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Read By A Spider's Thread (2005)

By a Spider's Thread (2005)

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Rating
3.71 of 5 Votes: 2
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ISBN
0060506717 (ISBN13: 9780060506711)
Language
English
Publisher
avon books

By A Spider's Thread (2005) - Plot & Excerpts

This was not my favorite Laura Lippman book. It had a good plot that kept it supspenseful to the very end but I didn't like any of the characters including Tess.While reading this book, it seemed like I was enrolled in a class about Orthodox Judaism. Most of the characters were Jewish so there didn't need to be so much discussions between one another about their Judaism. Natalie was the beautiful wife who disappeared with her children leaving her husband Mark wondering where they all were. She was so beautiful she was compared to classic women such as Natalie Wood and Elizabeth Taylor. There was nothing mentioned of her personality abd who she was or what she was like. Make me care about this "missing" person. We find out later some facts about her past way later in the book and that just makes you care even less about her. Mark owned a family fur store and was a bulliying businessman that made him wealthy. Not too likeable from the get go bu then we learn more about him way later in the book and he too has secrets from his past and when revealed make him even less likeable.The charcters in this book had many flaws and were. It nice people. That isn't bad in and of itself because that is how real life is but it makes it hard to bond with any of the characters. I didn't even care about the little personal things going on in Tess' life. They seemed irrelevant and boring. She had this group of women that helped her out on her cases that did not seem the least bit believeable. Ok, there was one ok character and that was Issac, Natalie's son. He seemed to be the only one with a conscience. But even his knowledge seemed unrealistic and he had a chauvinistic opinion toward women so his likeability was limited.In the end when we finally learn all the truths and the disappearance of Natalie and the children is resolved, I didn't care and just wanted it to end. I will read other books by Laura Lippman. This one just didn't work for me.

I listened to the audio-book version of this story. The mystery portion of the book is good, not great, but definitely good. What really makes this book click for me is that Ms. Lippman does a really nice job of looking at the similarities and differences between Christian and Jewish families and cultures. There is so much about us that is similar despite what seems to be a huge gulf at times. Ms. Lippman does a terrific job of letting those moments come through in her story without ever being preachy or taking sides. I also think her characters are well drawn and three dimensional. I also liked how she brought out their thoughts and motivations, slowly and thoroughly over the course of the novel. She allowed her characters to do some horrible things without becoming completely horrible, allowed smart characters to make stupid mistakes without becoming idiots, and gave me some insight into why people might do things that don't seem rational at first.

What do You think about By A Spider's Thread (2005)?

This is another in the Tess Monaghan series set in Baltimore. In this installation, Crow is at his parent's house as his mother ungoes cancer treatment. Tess had rejected Crow's suggestion of marriage, but Tess's Aunt Kitty marries. Tess's customer is a devout Jewish businessman whose wife and 3 children have disappeared. The wife has run away with her husband's step brother, and the step brother plans to kill the husband. I liked the way that Lippman interweaves Jewish customes into the story. And I especially like the 8-year-old son, Isaac. In this book, Tess questions her own JEwish heritage and her true feelings towards Crow. Also, we meet a women detective network, that really sounds interesting.#8 Tess Monaghan
—Debbie Maskus

I am relatively new to the Tess Monaghan series, having "discovered" Laura Lippman after reading "I'd Know You Anywhere" - and I've devoured most of the series in the past week (thank you, local library e-book collection!)What I like about Tess: she is fantastically, unapologetically flawed. What I can't stand about Tess: she doesn't seem to make a great deal of progress in the 10+ years her series has been written. It's difficult to root for someone who doesn't seem to be going anywhere.I haven't read the last three books yet, but this one is my least favorite. The only character I truly liked was Isaac. Tess was such an ambivalent character throughout the investigation - even all the lessons on Judaism seemed to bounce off her without leaving a mark. The Snoop-Sisters mailing list was another missed opportunity to delve deeper into Tess's character and show some character development and growth. I just felt like I was being "informed" instead of inside a story, on an adventure, like I had in previous Tess books. Same old thing with Crow...like, move on already. And the characters of Natalie and Zeke were terrible. I never knew who to hate more, and since I basically hated everyone, it was a testament to the strength of the earlier novels that I even finished the book.Just a miss all the way around. Also: glaring error. 313 is the area code for Detroit, not southwestern Indiana.
—Natalie

tess gets a client referred by her uncle donald, and meets the peculiar mark rubin, a modern orthodox jew who sells furs. this was not my favorite lippman. i think my favorite part occurred when whitney showed up, and that was late in the novel. i read these books for tess, not for whole chapters about the people she is looking for, etc. i understand why the story had to be told this way, or at least, why she chose it, but i didn't really care about natalie or lana or zeke at all. i did like isaac. but. not enough to make up for the lack of feeney and crow. and for heaven's sake, aunt kitty decides to get married and we have like, THREE scenes of it. truly a lost opportunity that i am mourning. at least miata and esskay were there. i still want to go to baltimore, and the eastern shore, but this wasn't her best. of course, i hold lippman to some high standards - she's in a separate category from james patterson. i should make a new shelf for the real quality thrillers . . .
—stephanie

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