Rating: 
Summary: AN ASTONISHING STORY TOLD WITH GRACE AND SKILL
Review: Ace novelist Laura Lippman brings 20 years of experience as a reporter to every mystery she pens. Readers applauded "Last Place," "Baltimore Blues," and others for the author's compelling accuracy and to attention to detail. Her series starring the unsinkable Tess Monaghan won legions of enthusiastic fans as well as numerous literary prizes - the Anthony, Edgar, Shamus, Agatha, and Nero Wolfe awards. Not only do Ms. Lippman's novel chill with compelling authenticity but she excels in creating accessible, unforgettable female characters. Her characterizations soar in "Every Secret Thing," an astonishing story of children and crime. They are eleven-year-olds, fifth graders at St. William of York, and they are as different as night and day. Alice Manning is an obedient youngster, usually acquiescing to parental restraints. On the other hand, Ronnie Fuller, is an uneasy youngster, prone to angry outbursts. As an opener we read: "They were bare foot when they were sent home, their dripping feet leaving prints that evaporated almost instantly, as if they had never been there at all." The girls had been banished from a birthday party. As they meander toward their homes the pair see a baby carriage left unattended on a porch. Inside the buggy is a black baby. Dressed in pink the infant is all innocence, sleeping soundly, and the girls take the baby away. Now, segue to seven years later when Alice is released "by the State of Maryland for her part in the death of Olivia Barnes." How could such a serene July afternoon have ended in murder, much less the killing of a child by those who were children themselves? Who actually committed the crime; who was the bystander? And, that is the crux of Ms. Lippman's disturbing yet compulsively readable story. The lives of Ronnie and Alice have, in effect, been ruined yet there is more to come. Another child is abducted and eyes turn toward the pair who were found guilty of the earlier crime. Ms. Lippman has courageously taken on a difficult subject, one that the majority of our society would prefer not to acknowledge. She gave as her reason for tackling this issue: "I decided to give it my best shot, to shake people out of the smug complacency that says, 'It can't happen here, it can't touch my family,' because anything can happen anywhere, to anyone." Her 'Best shot" has resulted in a shocking tale told with grace and skill. - Gail Cooke
Rating: 
Summary: Nothing special
Review: After reading the many positivive reviews of this book, I decided to read it. Unfortunately I wasn't impressed. The pace is slow and the author's writing style just couldn't keep me engaged. I like reading books that are so brilliantly written that you don't even feel like you are reading. In this book, however, the author starts a chapter and, half way through, I kept thinking 'Why is she wasting time with this? Can we get to the point please?'.
If you like stand alone mystery books with brilliant plots and that you won't be able to put down until you reach the last page, then read Harlan Coben's novels (Tell No One, Gone For Good, No Second Chance, Just One Look, and The Innocent, which will come out in April 2005). His plots are amazing and his characters seem real. Another author that I have recently discovered is Mo Hayder from the UK. Her last novel, Tokyo, is espectacular. However, you will have to order it from amazon.co.uk because it was not published in the U.S. yet.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding!
Review: Also stunning, provocative, mezmerizing and so courageous. A stand alone that will be remembered long after you read the last page.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding!
Review: Also stunning, provocative, mezmerizing and so courageous. A stand alone that will be remembered long after you read the last page.
Rating: 
Summary: Why do kids do what they do?
Review: As you probably already know , this not a part of the Tess Monaghan series and it stands very easily by itself. Ms. Lippman has done an excellent job of developing both of her main characters. The girl's personalities ring true. The psychological motivations behind the drama are well thought out and multi layered. It was not the page turner I was hoping for but an EXCELLENT READ no the less.
Rating:
Summary: good start, hard landing
Review: big fan of lippman's - really like the tess m. books, and was psyched to see that she was branching out (lehane and crais branch outs have been enjoyable). plot and atmosphere are strong for lippman books, but characters can be a bit weaker. i thought that a multiple protagonist book would play to her strengths. largely it did, but the end was too obvious and a big let down given the excellent build up; the pacing as well could have been tighter as the book wound down. a 3 may be too harsh as i would recommend it to a LL fan, but i would point a new reader to one of the earlier Tess M novels. Three word review: Mystic River Lite
Rating:
Summary: Don't pass this up because it's not Tess
Review: I almost didn't read this book because I generally like my detective novelists to stick with what they know or rather who they know. I'm glad I took a chance on this one. Laura Lippman's got character development down. These characters are real. You like them in one chapter and you don't like them in the next. You sympathize with them on one page and then you'd like to tell them where to get off the next. And, she never plays the reader for a fool by solving her mysteries with out-of-left-field suspects or bizarre circumstances. She's too honest a writer for that.
Rating: 
Summary: I guess my expectations were too high.
Review: I don't know why I got this impression, but I thought Every Secret Thing would be a twisty, imaginative thriller in the vein of a Harlan Coben novel. The reviews certainly suggested it! What I got instead was more of a psychological drama with a couple of twists laboriously delivered after nearly 400 pages. I don't mind a well-done psychological drama - A Fatal Inversion by Barbara Vine and The Little House by Philippa Gregory were both terrific novels - but Every Secret Thing failed to make the grade.
It mostly felt like chapter after chapter of characters prattling on about everything except the central mystery at hand. And the excessive head-jumping ensured that none of the characters were developed to any satisfaction. What was that journalist even doing in the book again? She served virtually no purpose whatsoever, other than to pad out the word count. I've heard many positive things about Laura Lippman, but this novel doesn't exactly inspire me to hunt down any of her earlier works.
Rating:
Summary: Taut, suspenseful and surprising.
Review: I held my breath through much of this book. What a story. Two young girls (age 11) are imprisoned for killing a baby. The story takes place after they are recently released, although the story goes back and forth between time.
The story centers around a new crime. Another missing child. Apparently, there have been toddlers missing for short periods of time prior to the abduction. Did the girls have anything to do with it?
If you saw or read Dennis Lehane's Mystic River, you know the tragedy that results when young people are damaged by crime. In this book, the girls had problems when the first crime was committed. Now that they have been released, their lack of social skills and complete lack of self esteem lead them into the lair of the detective's noose.
The story focuses on several characters, including the mother of one of the girls and the detectives. It also focuses on the family of the first child who was abducted and killed.
I read this book in a day and a half. Ms. Lippman is a terrific writer. The book had me on the seat of my chair. I burned a meal reading this book. Highly recommend!!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Stand-Alone Mystery
Review: I just finished Laura Lippman's latest (how's that for alliteration?) and what a stunner! _Every Secret Thing_ is a stand-alone novel, not part of the Tess Monaghan series, and it's more of a "portrait of a community" sort of a book than an outright mystery, although it certainly has a strong mystery driving the plot. I'd hesitate to say "breakout book" because I think she broke out long ago, but as I read, I couldn't help but compare the experience to that of reading Dennis Lehane's _Mystic River_, which I still firmly believe is one of the best American books of the last ten years. And I do think that _Every Secret Thing_ is on par with that book. The story is narrated from multiple viewpoints, including those of a pair of now teenage girls, just released from juvenile detention after serving seven-year sentences for their parts in the kidnapping and death of a baby, the granddaughter of a locally-famous black judge. Ronnie Fuller and Alice Manning have had their lives irrevocably changed, and when another child of mixed race disappears soon after their return home, the girls become prime suspects, after their names are leaked to the press and to the police. At first, we feel sympathetic toward poor Alice, the "good" girl whose life was ruined by the inexplicable actions of the "bad" Ronnie, but as the story goes on, our sympathies are drawn more and more to Ronnie as the secrets of what happened seven years before, and what is happening now, are revealed. Set in Baltimore, the story is as much about developing character studies of the girls, their families, the police, the press, and so forth, as it is about solving the mystery. The book also presents a portrait of the racism inherent in society, not just black vs. white, but rich vs. poor, and so on. There are great passages about the struggles faced by homicide detective Nancy Porter, who found the dead baby many years ago and who is now assigned to the new investigation, that are worthy of _Homicide: Life on the Street_ or _The Wire_. Lippman draws deft portraits of both Sharon Kerpelman, the public defender who feels she failed Alice in the earlier case, and Mira Jenkins, the reporter who sees this story as her chance to "move downtown." And Cynthia Barnes, the mother of the murdered baby, is a fully-shaded character who sees the possibility to get some sort of revenge on the girls, who she feels should have been tried as adults. This is a gripping story, full of tension and emotion. It has moments of sadness and moments of humor. It's a great book by a great writer and I'd be surprised if it isn't nominated for the major awards in the field this year. Very highly recommended.
|
