Hot Six

Five months later, Stephanie's latest "failure to appear" (FTA), Carol Zabo, is attempting to avoid jail-time by jumping off a bridge to drown herself.

To complicate matters, Stephanie also has to deal with: Ranger makes contact with her (without giving her the opportunity to capture him) and asks her to do surveillance on the Ramos family's properties in Jersey.

Needing to make contact with Ranger again, she asks Carol Zabo to ambush Joyce Barnhardt and ensure that Stephanie is not followed to her meeting.

Ranger explains that Arturo Stolle's normal "slice of the Trenton crime pie" is human trafficking, but recently has diversified into drug dealing.

But instead, Homer's actions upset the boundaries between the factions, where previously the Ramos family has restricted their illegal activities to arms, while the mob has enjoyed a monopoly on drugs.

When she returns home, Stephanie is confronted and held at gunpoint by Homer, who has been searching frantically for the bag of money he was carrying to the meeting with Ranger.

After Stephanie spends the night at Morelli's house, they are confronted the next morning by his mother and grandmother, who scold her for taking advantage of him.

[4] Booklist's GraceAnne A. DeCandido started her review by writing, "If you were angry with Evanovich at the end of High Five, when she coyly didn't tell us which of Stephanie Plum's two studmuffins the Jersey Girl/bounty hunter was planning to visit, you'll soon forgive her".

[4] Writing for Library Journal, Wilda Williams noted that "the mystery is not particularly interesting" but concluded that "Evanovich's wisecracking, feisty heroine and the bizarre characters she meets will leave readers wanting more".