melsbookshelf

First off, let me say that there are many reasons why I like Mary Higgins Clark. For one thing, her books are generally very easy to read, with short chapters--as you read, each one tends to change over to a different part of the storyline, keeping the plot moving. Clark is also usually pretty good at making you suspect multiple people but leaving small clues that can only lead to the culprit--these are often subtle and can easily be glossed over. I've actually tried to pay closer attention to everything she writes now--once in awhile I'm successful at figuring out who commited the crime, but more often than not I end up shocked. Something else I like? The fact that her stories are generally pretty clean--minimal foul language and no gratuitous sex.All that being said, this book just didn't quite do it for me. Suprisingly, there were several things that bothered me about this story (and I think it's because I'm starting to read things from a more critical point of view). The main character, Carolyn, seriously annoyed me. She really had no business trying to solve this mystery on her own and made things a lot worse because of her involvement. The other thing that bugged me, is while I suspected one of the characters as being an accomplice (and it ended up being true), there was no part of me that guessed the real reason why. This time I don't think Clark was as good at dropping her clues as she usually is. Normally I'll find myself thinking, "oh yeah!" when I read how everything was wrapped up, but this time I just thought, "huh???" There were some good side stories, but the character development was off and ultimately I was pretty disappointed when I finished, so I can't really say that I recommend it. (Rather disappointing for a Mystery Monday review, if I do say so myself.)