By A Spider's Thread (Mass Market Paperback)

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.

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."