Laura Lippman is most known for her Tess Monaghan series,
set in Baltimore. While Tess makes an appearance in this
stand-alone suspense novel, it is a brief one. However,
Lippman sets this novel near the Baltimore area and notes in
the afterword that it is her most geographically
autobiographical novel to date.
Lippman zips back and forth between the 1970s and modern
times in this story. The death of Gordon "Go-Go" Halloran
reunites a group of friends who have studiously spent most
of their adult lives ignoring each other (with the exception
of those who are brothers) because of an incident that
happened when they were children. Even as children, though,
they were an unlikely group.
Gwen (now a journalist for a magazine, undergoing a
separation from her surgeon husband), moved into the
neighborhood under less than ideal circumstances, but she
eventually won over her friend Mickey (a flight attendant in
her adult life), who couldn't afford treats, as her
mother struggled to make ends meet. Gwen and Mickey
ingratiate themselves into the Halloran family and befriend
the brothers - Go-Go, Tim (who fulfills a childhood dream
and works for the state's attorney's office), and Sean (who
works in public relations). They spend their time testing
what few boundaries exist and finding loopholes in the rules
their parents set out for them, which leads to them
exploring the nearby woods. It is here that their idyllic
childhood comes to an end as a hurricane bears down on the area.
As adults who gather for Go-Go's funeral, Gwen, Tim, and
Sean begin to uneasily come back together. Mickey (who now
goes by McKey) does not really want to have anything to do with
the group, although she seems comfortable trying to be alone
with Sean. Together, with the Halloron brothers' mother,
they try to figure out if Go-Go committed suicide or if his
death was a tragic accident. But when Gwen finds out from
Go-Go's estranged wife that he was receiving mysterious
phone calls from a private investigator that made him uneasy
just weeks prior to his death, she gets suspicious and
launches her own investigation in his death. Was someone
digging into their childhood secrets? Who would even know
to do such a thing?
I have read all of Lippman's Tess Monaghan books and many of
her stand-alone books. Lippman is typically great at
writing suspenseful psychological thrillers and excels at
character development. The characters in this book were
neither flat nor one-dimensional, but they weren't as rich
as I've come to expect from Lippman. The suspense was also
lacking. I felt that the big, mysterious event was actually
quite expected and cliche, which was quite a letdown. There
was a twist at the end of the book, part of which I expected.
Overall, I feel that Lippman is capable of so much more.
It's to her credit that I had higher expectations, but it
doesn't mitigate my feelings of disappoint.
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 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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