Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Search - To the Power of Three

To the Power of Three
To the Power of Three
Author: Laura Lippman
Laura Lippman is one of the most acclaimed authors of crime fiction writing today, the winner of every major award the genre has to offer. Now she dazzles once again with a riveting stand-alone novel that takes on the secret -- and not-so-secret -- lives of teenage girls, illuminating a dark tragedy with startling clarity and unique empathy. ...  more » The three girls have been inseparable best friends since the third grade -- Josie, the athletic one; Perri, the brilliant, acerbic drama queen; and Kat, the beauty, who also has brains, grace, and a heart open to all around her. But their last day of high school becomes their final day together after one of them brings a gun to school to resolve a mysterious feud. When the police arrive, they discover two wounded girls, one so critically that she is not expected to recover. The third girl is dead, killed instantly by a shot to the heart. What transpired that morning at Glendale High rocks the foundation of an affluent community in Baltimore's distant suburbs, a place that has barely recovered from an earlier, more comprehensible tragedy. For the shell-shocked parents, teachers, administrators, and students, healing must begin with answers to the usual questions -- but only if the answers are safe ones, answers that will lead back to one girl and one family and absolve everyone else. For Homicide Sgt. Harold Lenhardt, this case is a mystery with more twists than these grief-stricken suburbanites are willing to acknowledge -- and the sole lucid survivor, a girl with a teenager's uncanny knack for stonewalling, strikes him as being less than honest. What is she concealing? Is she trying to protect herself or someone else? Even the simplest secrets can kill -- and kill again if no one is willing to confront them. Breathtaking in its emotional depth, powerful, provocative, and consistently surprising, Laura Lippman's To the Power of Three carries the crime novel into richer, more fertile territory. It is the crowning achievement to date in an already exemplary literary career.
ISBN-13: 9780060506728
ISBN-10: 0060506725
Publication Date: 7/1/2005
Pages: 448
Rating:
  • Currently 3.1/5 Stars.
 41
3.1 stars, based on 41 ratings
Publisher: William Morrow
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback, Audio Cassette, Audio CD
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

 reviewed To the Power of Three on
Helpful Score: 3
This was the best suspense I've read in quite a while! I was glued to this book from page one, and I read it every spare chance I had within the past week.

The book reminded me a lot of the Columbine Massacre and the movie "Homeroom", which was about another school shooting.

I really appreciated the pop-culture references throughout the book because it made for a fun read in addition to the suspense.

I was only slightly disappointed in the ending because I had expected something a little more clever to come out of it, however it was still an unexpected surprise.

I can't wait to share this book with others! Excellent read. :)
reviewed To the Power of Three on + 72 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
Although I love all of Lippman's Tess Monaghan mysteries and have read all of her books, I have to say I think this was her best book ever, by far! It was really unexpected for me, to see this kind of story from her. It wasn't even so much about "the secret" or the mystery element of it, but just her writing was really, really well-done. Each of the characters - even those who had minor parts - had developed personalities and characteristics. Even if a character only spoke once or twice, you knew about them from the perspective of one or more of the other characters, and I was able to visualize them even. And boy does it ever grab hold of the angst of going to high school - without being overly melodramatic - and the true power of friendship.

I highly recommend it!!
reviewed To the Power of Three on + 170 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
I rate this book 2 and 1/2 stars out of 5. It was a decent story but it was quite long-winded. Also, the ending was pretty anti-climactic. I was disappointed in how it all ended. I was hoping for something a little more exotic and exciting. Overall, it wasn't horrible but I probly won't recommend it.
reviewed To the Power of Three on + 138 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Outstanding!! I could not put it down.
reviewed To the Power of Three on
Helpful Score: 1
Excellent thriller about 3 teenage friends. They are involved in an elaborate shooting.
Read All 35 Book Reviews of "To the Power of Three"

Please Log in to Rate these Book Reviews

 reviewed To the Power of Three on + 21 more book reviews
I forced my way through this book. I wanted to find out what happened to the girls but the author introduced too many characters that weren't even necessary to the story. I tried a second book of hers but gave up. Once again too much unnecessary info.
ilovedale3 avatar reviewed To the Power of Three on + 524 more book reviews
Three girls are in a school bathroom. Only one lives to tell about it. What happened between these girls who were once the best of friends? Is there more to the story than the survivor is saying?

A really good mystery that will have you questioning the motive as well as the characters involved.
WildOrchid avatar reviewed To the Power of Three on + 222 more book reviews
I listened to the audio version of the book and the reader was so boring I didn't think I could get throught the book. As far as the story itself, IMHO, I kept thinking that she was trying to write like Jodi Picoult and didn't come anywhere near it. Boring, boring and boring.
jackimck avatar reviewed To the Power of Three on + 4 more book reviews
Unexpected ending
reviewed To the Power of Three on
This is the first Laura Lippman book I have read that was not part of the Tess Monaghan series. It was a pretty entertaining work of suspense; Lippman spends a lot of time creating her characters.
booknookchick avatar reviewed To the Power of Three on + 117 more book reviews
So far I am in the minority after reading this book. Perhaps having read Nineteen Minutes and The Pact by Jodi Picoult already makes me reaction to this book subjective, rather than objective. The latter books were riveting compared to "To the Power of Three" which I was in no hurry to finish (but I did).

Lippman writes well as far as plot and character development, but I felt this story wandered back and forth in time and between characters without accomplishing much. This is the same technique Picoult uses with ease.

Sorry, there just wasn't enough suspense for me and adding several subplots were more of a distraction than an improvement of the story.


Genres:


Back to the Top ↑
By using this Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms of Use. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
US Patent Number 7,877,315 | Copyright © 2004 - 2024 PaperBackSwap.com. All Rights Reserved.