Best friends who grew apart as they grew up reunite when one of them, the guy who never made good, ups and dies. No surprises there--except that th...
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Jan 13, 2012
Pam
rated it: 
This is a story of five friends who grew up in the same neighborhood and what happened one summer night that changed not only their friendship but also their lives. It is the death of one of the five that brings them all back together and it is once they all meet that each of them starts to wonder how different their lives would have been if that one event had not taken place years ago.
Reading the synopsis I thought the book looked interesting, but as I read on I found myself quickl More...
Reading the synopsis I thought the book looked interesting, but as I read on I found myself quickl More...
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Dec 28, 2011
Kim
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I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The book is very well written and explores childhood friendships and especially childhood secrets.
The story goes back and forth from the late 70's to the present and the chapters are frequently narrated by a different character. Laura Lippman does a terrific job of writing the story from the viewpoint of each character and the storyline is easy to follow. There is even a cameo by Tess Monaghan!
A quick read with some depth!
The story goes back and forth from the late 70's to the present and the chapters are frequently narrated by a different character. Laura Lippman does a terrific job of writing the story from the viewpoint of each character and the storyline is easy to follow. There is even a cameo by Tess Monaghan!
A quick read with some depth!
Jan 12, 2012
Kat
rated it: 
I like Laura Lippman, especially her early novels, her lovingly described setting (Baltimore), her ablitity to create fully fledged characters, her excellent observations on daily life, choices people make, etc. This novel is another variation on the theme: you shouldn't keep secrets, keeping secrets will destroy you. There are five kids and three sets of parents who decide to keep something that happened in 1980 secret and now in the present one of five kids (grown-up) has died (possibly, proba
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Dec 28, 2011
Marlyn
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Brothers Tim, Sean and Gordon Halloran played ball in a field near Gwen Robison's house on the outskirts of Baltimore. When Gwen and her friend Mickey see them, Mickey tells them they can't play there unless they let the girls join in. Soon, the five of them are exploring the nearby woods, something that would not be allowed today.
Fast-forward to the present-day. Gordon, the youngest of the five, stumbles out of a bar. Certain that he's not drunk, he gets in the car and heads home. The More...
Fast-forward to the present-day. Gordon, the youngest of the five, stumbles out of a bar. Certain that he's not drunk, he gets in the car and heads home. The More...
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Dec 21, 2011
Michael
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In the Dickeyville area of Baltimore, five children meet and bond. Their names are Gwen, the Halloran brothers, Sean, Tom and Go Go, and the other girl in the group, Mickey Wyckoff.
They lived in a quiet neighborhood and didn't need parental supervision in their activities.
The story moves from present time to the mid 1970s.
In the presnet time, Gwen comes home to care for her father who had taken a fall and injured his hip. She runs into Sean, who tells her abo More...
They lived in a quiet neighborhood and didn't need parental supervision in their activities.
The story moves from present time to the mid 1970s.
In the presnet time, Gwen comes home to care for her father who had taken a fall and injured his hip. She runs into Sean, who tells her abo More...
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Dec 21, 2011
Gloria
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The new standalone novel from Laura Lippman was, to this reader, unlike anything this wonderful author had written to this point. [Among her more recent ones, "I’d Know You Anywhere" and “What the Dead Know” still stand out in my memory and resonate with me.] The present work is not really a mystery [although there is a death early on in the book] nor procedural, but instead a series of in-depth character studies which will be difficult to match.
The author takes her time re More...
The author takes her time re More...
Dec 13, 2011
Margaret
rated it:
3.5 stars. Like Anne Tyler, Laura Lippman sets her books in Baltimore, more specifically the Baltimore of the native who still lives there. Having lived in the City in the past, I always get a time warp feeling since her descriptions and locales are so real and vivid. No apologies 'burbs Baltimore, the west side, more or less the swath from BWI Airport north to Pikesville. (Since we're planning a holiday trip to Charm City, this book got me in the mood for Balto!) Ms. Lippman is a great wri
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Oct 21, 2011
Jennifer
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WHAT is this book about?
A group of childhood friends are reunited when one of them dies in a drunk driving accident. A secret from their past may have been a factor in their friend's death, and they confront their shared past for the first time since losing touch years ago. Told from the point of view of the children and their parents, the book dips in and out of the past (circa 1977-1978) and the present, where the grown-up versions of the kids are struggling with problems and issues More...
A group of childhood friends are reunited when one of them dies in a drunk driving accident. A secret from their past may have been a factor in their friend's death, and they confront their shared past for the first time since losing touch years ago. Told from the point of view of the children and their parents, the book dips in and out of the past (circa 1977-1978) and the present, where the grown-up versions of the kids are struggling with problems and issues More...
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Oct 14, 2011
Luanne
rated it:
3.5/5
Laura Lippman is another favourite author who has taken a break from their recurring character (Tess Monaghan) to pen another stand alone novel.
The Most Dangerous Thing is the story of five childhood friends - Mickey, Gwen, Sean, Tim and Gordon aka Gogo - in the Baltimore area. They spend the summer of 1977 running through the woods near their homes, until a tragic event changes everything. Fast forward - Gogo has died and the others gather for the first time in twenty More...
Laura Lippman is another favourite author who has taken a break from their recurring character (Tess Monaghan) to pen another stand alone novel.
The Most Dangerous Thing is the story of five childhood friends - Mickey, Gwen, Sean, Tim and Gordon aka Gogo - in the Baltimore area. They spend the summer of 1977 running through the woods near their homes, until a tragic event changes everything. Fast forward - Gogo has died and the others gather for the first time in twenty More...
Oct 02, 2011
Linda
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Sep 23, 2011
Kat
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Years ago, they were all the best of friends. But as time passed and circumstances changed, they grew apart, became adults with families of their own, and began to forget about the past - and the terrible lie they all shared.
But now Gordon, the youngest and wildest of the five, has died and the others are thrown together for the first time in years.
And then the revelations start.
Could their long-ago lie be the reason for their troubles today? Is it more dangerous to More...
But now Gordon, the youngest and wildest of the five, has died and the others are thrown together for the first time in years.
And then the revelations start.
Could their long-ago lie be the reason for their troubles today? Is it more dangerous to More...
Sep 15, 2011
Mary
rated it: 
THE MOST DANGEROUS THING by Laura Lippman
08/11 - HarperCollins Publishers - Hardcover, 352 pages
Could you take a life altering secret to your grave?
It was a different time growing up in the 70’s and 80’s you had the freedom to roam unsupervised and be independent in a way that will never happen again. A group of children met one summer with different backgrounds, home environments, and sexes never giving any of that a thought, only worrying about the next great adventur More...
08/11 - HarperCollins Publishers - Hardcover, 352 pages
Could you take a life altering secret to your grave?
It was a different time growing up in the 70’s and 80’s you had the freedom to roam unsupervised and be independent in a way that will never happen again. A group of children met one summer with different backgrounds, home environments, and sexes never giving any of that a thought, only worrying about the next great adventur More...
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Sep 12, 2011
Pam
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A pentagon of friendship formed in childhood during a less worrisome time, and the consequences of a terrible secret shared, unfold in this newest novel by Laura Lippman. The reader enters the story when the youngest of this group, Gordon or "Go-Go", suddenly dies in an "accident". We meet him as an adult unable to resolve some event of the past that has left him with a nagging black line separating his life into a then and a tormented now. The other four friends, pushed a
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Sep 08, 2011
Susan
rated it:
A childhood tragedy kept secret for years is a well used device and can still be interesting. This group of 5 children formed a "star"- five points. They were left free by the times (1977) and remote parenting and explored the woods for hours. They meet a hobo kind of guy with a terrible outcome. The results stay with them all into adulthood. They all carry the scars with them and it finally culminates when the youngest, Go-Go, dies in a solitary car accident. Or is it an accident?
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Sep 05, 2011
Larraine
rated it:
I'm a big fan of Laura Lippman. I never read one I didn't like to be honest. This one was as well written and riveting as her previous stand alones. I do admit to missing her character Tess Monaghan and hope she goes back to her soon. This book features five more or less childhood friends (I say more or less because that is what they are) who are united by their interest in exploring the woods in near by Leakin Park in the Dickyville neighborhood of Baltimore. For those of who who are not famili
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Sep 03, 2011
The Most Dangerous Thing, by Laura Lippman, b-plus,Narrated by Linda Emmond, produced by Harper Audio, downloaded from audible.com.
Five kids are friends, but that friendship ends after an event occurred which none of them talked about, and which everyone lied about. Then, 30 years later, the youngest one, known as Gogo, dies in a car accident which may or may not have been suicide. The other four are brought back into contact with each other as some parts of the secret are exposed. More...
Five kids are friends, but that friendship ends after an event occurred which none of them talked about, and which everyone lied about. Then, 30 years later, the youngest one, known as Gogo, dies in a car accident which may or may not have been suicide. The other four are brought back into contact with each other as some parts of the secret are exposed. More...
Jul 15, 2011
Jackie
rated it:
Laura Lippman admits that this is the most biographical novel she's written, setting it in what is essentially her childhood neighborhood. But that's where the similarity stops--the only secrets she's keeping is how she comes up with such riveting fiction time and time again.
Her characters in "The Most Dangerous Thing", however, have been keeping a secret for many, many years. Something happened to the little neighborhood collection of five once inseparable children that th More...
Her characters in "The Most Dangerous Thing", however, have been keeping a secret for many, many years. Something happened to the little neighborhood collection of five once inseparable children that th More...
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Feb 18, 2012
Dale
rated it:
A different kind of book
Read by Linda Emond
Duration: 10 hours, 45 minutes
Published by Harper Audio.
Laura Lippman's The Most Dangerous Thing is a superbly deep character study that looks into the lives of 5 suburban children in the 1970s and follows them into the present. These kids are the best of friends for a couple of summers. They consist of three brothers, a beautiful tomboy and a chubby girl who blossoms. They come from three different families, go to three di More...
Read by Linda Emond
Duration: 10 hours, 45 minutes
Published by Harper Audio.
Laura Lippman's The Most Dangerous Thing is a superbly deep character study that looks into the lives of 5 suburban children in the 1970s and follows them into the present. These kids are the best of friends for a couple of summers. They consist of three brothers, a beautiful tomboy and a chubby girl who blossoms. They come from three different families, go to three di More...
Sep 02, 2011
Diane
rated it:
I am always thrilled when a new Laura Lippman comes out-it usually means a free trip back to Baltimore and often it's to the Baltimore of my childhood/young adulthood. The Most Dangerous Thing is no exception in that regard but it is not quite what I've come to expect from Ms Lippman. It is well written and certainly evokes the freedom, almost wildness, of childhood in the late 70s. But while the writing is in many ways excellent, I did have some difficulties. The transitions from present to
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Jan 25, 2012
Lynn
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I'm sad to say that I didn't like this book. Sad because Laura Lippman has always been a favourite of mine. I should have paid attention to the reviews on the book. They were all about Lippman's writing with nary a comment on this particular book. That tells you something.
The story is about five adults who were friends in childhood. At the beginning of the book one of the five, Gordon or Go Go as he is better known falls off the wagon and a barstool to begin a drunken drive home. T More...
The story is about five adults who were friends in childhood. At the beginning of the book one of the five, Gordon or Go Go as he is better known falls off the wagon and a barstool to begin a drunken drive home. T More...
Aug 26, 2011
Jo Anne
rated it:
Secrets of what happened in the woods the night of a hurricane in 1979 come back to haunt four adults when they reunite after all these years for the death of one of their friends. Needless to say, this was a very sad, dark, depressing, mystery.
The author told the story from the perspectives of many characters in the first narrative switching between past and present. Doing so actually gave a lot of insight into nature of each person and made for a rich, deeper story. You learn so m More...
The author told the story from the perspectives of many characters in the first narrative switching between past and present. Doing so actually gave a lot of insight into nature of each person and made for a rich, deeper story. You learn so m More...
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Aug 25, 2011
Kelly
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You know how in Stand By Me (and the story it's based on, The Body), the narrator says something about how we never have friends as good as the friends we have in childhood?* In this novel, that's a really good thing.
Gwen, Mickey, Tim, Sean and Gordon ("Go-Go") are friends. They explore this giant forest that's behind Gwen's house (this is in the long-ago time when kids were allowed to do things without parental supervision) most of the summer and one day, they find a man More...
Gwen, Mickey, Tim, Sean and Gordon ("Go-Go") are friends. They explore this giant forest that's behind Gwen's house (this is in the long-ago time when kids were allowed to do things without parental supervision) most of the summer and one day, they find a man More...
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Feb 19, 2012
Tess
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This is the story of childhood friends Tim, Sean and Gordon "Go-Go" Halloran, Mickey and Gwen who grew up together in a small town. They met as children a "vagabond" called Chicken George who lived on a shack in the woods. One night, Chicken George is "pushed" off a cliff, hurts his head and dies. The parents cover up the incident as the reasoning was Chicken George was touching Go Go in an inappropriate way.
The book begins with an adult Go-Go running his ca More...
The book begins with an adult Go-Go running his ca More...
Oct 09, 2011
Seamus
rated it:
3 1/2 stars.
There is a bit of the sociologist in Laura Lippman's standalone novels. While her Tess Monaghan series tends to be a bit too cutesy for my taste, her other novels strike a balance between cataloging the everyday lives (and problems) of a variety of characters from various rungs of Baltimore's social ladder and the slow-building tension of a mystery-thriller. Typically, these novels focus on an event from the childhood of one or more characters that continues to reverbe More...
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Jun 07, 2011
Will
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Something happened in the woods in 1979. A man died, covered in blood, mud and a litter of secrets. Whodunit? And why?
In late 1970s Baltimore five children join forces, the three Halloran boys and two girls, Mickey and Gwen. They are intimately connected to the death. Decades later an inebriated Gordon Halloran smashes his car into a concrete barrier and his demise summons the remaining four friends back together to face the past.
Laura Lippman has written a can’t-put-it-down More...
In late 1970s Baltimore five children join forces, the three Halloran boys and two girls, Mickey and Gwen. They are intimately connected to the death. Decades later an inebriated Gordon Halloran smashes his car into a concrete barrier and his demise summons the remaining four friends back together to face the past.
Laura Lippman has written a can’t-put-it-down More...
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Jan 30, 2012
Brenda
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Sep 29, 2011
Snotchocheez
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I generally avoid authors whose m.o. involves writing multiple books centered around one main character. Our local library seems to love Laura Lippman, who I remembered focuses her attention on the detective Tess Monaghan in most of her novels. This was sitting forlornly in the "New Releases" bin...saw in the jacket blurb that this was a "stand-alone" novel (meaning, I guess, no Tess Monaghan) so I thought I'd give it a try.
I'm glad I did; "The Most Dange More...
I'm glad I did; "The Most Dange More...
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Oct 02, 2011
Laurel-Rain
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The landscape of childhood is a territory that often defines who we ultimately become. And the five childhood friends in "The Most Dangerous Thing" do end up defined by their childhood experiences, especially those surrounding a time they all spent exploring the woods beyond the boundaries of their suburban homes.
Gwen, Mickey, and the three Halloran brothers, Tim, Sean, and Gordon (Go Go), find themselves part of a group, often led by Mickey, who is something of a tomboy an More...
Gwen, Mickey, and the three Halloran brothers, Tim, Sean, and Gordon (Go Go), find themselves part of a group, often led by Mickey, who is something of a tomboy an More...
Nov 23, 2011
Lynne
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Laura Lippman's novels continue to expand the tiny moments, the small things that happen in most lives, to events so large that they change the lives of those who were there and those who love the people who were there.
This is the case of THE MOST DANGEROUS THING. Five neighborhood kids play together back in the late 1970s, when it was possible in that part of Baltimore for middle-class and working-class kids to roam and play. They eventually wander into the woods nearby, getting deepe More...
This is the case of THE MOST DANGEROUS THING. Five neighborhood kids play together back in the late 1970s, when it was possible in that part of Baltimore for middle-class and working-class kids to roam and play. They eventually wander into the woods nearby, getting deepe More...
Sep 20, 2011
J.R.
rated it:
It was Victor Hugo who said no one keeps a secret so well as a child. That may be, but in this stunning new stand-alone novel Laura Lippman explores the psychological cost of such concealment.
The death of a childhood friend reunites four people and rips open a Pandora’s box, unleashing disturbing questions about an incident from their past.
Lippman deftly takes the reader back and forth in time, detailing how the participants met in the 1970s as children, the incident that sep More...
The death of a childhood friend reunites four people and rips open a Pandora’s box, unleashing disturbing questions about an incident from their past.
Lippman deftly takes the reader back and forth in time, detailing how the participants met in the 1970s as children, the incident that sep More...
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