by Alice Atkinson-Bonasio

Created on: January 21, 2009

Book Review

Where Are the Children?

By Mary Higgins Clark

A young and beautiful mother of two young children faces the nightmare of losing them. That story has surely been told in countless suspense novels before, but Mary Higgins Clark adds the twist that this has all happened before to the same mother. Seven years before the story starts, we are told that the main character (Nancy Harmon) had two children who disappeared from her car while she was shopping and were found days later drowned.

Nancy was tried and convicted for their murder, but technicalities saved her from the death chamber and set her free to rebuilt her tattered life as best as she could with the shadow of public condemnation and the threat of a retrial hanging over her head.

When history repeats itself, Nancy
collapses into a useless pile of remorseful grief, and can't muster any energy to defend herself or even to make a coherent effort to find her missing children. This means that the narrative is driven by her frantic husband - who must battle the accusations of the entire town ready to grab the torches and pitchforks as well as his own niggling doubts about Nancy's sanity - and a few good friends who are willing to consider the possibility that the children have in fact been abducted.

Without ruining the gripping final twist it is possible to reveal that the children have in fact been abducted by a paedophile who plans to abuse and kill them. This, although somewhat predictable, does add to the very efficient chemistry of the plot, which mixes an utterly repellent and evil foe with the inefficient police that focuses on the easy wrong answer.

The plot works its magic to make the reader incredibly angry, tense and frustrated right up to the very end, and this is why the book works, achieving exactly what it sets out to do. For those after an airtight plot or a meaningful deep storyline, the book will almost certainly fall short of the mark, but if you are after an entertaining page turner with a satisfying twist and a sense of release at the end, then it will be just the ticket.

Higgins Clark is very good at working a set formula and adding just enough original content to grab the reader until the book is finished. Her brand of writing is aimed at entertaining and engaging the audience on a somewhat superficial level, and that kind of honesty is quite refreshing. Most people choose a book to read based on their mood, and just like with any other form of entertainment, sometimes you're in the mood to be astounded with artistic brilliance and thoroughly challenged, and sometimes you want to relax and surrender to another world without too much effort. And if that world just happens to be a little silly sometimes, what's wrong with that? Surely we're entitled.

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