hoolio, interesting perspective
I didn't think of class as being relevant at all - more just that the boy was introduced too late and I didn't know enough about him to feel really engaged in how things turned out.
I also didn't pick up any "is his life worth the same" at all - I just thought that ultimately they would probably let him hang because he was violent in other ways.
In terms of the families, I don't see class as relevant there either because all of them were equally annoying - I suppose I noticed Lilian's family more because they came round to the house, plus they had that sense of chaos of tons of little kids which I hate even in books.
I didn't root for Lilian and Frances not to be found out at all so clearly a totally different view than yours. I would have thought it much more interesting if they were found out or if there was a high risk of it, but I thought it pretty obvious that the boy would get off - no evidence at all - and therefore they would just carry on.
I must be honest, by the time I got to the neighbour and his sacrifice I just wanted it to finish but nothing jumped out at me about him that made me care either.
I thought the depiction of the newspaper vultures was excellent though. In fact the book could have been a lot better with the same story but some restructuring. I also don't think we knew enough about Leonard to care.
When I compare this to the characters in her other novels, I feel as if she hasn't given them enough depth.