Stephanie Plum No 5: High Five What You Need To Know
The fifth book in Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series is called High Five. It came out in 1996. If you're new to the series, reading it out of order works fine in terms of plot, but you'll miss some character development that builds across the earlier books. The bounty hunting premise stays consistent throughout, so you can jump in here without being completely lost. In High Five, Stephanie is hired to track down a fugitive named Sonny Bateman. He stole money from a loan shark and disappeared. The job seems straightforward until you realize the target has some serious help from people who don't take kindly to debtors skipping town. Stephanie's usual chaotic energy collides with actual danger in this one, which is where the book differs from the earlier entries. The romance subplot with Ranger continues to develop. For readers who tune in purely for the bounty hunting cases, this book actually slows down a bit on the action front. Don't let that deter you. The character work here pays off later in the series when Evanovich starts referencing earlier events.
I remember the first time I tried to read the Stephanie Plum books in publication order versus alphabetical by title. Several online retailers sorted them by title rather than sequence. High Five sits at position five chronologically but alphabetically it lands somewhere in the middle. This caused confusion on my end and probably yours too. Just check the publication date: High Five released in April 1996. That places it firmly as number five in the series. One thing beginners miss about this particular entry is how Evanovich handles the setting. Manhattan Beach, New Jersey serves as the backdrop but she doesn't rely on it heavily here compared to later books set in different locations. If you're looking for strong regional flavor, save that assessment for books like One for the Money or Two for the Show. The pacing in High Five is decent but not exceptional. Some readers find the middle section drags slightly. The resolution lands well enough but the setup feels a bit thin compared to what comes before and after. This is normal for a mid-series book where the author is expanding the world without the urgency of a finale.
If you want to read it, High Five is available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats. The audiobook narrated by Kate Burton is widely considered the best version. Reading the printed book works fine too but the narrator adds layers to the dialogue that text alone doesn't always convey. I found that trying to read three Stephanie Plum books in a row tends to create a monotony effect. The humor style, while funny, repeats itself after a certain point. Space out your reads. Finish one, take a break, then move to the next. It keeps the experience fresh without diminishing the series as a whole. The book runs approximately 320 pages in most paperback editions. Expect to spend around three to four hours reading through it at a normal pace. Nothing marathon-worthy but substantial enough to get invested in the characters.
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