REVIEW: #28 High Five
October 1, 2009 by Allison
Filed under Humor, Mystery/Crime, Reviews, Series
Reading time: 3 – 4 minutes
Book Cover
Rating:
Synopsis: (Taken from Evanovich.com)
Bail jumping in Trenton is down to small potatoes. Stephanie’s only open case is a small bond for a small violation, committed by a small person who raises Stephanie’s frustration level in big ways. So short of money and long on bills, Stephanie comes up with a plan –diversify! Signing on as an intern with entrepreneurial Super Bounty Hunter Ranger, Stephanie ventures into Ranger’s mostly morally correct and marginally legal operations.
None of this makes vice cop Joe Morelli a happy man. The cop in him can’t help but wonder as to the source of Stephanie’s expensive new cars. And the rest of him, the man who’s been friend and lover to Stephanie, can’t help but wonder if there’s more to the partnership than meets the eye.
The internship is downgraded to second priority when Uncle Fred goes missing. Even though Grandma Mazur is sure he was abducted by aliens, Stephanie sets out to look for Fred. He’s a perfectly average senior citizen, and he’s disappeared without a trace while running errands. He’s left his ten-year-old Pontiac station wagon locked up nice and neat in the Grand Union parking lot, the cleaning is carefully arranged on the back seat, and his wife is at home, waiting for him to return with the bread and the milk and the olive loaf bologna. Locked in the top drawer of his desk are photos of a body, dismembered and stuffed into a garbage bag. And locked away in the computer files of a another average citizen are the clues that will lead Stephanie to Fred.
Criminally original and stone brilliant, this Intermediate Bounty Hunting Survival Manual is blockbuster entertainment.
Review:
On the outside it follows the typical Stephanie Plum conflict. Morelli & Stephanie (Will they, or won’t they?) More blown up cars. Life in danger. That doesn’t mean, though, that it is any less comical. Our favorite characters are back in this fifth installment of the Stephanie Plum series. This time we get to know Ranger a little better. Now I understand why my friends are “Team Ranger”. I really began to see a different side of him in this novel and started to feel my feelings sway towards this Ranger, fellow. Morelli (who is sexy as hell – I’ll give him that) just seemed to take second seat in this novel.
Stephanie finds her feelings to be conflicted. On one hand, things are always so complicated with Morelli and he plays so many games. On the other hand, she wants to jump his bones. Besides this dual-love triangle, we get the horrible news that dangerous sociopath ex-boxer Ramirez (from Book 1) is back, and stalking Stephanie (again). On top of that, Stephanie encounters a little person who she’s trying to apprehend and her family encourages her to find her Uncle Fred (even though NO ONE likes him).
There is just so much going on in this book, but yet not at all confusing. I thoroughly enjoyed it as there was always something going on. It was a welcome break in between other more serious reviews and I recommend it to any of those in love with the Evanovich series.
Popularity: unranked [?]
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Stephanie Plum books are always so much fun to read! Yes, the main elements are always the same, but Evanovich is so good at putting them together into a suspenseful, laugh-out-loud good time! I’m a Morelli fan, myself. He reminds me quite a bit of a high school boyfriend…but don’t tell my husband!
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