So, I used to really enjoy Mary Higgins Clark's books (her early work) and would be excited when a new one came out. After the last few I have read, I'm thinking I won't bother reading her books anymore.


I'm not sure what happened here....if I just grew up or if MHC's writing has changed but I do not like the general "voice" of the book. I hate how the characters let you know things that happened in the past by thinking about it. Also, the tone just comes across as childish to me.


Alexandra (Zan) has had an extremely rough life lately. First, her parents are killed on the way to the airport in Rome, Italy. They were on their way to pick Zan up for a visit as she wasn't able to visit them for over 2 years because of her very needy boss. Then, she calls the guy she is seeing and he comes to help her. She ends up marrying him, divorcing him, finding out she's pregnant and when her son turns two, he is kidnapped out of his stroller in Central Park while the babysitter sleeps. Then, to top it off, her credit cards have been stolen and someone is charging up a huge bill. Zan is gorgeous and thin. In fact, if I had to read how gorgeous and thin she was one more time in the book, I was going to throw it out the window. I swear, everytime Zan was mentioned, it was also mentioned that she was gorgeous and thin.


Ted, Zan's ex-husband is livid with her for losing Matthew (their son) and is always blaming her. He's a PR man and so we have to deal with his relationship with an immature singer. He is really very annoying.


Alvirah and Willy, the lottery winners from previous books, are also in this book. That was the only saving grace for me as I love Alvirah.


Zan also lands a job decorating a new apartment complex and meets Kevin Wilson. There really is no romance here at all but Kevin, even though he has never met Zan, instantly believes in her and trusts her. When she is arrested he continues to stand by her. I find this hard to believe that someone would actually do this but I guess it could, maybe, happen.


There are other characters that are, in my opinion, just useless. They are used to fill the pages but have to real part in the story. The story was extremely predictable (I knew who did it at the beginning despite MHC's attempts to throw you off the trail). It was an easy read and would have been a fast read if it held my attention for any length of time but this book was very easy for me to put down and get distracted by stuff like cleaning the bathroom and doing laundry. Yeah, that's how much I didn't like it!


If you like MHC, go ahead and try this book. I may just be burnt out on her. I didn't care for it but it doesn't mean someone else won't love it!