High Five by
Janet Evanovich
hbk out September 99
Published by Macmillan
at £14.99
If you can avoid judging the book by its cover - and it is as singularly unappealing a cover as one can imagine - High Five is
a pretty delightful piece of work. This fifth entry in the "Stephanie Plum" series is very light, very frothy and so thin in the story department that it seems like it shouldn't work at all, but Evanovich's wit and clever way with a turn of phrase simply win you over in the end.
Not having read any of the previous Plum novels, I can't say how High Five figures into the broader portrait of Evanovich's none-too-
competent bounty hunter, but lack of knowledge of previous stories does not hinder one's enjoyment of the present volume in any way. The plot, such as it is, involves Plum's efforts to track down her missing uncle Fred (though no one, including her aunt, actually misses him all that much), an endeavour which is only marginally less messy than the rest of Plum's life - especially her love life.
She's also being stalked by a psychopathic ex-con, tailed by a mysterious fellow named Bunchy, and is saddled with a bail-jumping little person (ie, midget) whose sole function is to provide comic relief. Of course, this does result in a bit of lily gilding in
what is, after all, an essentially comic novel. These various strands sort of come together in the end, though no one is ever going to confuse Evanovich with Raymond Chandler. High Five is little more than a series of loosely connected, but genuinely amusing scenes. Though the narrative thrust is weak, and the mystery as minimal as NHS dental care, Evanovich manages to carry the reader along through sheer charm. Plum is just so likeable that you can't help but get involved in her life. Some of the secondary characters are underwritten, and Evanovich occasionally tries too hard to be "zany" - Plum's sitcom grandmother is the worst example - but there's no denying that this
is often very funny stuff that keeps you turning the pages. I liked it enough to want to go back and read some of the earlier books in the series. High praise, indeed.
(
Jay Russell
- one of the greatest talents the horror industry has produced for some time… (Black Tears))
High Five by
Janet Evanovich