High Five (novel)
| File:High5 novel.jpg 1999 Paperback cover | |
| Author | Janet Evanovich |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | Stephanie Plum |
| Genre | Crime |
| Publisher | St. Martin's Press |
Publication date | July 16, 1999 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover, Paperback) |
| Pages | 304 pp |
| ISBN | 0-312-20303-9 |
| OCLC | 41002780 |
| Preceded by | Four to Score |
| Followed by | Hot Six |
High Five is the fifth novel by Janet Evanovich featuring the bounty hunter Stephanie Plum. It was written in 1999.
Plot summary
The only Failure-to-Appear (F.T.A.) Vinnie has for Stephanie is so minor league (Briggs), that she focuses her attention on the mysterious disappearance of her Uncle Fred instead. Mabel gives Stephanie some photos she found in Fred's desk of half-opened garbage bags, containing dismembered human body parts. She insists the photos are recent, and very unusual for Fred. Stephanie sees enough to identify the body as a woman's, and gives duplicates of them to her on-again/off-again boyfriend, Detective Joe Morelli, who passes them on to the sergeant in charge of the case. Mabel tells Stephanie that Fred had been furiously pursuing RCG garbage company to get his $2 back because they skipped his house one time. (according to Stephanie, "Fred's hobby was being cheap"). They had refused to refund him, because his payment wasn't in the system - they demanded to see his cancelled check. He was on his way to bring that to RCG when he disappeared.
While Stephanie is starting to look into Fred's activities, Bunchy shows up, mysteriously demanding that Stephanie find Fred for him. Since the Fred mystery is on her own personal time, Stephanie is facing financial hardship and out of desperation she takes a job with Ranger's security company to make ends meet. Ranger assures her the jobs are morally justifiable, if not entirely legal, but Stephanie is (again) over her head while tagging along with Ranger's men. The activities include "Interior decorating" (forcibly evicting the occupants of a drug den in a slum apartment building); chauffeuring a young, spoiled sheikh visiting relatives in Trenton; and distracting a deadbeat in a bar while his car is repossessed.
To add to all of Stephanie's problems, Morelli informs her that Benito Ramirez, the psychopathic boxer who attacked Lula and threatened her in One for the Money has been released from prison thanks to the work of expensive lawyers. Ramirez begins stalking her again, playing his game of psychological torture with her. Meanwhile Ranger lets her use a Porsche Turbo as a "company car" while working for him, which is both exciting and nerve-wracking. On the Morelli front, she is trying to keep her distance because of their relationship goals mismatch, but seeing him with Terry Gilman makes her see red.
Fred's disappearance looks increasingly serious when the receptionist at that garbage company is found shot to death. The next day another employee, Larry Lipinski, apparently commits suicide, leaving behind a note confessing to the receptionist's murder. There's also an unrelated (maybe) murder of an employee at the cable company (which was engaged in similar customer harassment) around the same time. Further investigating reveals that both the garbage company and the cable company are routing a small percentage of customer payments to a different bank - basically those funds are being stolen.
While she is investigating, a bomb blows up the Porsche, thankfully without hurting anyone. She shares her suspicions with Morelli, who confirms that the Trenton Police and federal authorities are investigating the same crimes. Vito Grizzoli is co-owner of the garbage company, so at first the police suspected money laundering, then they realized that someone is skimming from Vito's profits. Vito is cooperating with the investigation, but prefers to keep the police at arm's length, so he uses Terry (his niece) and Morelli as intermediaries. "Bunchy" is actually a federal agent named Bronfman, who thinks that Fred somehow stumbled on the scam, and that is why he disappeared.
When Stephanie returns home, she is confronted by Allan Shempsky, the bank manager, who ties up Briggs and holds Stephanie at gunpoint. He says he and Larry started small, skimming a modest amount just for occasional gambling stakes, but started taking more and more. Unfortunately, Larry's estranged wife, Laura, found out and demanded the money, so Allen and Larry killed her. Fred stumbled onto Laura's dismembered body, and recognized Larry as he was trying to drag the bags away, so he snapped the photos and planned to blackmail Larry. Allen also killed the garbage company receptionist, then Larry, and then their cohort at the cable company, all of whom were threatening to expose the skimming.
Allen is about to kill Stephanie, when Ramirez jumps into the window from her fire escape. Allen empties his gun at Ramirez, killing him, and allowing Stephanie to flee outside and borrow her neighbor's gun. Before she can return to her apartment, Shempsky escapes.
Ranger offers her one last job: chauffeuring the same sheik to the airport. While she is en route, with her Grandma Mazur in the front seat, Briggs calls, having hacked the bank's records and found out that Shempsky is booked to fly out of the airport in an hour. With Grandma and the sheik's help, Stephanie apprehends Shempsky, who confesses where he buried Fred.
Returning home from Fred's memorial service, Stephanie decides it is time to make a choice; she dresses in a slinky cocktail dress, then calls one of the two men in her life and asks him to come over. The novel ends without saying who she called.
Characters
- Stephanie Plum, the protagonist of the story, is a former lingerie saleswoman and currently works as a bounty hunter for her cousin Vinnie (Vincent Plum).
- Grandma Mazur is the fiesty matriarch of the family who loves a good funeral and thrilling action. It is impossible to shock her.
- Connie is the office manager at Vincent Plum Bail Bonds, a bit older than Stephanie, wears her hair in a beehive, and is sympathetic to Stephanie but stays on Vinnie's good side as well.
- Lula works at Vincent Plum Bail Bonds helping out with filing, and sometimes helping Stephanie out with apprehensions, surveillance, whatever is needed. A former sex worker in One For the Money, her voluptuous body and dramatic fashion sense complement her ability to face any situation.
- Vinnie is Stephanie's cousin, owns the Bail Bonds company, but acts out in his private life to the embarrassment of Stephanie and her family
- Morelli has been in Stephanie's life since childhood, in a very complicated way. He grew up and became a cop, and also a better-than-most Morelli, working with/against Stephanie in almost equal measure.
- Ranger had been Stephanie's mentor starting out, as he also works for Vinnie as a bounty hunter. His skill set is extensive, as are his other income-earning activities.
- Randy Briggs is Stephanie's FTA - arrested for carrying a knife. Randy is a computer programmer in his forties who resists Stephanie's efforts in order to finish a project for his boss. And he's a little person. Stephanie does manage to complete the task, but destroys the door to his apartment in the process. Briggs threatens to sue for damages when he gets out on bail, Vinnie instead puts him up in Stephanie's apartment while repairs are completed.
- Bunchy shows up in Stephanie's life claiming to be a bookie that Fred owes money too, which Stephanie doubts. As he seems less sinister than a lot of the other characters running around, Stephanie goes along, answering his questions and putting up with him tailing her.
- Uncle Fred is Stephanie's Uncle who was out running errands and seemingly vanished. A longtime philanderer, he is also extremely frugal.
- Aunt Mabel is married to Fred, not especially happily. Her preoccupation the week after he's gone is figuring out which changes to make in her life first.
- Benito Ramirez is a boxer with a viciously sadistic streak, who loves to torture his victims. The worst of the worst.
- Terry Gilman is a foe from high school who went with Morelli to Prom, and now after a few short careers is back working for her uncle Vito.
- Vito Grizoli is a local mob boss , and Terry's uncle. He's involved in various commercial ventures including , but is the victim of theft himself at the moment.
Car Death
- Stephanie's Porsche Boxster (on loan from Ranger): crushed by a garbage truck, then destroyed by a bomb
- The aforementioned garbage truck: blown up next to the Porsche
- Stephanie's BMW (also on loan from Ranger): Stolen
Failure-to-Appear (FTA) assignments
- Randy Briggs: carrying concealed
- Alphonze Reuzig
- Kenyan Lally
Critical reception
High Five - which continued Stephanie's string of comical mysteries - also was the first in the Stephanie Plum series to end with a cliffhanger. [1] Publishers' Weekly recommends High Five as being " just as wacky and over the top as its predecessors" with continual action, biting dialogue and particularly unique characters. [2] High Five was also commercially successful, reaching the Times fiction list. [3]
Notes
- ^ Cogdill, Oline (June 23, 2002). "Mystery: Outlandish bounty hunter still seriously funny". South Florida Sun Sentinel. p. 9D.
- ^ ""High Five"". Publishers Weekly. July 2002. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
- ^ Guinn (August 22, 1999). "A celebrity, but she's still Mom at heart – Janet Evanovich hits it big with her stories of bounty hunter Stephanie Plum; High Five is the fifth". Beacon Journal. Knight Ridder. p. H5.
External links