April 24th, 2024
Home | Log in!

Fresh Pick
MY SEASON OF SCANDAL
MY SEASON OF SCANDAL

New Books This Week

Fresh Fiction Box

Video Book Club

Latest Articles


April's Affections and Intrigues: Love and Mystery Bloom

Slideshow image


Since your web browser does not support JavaScript, here is a non-JavaScript version of the image slideshow:

slideshow image
Investigating a conspiracy really wasn't on Nikki's very long to-do list.


slideshow image
Escape to the Scottish Highlands in this enemies to lovers romance!


slideshow image
It�s not the heat�it�s the pixie dust.


slideshow image
They have a perfect partnership�
But an attempt on her life changes everything.


slideshow image
Jealousy, Love, and Murder: The Ancient Games Turn Deadly


slideshow image
Secret Identity, Small Town Romance
Available 4.15.24


By A Spider's Thread

By A Spider's Thread, July 2005
Tess Monaghan Series, #8
by Laura Lippman

Avon
Featuring: Tess Monaghan
367 pages
ISBN: 0060506717
Paperback (reprint)
Add to Wish List


Purchase



"Don't miss it, Tess Monaghan is on the case"

Fresh Fiction Review

By A Spider's Thread
Laura Lippman

Reviewed by Sandra Wurman
Posted September 15, 2005

Mystery Woman Sleuth

What happens when a righteous man of faith wakes up one morning to discover his perfect wife and their children missing? He calls on Private Investigator Tess Monaghan to find them. Problem is this erstwhile intelligent successful businessman insists that there is absolutely no reason why his wife would leave him. In fact to hear him tell it their marriage was perfect -- well in this case perfect is in the eye of the beholder. Mark Rubin is adamant that this breach in his marriage is temporary and once located, his wife will undoubtedly come to her senses and return. However, Tess isn't as certain. In fact as she investigates, a rather complex scheme unfolds along with a trail of insights into what points to a tragic tangle of lies. Tess is as off-the-cuff as Mark is straight-laced and they make an interesting, entertaining team when they join forces to find his family.

As often as you want to shake him to get him to recognize the truth being uncovered you are heartfelt to sympathize with the impending tragedy that seems inevitable. And throughout the book he never compromises his devotion to the tenets of his faith. The cast of characters form an intriguing web that impacts the destiny of them all.

There are no short cuts taken in BY A SPIDER'S THREAD. Not by Tess the investigator, not by Lippman the author and certainly not by the reader. As the case unravels you are privy to a step by step discovery of facts along with the characters. There is no way to guess the outcome of the book as you are always surprised with the next piece uncovered. Lippman writes a wonderful puzzle of a detective story and you just can't wait to get the next piece to see what picture is developing. Some books let you in on the secret at the very start and some rather transparently give you the solution along the way. The solution to this puzzle depends on the very last piece which isn't turned over until the last few pages. Be patient the end is worth the wait. BY A SPIDER'S THREAD is sure to make you a fan of Laura Lippman.

Learn more about By A Spider's Thread

SUMMARY

Mark Rubin's family is missing -- and the police can't do a thing because all the evidence indicates that his wife left willingly. So the successful furrier turns to Tess Monaghan, hoping she can help him find his wife and three children. Tess doesn't know quite what to make of Rubin, a wealthy Orthodox Jew who refuses to shake her hand and doles out vitally important information in grudging dribs and drabs. According to her client, he and his beautiful wife, Natalie, had a flawless, happy marriage. Yet one day, without any warning or explanation, Natalie gathered up their children and vanished.

Tapping into a network of fellow investigators spread across the country, Tess is soon able to locate the runaway wife and her stolen progeny, moving furtively from state to state, town to town. But the Rubins are not alone. A man is traveling with them, a stranger described by witnesses as "handsome" and "charming" but otherwise unremarkable to these casual observers, who have no way of sensing the fury beneath his smooth surface.

The motive behind Natalie's reckless flight lies somewhere in the gap between what Mark Rubin will not say and what he refuses to believe. An intricate web of betrayal and vengeance is already beginning to unravel, as memory begets rage and rage leads to desperation -- and murder. And suddenly much more than one man's future happiness and stubborn pride are in peril; the lives of three innocent children are dangling by the slenderest of threads.


What do you think about this review?

Comments

No comments posted.

Registered users may leave comments.
Log in or register now!

 

 

 

© 2003-2024 off-the-edge.net  all rights reserved Privacy Policy