Dangerous Minds: A Knight and Moon Novel Mass Market Paperback – May 8, 2018

When Emerson Knight’s friend Wayan Bagus, a buddhist monk, discovers the island where he had been living as a hermit has gone missing, Knight and his impromptu, unofficial team of investigators go on an adventure to find out what could possibly have happened to make an entire island disappear. Their questions lead to a larger mystery that has been guarded by the National Park Service for a century, and as they shed light on the conspiracy, they have to dodge bullets—and hatchets—because someone doesn’t want the truth known.I don’t remember much from the first Knight and Moon book, Curious Minds, but I didn’t need to. This is classic Evanovich. Superficial but thoroughly entertaining storytelling, characters that manage to be developed without much backstory, and a fascinating, exciting suspense plot. It was SO funny. Rarely books make me laugh out loud (in a good way), but this managed it several times. I want badly to describe my favorite jokes, but I don’t want to ruin it. I went in knowing nothing but the characters, not even the jacket blurb, and I think I enjoyed it more without being able to anticipate the gags.Emerson Knight is tall, dark, and handsome, an eccentric of Sherlockian flavor. At first you think he’s going to be annoying, but he’s really rather mellow. He’s also rich, which bothered me a little, because it’s pure convenience, as is the fact that he had a geophysicist friend and her helicopter-driving father. The story wouldn’t have been nearly as fun or fast-paced—or possible altogether—if they actually had to worry about funding or talking to the right people. But that’s fiction for ya.Riley Moon is the straight man (or woman, as it were), representing both the general audience and the ordinary 99 percenters. She’s a bit cliche in that she grew up in rural Texas with a county sheriff father and four brothers, and that explains why she can hike and shoot, etc. Her background is as convenient as Knight’s, honestly, but it works here, because the book isn’t supposed to be taken seriously.The little romantic subplot—not even a subplot, really, more like a thread—was well-woven. I liked that Emerson treated Riley as not a member of the weaker sex but as someone of equal strength, mind and body, and though he’s clearly falling in love with her, he didn’t get all cave-man and order her to stay where she’s safe, forcing her to be defiant and stubborn. While the cave-man thing can be sexy, so can a modern mindset.As for the secondary characters… Some people might have issues with Vernon, who was stereotypical and cartoonish, but I didn’t mind him. He was hilarious, and he managed to show a vulnerability that humanized him. I wasn’t sure what to think about Wayan Bagus; on one hand, he was so adorable that I just wanted to put him in my pocket, but on the other, he was slightly irritating. His vague philosophical mumbo-jumbo became increasingly annoying and at times seemed pretentious to me. Also, he had no purpose other than to get Knight started on finding a missing island. During the adventure, he was like a child being babysat by a lazy teenager, plunked down in front of the TV so he’d stay quiet and be out of the way. He had a moment or two, though, when he pulled a ninja move or provided a fresh viewpoint.There were a couple of things that I thought were unnecessary. One, that weird random scene in the commerce department; I have no idea why they bothered to include that. And two, Alani’s personal history with Vernon. All she needed to do was be in an advantageous position for Knight in Hawaii; she didn’t need to have been romantically involved with Vernon in the past. The only way it served the story, as far as I can tell, is to prove that Vernon isn’t a total butt, and that point is debatable.Also unnecessary is a large-print edition of these books. The text is so big!Oh, and I have to commend Evanovich for deftly handling the deep science necessary for the plot. She only skimmed the surface and my eyes crossed, I can't imagine the headaches I'd have gotten doing that research. However, she seems to be a sci-fi/fantasy fan, what with the Star Wars and Star Trek references, so maybe it wasn't difficult for her to grasp. Either way, I was impressed.Overall, if you need a way to escape the stress of life, this light, amusing read will likely improve your mood.noapologybookreviews.com

After reading the first of this series, a solid 3.75/5, I wasn't sure how the sequel would be considering there are no more. It was surprisingly good. Emerson is quirky, in a nerdy, awkward teenage boy kind of way, but it's endearing and he grows on you. I know, I'm just as shocked by that revelation as everyone else. I found his character to be a little much in the first book, surprised myself by deciding to read the second one and now I'm glad I did. Riley is relatively level headed and how she doesn't throttle Emerson at times is beyond me, but at some point, it just works and makes for a fun story. Now I kinda wish there was a third book, to at least explore what could become of Emerson and Riley.

This is the second book in the Knight and Moon series and Janet Evanovich has created a great duo with quirky characters in an adventure that takes us on a fun ride!Buddhist monk Wayan Bagus lost his island of solitude and wants to get it back. The island was about 200 miles northeast of Samoa. It had a mountain, beaches, a rainforest, and a volcano. And now it’s gone. Poof! Vanished without a trace.Finding a missing island is better than Christmas morning in the Knight household. When clues start leading to a dark and sinister secret that is being guarded by the National Parks department.Together, this ragtag, mismatched trio will embark on a world-wide investigation that will expose a conspiracy 100 years in the making.I love the Stephanie Plum series and these guys are just as fun and the adventures just as quirky but with unexpected twists and turns. LOVE this series and I hope Janet continues to entertain us with Knight and moon and Knight's cousin Vernon. Way to go!

Dangerous Minds is the second installment of the Knight and Moon series. What draws me to this series is that it is just comical. I mean where else can I read a book that has phrases like “whack-a-doodle and “crap on a cracker.” I also very much enjoy the light-hearted romance that is developing between Emerson and Riley. I like that they are both aware of the building attraction but they keep it fun. I read a lot of books and sometimes I just need a story that is just entertaining and is an easy read. I find that anything from author Janet Evanovich matches that desire and this story definitely kept me laughing.In the latest installment, Emerson Knight’s friend Wayan Bagus was living on a deserted island until some government officials came and kicked him off. He went in search of Emerson because he needed help and figured that Emerson would be the man who could make that happen. In the meantime, Riley Moon is still at the Knight estate assisting Emerson in his wily escapades. Although she is not too sure of what she wants, after graduating from Harvard working for an eccentric billionaire was never her plan.With the appearance of Wayan, Knight and Moon start to search for clues and stumble upon a conspiracy that has been in place for over a hundred years. This conspiracy has the craziest origins and is just hilariously unbelievable. One thing that I thought was cool was that this is the second book that I read this week that touches on*********mild spoiler-Ignore if you choose to***********harvesting strange matter/exotic matter. Basically, that is matter (something physical that occupies space and has inertia proportional to its mass) that is hypothesized to occur in the core of neutron stars, or in the case of exotic matter deviates from normal matter with exotic properties.*********end of mild spoiler********So I actually found that part of this book to be quite interesting. Knight and Moon take on the mystery of what happened to Wayan’s island and enlist a few friends along the way. As always, they run into the craziest of people and the zaniest of situations. I did like the fact that Dangerous Minds was set in multiple locations, with my favorite being Yellowstone National Park. You might want to put a pin in that location if you are ever in a reading challenge that requires you to read a book about that National Park. Having been in enough reading challenges that is not a crazy statement. It could happen. Overall, this was a light read that delivered an afternoon of comedic relief with a touch of romance.

Janet's books have always entertained me. They are my summer reading books and basically every season reading books. I love the humour and the characters in each of her books. I sure hope that there are alot more of her books coming. Stephanie Plum is my favourite, but the others are a very close second.

I love Janet Evanovich, she is a wonderful story teller, can't wait for the next one

Knight and Moon Two continue the saga in a twisted humorous way fighting the bad guys and saving the world.Is there going to be a third?

Stephanie Plum will always be my favorite, the stories are a little more "normal" Dangerous Minds & Curious Minds are well written (of course) and they are engaging, I just can't imagine where you could take these characters after these two stunning situations. always a J.E. fan; Gwen

Dangerous Minds by Janet Evanovich is the second book in the Knight & Moon series and the second that I have read, the first being ‘Curious Minds‘. Once again we meet up with the unlikely team of millionaire eccentric Emerson Knight and his new side-kick ex-bank worker Riley Moon – To find out how the two ended up working together you will need to read book one.This time the pair are on the trail of a missing island. Buddhist monk Wayan Bagus arrives at Emerson’s house looking for his help. It would seem that whilst relaxing on his Pacific Island a group of men arrived and dragged him off the island, which now has disappeared.The new sleuths check old maps that show the island in place but new footage of the area shows that the island is no longer there, surely someone couldn’t steal an island? Whilst on the trail the trio, along with Emerson’s cousin Vernon discover some alarming information and tread on a few too many toes. Now there is a price on their heads coming from a secret organisation. Can they discover what happened to the island or have they bitten more than they can chew this time?If you like wacky, slapstick books then you will love this one. Emerson Knight is as eccentric as they come. He talks in riddles – That’s when he’s not consulting himself on matters – His huge mansion is a zoo and he likes to stick his nose into other peoples business.Riley Moon is your average woman in her twenties. She was hoping to make a career in banking until Emerson ruined that for her. She is now his side-kick, confidant and chauffeur – She has the pick of Emerson’s supercars at her disposal and tries to keep him on the straight path but Emerson isn’t easy to manipulate.Their two accomplices in this book, Wayan the monk with his wise words and martial arts skills and Vernon and his stomach which apparently tells him when troubles on the way lead many of the laughs. They were the perfect comedy pairing.The book takes place mainly in Yellowstone National Park and Hawaii and follows them as they try to find out why someone would steal an island, what would they need it for and who could be behind the stealing? – Plus where could you even hide an island?I absolutely adored the first book and raced through it. This one, whilst it was still very enjoyable at times felt like there was a bit of padding and unnecessary scenes which I’ll admit to skipping by on a few occasions. Some chapters dragged a little whilst others held my attention the whole way through.I do hope that there will be a third book in the series as I adore Knight and Moon, and even Vernon. I love the way that Emerson looks at life and the way he uses his brain to deduce what is happening, he’s logical but illogical if you get what I mean.If you love crazy, funny books and are into detective novels then I would suggest giving this series a read. Whilst I feel this book could be read as a stand-alone, I would suggest reading book one first.Book Reviewed on Whispering Stories Blog