return to home  
Join   |  Gift   |  Member Login   |  Library Login
BookBrowse Mobile
Follow Us: 
    Reader Reviews

Read what people think about The Most Dangerous Thing by Laura Lippman, and write your own review.

The Most Dangerous Thing

The Most Dangerous Thing
by Laura Lippman
Published in USA Aug 2011,
352 pages.

Publication information


Critics' Opinion: 
Readers' Rating: 
About BookBrowse Rankings
Share: 
Buy This Book
Page 2 of 6 There are currently 33 reviews
for The Most Dangerous Thing
Select your view:
Order Reviews by:
Click Here To Write Your Own Review
Rated 3 of 5 of 5 by Debbie M. (grand junction, CO)
The Most Dangerous Thing
The Most Dangerous Thing centers on a group of kids entertaining themselves in the neighborhood. One day, while playing in the woods, something happens that affects their lives forever. As adults they are brought together again and find that what they thought had happened was different from what actually happened. Now they must deal with the events and move on.
I think most of us can relate to the story. Most of our childhood play was innocent, but did shape our lives in ways we don't always see. In this book the characters might have never realized the impact if they hadn't come together as adults.

Rated 3 of 5 of 5 by Shaun- Chicago
The Most Dangerous Thing
I was hoping for a gripping and suspenseful Laura Lippmann book but unfortunately this wasn't it. It's a decent character-driven story but I was hoping for a plot twist or an ending you couldn't see coming. I was disappointed that I didn't find the plot engrossing or that I had no trouble putting it down. I usually like Lippman's books and was sorry that this wasn't one of my favorites.

Rated 3 of 5 of 5 by Carolyn S. (Decatur, GA)
The Most Dangerous Thing
This was my first Laura Lippman book and I was looking forward to expanding my reading horizons. I was disappointed. The plot was weak, the characters sad, and the pace was slow and the back and forth from past to present distracting. We never received enough information about the main character Go Go.

Rated 4 of 5 of 5 by Elizabeth W. (Newton, MA)
A many-layered treat . . .
My pleasure in reading Laura Lippman's The Most Dangerous Thing grew as the layers of history and competing points of view built up. The story of how five childhood friends became a tightly knit unit that faced both adventures and a final disaster while exploring the woods near their homes is told from the varied perspectives of the young children, the parents of those children, and both groups thirty years later.

At times, the pace of the book is slow, but Lippman's ear for natural dialogue and her ability to choose the perfect descriptive detail made the leisurely pace enjoyable for me. Furthermore, there are interesting plot twists that emerge with each retelling of the story. When I read about the same events from the perspective of the adults, I found richness in already knowing what the children did and thought, but it is the world of the five young friends that is most alive and enticing.

I recommend this book, especially for a time when you can relax and savor its richness.

Rated 5 of 5 of 5 by Mary Ann B. (Louisville, KY)
You never really know a person
Laura Lippman has written a story that stays with you after reading, because it makes you think about your own life and the people you know or think you know. This book keeps you guessing about not only the children we meet as adults, but their parents as well. Nature vs nurture will always be debated, and Ms. Lippman makes us think about both. If you like her stand-alones, I'd Know You Anywhere, and What the Dead Know, this won't disappoint.

Rated 4 of 5 of 5 by Kerry M. (Charlotte, NC)
What Lies Beneath
This was my first Laura Lippman novel, although her books have been on my "to read" list for some time. So I did not have any expectations when I began this book. I enjoyed the psychological mystery that basically disclosed the end at the beginning, but then unraveled for us how that came to be. The characters were very realistic and sad, all of them exhibiting some instance of keeping a secret or thought to themselves that over time effected their relationship to the other characters. The device of moving back and forth in time (present to past lives) was well done, although I did find the use of the first person plural in the telling of the story from children's perspective to be a little distracting.
«  prev   1 2 3 4 5 6   next »

Become a Member
Click Here
Editor's Choice
  •  May 21 
  •  May 20 
  •  May 18 
Helga's Diary
Helga Weiss

Helga's Diary Jacket

The remarkable diary of a young girl who survived the Holocaust—appearing in English for the first time.
Fever
Mary Beth Keane

Fever Jacket

A bold, mesmerizing novel about the woman known as "Typhoid Mary," the first known healthy carrier of typhoid fever in the burgeoning metropolis of early twentieth century New York.
The Woman Upstairs
Claire Messud

The Woman Upstairs Jacket

The riveting confession of a woman awakened, transformed, and betrayed by passion and desire for a world beyond her own.
Click Here
   Most Recent Blog Entries
Movies Based on Books: Summer 2013 (May - August)
Jewish Young Adult Books That Are Not About The Holocaust
Books to Give This Mother's Day
rss  RSS   rss  subscribe
Recent Reader Reviews
Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Fowler
Z, the novel about the life of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald is at points charming and; like another reviewer, I kept thinking of the movie, "Midnight... read more
Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
Although heavy on the scientific details, which slowed down the story for me (OK, I admit, I was one of those liberal arts majors who skipped out on... read more
The House at the End of Hope Street by Menna van Praag
Loved this book. Magical, quirky, enchanting I could go on. All books do not have to be literary fiction, sometimes it is just so comforting to read... read more
RSS RSS feed More...  
Most Viewed This Week
1. Half the Sky
Nicholas D. Kristof, Sheryl WuDunn
2. A Child Called It
Dave Pelzer
3. And the Mountains Echoed
Khaled Hosseini
4. Defending Jacob
William Landay
5. Into The Wild
Jon Krakauer
More...
Book Club Recommendations
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
by Jeanette Winterson
Paperback (Mar/13)
Eleanor & Park
by Rainbow Rowell
Hardback (Feb/13)
The House Girl
by Tara Conklin
Paperback (Oct/13)
The Painted Girls
by Cathy Marie Buchanan
Hardback (Jan/13)
More...
First Impressions
Members read and review books often months before they're published. See what they think in First Impressions!
Golden Boy
by Abigail Tarttelin
4.5 Stars            (May/13)
The Last Girl
by Jane Casey
Four Stars            (May/13)
The Sisterhood
by Helen Bryan
Four Stars            (Apr/13)
The Caretaker
by A .X. Ahmad
Four Stars            (May/13)
More...
  Latest BookBrowse News
British Parliament asks Amazon to clarify why it pays $9 million in income tax on $23 billion of UK sales. (May 20 2013)
Amazon will be called back to give further evidence to members of the British Parliament "to clarify how its activities in the U.K. justify its low corporate... Full Story
rss RSS feed More...
 
BookBrowse Poll
Q: Which of these Summer movies based on books would you like to see? (Info on each movie here)
The Great Gatsby
Epic
Man of Steel
World War Z
The Lone Ranger
The Wolverine
R.I.P.D.
Percy Jackson
Paranoia
The Mortal Instruments
Select Any That Apply
Search: Title or Author
Free Newsletters
The Light Between Oceans

Online Book Club
More about
The Comfort of Lies
Join the discussion!


Win This Book!
On Sal Mal Lane


"Piercingly intelligent and shatter-your-heart profound."

Enter To Win Now!

wordplay
Solve this clue:
"I Y N P O T Solution, Y P O T P"

and be entered
to win....
frame top
New Author
Interviews
Menna van Praag
Erica Brown
Helga Weiss
Kate Morton
frame bottom
HOME Book Submissions | Advertising | Library Subscriptions | Reviewing for BookBrowse | Contact Us