Wilde Lake: A Novel

...are often false, or misinterpretations, or wishful thinking. And some stories you've been told feel wrong but can't be verified.

The best unreliable narrator book I've ever read.

-that redhead from MP

L Lippmann weaves a splendid tale that goes back and forth in time in the mind of Lu, just as we still feel like we're sixteen still too, just as we wonder about the whole truth in our own fabricated histories.

Laura Lippman is not a formula writer. She doesn't just repeat the same basic format in each of her books but explores different areas of and approaches to the mystery novel. "Wilde Lake" is another successful foray. After a murder occurs in generally peaceful Howard County Maryland, new State's Attorney Luisa Brant is pulled back several decades to a killing involving a member of her family and the story moves seemlessly back and forth between the two eras. As the Washington Post has observed, "She's one of the best novelists around, period."

Her novel, dense with local color and a few early episodes of dramatic content, yet morphed in the middle to feel like a literary novel, delving into the nuanced psychology of high school and adult personal life.
I was lulled into taking situations, facts, and explorations at face value without divining possibilities like I would in a typical detective novel. The final 50 pages or more had a number of reversals and reveals which surprised me, although earlier hints and facts supported the developments. Genre blending well done.

This story by Lippman started out a little slow, and I wasn't sure what the mystery was that is ever present in her works. But as usual her characterization drew me in and as I read about the lives of these simple at first sight yet very flawed and complex characters. I realized as I read that Lippman must love, as we all do the story of To Kill a Mockingbird. Her characters could have been an updated account of Scout, Jim, and their father Atticus and what happened to them as they "grew and matured". And yes there was even a "Truman Capote" character who became their beloved friend. I love Laura Lippman's work. She has never disappointed me and she didn't this time. I loved the characters, I cared about what happened to them, and in the last part the mysteries came swooping in with many surprises and moments that me think, " I knew it, I thought so."

This book was so disappointing. I love Laura Lippman's other books but this one really falls short of the mark. I found the main character so smug and superior that by the middle of the book I was rooting for her to be wrong about everything. And what was with all the allusions to "To Kill a Mockingbird"? I did finally finish the book but only because I hated to waste my money.

I always expect high things from Lippman and she delivers. Not here.Using the old "jump back and forth in time" trick she inartfully weaves a story of a family and their trials and tribulation,s mostly arising from one unfortunate event in the past. Honestly, I gave up after about 120 pages -- characters were boring, too many names to keep straight, and frankly I didn't really care what happened to this bunch of entitled do nothings.

This book was an engaging read and kept me guessing for most of the book, however, some of the "twists" were predictable. The focus on the main character's fathers's old case and the event from her brother's past seemed like two completely separate stories. I also had questions about the chapters told from the third person point of view - not quite from Lu's perspective, but rather an omniscient narrator - I thought the purpose for that narrator would be more clear. Not my favorite, but a page-turner, nonetheless.

Atticus, Jem, and Scout All grown up. Lippman is back at her best. A complex family story that pulls together a great tangle to create a smooth rug. Richly layered, detailed, and carefully paced we follow Lu as she comes to see how the past always, always, comes together with the present. Don't pass this up.

I've read every Lippman book--this is definitely not my favorite. I live very close to Columbia and found much of the portrayal to be stereotypical. I thought that the relationship between Lu and her father strained to be "...Mockingbird"-esque but could not come close.

A cynical and complex tale of family secrets. There was something appealing about the combination of a unlikeble central character and the layers of deceit in this story. As usual Lippmann is very accurate about her Baltimore and environs settings.