Every Secret Thing

When Ronnie and Alice were 11, they murdered a baby; they were convicted and incarcerated until they turned 18. Newly released, and replete with psychological problems, each is attempting to adjust to life outside juvenile detention--when children start to go missing. . . As the Baltimore Police, whom Laurence Bouvard portrays with heavy Brooklyn accents, seek the missing children, crime scenes are described in graphic detail. When the police turn their attention to Ronnie and Alice, the mystery surrounding the original murder and their roles in it takes the fore. Bouvard reads with a measured pace as Lippman delves into the psyches of the disturbed teens. However, Bouvard begins each sentence with a burst of sound, and the resulting uneven volume detracts from the story. M.B.K. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine


Gina Paletta is a lingerie-model-turned-religion-professor who is being stalked by a student-turned-drug-dealer, who is also a murder suspect. This audio production demonstrates several inconsistencies. The plot alternates between sections of plodding minutiae and events that lack credibility and leave the listener puzzled. And narrator Julia Gibson's voice changes throughout the production for reasons that are not clear; sometimes it's oddly accented, and at other times it changes in tone. The chapters' awkward prefaces add to the choppy nature of the performance. Overall, this production succeeds only for those looking for entertainment that requires little listener involvement. L.B.F. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

July 7, 2003
With this engrossing mystery/suspense stand-alone novel, Lippman, winner of the Edgar, Shamus and Agatha awards for her series featuring likable heroine Tess Monaghan (Baltimore Blues; Charm City; The Last Place) solidifies her position in the upper tier of today's suspense novelists. Two 11-year-old children—good girl Alice Manning and bad girl Ronnie Fuller—wander homeward in Baltimore after being kicked out of a friend's pool party. They discover a baby in an unattended carriage by the front door of a house and steal it away. The reader watches in horror, knowing what will come next. The baby dies, and Alice and Ronnie are imprisoned for seven years. The mystery involves which girl did the killing, and which was the dupe. After release from prison, their blighted lives move inexorably toward further horror and tragedy. Lippman slowly relinquishes the facts of her story, building suspense as she reveals the past. Her well-honed prose is particularly suited to descriptions that impart more than just appearances: "Holly was one of those people who seemed to be put together with higher quality parts than everyone else"; "...there was something menacing in the very fineness of his bones, as if a bigger boy had been boiled down until all that remained was this concentrated bit of rage and bile." With this book, much darker than any in her past series, Lippman shows she is an author willing to take risks in both writing and storytelling. Her deft handling of this disturbing material is sure to increase the breadth of her readership. (Sept. 2)Forecast:Look for this one to garner critical praise with a sales boost to follow. Fans will hope to see series hero Tess Monaghan—who seemed a bit tired in her last outing—back on the page soon, reinvigorated from her time off. Major ad/promo; eight-city author tour.