What do readers think of The Most Dangerous Thing by Laura Lippman? Write your own review.

While I wanted to love The Most Dangerous Thing by Laura Lippman, in the end, I found it to be somewhat less than satisfying. Afraid of spoilers, I don’t want to say too much - you can get a synopsis of the storyline from the book jacket - but it involves five friends, their parents, and the power of a lie in which all are complicit.

Lippman is a good writer and in keeping with the literary aspect of the book, the characters are well-developed and change over the course of the story, which is told from various POV, but I found the mysterious “we” voice, wherein the reader is one of the characters, confusing and misleading. In the end, I found I just didn’t care about the mystery; Lippman worked too hard to keep it a secret.

Not one of the authors best. I thought the story
slow paced. Having looked forward to this book
I felt let down.

I have never read Laura Lippman's books before this one and I must admit that I wasn't all that impressed. The characters were interesting, the plot could have been interesting, but somehow I just didn't care much about the characters or what the "mystery" was. It was a fast read, but just didn't hold my interest. The ending didn't work for me, either---too contrived. Maybe a good editing would help, but in the end, not a very satisfying read. I don't think I would recommend this to my book group.

This was an intriguing book, starting which the quote from my favorite Whittier poem. I anticipated a plot following the poem's story line, which I did not find. What developed was a skillfully written and absorbing story with its mystery aspect subordinated to the development of the characters and the effects of their childhood relationships upon their lives. Perhaps the author intended to leave her readers to ponder "what might have been."

After having many friends suggest this author, I was pleased to be chosen to review her new book. I very much enjoyed her writing. The characters reminded me somewhat of my own teenage years, the things we did, the secrets that we kept. I feel that it would make great book club conversation, with the ending that was a complete surprise.

With a character driven plot, this engaging book alternates between the perspective of a group of five children, their parents, and those same children as adults. Everyone has a secret relating to an incident that took place in the children’s lives but a child’s perspective is very different than an adult’s, and that something is a secret does not make it true. If you like unraveling a mystery and enjoy character study, I recommend The Most Dangerous Thing.

I expected this to be more like her other books so was a little disappointed through the first part of the book that there wasn't more suspense and action. After getting used to the fact this was going to depart from her usual action/mystery format, I settled into reading an enjoyable book. The premise of this book reminds me of another book (or maybe movie) but I can't quite put my finger on it. I thought inserting the Tess character from her other series for a brief moment at the end of this book was a good touch..... sort of like Alfred Hitchcock appearing in a cameo role! I could put this book down and pick up the next day without feeling like I was "driven" to read, which is usually not a sign of a book I'm crazy about, but I actually found the character development to be interesting, the story plot a little plodding but had lots of possibilities. It wasn't a surprising book but I did enjoy it, so thus gave it a good rating. I'm not sure where she could edit it before publishing that would give it that "wow" factor -- maybe it just doesn't need it and is a satisfying although predictable read on its own.

Having been a fan of Laura Lippman for several years I was excited to get a jump on her newest book. She's one of the few writers whose writing gets better and better and yet this one wasn't quite up to par. An omniscient narrator had me confused and waiting for the "surprise" presence of a sixth main character. I found myself surprised not by "who dun it" but how and why.

Including the parents' viewpoints made for an interesting counterpoint and I can see some interesting child-rearing discussions between "the old days" and now and how much freedom is too much.