- Hardcover: 354 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins Canada / Fiction (Jun 17 2004)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0060506695
- ISBN-13: 978-0060506698
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 16 x 3.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 612 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,558,944 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Tess Monaghan is back. After last year’s haunting standalone novel Every Secret Thing, Lippman returns with her eighth installment in an award-winning crime series. This time out the determined reporter-turned-private detective agrees to help a handsome but off-puttingly rigid Orthodox Jewish furrier Mark Ruben find his missing wife and children. Monaghan was recommended to the uptight furrier by her Jewish uncle, who spent years working with Ruben in a volunteer program that instructed Jewish prisoners in Jewish rituals and traditions. Ruben makes Monaghan feel as if she knows nothing about being Jewish, even though her mother’s family is Jewish. He also makes her feel as if she knows nothing about commitment. About the only thing that makes her like Ruben is the cash he’s willing to pay her up front. As weeks go by, Monaghan uncovers a tangle of lies and dark plans that reveal that Ruben’s gorgeous young Russian Jewish bride is anything but innocent. Yet much to Monaghan’s amazement, nothing seems to dim Ruben’s faith in his own tradition or to rock his sense of his role and responsibilities as a husband and a father. Lippman delivers a smart, fast-paced, nuanced story that features a well-drawn supporting cast, including the endearing if dangerous city of Baltimore itself. Lippman’s bad guys never become as interesting as her good guys, but there are some captivating touches here, including a criminal who studies the plots of crime novels in prison. Lippmann’s many fans will be thrilled.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.
Review
“Both entertaining and unexpectedly touching. More Please.” (Baltimore Sun )
“Tess is feisty . . . And it is a joy to watch her come alive.” (Washington Times )
“A sense of place so unerring that it makes Baltimore everyone’s hometown.” (Kirkus Reviews )
“Laura Lippman in her series featuring Baltimore private investigator Tess Monaghan just keeps getting better and better.” (Houston Chronicle )
“Again, Yes! To Tess.” (Baltimore Sun )
“Compulsively readable” may be a cliché, but it’s a perfect description for this novel. (Toronto Globe and Mail )
“BY A SPIDER’S THREAD - arguably the most complex, moving novel in her Tess Monaghan detective series.” (Time Out New York )
“The fast-paced, intelligent story involves a maze of betrayal, surprises and a murder.” (Jewish Week )
“Tess is feisty . . . And it is a joy to watch her come alive.” (Washington Times )
“A sense of place so unerring that it makes Baltimore everyone’s hometown.” (Kirkus Reviews )
“Laura Lippman in her series featuring Baltimore private investigator Tess Monaghan just keeps getting better and better.” (Houston Chronicle )
“Again, Yes! To Tess.” (Baltimore Sun )
“Compulsively readable” may be a cliché, but it’s a perfect description for this novel. (Toronto Globe and Mail )
“BY A SPIDER’S THREAD - arguably the most complex, moving novel in her Tess Monaghan detective series.” (Time Out New York )
“The fast-paced, intelligent story involves a maze of betrayal, surprises and a murder.” (Jewish Week )
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
They were in one of the "I" states when Zeke told Isaac he had to ride in the trunk for a little while. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
They were in one of the "I" states when Zeke told Isaac he had to ride in the trunk for a little while. Read the first page
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Concordance
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Following her triumphant venture into stand-alone suspense,
This review is from: By A Spider's Thread (Mass Market Paperback)
Following her triumphant venture into stand-alone suspense with Every Secret Thing, Laura Lippman returns to her award-winning Tess Monaghan mystery series.Although private investigator Tess Monaghan hates matrimonial cases, she hates the idea of being bankrupt even more, so she agrees to look for Mark Rubin's missing family. As far as the police are concerned, there is no sign of foul play. Natalie Rubin simply took her three children and vanished. At first Tess is inclined to agree. While Mark can't imagine why Natalie wasn't happy as the wife of a wealthy furrier, Tess can see plenty of reasons why the woman might have found her marriage suffocating. Natalie had been married young, to a man 12 years her senior. Although her husband didn't limit his beautiful wife's spending, she was expected to account for every penny. And though she'd been raised a secular Jew, Mark admits that he wouldn't have married her if she hadn't agreed to embrace the tenets of Orthodoxy. As Tess digs deeper into the circumstances surrounding Natalie's disappearance, she discovers that Mark has concealed many things, including the fact that he met Natalie while volunteering as a visitor in the prison where Natalie's father is still serving out a sentence for murder -- and that Natalie has been blackmailed by her father in the past. Battling her client for the information she desperately needs, Tess has two allies: an online network of women investigators and Mark's nine-year-old son, who is determined to reunite his family. But even Mark doesn't know that painful secrets he's concealed about his own family are about to explode violently. By a Spider's Thread is a very strong book with no holds barred when it comes to plot or emotion. Enjoy.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stunning!,
By nobizinfla "nobizinfla" (Windermere, Florida USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: By a Spider's Thread (Hardcover)
Laura Lippman's eighth Tess Monaghan novel, "By A Spider's Thread" is a provocative, savvy, challenging thriller.Precise plotting, an economical cast of realistic characters (some appealing, some detestable) and a plausible resolution make the pages disappear in a trice. Mark Rubin, a wealthy Jewish furrier whose wife (Natalie) and three children have vanished, hires Tess to locate them. Mark and Tess get off to a rocky beginning as Mark withholds information about his family and omits details about contacts that could illuminate Tess's search. Tess is resourceful and they gradually warm to one another. As Tess learns more about Mark's family, marriage and religious identity, the reasons for Natalie's disappearance start to materialize. Family secrets underlie the plot and provide the motive for the mastermind behind the disappearance. The story is told from multiple points of view...that of Tess and the parallel view from the observant and bright eldest child. This works and leaves enough blanks to fill in to keep you guessing and on your toes. Laura Lippman is masterful at filling in the pertinent background with the backwards and forwards story telling. Equally important is the way she builds the tension, suspense and impact with character development rather than gratuitous violence. The multilayered, absorbing narrative has enormous momentum and clever details. Easily the best in the Tess Monaghan series and a powerful follow-up to last year's spectacular "Every Secret Thing."
5.0 out of 5 stars
Don't miss this book,
By
This review is from: By a Spider's Thread (Hardcover)
Laura Lippman has been a favorite of mine since I read BALTIMORE BLUES and as few other writers have done, she gets better with each book. I was blown away by EVERY SECRET THING and am amazed that I felt that the latest in her Tess Monaghan series could only be described as "brilliant." Her changing POVs and the layer that unfold about the missing wife and children keep one reading with rapt attention.Am not sure where "mctmjc" got her completely wrong information about BY A SPIDER'S THREAD being only the second book Lippman wrote by herself. But it is completely erroneous. But then many reviews..especially those that originate from online sites are. It seems to me that "mctmjc" is not really a mystery fan, at least according to the list of books she has reviewed. I am and KNOW Lippman has written all nine of her books by herself....unless, of course, you count her "muse." Great characterization, great plotting and edge-of-your-seat suspense...what more can anyone ask? Even if you have never read another Tess book, you should find this a compelling and most satisfactory book...and well worth the money. I again repeat the word, "brilliant."
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