Call number
MYST LIP
Collection
Genres
Publication
WilliamMr (2007), Edition: First Edition, 376 pages
Description
Fiction. Mystery. Suspense. Thriller. HTML: Thirty years ago two sisters disappeared from a shopping mall. Their bodies were never found and those familiar with the case have always been tortured by these questions: How do you kidnap two girls? Who'or what'could have lured the two sisters away from a busy mall on a Saturday afternoon without leaving behind a single clue or witness? Now a clearly disoriented woman involved in a rush-hour hit-and-run claims to be the younger of the long-gone Bethany sisters. But her involuntary admission and subsequent attempt to stonewall investigators only deepens the mystery. Where has she been, why has she waited so long to come forward? Could her abductor truly be a beloved Baltimore cop? There isn't a shred of evidence to support her story, and every lead she gives the police seems to be another dead-end'a dying, incoherent man, a razed house, a missing grave, and a family that disintegrated long ago, torn apart not only by the crime but by the fissures the tragedy revealed in what appeared to be the perfect household. In a story that moves back and forth across the decades, there is only one person who dares to be skeptical of a woman who wants to claim the identity of one Bethany sister without revealing the fate of the other. Will he be able to discover the truth?.… (more)
Subjects
User reviews
LibraryThing member riofriotex
This book is too confusing, the way it jumps around in time and from character to character. This made it hard to get into it at first. By the time I was halfway through, I finished it quickly to find out what happened, only to be somewhat disappointed by the end. A woman claims to be one of two
The victim is unsympathetic and underdeveloped. Her parents are more interesting, and the best part of the book is seeing the effect the loss of the girls has on the two of them (as in The Lovely Bones and The Memory Keeper’s Daughter). The author did do a good job evoking period details of the setting of the crime (Baltimore in 1975) and subsequent years and locations (especially Austin in 1983).
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kidnapped sisters who have been assumed dead for 30 years. The story becomes obscured with irrelevant information and characters.The victim is unsympathetic and underdeveloped. Her parents are more interesting, and the best part of the book is seeing the effect the loss of the girls has on the two of them (as in The Lovely Bones and The Memory Keeper’s Daughter). The author did do a good job evoking period details of the setting of the crime (Baltimore in 1975) and subsequent years and locations (especially Austin in 1983).
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LibraryThing member smik
A woman fails to stop after causing an accident on the icy road of the Baltimore Beltway. She knows she should slow down, stop, check on the other car, but she is close to her exit. Her car is damaged and barely driveable, so she parks it on the shoulder of the road and begins walking. She is
Thirty years before the Bethany girls aged eleven and fifteen had disappeared on the Easter weekend from the Mall. There had been few clues about what had happened to them, no ransom note, occasional false sightings, and then silence for thirty years. So if this woman was one of them, where had she been all that time? and what had happened to her sister?
Although the woman seems very familiar with the area and even the facts of the case, we are not sure whether this is information she has picked up from newspaper reports, or whether she really does know things that were never revealed in the papers. Kevin Infante, the detective assigned to the case, believes she is a fraud, but every now and again a niggling doubt creeps in. On the other hand Kay Sullivan, the social worker with whom "Jane Doe" stays while her circumstances are investigated, remembers the panic that gripped the city when the girls disappeared. Her lawyer believes she is one of the missing sisters.
We are all familiar with the scenario with the technique of cold case reviews where new eyes cast over the accumulated evidence draw new conclusions. That's not quite what happens in WHAT THE DEAD KNOW. The present day investigating team are not dealing with all the facts. Some details were deliberately removed from the case files by the former investigating detective. So the current team do not hold all the cards they need. But we learn also that the investigating team of thirty years ago did not have all the information either.
I don't think I've ever changed my mind so often. The plot is cleverly woven, but when all is finally revealed, it is hard to understand why you didn't see the answer right from the very beginning.
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stopped by a patrol officer who barely understands what she is telling him when she says "I'm one of the Bethany girls".Thirty years before the Bethany girls aged eleven and fifteen had disappeared on the Easter weekend from the Mall. There had been few clues about what had happened to them, no ransom note, occasional false sightings, and then silence for thirty years. So if this woman was one of them, where had she been all that time? and what had happened to her sister?
Although the woman seems very familiar with the area and even the facts of the case, we are not sure whether this is information she has picked up from newspaper reports, or whether she really does know things that were never revealed in the papers. Kevin Infante, the detective assigned to the case, believes she is a fraud, but every now and again a niggling doubt creeps in. On the other hand Kay Sullivan, the social worker with whom "Jane Doe" stays while her circumstances are investigated, remembers the panic that gripped the city when the girls disappeared. Her lawyer believes she is one of the missing sisters.
We are all familiar with the scenario with the technique of cold case reviews where new eyes cast over the accumulated evidence draw new conclusions. That's not quite what happens in WHAT THE DEAD KNOW. The present day investigating team are not dealing with all the facts. Some details were deliberately removed from the case files by the former investigating detective. So the current team do not hold all the cards they need. But we learn also that the investigating team of thirty years ago did not have all the information either.
I don't think I've ever changed my mind so often. The plot is cleverly woven, but when all is finally revealed, it is hard to understand why you didn't see the answer right from the very beginning.
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LibraryThing member kmoellering
Although I am a librarian, ashamedly I had never heard of Laura Lippman. I say ashamedly because I literally DeVoUrEd this book! I have even recommended it to our library's book group to read for next month. It's one of those books you can't get out of your head. I keep turning the puzzle pieces
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over in my mind. The premise? A car wreck in Baltimore sends a woman running from the scene. When the police stop her to question her about the incident, she claims to be one of two missing sisters who disappeared from a local mall 30 years before. Lippman has truly crafted a fine mystery. I felt like she really got into the mind of someone who (maybe?) had disappeared for many years, someone who had been abused severely. You will have to read it to understand, but the main character's personality was so fascinting! You are never quite sure what to believe, up until the very end. The story is full of twists and turns, fully realized characters, and great plot. I am very eager to read another Lippman title! Show Less
LibraryThing member cbl_tn
Two cars collide on a Baltimore freeway. One flips off the road into a ditch. The other continues to a familiar exit. Its driver leaves the car and continues on foot. It doesn't take long for the police to find her. When they do, she startles them by claiming to be the younger of the two Bethany
Laura Lippman patiently spins the story, doling out pieces a little at a time. Reading it was a bit like working a jigsaw puzzle -- you keep finding and connecting pieces that match, until eventually they all join in a complete picture. I had plenty of time to think about what might have happened leading up to the disappearance of the Bethany sisters, and to wonder why the victim of a crime might remain silent for so many years. The story was compelling. For me, the primary drawback was the amount of bad language. The speakers (primarily policemen) seemed to know and use variations of only one word. I think that even readers who aren't bothered by bad language per se might find the vocabulary excessively repetitive.
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girls who disappeared from this Baltimore neighborhood on Easter Saturday in 1975. Is she telling the truth? That's what everyone wants to find out -- current police officers, the retired policeman who worked the case 30 years ago, a social worker, and a high-powered attorney.Laura Lippman patiently spins the story, doling out pieces a little at a time. Reading it was a bit like working a jigsaw puzzle -- you keep finding and connecting pieces that match, until eventually they all join in a complete picture. I had plenty of time to think about what might have happened leading up to the disappearance of the Bethany sisters, and to wonder why the victim of a crime might remain silent for so many years. The story was compelling. For me, the primary drawback was the amount of bad language. The speakers (primarily policemen) seemed to know and use variations of only one word. I think that even readers who aren't bothered by bad language per se might find the vocabulary excessively repetitive.
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LibraryThing member ForeignCircus
This excellent novel about two missing girls kept me guessing all the way to the powerful and riveting conclusion. Lippman is a wonderful writer, and I found myself unable to put this book down until I read it all the way through. The tragic tale of two girls who disappeared one afternoon and the
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effect that disappearance had on the lives of those around them is wrapped up the gradual unraveling of the truth behind that afternoon, and the many shadings of guilt that surround Heather and Bethany's disappearance. Despite bouncing between perspectives and time, this novel never loses momentum; Lippman keeps the tension building as the story rockets toward the truth. Highly recommended. Show Less
LibraryThing member nohablo
Sparse, lean, and mean; gimlet-eyed with minimal frippery and self-satisfied showiness. Effortlessly slides from one character to another to triangulate the heart of a small, infinitely-cruel little crime.
LibraryThing member writestuff
The Bethany sisters, Heather aged eleven and Sunny aged fifteen, take a trip to the mall one day and are never seen again. The investigation into their disappearance goes cold, and their parents try to move on with their lives – one never accepts the children will not be found, the other is
In her latest novel, Laura Lippman uses flashbacks and multiple points of view to untangle the mystery of the missing girls. Her character development is excellent. Along with Miriam (the girls’ mother) and the young woman who calls herself Heather, Lippman engages the reader with a playboy cop named Kevin Infante (who is the lead detective in the case), a flashy lawyer named Gloria, Chet Willoughby (the retired detective still haunted by the case), and an book obsessed social worker named Kay. But it is the mystery itself which drives the story, and the plot weaves and twists and keeps the reader unbalanced. Lippman knows her way through a police investigation, and she knows how to turn up the heat on a cold case. What The Dead Know keeps the reader guessing until the end.
What The Dead Know is as much an exploration of the psyche of its characters as it is an unraveling of a mystery. Lippman reaches into the minds and motivations of every character and in doing so engages the reader in a psychological study of human behavior under extreme situations. This novel reminds me of Patricia Cornwell’s early work – sharply imagined, expertly written, and gripping. This is the first book I’ve read by Lippman, but I have added her to my must-read authors list. If you are looking for a superb mystery, look no further than What The Dead Know.
Highly recommended.
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convinced they are dead. Then thirty years later a car loses control on a highway near Baltimore and the driver leaves the scene. When she is located, she tells the police an amazing story - although she is driving a car registered to a Penelope Jackson, her real name (she claims) is Heather, the youngest Bethany sister. But her story seems unbelievable and her allegations don’t always square up with the facts.In her latest novel, Laura Lippman uses flashbacks and multiple points of view to untangle the mystery of the missing girls. Her character development is excellent. Along with Miriam (the girls’ mother) and the young woman who calls herself Heather, Lippman engages the reader with a playboy cop named Kevin Infante (who is the lead detective in the case), a flashy lawyer named Gloria, Chet Willoughby (the retired detective still haunted by the case), and an book obsessed social worker named Kay. But it is the mystery itself which drives the story, and the plot weaves and twists and keeps the reader unbalanced. Lippman knows her way through a police investigation, and she knows how to turn up the heat on a cold case. What The Dead Know keeps the reader guessing until the end.
What The Dead Know is as much an exploration of the psyche of its characters as it is an unraveling of a mystery. Lippman reaches into the minds and motivations of every character and in doing so engages the reader in a psychological study of human behavior under extreme situations. This novel reminds me of Patricia Cornwell’s early work – sharply imagined, expertly written, and gripping. This is the first book I’ve read by Lippman, but I have added her to my must-read authors list. If you are looking for a superb mystery, look no further than What The Dead Know.
Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member phillyexpat
One of the better books I've read in recent memory. Some of the chapters were so gorgeously written that they could have stood alone as short stories. The end got a bit convoluted (it could have been because I was racing for the finish because I was so excited to see how it ended) and I did sort of
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see the ending coming, but, to be fair, it was one of many options I was weighing, and the way the author did the reveal was subtle enough to make it work. Really good book--I recommend it. Show Less
LibraryThing member Whisper1
In 1975 two young woman were kidnapped from a local mall. Their bodes were never located. All leads came to a standstill.
Now, thirty years later an adult woman involved in a car accident claims to be one of the Bethany sisters who were abducted.
373 long, slow, arduous pages later we discover if the
The characters are well developed, the story is intriguing and the book held my interest enough to finish. But, the writing was labored.
I simply don't like the hide the pea under the shell flip flop of switching characters and stories wherein the reader never really knows if the author is challenging, or trying to fool.
Now, thirty years later an adult woman involved in a car accident claims to be one of the Bethany sisters who were abducted.
373 long, slow, arduous pages later we discover if the
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adult woman is indeed one of the missing sisters, or if it is all a hoax.The characters are well developed, the story is intriguing and the book held my interest enough to finish. But, the writing was labored.
I simply don't like the hide the pea under the shell flip flop of switching characters and stories wherein the reader never really knows if the author is challenging, or trying to fool.
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LibraryThing member KevinJoseph
Two young sisters, Sunny and Heather Bethany, disappear from a Maryland shopping mall. The case has gone sub-zero until thirty years later, when a woman apprehended for a hit-and-run claims to be Heather. Kevin Infante, the detective assigned to the case, struggles to identify the woman's true
The plot unfolds in a non-linear manner that many will find distracting, relying extensively on flashbacks and multiple point-of-view characters. The strength of this narrative structure is that is allows the reader to experience the tragic events from different perspectives and come to know all of the important characters on a very personal level. The weakness of this approach is that the novel lacks a real center or protagonist, forcing the reader to reorient at the start of each chapter to figure out who happens to be narrating.
This was my first Laura Lippman novel but likely will not be my last. The strength of her characterization, skill at building and maintaining suspense, and willingness to stray from the linear format of the usual police procedural impressed me, notwithstanding the noted shortcomings.
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identity and, in the process, solve the Bethany case. The plot unfolds in a non-linear manner that many will find distracting, relying extensively on flashbacks and multiple point-of-view characters. The strength of this narrative structure is that is allows the reader to experience the tragic events from different perspectives and come to know all of the important characters on a very personal level. The weakness of this approach is that the novel lacks a real center or protagonist, forcing the reader to reorient at the start of each chapter to figure out who happens to be narrating.
This was my first Laura Lippman novel but likely will not be my last. The strength of her characterization, skill at building and maintaining suspense, and willingness to stray from the linear format of the usual police procedural impressed me, notwithstanding the noted shortcomings.
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LibraryThing member SqueakyChu
Two sisters, Heather and Sunny Bethany, had been abducted thirty years ago on their way to a mall and never found. A woman, whose identity is not known, is involved in a car accident and picked up by the police as a hit-and-run driver. Unwilling to identify herself, she is taken to a hospital where
I was drawn to this novel by being a Baltimorean by upbringing and knowing that the author both lives in and writes about Baltimore. I had been hoping for fun entertainment, but the story became tedious after a while. I didn’t feel particularly attracted to any of the characters. I also was disappointed that the end of the story seemed like a rush job to simply relay the details of what happened. That part of the story was what was interesting to me and should have been developed a bit more. As a result of this novel, I don’t think I’ll be seeking out any more books by this author any time soon.
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people who have been involved with the Bethany sisters case think that “Jane Doe” knows something about what happened to the two girls. I was drawn to this novel by being a Baltimorean by upbringing and knowing that the author both lives in and writes about Baltimore. I had been hoping for fun entertainment, but the story became tedious after a while. I didn’t feel particularly attracted to any of the characters. I also was disappointed that the end of the story seemed like a rush job to simply relay the details of what happened. That part of the story was what was interesting to me and should have been developed a bit more. As a result of this novel, I don’t think I’ll be seeking out any more books by this author any time soon.
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LibraryThing member jodes101
I remember reading it a while ago but the ending has completely left me so it musnt have been very memorable. Maybe I am just getting sick of stories about self obsessed american woman who seem to be screaming ME ME ME all the time.
LibraryThing member rosalita
In 1970s Baltimore, two sisters aged 12 and 15 go missing. More than 30 years later, a woman shows up who claims to be one of the missing girls, long presumed dead. But is she really who she claims to be? And if she isn't, what kind of dangerous game is she playing?
The woman who now claims to be
Two things kept me from rating this otherwise imaginative and well-written book higher. The machination that Lippman employs to avoid having the identity secret solved too soon seems unlikely in the extreme, and the ultimate reveal that seemed fairly obvious to me as a reader (which is fine) seemed to never occur to the professional investigators (not so fine). I get that Lippman wanted to maintain the element of shocking surprise as long as possible, but it just made her otherwise savvy characters seem stupid.
This is the first book I've read by Lippman, and I found it rewarding enough to want to read more. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that for a long time I had conflated [[Laura Lippman]] and [[Elinor Lipman]] into the same person, which would confuse me whenever I saw Laura Lippman referenced as a writer of mysteries or suspense novels since the books by Elinor Lippman that I have read could not at all be described that way. I like them both, but they are quite different writers. The more you know ...
The woman who now claims to be
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Heather Bethany is established early on as an unreliable narrator in the segments of this book told from her point of view. Balancing that are chapters seen through the eyes of the main police detective investigating her claims, as well as other characters drawn into her orbit. Lippman also goes back to the scene of the crime, so to speak, to show us the girls' lives leading up to their disappearance, as well as how her parents cope or fail to cope in the aftermath. All of the characters through whose eyes we see the story seem legitimate and sympathetic in their own way, and I never had the experience I so often have with multiple-viewpoints narratives of becoming impatient with one or more of the POVs and rushing through those chapters to get back to the "good stuff".Two things kept me from rating this otherwise imaginative and well-written book higher. The machination that Lippman employs to avoid having the identity secret solved too soon seems unlikely in the extreme, and the ultimate reveal that seemed fairly obvious to me as a reader (which is fine) seemed to never occur to the professional investigators (not so fine). I get that Lippman wanted to maintain the element of shocking surprise as long as possible, but it just made her otherwise savvy characters seem stupid.
This is the first book I've read by Lippman, and I found it rewarding enough to want to read more. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that for a long time I had conflated [[Laura Lippman]] and [[Elinor Lipman]] into the same person, which would confuse me whenever I saw Laura Lippman referenced as a writer of mysteries or suspense novels since the books by Elinor Lippman that I have read could not at all be described that way. I like them both, but they are quite different writers. The more you know ...
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LibraryThing member jepeters333
Thirty years ago, the two Bethany sisters, ages 11 and 15, disappeared from a Baltimore shopping mall. They never returned, their bodies were never found, and only painful questions remain. How do you kidnap two girls from a busy mall on a Saturday afternoon without leaving behind a single clue or
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witness? Now, decades later, in the aftermath of a rush-hour hit-and-run accident, a clearly disoriented woman is claiming to be Heather, the younger Bethany sister. Not a shred of evidence supports her story, and every lead she reluctantly offers takes the police to another dead end - a dying, incoherent man; a razed house; a missing grave. But there is something she knows abouut that terrible day. . .and about a family that disintegrated long ago, torn apart by an unthikable tragedy and the fissures it revealed in a seemingly perfect household. I really liked this - there were twists and turn that I didn't expect, and the ending was a surprise. Show Less
LibraryThing member Carl_Alves
What the Dead Know is a bit of a convoluted story told in drips and drags that seems more designed to drag out the readers and create drama then being told in a realistic way of how this type of story would actually unfold. A woman in Maryland is involved in a car accident and tells the police that
Although the story had a fair level of entertainment value, my biggest issues with the story is how it was told—in a manner that would drag this out to novel length even though the amount of material is pretty thin and the story could have easily been told in half the length without missing a beat—and believability. Without going into spoilers, the story’s protagonist behaved in a manner that just didn’t make sense. The result is a novel that felt very convoluted and not something that resembles reality. From the woman’s claim of identity to how her life unfolded, I just wasn’t buying into any of it. The end result was an okay novel that still felt a bit dissatisfying. It could have been written and presented better.
Carl Alves - author of Conjesero
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she is one half of a sister duo that went missing thirty years ago. This starts a police investigation into the incident, which has long since been declared a cold case.Although the story had a fair level of entertainment value, my biggest issues with the story is how it was told—in a manner that would drag this out to novel length even though the amount of material is pretty thin and the story could have easily been told in half the length without missing a beat—and believability. Without going into spoilers, the story’s protagonist behaved in a manner that just didn’t make sense. The result is a novel that felt very convoluted and not something that resembles reality. From the woman’s claim of identity to how her life unfolded, I just wasn’t buying into any of it. The end result was an okay novel that still felt a bit dissatisfying. It could have been written and presented better.
Carl Alves - author of Conjesero
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LibraryThing member Mathenam
I don't know how I missed this book when it came out a few years ago. I wish I had read this book before I read Gillian Flynn's "Gone Girl," because I enjoyed this one much more than "Gone Girl." "What the Dead Know" by Laura Lippman is the story of two sisters who go missing in the mid 1970's. In
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the early 2000's, a woman is found after a car accident mumbling the name of one of the sisters. The mystery of who this woman is, and what is her connection to the missing sisters. I loved how the author used the format of an unreliable narrator (the woman - is she lying?). This made the whole book questionable for me, in a good way! Rarely do I sit and read a book very quickly, and I did with this one. It was a page turner that I was hooked on. My only complaint is that several of the secondary characters didn't develop much. I would have loved more of Infante's back story and more about that character in general. Show Less
LibraryThing member Eliz12
Well-written book, but it took me no time whatsoever to figure out the mystery.
LibraryThing member susanbevans
A middle-aged woman is involved in a hit-and-run accident. Two teenage girls are abducted from a shopping mall, never to be heard from again. These are the two major events that propel Laura Lippman's What the Dead Know, a disturbing novel of buried secrets and life's tragic surprises.
After
Personally, I did not enjoy reading this book. In fact, I found that it was quite a chore, trudging through the storyline. I found the characters to be completely without depth and self-absorbed, making it extremely difficult to get to know and like them. It was curiosity rather than empathy that made me even finish the book. I really wanted it to be good - the subject was interesting - but in the end, it didn't hold my attention. I can't really recommend it to anyone.
After
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fleeing a car accident, a middle-aged woman with no ID is questioned by both the police and hospital administration. Refusing to reveal her identity (and proof of health insurance), she instead hints that she is the younger of two sisters, Heather and Sunny Bethany, who disappeared the day before Easter in 1975. This gets everyone's attention. She knows both too much and not enough about the case, leading Baltimore police on wild goose chases to Pennsylvania and Georgia, saying just enough to stay out of jail and keep them interested, albeit suspicious. The narrative threads unravel into the various accounts of that Saturday's events, the aftermath of the disappearance, the investigation, and Heather's own increasingly desperate attempts to evade further disclosure. Personally, I did not enjoy reading this book. In fact, I found that it was quite a chore, trudging through the storyline. I found the characters to be completely without depth and self-absorbed, making it extremely difficult to get to know and like them. It was curiosity rather than empathy that made me even finish the book. I really wanted it to be good - the subject was interesting - but in the end, it didn't hold my attention. I can't really recommend it to anyone.
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LibraryThing member Djupstrom
Easy reading, but a bit predictable. A solid female mystery writer.
LibraryThing member LisaLynne
An extremely enjoyable mystery. A woman is found wandering along the side of the road following a car accident and she claims to be one of two sisters who went missing from a local mall almost 30 years ago. As the story unfolds, you don't know what to believe - "Heather" knows things that only one
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of the sisters should know, but the police are convinced she's lying and she refuses to provide enough information to prove them wrong. Very well-plotted: I had figured out a key part of the mystery, but I still didn't know what to *do* with it until the final pieces came together. The audio version kept me sitting in the car, parked in the driveway, listening to the last chapter - always the sign of a particularly good story. Show Less
LibraryThing member amf0001
I had just finished the wonderful Case Histories, and people were raving about this so I took it out. But frankly it wasn't as good as Case Histories, and I just couldn't get into it. I started to skim, and then read the end, but never wanted to read it properly. About a woman in her 40's who gives
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a strange ID when she is picked up leaving the scene of a car accident that she caused. Stories of her past and what happened to her start to emerge. Although the topic was unusual, it felt somehow predictable in the telling, and it didn't work for me. Show Less
LibraryThing member youthfulzombie
As is the norm for Lippman, this book is well-written. However, I found that for me, the "twist" could be seen from a mile away, there wasn't enough suspense, and the ending just wasn't that plausible.
LibraryThing member indygo88
I haven't read a good thriller in quite a while, mostly because I've concentrated my reading in other genres, but I very much enjoyed this one. Lippman did a good job of keeping the reader guessing (in my case, at least), and I love mysteries like that. Is she or isn't she Heather Bethany? You
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start to think one thing, and then you begin to think the opposite, and then vice versa & back and forth. I felt like I had a slight grip on what the outcome might be, but just couldn't make all the pieces fit together. Lippman successfully tied all the details together to make a fairly plausible ending, which kept me guessing until the end. Show Less
LibraryThing member debs4jc
It took me a while to get into this story, at first I was just trying to figure out what exactly was going on. A woman driving in a snowstorm is involved in an accident. When she is picked up she the authorities are stunned to hear her claim that she is one of the Bethany sisters--sisters who
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disappeared after apparently being kidnapped 30 years ago. The story shifts points of view from one person to another, and from one time to another as flashbacks gradually reveal what happened to this woman before and after her kidnappeing and what happened to her parents before and after as well. The narrator did a great job of differentiating the voices and stuff, on audio the time changes were sometimes a bit hard to pick up on. Once I got oriented to where I was in the story it was very intriguing though, and this was a good psychological exloration of how these characters reacted to the stress of this unusual situation. And of course the mystery of what really did happen during the kidnapping and after kept me wanting to listen till the end--which had a surprising twist. Show Less
LibraryThing member Bookmarque
A woman fresh from a car accident claims she’s a long-lost Bethany girl; one of a pair of sisters missing some 30 years and presumed dead. Her story is violent and shaming and told sporadically, reluctantly. Because of its nature, we hardly dare question her credibility and that’s why the novel
Nicely told with just enough flashback to give us the time and place before the crime. Mom and dad are more than just parents. The girls are sisters, but as different as strangers. Lippman tantalizes us with details that satisfy our prurience, but doesn’t allow it to spill over into repugnance. She gives us various voices, perspectives and points in time (the detail of the purse was especially effective since I think I had one just like it). Is this grown woman really the missing child from decades earlier? Does her personality match up or is she too damaged by her ordeal? The case has been open for so long it’s on its 3rd or 4th lead investigator. The latest has no emotional ties to things and eyes everyone in the light of suspicion instead of going for the easy clear. He thinks he’ll have ultimate proof when he locates the mother; DNA has come a long way in the last 30 years. The fact that the Behtany girls are adopted takes the wheels off the bus though and other proof has to come to the fore.
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works. Nicely told with just enough flashback to give us the time and place before the crime. Mom and dad are more than just parents. The girls are sisters, but as different as strangers. Lippman tantalizes us with details that satisfy our prurience, but doesn’t allow it to spill over into repugnance. She gives us various voices, perspectives and points in time (the detail of the purse was especially effective since I think I had one just like it). Is this grown woman really the missing child from decades earlier? Does her personality match up or is she too damaged by her ordeal? The case has been open for so long it’s on its 3rd or 4th lead investigator. The latest has no emotional ties to things and eyes everyone in the light of suspicion instead of going for the easy clear. He thinks he’ll have ultimate proof when he locates the mother; DNA has come a long way in the last 30 years. The fact that the Behtany girls are adopted takes the wheels off the bus though and other proof has to come to the fore.
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Awards
Audie Award (Finalist — Thriller/Suspense — 2008)
Anthony Award (Nominee — Novel — 2008)
Crime Writers' Association Awards (Shortlist — 2008)
The Morning News Tournament of Books (Short List — 2008)
Macavity Award (Winner — Novel — 2008)
Barry Award (Winner — Novel — 2008)
Quill Award (Winner — Mystery/Suspense/Thriller — 2007)
Spinetingler Award (Winner — 2008)
The Strand Critics Award (Winner — Novel — 2007)
Gumshoe Award (Nominee — Mystery — 2008)
Publishers Weekly's Best Books of the Year (Fiction — 2007)
Village Voice Favorite Books (2007)
Pages
376
ISBN
0061128856 / 9780061128851