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almond's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
Great character development. Sad but good.
megantheeflamingo's review against another edition
3.0
I listened to the audio version of this book. I selected this book for our June 6th meeting of the Adult Book Club at Westport. I'm not sure I could have made it through this book if I had read it normally because it felt really slow and seemed to jump around. But I also liked that it was slow because I picked up on a lot of details that I probably wouldn't have noticed if I was trying to speed read through the book. The entire book seemed to be building suspense for a great reveal at the end - but I was ultimately disappointed. After so much back and forth with the kids as they were kids, then the kids as they were adults, then the parents in the past just agonizing over ridiculous things...I was bored for awhile. But then when things started to come together at the end, I thought things were going to converge and blow my brain! But the ending just kind of happened. It exposed itself slowly, almost in a melancholy way, after so much questioning and guessing. It wasn't so much shocking as it was just ...sad. I'm glad I read this book because it was different than something I might normally choose to read for myself, and I think it's important to read new things and different genres. But now I remember why I don't read adult mysteries regularly. Blegh.
mschrock8's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this book about a group of childhood friends coming together and figuring out things from their past. Most of the action and thinking, for me, were tied up in the last 60 pages. Definitely want to read more by this author.
tlctbr's review against another edition
4.0
I don't usually read mysteries, but I am so glad my book club chose to read this book! I was surprised at the quality of the writing and found the character development really intriguing. I will definitely be reading more from this author.
mg_in_md_'s review against another edition
4.0
Another stand-alone book by Laura Lippman...and another winner. The story starts out seemingly simple with a group of childhood friends getting back together for the funeral. However, it soon becomes clear that this is not going to remain a simple story. You'll be compelled to keep turning the pages to find out what comes next and to find out what is the most dangerous thing.
ilovestory's review against another edition
2.0
Not my favorite Laura Lippman book, but still a decent read. I got sick of hearing about "Chicken George" and wasn't that interested in the mystery. I think she focused on the setting because she grew up in the area, and the setting and the memories of having the freedom as a child to roam the neighborhood and not have your day completely structured by play dates or sports, was nostalgic and I liked that about it.
kdurham2's review against another edition
3.0
What a different read - friends who were impacted by a significant occurrence in their past, they are just finding out what really happened and how it changes the past. With three boys and two girls as best friends, you know there will be plenty of drama. Two will hook up and two will find themselves mixed up in major trouble, what can you expect when a group with girls and boys tries to maintain a friendship through the high school years.
I loved the switch between telling the story through the past and the present, but the chapters of the past didn't give enough away to spoil the truly juicy ending. I always love a story that spends some time in the past, so you feel as though you are getting the full story. Although I was a little confused by the whole us and them, so I am conveniently skipping it.
An interesting take on the suspense novel with only one death and a lot of relationships. I kept reading wanting to know what these friends had experienced and who knew the whole truth and who knew only the partial truth.
I loved the switch between telling the story through the past and the present, but the chapters of the past didn't give enough away to spoil the truly juicy ending. I always love a story that spends some time in the past, so you feel as though you are getting the full story. Although I was a little confused by the whole us and them, so I am conveniently skipping it.
An interesting take on the suspense novel with only one death and a lot of relationships. I kept reading wanting to know what these friends had experienced and who knew the whole truth and who knew only the partial truth.
sandin954's review against another edition
4.0
Another good read from one of my favorite authors. I had a bit of a slow start with this book because of time issues but once I was able to just sit and read the chapters flew by. At first I wondered about the narrative voice in a few sections but it ended up working well within the story and the characters were well developed and realistic.
dianametzger's review against another edition
3.0
I raced through this book pretty quickly, which is not surprising to me, but I think perhaps this story tried to tackle too much and lost some of Lippman's usual plot punch. We get almost every character's perspective and so the book goes in a million directions, until the end when things get wrapped up way too quickly and mostly in dialogue driven exposition. In the acknowledgements Lippman says she wanted to write about an old neighborhood of hers and perhaps she got too wrapped up in tying all these memories together rather than focusing on the plot and how it gets doled out.
machadofam8's review against another edition
3.0
This was pretty good - a group of friends who drifted apart are brought together after one of them dies in an apparent suicide. They've all been holding a secret from the past. It's interesting the way Lippman goes back and forth from the present to the past, and also fleshes out the parents who were also involved in the secret. The ending had a good twist as well.