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The Most Dangerous Thing

by Laura Lippman (Goodreads Author)

3.21 of 5 stars 3.21 · rating details · 2,839 ratings · 528 reviews

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 ("Go-Go"), the youngest and wildest of the five, has died unexpectedly and the other four have come together for the first time in year...more

Paperback, 368 pages

Published May 1st 2012 by William Morrow Paperbacks (first published August 23rd 2011)

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Sep 09, 2011 Pam rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed

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 quickly skimming t...more

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Dec 28, 2011 Kim rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: first-reads

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!

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Aug 12, 2012 Eren Cain rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a strange book. A perverse book. But it's also a really good book.

I love Laura Lippman, and actually just interviewed her on my blog about what it was like for her writing her first novel. I'll publish it on or after Aug 20th, but as a run up to that, I'm reading alot of her work.

This is her most recent. In it, are two groups of people/friends, who've grown up together. The children, and their parents. I'm not going to say much about the story, because it's a slippery slope. You really n...more

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Jul 20, 2012 Amy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Lies, omissions of truth, deception, and secrets kept for years, these are the elements of Laura Lippman’s novel The Most Dangerous Thing. Alternating between the present and the late 1970s the story revolves around a group of five main characters and their families. Mickey, the tomboy, Gwen, the somewhat more privileged and somewhat awkward meet the Halloran brothers, Tim, loud and outspoken, Sean, the perfect son, and Gordon, called Go-Go, the wild child yearning to emulate the older kids, for...more

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Jul 11, 2012 Jaime rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, general_fiction

I did not like this book anywhere near as much as I’ve liked Lippman’s other novels. She states that this is the most personal book she’s written, setting it in the area she grew up in, and I think the plot suffers for it.

The story follows the adult versions of childhood friends Gwen, McKey (nee Mickey), Tim, and Sean, awkwardly brought together after the death of the boys’ younger brother, Gordon. They are all keeping a terrible secret, which is supposed to be revealed to us in drips and drabs...more

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Jul 02, 2012 Sara rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

You know I'm never shy when I review a book and those I love I tell everyone and their cousins about it because I feel like authors are undervalued. More people should be absorbed in books and the value of a good book in under appreciated. Unfortunately, that's not the case so much here.

What makes this hard is that technically speaking, Laura Lippman is a great writer. She isn't addicted to adjectives, her writing flows and it's easy to read. The problem with this book is that after every singl...more You know I'm never shy when I review a book and those I love I tell everyone and their cousins about it because I feel like authors are undervalued. More people should be absorbed in books and the value of a good book in under appreciated. Unfortunately, that's not the case so much here.

What makes this hard is that technically speaking, Laura Lippman is a great writer. She isn't addicted to adjectives, her writing flows and it's easy to read. The problem with this book is that after every single chapter I was irritated wondering when the story would start. She spends CHAPTERS on character development, switching from present to past tense so you know the dynamic between the characters, and it was just too much. It felt... melodramatic. I was so frustrated by the time it got to what the "dark secret" was and when I read it, I was disappointed. It basically left me wondering "really, that's it??".

One of my biggest pet peeves with real life people, but also fictional characters, who let things from their past dictate their future. I am a big believer that everything that happens to you in the is meant to shape your future but it shouldn't hinder it. I think people are too afraid sometimes to make a wrong decision so they rely on what is comfortable. Why go against the grain of life when it's just easy to do what you've always done? So when I read books with characters whose entire life are based on a moment in time so far in the past and they chose not to deal with it? I feel kind of stabby and I instantly dislike them.

So, overall I didn't love the book. I was left feel underwhelmed and disappointed. Is that to say you won't read it and just love it? No. I thing if you really like books that have the thread about history dictating your future and what poor choices over a life time can do, then you will love this book. I am only the second blogger on this tour, but go HERE to see what other blogs are reviewing this book as well. You can also go to the author's website HERE to learn more about the book, her previous works, and author information. She also has a Facebook page HERE if you want to check that out. (less)

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May 25, 2012 Book Him Danno rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, books-sent-by-author-publisher-for

Getting up from your mistakes and trying to live well today; to try again.

I struggled with this book; not because it was bad, but rather it is a break in style from what I expect from Laura Lippman. I can genuinely claim Lippman is in my top 5 favourite authors, and I anxiously await each new release. The Most Dangerous Thing has her taking risk with her voice and unfortunately that collided with my preconceived notions. I believe this is an acquired taste and could prove to be one of her best...more

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Apr 08, 2012 Jon rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I saw the author on Craig Ferguson the other night, and she seemed smart and reasonable. She also said that "the most dangerous thing" is finally revealed in the last sentence of the book. That sounded like careful planning to me, so I thought I'd give it a try. She told the truth--it IS revealed in the last sentence. Trouble is, nobody, including the reader, was asking the question. I counted at least 13 major characters in this book, each major enough to get at least one chapter told from his/...more

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Apr 07, 2012 Steve rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This may not be the best book Lippman has written in years, but she sounds like she had more fun writing it than anything since What The Dead Know. She's refound that quirky sense of humor that was lacking in her most recent work.

The book revolves around five adults--three brothers and two women--who grew up together and have gone their more-or-less separate ways until one of them dies in a car accident that may have been intentional. Gordon "Go-Go" was younger than the others, and his sudden de...more This may not be the best book Lippman has written in years, but she sounds like she had more fun writing it than anything since What The Dead Know. She's refound that quirky sense of humor that was lacking in her most recent work.

The book revolves around five adults--three brothers and two women--who grew up together and have gone their more-or-less separate ways until one of them dies in a car accident that may have been intentional. Gordon "Go-Go" was younger than the others, and his sudden death forces the others to re-live and re-examine a horrible event that happened when they were in their teens. The set-up and premise are a little like S.J. Rozan's Absent Friends and Evan Hunter's Last Summer (to go back much farther), but Lippman makes the material her own.

Part of the wonder of the book is that Lippman uses about a dozen narrative voices, and they all are distinctive. All five former children and all the parents have their say. No one is perfect, but we can understand and sympathize with most of their foibles and failings. Lippman has regained her use of literary allusions and references to films and songs not only to anchor the action in various time periods (the book moves between the present and the late-seventies to early-eighties) but also to give each character a clear mindset and attitude. She also uses the overall "We" narrator I think I first saw in William Faulkner's "A Rose For Emily," and she makes it all work without really calling much attention to it.

Lippman has always written strong characters, but this may her most successful plotting in awhile, too, telling the story through short, non-sequential episodes. She has done that before in recent books, but it works better here, maybe because there are so many narrative viewpoints, all of which contribute to our overall understanding of the situation, the people, and the choices they all ultimately made. Those choices lead to a series of small calamaties and one big one. The many viewpoints allow Lippman to give us information in small portions and to withhold certain things from us while still playing fair. Yes, the book is a mystery, sort of, but it's more a study of people trying to figure out what the hell went wrong and why did it happen to THEM.

Like the best work of Lehane, Connelly, and Rozan, Lippman lets you think you know what's going on, but keeps pulling another twist out of the groundwork she's given you. It's all logical, but never what you expect.

I've heard very divergent opinions on this book, and I really believe that's because many readers want to treat this as a memoir or something else that it isn't, like a fairly standard mystery. Lippman says it's her most geographically autobiographical novel about the Baltimore area she inhabited once, but that doesn't matter. Even if you grew up in Australia or the Ukraine, you'd respond to these characters. (less)

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Mar 06, 2012 Doreen rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In the late 1970s, five childhood friends (Gwen, Mickey, Sean, Tim and Go Go)spend their free time exploring the woods outside their Baltimore neighbourhood. Then a tragedy occurs which changes their lives and those of their parents. It is a tragedy which they never discuss until Go Go's death (accident or suicide?) brings them together. Gradually the truth of what really happened in the woods is revealed.

The viewpoints of the friends are given, as are those of the parents. Everyone's motivatio...more

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Jan 12, 2012 Kat rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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...more

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Dec 28, 2011 Marlyn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

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. Then he makes...more

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Dec 21, 2011 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: family-relationships, free-book-for-honest-review, mystery, own-it, read-in-2011, reader-s-club-review-request, second-chance

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 about his brother, Go Go's death from s...more

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Dec 21, 2011 Gloria Feit rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 recreating and juxtaposi...more 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 recreating and juxtaposing scenes from the past with those of the present, from the time when “everything was perfect until the moment it wasn’t,” in the lives of five youngsters in their early teens, three brothers and two young girls. Ultimately each of these, along with their parents and siblings and extended families, will have their own chapters, describing events which took place in 1980, in their native Baltimore, with p.o.v. changes from one character to another and from those early years to the present time, when most of them have grown children of their own, all of it shaped by one pivotal ‘incident’ [insert your own euphemism] which changes all of their lives forever. The reality of the events of that night is different for each of them, children and parents alike. And ultimately it is about secrets kept, or not.

One of the three brothers, Gordon (“Go-Go”) Halloran, nine years old in 1980 and always the most reckless of the three, although presently two years sober, leaves the bar at which he has just fallen off the wagon and does not make it home alive, crashing into a wall at about 100 mph. There is a question about whether it was a tragic accident, or something somehow worse.

I found this book [in which, btw, Tess Monaghan makes a cameo appearance] a departure for this author, and very thought-provoking. I suspect it too will stay in my memory for a long while. Parenthetically, I loved Ms. Lippman’s description of one perpetually angry character who, when counting to ten, started at nine. But there are many memorable moments, and personalities, here.

Recommended.
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Dec 13, 2011 Margaret rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: thriller-mystery-suspense

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 writer -...more

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Oct 21, 2011 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 whose seed...more 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 whose seeds were planted back in their childhoods.

WHO do we meet?

* Gwen is the fat girl turned swan who is trying to escape her unfulfilling marriage while dealing with her past. Her story is the heart of the book, and she is the primary narrator. She is nursing her elderly father in her childhood home, and confronting her past for the first time in many years.
* McKey (formerly Mickey) is a flight attendant who lives a carefree and commitment-free lifestyle, estranged from her mother and brother and everyone else from her past.
* the Halloran boys (cautious Sean, middling Tim and wild GoGo) round out the group of friends. The death of GoGo is the event that brings the former friends together and forces them--and their parents--to confront the realities of what happened that summer years ago.
* Tess Monaghan (a detective who has been featured in numerous Lippman books) makes a cameo appearance.

WHEN and WHERE does the book take place?

Like almost all of Lippman's books, the setting takes place in Baltimore, with the narrative shifting between the present day and the events that happened in the late 1970s.

WHY should you read this book?

If I were you, I'd take a pass on this one and read one of Lippman's other books (such as I'd Know You Anywhere or What The Dead Know or some of the Tess Monaghan books). I thought Lippman stumbled badly with this book. Part of the problem was too much going on. Lippman attempts to work in viewpoints from multiple characters (all the kids AND their parents), and the result is that no one character is well-developed. I really didn't feel invested in anyone, and the frequent jumps from character to character gave the book a fragmented feel. As soon as I started getting invested in a story line, the focus would shift and I'd lose the narrative thread. In addition, the "most dangerous thing" felt underdeveloped and got lost in the shuffle. By the end of the book, I was just going along to finish it up and be done with it. Although the book is readable and I found myself wanting to know more about various characters, I felt like the book could have used some more development and editing to make it come together as a cohesive whole. Although Lippman can write, this isn't her best effort.(less)

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Oct 14, 2011 Luanne Ollivier rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 years. Was Gogo's de...more

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Oct 02, 2011 Linda rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Sep 23, 2011 Kathleen (Kat) Smith rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary-fiction

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 admit to what they've done or...more

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Sep 15, 2011 Mary Gramlich rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 adventure and challenge the parent...more 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 adventure and challenge the parental boundaries.

Tim, Sean and Gordon or “Go-Go” to everyone who knew him were the wild Halloran brothers who befriended two girls Mickey and Gwen and all of their lives took on new meaning. They were young when the escapades started and grew up together experimenting with finding out as much about each other as they did themselves. Go-Go was never as fast or quite as bright as the rest but he kept up even when they tried to lose him. They got into all manner of mischief including the discovery of an abandoned cabin with a strange man living inside. This man had no name and the mystery of who he was and where he came from was too intoxicating to this fearless five. The kids believed he was harmless, but that is the problem when you are young you trust everyone, sometimes the wrong one. Growing up was painful, when they parted it was with bitterness.

After years of separation, the building of lives independent from each other they are reunited by Go-Go’s sudden and horrific death. No one wants to believe it could be suicide but everyone thinks that his actions don’t add up to accidental death. When the group of five now down to four start to remember the events of their time in the woods some of the secrets that should have stayed buried start to surface. Each of them knows something they don’t want to share but no one can keep a secret and the four of them are determined to piece together what factor drove them apart and the one thing each of them wished had gone in a different direction.

There was jealousy, manipulation, and some strange behavior but did any of that make the night of storm less real and more imagined?

This book took me completely by surprise. Not that I did not think I was going to like the book as I am a Laura Lippman fan, but that she had taken her writing in a different direction. This book is gripping, suspenseful and feels too real for comfort but you can’t put it down. Childhood stories are usually told as happy and wonderful times which is the white-washed version we remember, but when you peel back the layer what you find is not quite as innocent as we thought it was. My only objection was with some loose ends that did not get tied up enough for me but I am a close the book, close the story, and not have questions type of reader. (less)

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Sep 12, 2011 Pam rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 apart years ago by that...more

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Sep 08, 2011 Susan Johnson rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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?
As the friend...more

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Sep 05, 2011 Larraine rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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...more

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Sep 03, 2011 Kathleen Hagen added it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011-audio-books, 2011-mysteries

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. And there is...more

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Jul 15, 2011 Jackie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: work-review-related-reading

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 that formed them into th...more

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Apr 05, 2012 Susanhayeshotmail.com rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have such mixed feelings about this novel. Something Bad happened back in the late 70s to a group kids, 3 brothers, 2 neighboring girls, friends for a year or so, who live in a Baltimore suburb during a time when kids still had the freedom to roam unsupervised for most of the day. The story unspools from differing points of view, switching back and forth between the past and present, with lots of introspection and weighing of choices, motives and consequences by all involved, including the par...more I have such mixed feelings about this novel. Something Bad happened back in the late 70s to a group kids, 3 brothers, 2 neighboring girls, friends for a year or so, who live in a Baltimore suburb during a time when kids still had the freedom to roam unsupervised for most of the day. The story unspools from differing points of view, switching back and forth between the past and present, with lots of introspection and weighing of choices, motives and consequences by all involved, including the parents but never, ever, GoGo (Gordon) around whom the great mystery revolves and whose death raises the introspection and weighing of choices to a new level. Much consideration is given to the mutual and unvoiced decision to never, ever talk about The Bad Thing and how that has played out in individual lives. What is the most dangerous thing? A secret? Talking or not talking about It - the truth? Well meaning intentions - motivations for actions as well as inaction? That's all good to think about but I have some buts:

Who in the heck is the narrator? User of the royal we? It doesn't appear to me to be any of the actual characters, including GoGo - as if from the Great Beyond. I found it somewhat irritating. At first I thought it would be different views of each of the kids but no, it became quite apparent when they were "speaking." Then I started wondering if there had been a sixth, unknown observer of the group's activities. Not so.

GoGo - this kid is crazy before The Bad Thing but why is never really expressed. Undiagnosed ADHD? Was it just his role in the family? His mother covers up some of his behaviors, she believes to protect him but really, is his previous behavior so outlandish that no one ever questions the fact that this kid is not only suddenly wetting his bed but is torturing cats? I wanted to slap somebody. Apparently the collective guilt and unspoken pact to never discuss It did not leave room for considering that this child might need a little something more than silence.

And the great reveal at the end, after such a long, slow and agonized build up just did not ring true to me. I really can't see the brothers, after an evening of booze and cheap candy, being able to just shrug off the events and forgive the one who has held the key to all of this for more than 20 years. Granted there is more than just the one factor but is it supposed to be such a relief to have their own guilt and fears relieved that they can instantly forgive not just the abuse of their brother but very likely the actions that led to his probable suicide? Seriously, I want to know because I don't think it's as simple as "we were friends once, we were there, we'll be here for you now.

(less)

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Aug 19, 2012 Mara rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Definitely more character-driven than plot-driven, with a mystery not quite as huge as others. But I still love Lippan's writing, and this was no exception. Some favorite quotes from the novel:

"Her dilemma- the eternal human dilemma-- is that she wants a chance to revisit her choices with full knowledge of the future." (p.125)

"Whatever you want at any moment, someone else is getting it. Whatever you have, someone else is longing for." (p.126)

"In some ways, tragedies averted are even more terrify...more

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Aug 13, 2012 Andrea rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is my second Laura Lippman book and while I liked it, I didn't love it. I wanted to love it. I wanted to finish the last page and say "that was amazing". I couldn't. I found myself skimming sections of this book and not caring about the characters. There were so many major characters in this book that I had trouble caring about them. I found myself wondering how many re-writes it took to give us the final product.

The title was my first issue. Even after a few days and I was still trying to...more This is my second Laura Lippman book and while I liked it, I didn't love it. I wanted to love it. I wanted to finish the last page and say "that was amazing". I couldn't. I found myself skimming sections of this book and not caring about the characters. There were so many major characters in this book that I had trouble caring about them. I found myself wondering how many re-writes it took to give us the final product.

The title was my first issue. Even after a few days and I was still trying to figure out what the dangerous thing was. Then, I realized just today that the "thing" was secrets. Secrets are a dangerous thing. Secrets and lies. This could have been an alternate title to the book. Each time you turn the page another secret or lie has come to the surface. Some of thes secrets and lies are unnecessary and honestly frustrating and take away from the story. But then again, small lies are often the most damaging.

This is a story of 5 kids from a neighborhood, 3 brothers and 2 girls. You have it all ... the chubby girl, the risk taker, the smart one, the cute one, and the wild child. Separate they are average but together, they push each other just enough to be special. These children grow up. They all start becoming their own people but still wanting to stay the same. We know this cannot happen. Through these changes poor decisions are made. Assumptions are made. The thought that the people you spend the most of your time with would never hurt you is only later proven to be complete opposite.

We see the group of 5 as children in the late 70's and early 80's and in the present as adults. We see their parents during that same time frame, the same age as their children now then as elderly grandparents. The chapters of this book jump between characters. Between eras. It can be confusing and frustrating. Almost as if when you think you have figured out what is going on a switch is made.

The story starts with the present and a sad and unhappy soul. He has struggled with addiction his entire adult life and has made poor decisions as a result. We see this man as a child, the wild child. Today they would call him ADHD, but then he was "wild". You know from the first chapter that something has happened to this man as a boy. Something has damaged him. We know he has 2 older brothers. Both brothers are successful and living happy married lives. These brothers do not make mistakes. They do not dissapoint their families. You feel bad for the man and learn that you feel bad for all three of the men.

We learn that our chubby girl is no longer that. She has blossomed and grown into a woman that men want to be with. She is smart and successful. The daughter of a doctor. The youngest of three and the "surprise" that was most cherished. We know too that this woman suffers. Suffers from never feeling she is enough. Searching and wishing for the love that lost out on young in life.

The risk taker, the one that would jump the creek. The girl that could manipulate situations to be the victim yet never looking pathetic. She doesn't change. She has only grown to a bitter woman fixated on having what she's always thought was hers.

We learn as adults that ultimately the person we were as a child never really goes away. The bonds we make as children are there. Sometimes the person you need the most is the person you see the least. These adults discover the lengths their parents went to for them as children. They discover how a single lie can set forth a chain of events that lasts 30 years. They discover that secrets that are built on lies can send a person into a downward spiral that nobody can control.

This book is not for a quick read. It is slow in parts and frustrating in many. However, it does show how far a parent will go for their child and how far that child is willing to go for another.

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Jul 20, 2012 Debbie Tanner rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: chapter-books

I really like Laura Lippman's writing. She has written several books about a private investigator named Tess Monaghan. Tess is a great character who lives in Baltimore. Lippman's details about Baltimore are so deep and inviting. I keep thinking I want to go there. This story only had a blip of Tess and the other characters are quite interesting but the story was a little confusing. It revolves around 5 friends who live in the same neighborhood during the late 70s and are quite good friends until...more

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Feb 18, 2012 Dale rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 different schools but all live i...more

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About Laura Lippman

Laura Lippman was a reporter for twenty years, including twelve years at The (Baltimore) Sun. She began writing novels while working fulltime and published seven books about “accidental PI” Tess Monaghan before leaving daily journalism in 2001. Her work has been awarded the Edgar ®, the Anthony, the Agatha, the Shamus, the Nero Wolfe, Gumshoe and Barry awards. She also has been nominated for othe...more

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“Whatever you want, at any moment, someone else is getting it. Whatever you have, someone else is longing for.” — 14 people liked it

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