters, unexpected twists, fiendish baddies, and even a bit of romance. Outstanding.