Alafair Burke writes an excellent sequel to Mary Higgins Clark's iconic first suspense novel, Where Are The Children, first published in 1975. I devoured it!
Forty years after the first book's events, this one focuses on characters who were young children in the first book, now grown and one of them facing the unimaginable. Melissa still struggles with memories of when she and her brother were abducted but has become an attorney turned successful true crime podcaster. She has just married a widower with a young daughter. When her stepdaughter goes missing, Melissa must draw on her personal and professional experiences to help find the girl before it's too late.
I was SO excited to receive this ARC! As a fan of the original (which I quickly re-read before reading this one), I think Alafair Burke nailed it! The writing style and plot of the book read very much like Clark, "the Queen of Suspense," who sadly passed away in 2020. I don't know if the two collaborated before Clark's death, but either way, this is a compelling read. And I particularly found that the character of Nancy was totally in keeping with the original, although now a 71-year-old version of herself. However, if you still need to read the first one, this sequel does a good job with the backstory and works as a stand-alone.
With a high stakes and twisty plot, this book's short chapters and fast pacing ramp up the tension and suspense. I could not put it down! Both Mary Higgins Clark fans and those who love attention-grabbing suspense novels will enjoy this one!
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the opportunity to review this ARC. I loved it!
My steep was Earl Grey Imperial by Harney and Sons. A blend of black and oolong teas with bergamot oil.
www.harney.com
SYNOPSIS:
The legacy of the "Queen of Suspense" continues with the highly anticipated follow-up to Mary Higgins Clark's iconic novel Where Are The Children?, featuring the children of Nancy Harmon, facing peril once again as adults.
Of the fifty-six bestsellers the "Queen of Suspense" Mary Higgins Clark published in her lifetime, Where Are the Children? was her biggest, selling millions of copies and forever transforming the genre of suspense fiction. In that story, a young California mother named Nancy Harmon was convicted of murdering her two children. Though released on a technicality, she was abandoned by her husband and became such a pariah in the media that she was forced to move across the country to Cape Cod, change her identity and appearance, and start a new life. Years later her two children from a second marriage, Mike and Melissa, would go missing, and Nancy yet again became the prime suspect—but this time, Nancy was able to confront the secrets buried in her past and rescue her kids from a dangerous predator.
Now, more than four decades since readers first met Nancy and her children, comes the thrilling sequel to the groundbreaking book that set the stage for future generations of psychological suspense novels. A lawyer turned successful podcaster, Melissa has recently married a man whose first wife died tragically, leaving him and their young daughter, Riley, behind. While Melissa and her brother, Mike, help their mom, Nancy, relocate from Cape Cod to the equally idyllic Hamptons, Melissa's new stepdaughter goes missing. Drawing on the experience of their own abduction, Melissa and Mike race to find Riley to save her from the trauma they still struggle with—or worse.
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