The Most Dangerous Thing

At the end Lippman admits this to be her most autobiographical novel in the sense that she set it in her childhood neighborhoods. Clearly she got lost in the nostalgia of her memories because she didn’t write a thriller or anything even close to it. Long, meandering and mostly pointless she

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delves into the lives of her characters in both the past and the present. The unknown, dark and ostensibly dangerous secret is none of those things. The unseen and malign presence that is supposed to be threatening the long disbanded group of friends is non-existent. There is no dread, no fear, no cringing doubt. It’s a flat story about an unattractive bunch of kids who (surprise) grow up to be an unattractive bunch of adults. I won’t say it was unreadable, because I was drawn into the story, but in the way that appeals to my inner voyeur, not because there was any kind of mystery or big revelation waiting for discovery. That aspect was a yawn-fest, but the differing points of view were pretty interesting and the writing was strong as usual. I just wish Lippman hadn’t gotten all misty-eyed on us and had given us a story with meat on its bones.

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They have been keeping a secret since childhood, and like most secrets do, it’s haunting them. Five friends: Gwen, Mickey, Tim, Sean, and Go-Go never talk about what happened in the woods that day, and it inevitably stretched their friendship to the limit. Putting distance between them was the

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best way to forget. They aren’t the only ones holding that information hostage though; some of the parents have held their tongues in hopes of protecting them too, but some secrets beg to be told. When one of the five friends dies they are brought together again to realize that there is a mystery lying under the truth that they have struggled to believe all along.
This story is told from many character perspectives, jumping from past and present, giving the reader an inside view of their lives and how they saw the events unfold. That’s an interesting way to approach a story, especially a mystery. The characters were described well enough for me to develop some love-hate opinions of them, and the twists at the end were refreshing and surprising. It’s downfall for me was that the start was slow, as was the pacing. I would have enjoyed the story more if the pacing would have picked up some speed, but overall the characters and the surprising twists made this a good read. I would recommend this to anyone who appreciates mystery and to be shocked at the outcome.

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First Line: They throw him out when he falls off the barstool.

Something happened one summer in Baltimore that made five best friends go their separate ways throughout the rest of school and on into their adult lives. When one of them dies and the rest slowly come together for the funeral, they

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begin to learn that the past never stays buried. It must be dealt with or there will be unwelcome consequences.

Once again Lippman does an excellent job at building suspense (just what happened that summer???) and diving into character and motivation. Those remembered days of childhood are every bit as clearly delineated as the present day trials the characters all have as grownups.

This book is a bit of a rarity for me-- and it's all due to Laura Lippman's skill as a writer. You see, I really didn't give a rap for any of the characters. There's not one single person in that book that I liked. If this leads to you believe that I hated this book, I wouldn't be surprised. But I did like it. Lippman makes that mysterious thing that happened on that long ago summer so compelling that I couldn't stop reading. I had to find out what happened and which of the characters were responsible.

Normally this character-driven reader prefers to have at least one character to like, respect, or admire. In the case of The Most Dangerous Thing, I kept thinking to myself, "You're all one big batch of messed-up people. What did you do to get that way?" Lippman answered my question in one beautifully written page after another.

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Laura Lippman's `The Most Dangerous Thing' takes a dark look at childhood, and its secrets and lies.

Five happenstance friends - the three wild Halloran boys, tomboy Mickey, and chubby Gwen - form a wonderous childhood `pack' as they play in the woods near their homes. The astute reader knows what

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dangers may lie ahead as the children discover a tumbledown cabin and its ragged inhabitant. Events spiral out of control, parents enter the picture, and decisions are made that will affect the lives of all five children.

No one leaves the woods untouched by the secrets of childhood, and when the four adult former friends gather for the funeral of the fifth, who died in questionable circumstances, memories of their summer in the woods surface.

Laura Lippman is, of course, famous for her highly successful Tess Monaghan series. And in `The Most Dangerous Thing' she returns to her Baltimore roots and creates an ambiance and story close to her own heart. But be warned: this isn't a Tess novel. It is a dark portrait of the human condition and a dark world where it isn't always safe to venture into the depths of the woods - or oneself.

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I’ve been a fan of Laura Lippman and her Tess Monaghan books for a long time. Although the novels in the Tess series are enjoyable, it’s in the stand-alone works that Lippman really shines. Each book is better than the last and The Most Dangerous Thing is no exception.

The story revolves around

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five tween/teenagers growing up in Baltimore in the last 1970s. The friends are as close as can be – think of each of them as arms on a five pointed start with their common friendship forming the center. Switching to the present, one of the friends dies in an accident bringing them all together again to revisit the past. As adults they can look back on their youth and examine the moment, an accident, that shattered their bond.

Lippman nails the tone of this book. When the narrator tells us about the accident through the eyes of the kids, the event seems subdued. The accident happens, the adults in their lives take care of things, and life goes on. Although the kids drift apart, they aren’t able to articulate how their lives have changed. They are too self-centered, in the way that only teens can be, to be reflective. As adults, when they re-examine that defining time in their lives, the story has added depth of emotion and an understanding of consequences only maturity and experience can bring.

This isn’t a story of black and white or right and wrong. It’s a collection of people continually making instinctual choices based on their life experience. Sometimes they get it right and sometimes their stupidity wins out. It’s about people doing their best to thrive and the weaknesses that slow them down. It’s about flawed human beings, and about life.

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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

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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 death an accident or suicide? Could the events from that long ago time still be affecting the present? For each of them? What really happened? They never spoke of it aloud after that day.

Each character (and a few more including the parents of the five) recounts their take on the event and what ripples and changes it may have caused in their lives. But the incident is not the only topic of each character - their hopes, dreams and disappointments are all fodder for each 'vignette'. Definitely a character driven novel.

I chose to listen to this book in audio format and I'm glad I did. I don't honestly think I would have enjoyed it as much in written form. (Or would it have kept my interest) Listening to reader Linda Emond made it a little more intimate, more like listening to someones thoughts and conversations with themselves. Emond's voice has rich undertones. She reads in a well modulated tone and pace, conveying the introspection of each character well.

The events of that day are central to the book and I wanted to find out what really happened. I don't think you could slot this book into any one category. There is a mystery, but It would also fit just as well into contemporary fiction - exploring the themes of friendship, betrayal, jealousy, guilt and much more.

A cameo appearance by Tess Monoghan ensures that her life is moving forward and that we can hope to see a new book about her soon.

The most dangerous thing?.......a secret?.....or the truth?......

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Since I am from Baltimore (the setting for this, and most of her books), Laura Lippman is an author that I enjoy reading. I was excited to have received this book as an Early Reviewer but am sad to say that I couldn't get into it. The more I read it, the less I cared about what the "truth" was

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going to turn out to be.

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There is a plot in here somewhere, but getting to it is a bit of a slog. Too much stream of conscienceness inside all the heads of the characters. The "mystery" becomes clear rather early on and I just wished the author would wrap things up, already. For more details you can read the reviews below.

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

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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.

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This is my first book by Laura Lippman. I have a few of her books but I just haven't gotten around to reading them just yet.

The Most Dangerous Thing is about a group of children and their families during the 70's and 80's. The main characters are Gwen, Mickey, and the three Halloran brothers named,

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Sean, Tim and Gordon or also known as Go-Go. This is back in the time when parents would let their children go outside and not worry about the dangers out there. These five children would hike through Leakin Park beyond where they knew there parents wouldn't let them go if they really knew.

The book goes from the present to the past in the chapters. You would be reading about any one of the main characters in the future and then they would start remembering things from the past. When you start reading The Most Dangerous Thing you read about Go-Go in the present day. He is thrown out of a bar and winds up killing himself either by accident or suicide, no one really knows. This is what begins the story of what really happened to Go-Go in the woods the day of the hurricane.

I enjoyed the book and how you realize that what had happened that one day in the park altered those five children and their respective lives. They lost touch with each other, became jealous of what the other one had and how they thought each one had it better then they did.

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I am relatively new to the mystery genre. I have read them in the past, but mostly because the mystery was a byproduct of a romance I was wrapped up in. Very few times have I picked up a novel because I wanted to play detective and figure out the whodunit. This novel wasn’t so much a whodunit as

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a shocking conclusion to a disturbing occurrence. I was completely involved in this story. I wanted to know what happened that caused the unlikely friendship between five souls to fall so beautifully and tragically apart.

As a mystery, I was held in suspense throughout the most of the novel. Ms. Lippman gave snippets of information, clues revealed through the past and present by several characters, but ultimately she left the big “Holy Chicken!” moment for the end. I have to admit I was thinking of rating this novel lower, mainly because of the disturbing nature at the core of the mystery. Then I realized how brilliant Ms. Lippman truly is. I didn’t suspect that finish at all. I appreciated that she made her villain flawed, truly unsuspecting much like the other characters on the novel.

Although I thoroughly enjoyed the mystery, I was underwhelmed by a couple of the characters, particularly Tally Robison. I think Tally would have made a fascinating character in her own novel but much of her story and motivation gets lost in this one. I really didn’t see the point in revealing so many details of her past; it added nothing to the story.

A character I really enjoyed getting to know was Doris Halloran. She had a touch of creepy about her. She’s sensitive, slightly delusional, a bit vindictive. Overall I think she was plain ol’ misunderstood.

There were a couple of big surprised in the novel that has nothing to do with the mystery but with Ms. Lippman’s literary prowess. There is a bit in the book when Doris tells of reading and loneliness. She is only twenty pages from the end of a novel she’s reading, but puts it down because she hates going to bed with a book finished. Mainly because…

“It’s a little less lonely, knowing she has a group of people waiting for her in the morning, people who can’t go on unless she opens the book.”

Ms. Lippman also writes about forgiveness.

“Allowing one’s self to be forgiven is just as hard as forgiving. Harder in some ways. Because to be forgiven, one first has to admit to being at fault.”

That my friends, is some good chicken. And the main reason why I read.

This novel has made me a Laura Lippman fan. I have I’d Know You Anywhere in my TRB pile and frankly, I can’t wait to dig into that one.

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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

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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 deeper and deeper into the trees, until they discover an old man living alone.

Tragedy ensues, death occurs. But what really happened? And what damage does telling the truth do to the now-grown children?

Lippman's exploration of these questions are breathtaking in her willingness to lay open the motives for why people would do what they do. The consequences often are brutal. That those consequences are unintentional is given weight in the story as well. And then Lippman goes even further. She takes those unintentional, brutal consequences and shows how they sometimes destroy people, and how they sometimes show people that they have the strength to carry on or to even forgive.

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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

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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 is it the strain of keeping the secret that is beginning to wear on them and everyone close to them? Each one of these old friends has to wonder if their secret has been discovered—and if someone within the circle is out to destroy them.

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Some will argue that THE MOST DANGEROUS THING is again not strictly crime fiction (I seem to be reading a few of those recently) and I think it will appeal to many who do not generally read the genre. That said, there is murder, and there is mystery aplenty.

Five children, three boys from one family

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and two girls from separate families, four of them of an age and one of the boys quite a bit younger, become a coalition, a group. Over a period of three years they explore the swampy forest on the land that abuts their homes. Their parents are busy leading their lives and are not particularly concerned what their children might be up to. Quite a considerable part of the novel details what growing up in these very different families is like. When they are finally and inevitably separated by school, college, or a new house, they and their parents share a secret that the children, and some of the parents, only half understand.

The perspective of the novel is nearly three decades on when one of the five dies in a car accident that could be suicide. Lippman cleverly fills the reader in on the separate paths each of the children have taken in life. The structure of the novel is designed to make you think: from sections labelled GO-GO, US, THEM, and PITY THEM to the occasional time frames used as chapter headings: Summer 1978, Autumn 1979 etc.

So, Lippman probably does achieve what it seems she set out to do: a cross-genre novel that talks about growing up, shared secrets, and things you may find it hard to talk about later in life.

A very interesting read.

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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

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(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 motivation is examined. The problem is that irrelevant information is often included. For example, Gwen's mother was an unfulfilled artist who constantly wondered whether she made a mistake by marrying young. These details add nothing to the plot. Virtually every character suffers from depression and guilt about some choice made in the past. In essence there is too much analysis and retrospection and not enough drama. The revelations at the end are anticlimactic because it is obvious which characters lied and what they lied about.

In the recounting of the childhood escapades, the use of first person plural narration - the "royal we" - is very annoying. Sentences like, "And then we met the man who lived in the woods" suggest that one of the five is the narrator, but then all five are identified in the third person. This narrative technique does nothing but irritate. Collective experience and/or guilt can be conveyed without resorting to such distracting tactics. Furthermore, the childhood friends are all so self-absorbed that suggesting they can think or speak as a unit is not convincing.

The novel examines a number of subjects: friendship, jealousy, secrecy, guilt, and forgiveness. Obviously, the idea that the past and its secrets are always part of the present is a major theme.

What is the most dangerous thing? A secret? The truth? People's good intentions? The reader will have to decide for him/herself if he/she decides to read this not-so-thrilling "thriller."

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In the Dickeyville area of Baltimore, five friends meet and bond. They form a group that they compare with the five arms of a starfish. They are Gwen, the Halloran brothers, Tim, Sean and Go Go, and the other girl, Mickey Wykoff.

They lived in a middle-class neighborhood where their parents didn't

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have to monitor their activities.

the story moves from the late 1970s to current time.

In the current day, Gwen returns home to care for her aged father who had injured his hip in a fall. While home, she meets Sean Halloran who informs her that his brother Go Go had died from suicide.

We learn of the character's lives since their childhood. Gwen had married a successful surgeon but doesn't know if she wants to live in a home where he is the only thing that mattered.

In 1978 the friends used to play in Leaken Park and while exploring came upon an abandoned cabin now being used by a homeless man they refer to as Chicken George.

The next year, Sean and Gwen were dating and Mickey and Go Go are at the cabin and there is an incident with Chicken George.

The facts of this incident vary depending on who is telling the story but it has a major effect on the futures of the friends and their parents.

the novel is entertaining but leaves the reader with a sadness that the innocence of childhood is such a fleeting thing.

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Wow. A powerhouse of a novel! I've always liked Laura Lippman's stand -alone's better than her Tess Monaghan novels. In this stand-alone she brings Tess into the picture. Granted it's a small part of the story but I thought it blended well. This suspenseful novel is about 5 adults who were friends

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for a year or so in their younger days. Something bad happened and all have suffered in some way from the incident. The writing and characterization is grand, and just when you think you have it figured out....watch out! This is a great read!!!!

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Five children play in the woods near their homes, despite their parents' warnings about danger. Tim, Sean, and Go-Go are brothers. Mickey and Gwen are the girls who join them for adventures. A terrible event occurs one summer evening in 1979, and the five kids are affected even thirty years later.

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Laura Lippman is a gifted writer, both in terms of story line and language. The primary message seems to be that keeping secrets works its way through the generations, resulting in dysfunctional marriages, poor life choices, misunderstandings of gargantuan proportions. It struck me, though, that this is pretty much a portrait of 21st century families in the USA, whether or not they've experienced traumatizing events as children.

Lippman's characters are well-drawn, although it helped me to jot down the names and relationships of the members of the three families, since the parents also play an important role in the dynamics of this novel. The shifts from present to distant past to mid-past made it somewhat difficult to figure out who knew what when. I would have given another half-star if I hadn't had to keep referring to my notes in order to keep things straight. An absorbing read, regardless.

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While I enjoyed the characters and the development of the story, I found book slightly long and drawn out. It was an interesting perspective to see how a situation in childhood can carry on throughout a person's adult life.

This is the story of 5 young friends and the summer that changed everything for them. Gwen is the daughter of a dr. and Mickey is the daughter of a single mother who is most concerned with herself. The three boys(Sean, Tim & Gordon) are sons of an abusive, prejudiced man. Gordon is the youngest and

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also somewhat manic. The five friends meet “Chicken George” who is a vagrant that lives at the edge of the woods. The night that "Chicken George" died Mickey claims he was sexually abusing Gordon. Mickey catches him and pushes George and he falls and hits his head.
When Gordon dies in a drunk driving accident, the old friends reunite for his funeral. Gwen and Tim put their heads together and discover the truth of that night.
I loved the characters in this book, but did not care for the ending.

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I've been on a mystery kick lately, and Lippman's The Most Dangerous Thing seemed a good fit. But instead the story moved at a snail's pace, with characters that I could not bring myself to care about. I even found myself not at all wondering what the big reveal was going to be. I had to force

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myself through to the end.

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The streak of excellent novels had to end sometime. End it did with the reading of Laura Lippman’s The Most Dangerous Thing. Even though she has won numerous awards for her work, The Most Dangerous Thing is not her most impressive piece of fiction. In fact, it falls flat as it explores the

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consequences of secrets from a long-ago event that tore apart a group of friends.

There are several issues with The Most Dangerous Thing that precludes a reader’s thorough enjoyment of the novel. One of these is the narrator. Told in first-person omniscient, the narrator never identifies him- or herself. Clues as to the identity of the mysterious and all-knowing narrator are confusing. While knowing the identity of the narrator is not necessary to the overall plot, it can be bothersome reading as this unknown entity inserts him- or herself into the story. It is both annoying and puzzling because the first-person narrative implies direct knowledge of the proceedings and direct involvement with each of the characters. Yet, as the story progresses and each of the characters’ struggles comes under the spotlight, the narrator eliminates each of the five main characters as possibilities. This makes the narrator an unknown sixth member of the group, which flies in the face of the constant mentioning of the five spokes of a star – which is how the group refers to itself. Again, it is not necessary to decipher the mystery of the narrator to understand or enjoy the rest of the novel, but it is a niggling presence that can exasperate an attentive reader.

The characters are another major issue of the novel. The Most Dangerous Thing hinges on the premise that these five people meant the world to each other, and something horrible caused them to fall apart. Actually, this is what Ms. Lippman would like the reader to believe. What comes across is something far different. For one thing, Ms. Lippman does not present her case well that these five teenagers were lifelong friends abruptly torn apart by secrets. A reader quickly realizes they were anything but lifelong friends, as they were only friends together for a brief period of time. Even though they spent a few key summers together, summer friendships are not the same thing as BFFs. Similarly, the secret that supposedly tore them apart was not quite as shocking or life-altering as one might expect, tragic though it is. Instead, readers can see the group of friends fracturing well before the secret event deepened the fissure. All this results in a story that does not quite sit right with a reader, as the idea of four people who last hung out together thirty years ago coming to the aid of a fifth childhood friend is highly unlikely. Even worse, the idea that these same four people would still refer to a forty-year-old man as Go-Go is even more laughable and just as aggravating.

Lastly, the mystery itself is the last major issue of the novel. The sense of horror and trauma that one would expect to exist once the final secret is uncovered never occurs. The big event that supposedly changes the course of their friendship is equally clouded, as the all-knowing narrator does not know what truly happened and never really shares the truth. Rather, the reader discovers the truth in nondramatic pieces. The effect is a novel that is a mystery without any suspense, a drama without any emotion. In other words, the entire story is about as anticlimactic as they come.

While Ms. Lippman is known for her mysteries, and while it technically does fall into that same category, it is difficult to consider The Most Dangerous Thing as a true mystery. There is no whodunit, no real suspense, and no life-or-death situations. Rather than letting the unfolding mystery set the tone and pace, the characters drive the plot as each reevaluates their life’s choices in the aftermath of the death of one of their childhood friends. Unfortunately, none of the characters is very enjoyable, leaving a reader unimpressed and unmoved by the urgency and emotions the characters supposedly feel. Even though there are glimpses of the talent that has made Ms. Lippman so popular among mystery enthusiasts, without a real mystery and without the necessary emotional connections to build suspense, The Most Dangerous Thing fails to impress.

Acknowledgments: Thank you to Chelsey Emmelhainz and Shawn Nicholls from William Morrow for my review copy!

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This book was ok. I so badly wanted to win it and I did but reading it didn't meet my expectations. I'm sure I'll read more of her books in the future.

I usually enjoy mysteries, but I really didn't like this book at all. The story moved along at a snail’s pace, and I didn't like reading the repetitious thoughts of so many depressed, sleazy characters.