What the Dead Know
by Laura Lippman
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Book Reviews of What the Dead Know
Book Review: Horrible
Summary: 1 Stars
I didn't realize until reading the other reviews that this book was based on a true story. That said, when reading the back cover, I thought it sounded interesting and was eager to try a new author. However, the writing is horrible. Journalist call it "burying the lead" but here I call it burying the STORY. I think there may have been a story or a plot in there, but I'm halfway through and can't really tell. There was so much extraneous detailed minutiae. For crying out loud there were 3 pages on the merits of an answering machine and an electric coffee maker. It seems this author either had a word count she needed to maintain or she's one of those authors who believes that if she researched it, it goes in the book. Editing out all of the superfluous fluff and concentrating on telling the story, the book could have been trimmed from 390 pages to 150...easy.Book Review: Sisters Together
Summary: 4 Stars
Laura Lippman's WHAT THE DEAD KNOWS is suspense that keeps you glued to the end excluding a sluggish beginning. The story is told from to perspective of each character who crosses the path of Sunny Bethany. But who is Sunny and what has been her convoluted life for 30 years since she and her sister never returned from the mall?
Based on an unsolved crime the story rings with both truth and fantasy. This is not a book to take to bed if you've got an early morning call. Find a day when you can disappear into the covers of a fine, well told story and start reading. It will be a day well spent.
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Book Review: Much too slow
Summary: 3 Stars
For one thing, what on earth is Amazon doing listing this under Romance? It wasn't Romantic Suspense - there wasn't a single character in this you'd WANT to see in a romantic situation. Aside from that, which wasn't the fault of the novel, I just couldn't get into it. I kept reading because it was well written (aside from the irritating quirk which has been mentioned frequently in other reviews of using 'a police' as a singular noun) and I wanted to see what happened, but I didn't especially enjoy getting there. The pacing was very slow, the slow feeding of information felt forced, the twist at the end was easy to guess well ahead of time, and the explanation for it (which is what I slogged through the whole book for) was anti-climactic.Book Review: an original but slow mystery
Summary: 3 Stars
I loved the start of this novel. A woman is involved in a hit and run accident, and when confronted by the police, she connects herself to a 20 year old disappearance of two young girls. It was clear at the start that this was not going to follow any typical mystery formula. The novel is very well written, and bounces back and forth from past to present. I did get a bit impatient for a bit more to happen. I liked the characters, but the movement was all in time, and so there was no real character development. I liked the ending as well as so much about the book, but I spent too much time wishing it move along a bit more. This is a true original, and I expect a good read for many out there.Book Review: Great mystery, so-so style
Summary: 4 Stars
I have mixed feelings about this book. The book is about two sisters who disappear. Several years later, a woman appears who claims to be one of the missing sisters. The suspense and mystery, I thought, was stellar. I loved the plot and the way the author built up the suspense. I think this is one of the best mysteries I have read in a long time. On the other hand, there were parts of the book where I felt like it was stuck in the mud. I thought there was development on some characters that was not necessary. Too much detail about a minor character that became the source of the drag. I liked the book and would recommend it but would mention its flaws.