By a Spider's Thread, William Morrow, and Every Secret Thing, William Morrow, each $24.95, Laura Lippman.
If the characters weren't vivid and interesting this would of course be a slow and boring book. But while they are not always likeable - they're too fine tuned for that - they are amazingly lifelike. And Lippman, bringing her finely tuned novelist's skills, honed over many Tess Monaghan mysteries, never hits a wrong or a false note, and every character is indelible, sometimes unfortunately so. There are one or two of them I wish I didn't have swishing around in my brain but there they are, real as can be. This is an unforgettable book about crime, told in complicated yet seemingly simple and effortless layers. I couldn't recommend it more highly.
Lippman's new Tess Monaghan novel, By a Spider's Thread, profits, I think, from the fresh point of view she brought to Every Secret Thing. Unlike most of the previous novels, this one is told with a split point of view - alternating between a man who has come home to find his wife and children missing, and the missing wife and children. The missing wife and children portion is told mainly through the eyes of the man's oldest son, Isaac, and if the characters in Every Secret Thing weren't so likeable, Isaac more than makes up for it. A serious and intelligent nine year old, he's voiced with such vividness that he stays with you long after you've finished the book.
The alternating chapters involve Tess and the missing Isaac's father as they together try to find his family. Lippman is so smooth she's able to toss in some very funny bits about Aunt Kitty's wedding (and Tess's part in it) as well as describe a new online support group of female PI's called the Snoop Sisters that Tess uses to good advantage in tracking down Isaac and his siblings. But there's a freshness here which really made the book compelling and interesting - Lippman has twisted the PI formula to good effect. This book may not be strictly about the aftermath of crime, but it certainly details what leads up to the various crimes in this book, and because Lippman has so carefully laid her groundwork that when revelations come late in the novel they aren't so much of a total surprise as an "aha" moment. The ending is both satisfying and heartbreaking, and Tess, eternally dithering over her relationship with Crow (who, let's face it, has very few faults), seems to come to some sort of decision about him. It remains to be seen what that decision is, but I'm certainly looking forward to finding out.
Editor's Postscript: Every Secret Thing has been nominated for an Anthony award for best novel.
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