To the Power of Three [Kindle Edition]

Laura Lippman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Bookmarks Magazine

The award-winning author of the Tess Monaghan mysteries has written an independent crime thriller and coming-of-age mystery. The 1999 Columbine High School massacre received great media attention; here, Lippman shows that girls possess the same capacity for violence. Critics agree that Lippman writes with great empathy and insight into the ups-and-downs of teenage friendship, high school peer pressures, and the ways in which violence affects the community. But the novel is too long, contains inaccurate forensic details, and creates characters who are detailed to the point of becoming dull. Despite these flaws, To the Power of Three is a gripping, readable exposé of teenage girls’ psychology.

Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

From Booklist

Lippman has won just about every mystery award out there: the Anthony, Edgar, Shamus, Agatha, and Nero. Her latest, a stand-alone mystery, is somewhat disappointing. The suspense is watered down considerably by the novel's unnecessary length of more than 400 pages. And the story, dependent for much of its punch on forensic evidence, is woefully inaccurate about evidence collection and preservation; for example, blood at the scene of the crime is stored in plastic bags, a serious error that would allow micro-organisms to destroy any DNA evidence. This is a long, long exploration of a school shooting that affects three girls found in a bathroom. One is dead, one critically injured, and one minimally wounded and uncooperative with police. The homicide sergeant investigating the case delves into the world of high-school rivalries to come up with a motive, and the book derails from mystery into pop sociology. For Lippman fans only. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 398 KB
• Publisher: HarperCollins e-books (October 13, 2009)
• Sold by: HarperCollins Publishers
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000FCK97W
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #60,300 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

More About the Author

Laura Lippman was a reporter for twenty years, including twelve years at The (Baltimore) Sun. She began writing novels while working fulltime and published seven books about "accidental PI" Tess Monaghan before leaving daily journalism in 2001. Her work has been awarded the Edgar ®, the Anthony, the Agatha, the Shamus, the Nero Wolfe, Gumshoe and Barry awards. She also has been nominated for other prizes in the crime fiction field, including the Hammett and the Macavity. She was the first-ever recipient of the Mayor's Prize for Literary Excellence and the first genre writer recognized as Author of the Year by the Maryland Library Association. Ms. Lippman grew up in Baltimore and attended city schools through ninth grade. After graduating from Wilde Lake High School in Columbia, Md., Ms. Lippman attended Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. Her other newspaper jobs included the Waco Tribune-Herald and the San Antonio Light. Ms. Lippman returned to Baltimore in 1989 and has lived there since.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful characterizations drive novel, June 25, 2005

By 

JAMES AGNEW "UBU ROI" (Ann Arbor, MI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: To the Power of Three (Hardcover)

This is one of the must reads of 2005. Lippman's powerful characterizations of three high school girls in a well heeled Baltimore suburb are completely gripping. By alternating between various points of view, Lippman is able to give the reader a completely dimensional view of all the characters and why the school shooting that begins the book happened the way it did. The shooting is the beginning and the novel works backwards, tracing the girls friendship and development from 3rd grade through high school, as well as documenting their complete social enviornment. This book is written with such exqusite perception that I could have read on for 800 pages rather than the 400 provided, but for the student of human nature this is not to be missed. Oh yeah, it also has a great story.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Love her writing, story...so so..., August 1, 2005

By 

NancyLeeIL (Chicago Suburb, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: To the Power of Three (Hardcover)

I agree with other reviewers here that it's her writing that makes this book a good read. Her ability to bring you where the characters are is outstanding.

But what about the story?

I am an avid mystery/thriller reader...thus I read that way. Lippman gives you all wonderful details about characters...which you attend to as the reader, trying to figure which detail is the "clue" that is how the book will end. To her credit...I did go in a few directions of why what happened...happened.

But...I got to the last page, slammed the book closed in my hand and said "you've GOT to be kidding!'...and shook my head going into the shower (mind you I got up 2 hours EARLY to finish the book!)

So that is the conflict in my review. Obviously it was good enough for me to want to give up 2 hours sleep for to see how it ended...but I was ticked I did.

In retrospect I would say if you read the book and do not approach it as a mystery/thriller genre...then it's a good read. If you're looking for that genre...I wouldn't say it satisfies.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A superb psychological thriller and one of the best books of the year, July 15, 2005

By 

Larry Gandle (Tampa, Florida) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: To the Power of Three (Hardcover)

The psychological thriller deserves its own designation as a mystery subgenre. It certainly is becoming more popular. The Brits seem to have perfected it with the work of Ruth Rendall, Minette Walters, Andrew Taylor and the remarkable Mandesue Heller among many many others. These books have in common very strong characterizations with the underlying sense of foreboding. Either a crime has taken place and the characters must deal with that or there is the chilling possibility of a crime that might occur at any moment. These books slowly and inexorably bind the reader up with a whole host of tensions. The characters might be likable or odious. The one thing they all have in common is the ability to make a reader read compulsively to discover the ultimate conclusion and may take its time getting there.
Laura Lippman, so well known from her Tess Monaghan series, wrote her first stand alone which was published two years ago entitled EVERY SECRET THING. This marked a remarkable change in her writing while revealing her ability to fully flesh out human suffering. It is a chilling novel that many considered the very best of the year. Now she returns with another psychological thriller even richer and more fully detailed than the last work.
Three friends are found in a school bathroom. All are shot. Kat Hartigan, the popular one who everybody loves, is dead with a gunshot wound to the chest. Josie Patel, the athletic one, has been shot in the foot and the brooding actress Perri Kahn, said to be the cause of it all, is critically wounded with an apparently self inflicted bullet through her face. The question that must be answered is- what actually happened and why? We then travel back in time to that day, many years ago when the three seemingly inseparable friends first met and proceed to travel ever so slowly down this inevitable road to destruction where all answers eventually lie.
Laura Lippman in her second standalone again displays her mastery of the psychological thriller. She writes with a true depth of understanding the human character which gives her novels their profound realism. This is by no means a fast quick read but will certainly reward the patient reader. It is a superb work by one of the finest writers of crime fiction in this country. Laura Lippman is at the height of her writing powers. Easily one of the best of the year.