Where Are the Children? by Mary Higgins Clark

Review by Gerti

“Where Are the Children?” is the first book ever written by Mary Higgins Clark, and as such, you might expect it to be a clumsy, adolescent effort, but it is not. “Where Are the Children?” is a glorious start to Clark’s magnificent career writing suspense novels, the perfect jumping off point for a future #1 New York Times bestselling author and “Queen of Suspense.” It tells the story of a woman named Nancy Harmon, who many years ago changed her name and fled the West Coast after her two young children turned up missing, and then dead. The upheaval of their loss caused her first husband, a controlling college professor, to commit suicide. So as the novel opens, Nancy has moved to Cape Cod, remarried, and given birth to another two children. The crisis - a major anniversary of her previous family’s misfortune is one day away.

If it sounds like the train of her life is about to jump the tracks, it is, and the story is told by Clark at a breath-taking pace. The reader is transported on that runaway train, with the action happening fast and furious, and a surprise around every bend. Anyone used to Clark’s novels will know her style, but this book is even better than many she has penned since. The writing is clear, crisp, and with almost Hemingway-style precision, Clark tells the story of what happens the day Nancy’s second set of children goes missing.

The town turns out to help, and while there are those who are quick to condemn her, like local law enforcement, there are also those folks who go out of their way to help her, like her mother’s psychologist boyfriend. Her husband is a picture of support, and it is awe inspiring how Clark knits together the tiniest details to provide the clues to where the children are, and who has taken them. Like some of her darker short stories, Clark deals here with frequently visited topics of hers like repressed memories, pedophilia, intuition, and of course, the wrongly accused. Like a three-ring circus, Clark presents several scenes taking place simultaneously which all come together in an unexpected conclusion, and it’s a delight to be in the audience for the show.

“Where Are the Children?” is a wonderful book which fully explains why Clark was paid a fortune (a million dollars!) for writing her next novel. While it’s not life-changing, and therefore can’t be called important literature, it will nonetheless thrill any reader who picks it up and gets on this high-octane rollercoaster ride as the mystery gets solved and the guilty are punished. Awesome!