You are all aware that I found two follow-up books for Agnes and the Hitman written by Bob Mayer that focus on a covert organization, and I used those books as an excuse to read one of my favorite books again on a recent trip.

I have since read the first book, Shane and the Hitwoman, which occurs about 6 months after Agnes ended, and Agnes really doesn’t make an appearance outside of one or two text messages.  I was very disappointed at first.

The fact that her voice wasn’t in the first couple of chapters in the book shouldn’t have been surprising, since Agnes’s character was managed by Jennifer Crusie, and it really should have alerted me to the fact that this was not going to be the same experience as Agnes.  And it’s really not.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing – there’s really no one like Jennifer Crusie when it comes to the voice and personality of a romance novel main character, and Mayer would have absolutely failed to duplicate it if he tried.

Instead, he went the route of action, suspense, and intrigue with some humor thrown in for good measure.  Again, not the same as Agnes, but enjoyable enough.  It took longer than I care to admit for me to get used to the new feel of one of the secondary characters, Lisa Livia – she seemed much colder – and to get into the groove of the new characters and plot.

The spark, however, didn’t feel present for a while.  Perhaps that was due to my inability to adjust, or just due to the transition in tone overall.  Still, in the end, I must say that I did enjoy Shane and the Hitwoman, and have moved to the next book in the series….