What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman came to a not unexpected but interesting end. It is quite a wrenching tale of what happens to a family when their two daughters disappear from a shopping mall, one of them supposedly resurfacing thirty years later. Did I say wrenching? Maybe 'insidious' is a better word. But a very good book. I don't think I've read any of Lippman's books before, but I might try another. ( )

Very dark; not Tess Monihan but set in Baltimore. Interesting but Dark.

I almost didn't make it further than the first five or so chapters because it was depressing, but I'm glad that I continued. Once I accepted the major premise I became involved in discovering what happened to the Bethany sisters. Lippman's good at pacing the information the reader needs to stay involved. ( )

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 the questions. Now a disoriented woman involved in a rush-hour traffic accident claims to be one of the sisters. Could this be possible? ( )

I'm not actually sure if this was a good book or not, which sound silly. I think it could have benefited from a little tightening.However, the plot is certainly compelling, and chances are you won't guess the ending till you get there. A page-turner. ( )

I'm not actually sure if this was a good book or not, which sound silly. I think it could have benefited from a little tightening.However, the plot is certainly compelling, and chances are you won't guess the ending till you get there. A page-turner. ( )

I'm not actually sure if this was a good book or not, which sound silly. I think it could have benefited from a little tightening.However, the plot is certainly compelling, and chances are you won't guess the ending till you get there. A page-turner. ( )

Book club selection...I enjoyed the book, it was easy to keep reading, however, it was not what I was expecting. From other reviews, I was thinking it would be more of a thriller, I found it to be more of a puzzle. Very readable. ( )

read this for book club and found it enjoyable. it's a mystery but not in the typical way; the book speaks to larger issues of loss, grief and identity. lippman writes good phrases and the pace of the book keeps you turning the pages fairly quickly. ( )

Absolutely love the TV show 'The Wire' created by David Simon and felt inspired to read some crime novels, something I've never done before! Didn't want to read either of Simon's books yet as I haven't finished watching the series so I picked up 'The big blowdown' by George Pelecanos (a producer on the show) which was truly amazing. I thought I'd try Laura Lipman too, who I knew was involved with the show and a writer based in and around Baltimore, and it turns out she's married to David Simon too but I am really disappointed by this novel.

I have to admit that I couldn't get in to it and after 6 or so chapters I skipped to the end to find out 'whodunnit' and was relieved I hadn't laboured on with the book for the sake of it. To me the characters had no real depth, unlike those in the Big Blowdown, and I just didn't care enough for them to read on. Maybe I've picked up a bad novel to start with but I can't get on her with her style. ( )

I really enjoyed this crime/mystery -- it was fast moving and set in the Baltimore area, so there were a lot of local references, which I think always makes for a fun read. The story had a lot of twists and turns and I was half proud of myself for figuring out the biggest twist but half disappointed that I guessed it so early. I would definitely read this author again. ( )

Excellent story with lots of twists and turns. Must read more Lippman! ( )

I am not a mystery reader, but was looking for something light and easy to put down. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I truly enjoyed this story.

Thirty years ago two sisters disappeared from a shopping mall. Their bodies never found. Now a woman claims to be the younger of the long-gone Bethany sisters.

The story moves back and forth across the decades and surprises you at the end. I enjoy this method of story telling, I find it keeps me interested and on my toes. The author did a fine job with character development and I found the story believable. I will probably look for another by this author, who lives in Baltimore, Maryland. ( )

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 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. ( )

A good read. Interesting twists and turns throughout the book. THe character development is quite good. I always find this writing style (jumping back and forth between time) intriguing. I think it makes the book more interesting. I will most certainly read more from this author. ( )

This is the first book where I didn't like any of the characters but still enjoyed the book as a whole. I found it hard to empathize with any of the characters: the parents who demolish their lives after the girls are gone, the detective with only one thing on his mind, and the mysterious woman who manipulates everything she touches. The strength of this book is the plot, a twisty mystery that keeps the reader thinking and wondering what will happen next.

To read the entire review go to: http://barneysbookblog.blogspot.com/2... ( )

read 3/31/09

Interesting premise but I found the switching back and forth confusing to the different characters involved surrounding the disappearance of two young girls from a shopping mall difficult to follow. The storyline is told from two points -- the time of the kidnapping almost 30 years ago and the current time when one of them reappears due to an automobile accident. The most interesting storyline is what happened to the parents after the girls were gone. ( )

A bit obvious, though that doesn't detract from the book much. What does detract are the characters, many of them completely self-absorbed. The father of the missing girls is the most fleshed out and sympathetic character, and the mother becomes somewhat so further in the book as well. Decent book. ( )

I thought it was somewhat predictable, but I still enjoyed reading this book. I found the lead character to be a bit frustrating at times. It definitely kept my attention. ( )

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 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. ( )

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 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. ( )

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 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. ( )

This story kept me reading. I wanted to know if teh main character was really who she said she was. ( )

A woman involved in a hit-and-run accident claims to be one of the two Bethany sisters who disappeared from a shopping mall decades earlier . The more police probe her story, the more questions arise. The woman is not completely forthcoming, erratically doling out hints and small details. Is she who she claims to be and if she is, what happened to her sister? Taut with expectation and suspense, delivering a real ending twist. ( )