High Five (Stephanie Plum, No. 5)
Posted by Zephyrus on August 7, 2008
High Five
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Editorial Reviews
“Uncle Fred was someone I saw at weddings and funerals and once in a while at Giovichinni’s Meat Market, ordering a quarter pound of olive loaf. Eddie Such, the butcher, would have the olive loaf on the scale and Uncle Fred would say, ‘You’ve got the olive loaf on a piece of waxed paper. How much does that piece of waxed paper weigh? You’re not gonna charge me for that waxed paper, are you? I want some money off for the waxed paper.’”The speaker is Stephanie Plum, the glamorous if slightly ditzy bounty hunter from Trenton, New Jersey, and one of the most original creations in recent mystery fiction.
In this fifth entry in Janet Evanovich’s increasingly popular series, Stephanie’s problems are many and varied. She’s not making enough money picking up FTAs (Failures to Appear) for her cousin Vinnie, of Vincent Plum Bail Bonds; her red-hot love affair with Detective Joe Morelli has cooled off; and her giant extended family is no help at all. For instance, Uncle Fred the cheapskate has disappeared, leaving behind some suspicious photographs of body parts in garbage bags and links to some really dangerous people.
When Stephanie turns to her friend and mentor, Ranger, for financial advice, he gets her involved in a gang of toughs doing instant evictions for landlords. (She complains to Ranger about the job and its dangers, prompting one of the hired thug to say, “Man, you don’t like to get shot. You don’t like to get arrested. You don’t know how to have fun at all.”)
Most of Stephanie’s charm, of course, comes from her attitude–a combination of the brazen bravado that turns a failed lingerie model into a bounty hunter in the first place and the normal fears of a person in over her head.
Other Plums in paperback, by the numbers: One for the Money, Two for the Dough, Three to Get Deadly, and Four to Score. –Dick Adler –This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Publishers Weekly
Fans of Evanovich’s tales of the adventures of Stephanie Plum (Four to Score, etc.), Jersey girl and bounty hunter extraordinaire, have been eagerly anticipating this next installment in the popular series. The good news is that the novel is just as wacky and over the top as its predecessors, and that the disaster-prone Stephanie has brought along her usual wild-and-crazy crew of sidekicks and loony relatives to help her chase down felons. Evanovich even manages to make the dowdy working-class city of Trenton, N.J., seem like a hip, edgy place for her funky characters to live. But Trenton also has its share of nefarious criminals for Stephanie to pursueAfolk like Randy Briggs, the dwarf, who not only repeatedly eludes her grasp but keeps taunting her as a loser. Stephanie careens through her days, looking for her missing Uncle Fred and taking on FTA (failure to appear) cases for her cousin Vinnie, a bail bondsman. Further complications ensue when she tries to earn extra money by moonlighting on quasi-legal “security” jobs for Ranger, her dangerously sexy mentor at the bounty-hunting game. Ranger is looking awfully good to Stephanie these days, and she is finding it hard to choose between him and old flame Joe Morelli. Evanovich tells her fast-paced and furiously funny story expertly. The action never stops, the dialogue is snappy and the characters are more than memorable. Readers can’t miss with this one. (July)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. –This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Library Journal
This latest novel in the Stephanie Plum series concludes with an author interview: a Q&A between Evanovich and the many characters of the books, as voiced by this book’s narrator, C.J. Critt. An abridged edition was issued last July by Audio Renaissance.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From AudioFile
Debi Mazar’s streetwise and brash style bring to mind Stephanie Plum’s big hair, short skirts, and smart mouth without even hearing her described. All of these attributes come in handy in Stephanie’s job as a bounty hunter in Trenton, NJ, working for her (totally) unprincipled cousin Vinnie. Mazar narrates a little fast sometimes and doesn’t always enunciate every word, but that’s undoubtedly the way Stephanie talks too, and emphasizes the importance of setting to the story. In HIGH FIVE, Steph searches for a missing relative and tracks garbage, assisted by two oddball characters. Mazar has a lot of fun, and so will the listener. M.A.M. (c) AudioFile, Portland, Maine –This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.
From Booklist
Raucous, rambunctious Jersey girl Stephanie Plum, the Bounty Hunter from Hell (as she’s known in her neighborhood), is back in her fifth madcap adventure. That she’s lived long enough to have five adventures is amazing enough, considering that Stephanie has near-death experiences (bombings, shootings, kidnappings) like normal people have breakfast. This time she has about 47 problems on her hands. Her uncle Fred has disappeared after a close encounter with the garbage company; Grandma Mazur is disturbed when she finds her granddaughter Stephanie’s stun gun; Stephanie herself has found a dismembered body in a garbage bag; and the superdeadly killer she supposedly put away for life has been released on parole. And, of course, there’s that pesky car problem: this week alone, Stephanie has been through three (bombed, stolen, towed). It will be no surprise to series fans that Stephanie overcomes all these obstacles, finds her uncle Fred, disposes of the bad guys, and brings peace back to Jersey. Is she Wonderwoman or what? This series may be the hottest thing going in the mystery genre right now. The combination of hilarious dialogue, oddball characters, and eye-popping action is hard to beat on its own, but the heroine, a righteous babe if ever there was one, is what sets the over-the-top series apart from all the competition in the comic mystery field. A must for all collections. Emily Melton –This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Kirkus Reviews
Stephanie Plum, the bodacious bounty-hunter from Trenton, New Jersey, returns for her fifth adventure (Four to Score, 1998, etc.). Or rather misadventure, since nothing ever goes right for Stephanie, thank heaven. This time out the trouble (and fun) starts when Steph’s mom informs her that Uncle Fred is missing. Actually, nobody could really miss the disagreeable old coot, but he is family. And either the Plums stick together, Stephanie’s told, or they get picked off separately. Besides, not much is happening in the way of miscreants jumping bail, which means she’s got time on her hands. The hunt commences. Soon enough, Steph discovers that dead-head Fred is connected to some high-powered scams nobody would have believed he had the gumption for. In turn, this has the effect of connecting Steph to various hard guys who mean her serious harm. So she scrambles an egg and downs a multivitamin with her orange juice: “A healthy breakfast to start the day off rightjust in case I lived through the morning.” The ensuing complications include: Champ Ramirez, that no-account sociopath, freed from the slammer and on the prowl for her; hunkish Detective Joe Morelli and his special kind of prowlingeverlastingly lustful; and now senior bounty-hunter Ranger the dangerous, her erstwhile mentor, casting looks at her that are distinctly non-mentorish. What’s a Jersey girl to do about all this? Something outrageous, of course, that leads to a mad chase on the turnpikeand readers grinning appreciatively at another wonderful romp. Savvy, sassy, sexy Stephaniegood to have her back. ($350,000 ad/promo; author tour) — Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. –This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Review
Review
“Terrific.”– The Washington Post Book World
“Wonderful.”– The Philadelphia Inquirer
“This one deserves our high five!”– Liz Smith, Syndicated Columnist
Product Description
From the Publisher
“Evanovich is the master.” -San Francisco Examiner
“A Fun Romp.” USA Today
“Terrific”-The Washington Post Book World
About the Author
