Seven years ago, Nancy's two children disappeared. They were found murdered and Nancy was convicted in their deaths. Freed on a technicality, she has relocated to Cape Cod, where she has rebuilt her life. Now her two children from her second marriage have gone missing.
My thoughts
When I was in middle school, one of my friends recommended Mary Higgins Clark's mysteries. For a couple years, I devoured everything of hers that I could get my hands on. Her heroines were smart, successful, resourceful, and chic - and they always got the guy in the end. My enthusiasm waned sometime in high school, and when I picked up one of her books after college I didn't even bother finishing it because it was so formulaic and predictable.
Where Are the Children? was Clark's first bestseller and I remembered liking it, so I picked it up at the library. It's one of those books that you can fly through in a few hours. It was enjoyable to read and it reminded me what I like best about Clark's writing. She pays a lot of attention to detail and the inner monologues of her characters.
The story is chilling. Two children go missing and that's bad enough, but you have the added twist of a mother who's been convicted of murdering her children from her first marriage. As a reader there's never any doubt that Nancy is innocent of both crimes, but it's understandable that the investigation immediately focuses on her.
You have to suspend disbelief for a lot of mysteries, but this one in particular stretches credulity. There are an awful lot of big coincidences that allow all the threads of the novel to come together at exactly the right moment. There are also some enormously cheesy lines ("Now, listen, bum, and listen good.") But the ending is very satisfying.
Bottom line
Read some of Clark's other books before this one. Try Weep No More, My Lady; Remember Me; or Loves Music, Loves to Dance.
Fine print
Where Are the Children?, by Mary Higgins Clark
Genre: mystery
Photo from Goodreads
I borrowed this book from the library.
