“Plugged” by Eoin Colfer

You never really know what will attract you to a book. The saying goes, “Never judge a book by it’s cover,” and for the most part that is true. But, no, it wasn’t the cover that attracted me to this book, in fact, I had not seen the cover until I received the book in the mail. Sometime ago I heard mention of this author, Eoin Colfer. I had heard that his “Artemis Fowl” series was a great sci-fi/fantasy series for young adults, and I was going to start reading this series. I love Young Adult fiction, and as I was looking for information on the series I saw a blogger had posted a contest for this book, “Plugged.” The tag-line on the book says, “If you loved Artemis Fowl…It’s time to grow up.” Now that intrigued me, so I entered the contest (I never win, but entered anyway).

Also looking for more information on this author, I found he was commissioned to write the sixth novel in the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” “And Another Thing…” Well that pretty much sealed the deal. Douglas Adams and his “Hitchhiker’s Guide..” series is my all time favorite fiction. Now I had to read this Eoin Colfer’s stuff, I was going to get “And Another Thing…” but to my surprise and amazement I won the blogger’s contest and got a free copy of “Plugged.” Well it took a while for said blogger to finally mail out my prize, but eventually she came through, yeah I could have gone to the library or bookstore and had it read by the time she mailed it, but hey, I won it…I would wait. Once I received the book I put it up on the shelf of audiobooks where I put all the new books publishers send me and I forgot about it.

I was cleaning shelves and moving things around recently and found this book and was shocked that it was still unopened. So I put it on my list to be listened to next, and once I started listening I was kicking myself for not putting this super fun book on my list sooner. The book is a fun romp in the crime world of a small town in New Jersey that all happens because of events that seem to be tied together are not but create a domino effect of problems for Dan McEvoy.

Dan McEvoy is a form Irish soldier who served in “The Lebanon,” and is now a bouncer at a small time casino in Cloisters, New Jersey. The trouble all starts when an attorney licks the backside of one of the hostesses of the casino and Dan shakes the man down and bars him from the casino. Dan then heads to his friend and the doctor that has done the hair plug transplant for him, Zeb’s place of business. When Dan enters the door of the office in a strip mall, he notices that it is extremely quiet but dust is settling (soldier training coming through for Dan). As he steps in he sees Zeb is missing but a well-known knife man who is a hired thug for the local mob boss is sitting in a chair in the room. When the thug makes a move for Dan, the thug finds himself dead and Dan finds himself sliding down a path that leads to the death of a bad cop, a “romantic” night with a good cop, the murder of a casino hostess, being misidentified as the husband of a schizophrenic Cyndi Lauper fan, taking part in a poker game where the stakes are his life or the ownership of the casino, numerous deaths and itching hair plugs, all while being haunted by the ghost of Zeb which is probably just in his head.

Dan McEvoy battles Rottweilers and mob bosses and yet each time it is not for the reason or result he’s expecting. Talk about mistaken identities, Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” didn’t have this many twists and turns. To top it all off Colfer throws in the humor in nearly every scene, making this fun and puzzling.

The book is read by Irish actor John Keating. Keating does a superb job of reading and performing this book. His voice alone is enough to keep you listening but the emotion he puts in really makes this audiobook definite must listen.