I used to be active on a book forum, helping to host THE BOOK AND CANDLE PUB on Delphi Forums. These days, about all we do there is post monthly reading lists and have rather brief discussion of each other's books read. One fellow, Dave, started rating his books out of 10, which I picked up on also.

I recall that when Dave read TO THE POWER OF THREE, he gave it a 9 or a 9.5, saying it was tied for the highest rating he'd ever given a book. I finally got around to reading it and I have to agree with Dave. This is arguably Laura Lippman's best book (that I've read) to date.

It felt a little like I was reading Harlan Coben's stuff, what with the plot twists, and the idea of the past coming back to haunt the main characters of the book. I wonder if there was any inspiration from Coben's stuff?

The story is, briefly, that there are three virtually inseparable girls in high school, and suddenly there is a wedge between two of them. They don't talk at all and aren't friends any more. Then, one day, shots are heard at the high school, coming from a locked bathroom. When they get the door open, one of the girls is dead, another critically wounded and a third also injured.

It looks like one of the girls shot the other two then killed herself. But things don't add up. And as the police detective investigates, they seem to get murkier instead of clearer.

I'm not sure I was supposed to, but I really came to despise the dead girl's father by the end of the book. He redeemed himself a little in the end, in my eyes, but not much. I just didn't like him. I wanted to feel sorry for him, he just lost a child, but his words and his actions and his apparent lack of regard for anyone but himself just lost me.

Stories like these make me wonder about where certain aspects of the tale come from. For example, one of the girls, Josie, is half Indian. I wonder if this comes from anywhere or has any meaning, or is just a bit of imagination to make the story interesting. Likewise with Perri's interest in Stephen Sondheim. Or her friend's name - Dannon. These are small details, I realize. But they add so much to the story. If they weren't there, it would be so ... ordinary, I guess.

Anyway, I have NO GOOD DEEDS (in hardcover this time!) to read after I do WHO'S SORRY NOW? by Jill Churchill. I've had an excellent month of reading so far, and if I don't get another one finished before the end of the month, Laura Lippman's latest standalone will be a strong end to my list for the Book and Candle Pub.