High Five by Janet Evanovich

High Five (Stephanie Plum, #5)

by Janet Evanovich

Out of bail skippers and rent money, Stephanie throws caution to the wind and follows in the entrepreneurial bootsteps of Super Bounty Hunter, Ranger, engaging in morally correct and marginally legal enterprises. So, a scumball blows himself to smithereens on her first day of policing a crack house and the sheik she was chauffeuring stole the limo. But hey, nobody's perfect! Anyway, Stephanie has other things on her mind. Her mother wants her to find Uncle Fred who's missing after arguing with his garbage company; homicidal rapist Benito Ramirez is back, quoting scripture and stalking Stephanie; vice cop Joe Morelli has a box of condoms with Stephanie's name on it; and Stephanie's afraid Ranger has his finger on her trigger. The whole gang's here for mirth and mayhem. Read at your own risk in public places.

Reviewed by Leah on

5 of 5 stars

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Stephanie Plum has a whole lot of trouble on her doorsteps. Her Uncle Fred has disappeared and Grandma Mazur is convinced he's been abducted by aliens. Meanwhile, cousin Vinnie has asked her to bring in the vertically challenged Randy Briggs who's jumped bail. But instead of coming quietly, he has taken up residence in Stephanie's closet. The mysterious man called Bunchy is trailing Stephanie in the hope of tracking down Fred. And Benito Ramirez is back from jail, quoting Scripture and vowing to introduce Stephanie to God - face to face.Thankfully Joe Morelli, the irresistible cop, is still around to give her the odd sleepless night - through now he faces tough competition from the enigmatic Ranger....

The fifth Stephanie Plum adventure is a little bit different from the previous four - Stephanie isn't searching for an FTA (Failure To Appear), no, she's looking for her Uncle Fred who mysteriously vanished one day when he was trying to sort out his rubbish bill. However, Stephanie is as clumsy as ever, and well, there are a lot of explosions and a lot of beautiful vehicles being ruined (which made me so sad lemme tell you).

What is ramped up in High Five is the tension between Stephanie and Morelli and Stephanie and Ranger. Now, for the first four books, Ranger has always been in the background a bit; helping out when necessary with a bit of light flirting, but in this book Ranger is like THERE all of a sudden. The flirting is ramped up, and Stephanie begins working for him and we see a little bit more of Ranger. Mind you, I'm still clueless about him aside from the fact he's drop dead gorgeous and rather thrillingly dangerous. But, you know, I'll take my tidbits where I can find them. I think Stephanie/Morelli is end game, but can I just say I LOVED Stephanie/Ranger and them being together would be amazing.

Grandma Mazur is hilarious as ever in this novel, and I thought it was hilarious when she stun-gunned Stephanie's dad! OMG I nearly died laughing. Seriously, I want to meet her. She just, she wins at life that woman does! Unfortunately Sally Sweet didn't appear, which made me kinda sad. I loved him. BUT we were introduced to 'little person' Briggs, an FTA who moves in with Stephanie (!!). He's my favourite FTA yet.

The ending made me spaz out. Total exclamation mark moment. I mean WHO DID STEPHANIE CALL?! AND WHO CAME TO HER DOOR? *DIES*. Seriously, if I start Hot Six later and she doesn't tell us I will cry. I want to know. Although on the other hand I DON'T want to know 'cos I want it to be Ranger. (BTW is it wrong that I see him as a darker-skinned Rafa Nadal? What with the long hair, and arms as muscly as anything. Dress Rafa in black and you'll have Ranger, I'm sure of it). So, yup, loved High Five. But, really, are you surprised?

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  • Started reading
  • 6 May, 2011: Finished reading
  • 6 May, 2011: Reviewed