I can usually see why really popular writers have devoted followers and lots of success. But I’ve read two of Mary Higgins Clark’s books now, and to be honest, I’m not getting the appeal at all. Her books are a tad hard to follow because there are SO many characters, and the mysteries aren’t all that compelling.

In this book in particular, there were at least a dozen characters (maybe more) that were introduced. I couldn’t keep track of who was who. The bigger issue is that there were so many suspects that I ended up not really caring about who the actual culprit was (and the reveal of their identity wasn’t surprising or all that interesting in the end). And then, there were also so many victims (some from the 1890s and some from the present day). I couldn’t bring myself to really care about any of them, because there were simply too many to remember.

I do love the short chapters with Clark’s writing because it sets a much faster pace for the story to unfold. Unfortunately, the main character wasn’t relatable or intriguing. I think I was supposed to feel empathy for her, but I just couldn’t get connected enough to her to care about her potentially being in danger.

There was also supposed to be some weird supernatural element that tied all of the deaths together, but it didn’t work for me at all. And there was a major plot-hole that never got resolved. The only credit I can give this one is that it did hold my interest, but I’m not planning on reading any more of her books going forward.

2 stars

*Free copy provided by Simon & Schuster in exchange for an honest review*