Black For Remembrance [Hardcover]

Carlene Thompson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1991

Caroline Webb knows what it means to lose the person you love most. Twenty years ago, her five-year-old daughter, Hayley, was the light of her life, her treasure, her angle. Then came the terrible day when Hayley was kidnapped from her favorite swing. More than a month passed before her burned, lifeless body was found. All that remained was the silence of Caroline's heartache--and her guilt...

Now, Caroline has started over with a new husband. She even has another precious daughter, Melinda. She thinks she has put the ghosts of her past behind her. But without warning, those ghosts once again start to echo in the night. Suddenly, Hayley's favorite doll reappears...strange murders rock the Webbs' small town...Caroline even claims she has heard the voice of the little girl she lost all those years ago. Could Hayley still be out there somewhere, somehow? Now a killer waits in the wings--waiting to make Caroline live her worst nightmare yet...

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Twenty years ago Caroline Webb's five-year-old daughter Hayley was kidnapped and murdered, her body decapitated and burned. The case was never solved. Caroline's second marriage, to a compassionate older man, and the birth of two children, Gregg, now 15, and Melinda, 8, have helped to ease her nightmares. This inventive and forceful psychological thriller traces the bizarre, terrifying events that convince Caroline that a new horror is emerging--Hayley has come back not only to seek revenge on her killer, but to murder her half-sister Melinda as well. She hears Hayley's voice calling to her in a shop; she sees "Help me Mommy" written in blood on the bathroom mirror. Caroline's husband seems only mildly concerned and the police are skeptical, but when three people with ties to the original kidnapping are murdered, one by one, detective Tom Jerome reopens the old case and finds that it was badly mishandled. First novelist Thompson controls a vigorous cast of increasingly puzzled and frightened characters, while astute detective work and even a hint of the occult keep the suspense level consistently high.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

YA-- Caroline Webb's daughter Hailey has been dead for 19 years, the victim of a brutal unresolved kidnapping and murder by decapitation. Now as Hailey's 25th birthday arrives, mysterious bouquets of black silk orchids appear beside the bodies of three murder victims who are linked obliquely to the devastating past events. Soon all of Caroline's second family is dragged into a nightmare of messages written in blood, phone calls from a piteous crying child, and a resurrected clown doll belonging to the dead girl. All the horrors of the event that tore Caroline's first marriage apart are stalking her now as danger threatens her eight-year-old daughter. Thompson has written a well-plotted thriller that includes a clever twist at the end. It's sure to please readers who pride themselves on sniffing out clues. Definitely a book for fans of Mary Higgins Clark.
- Mary T. Gerrity, Queen Anne School, Upper Marlboro, MD
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 322 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's; Reprint Edition edition (1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0739430572
• ISBN-13: 978-0739430576
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,779,360 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Would Not have made a Clown out of Quincy, ME, June 23, 2003

By 

TundraVision (o/~ from the Land of Sky Blue Waters o/~) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black for Remembrance (Mass Market Paperback)

Despite having a doctorate in American literature, Carlene Thompson can write. She spins great suspense and the words don't get in the way. (A lot of folk with those high faltun' lit degrees get carried away with what they think is pretty writing. It may impress themselves and their friends - but it just gets in the way of a good story. Not here.)

With crisp crystalline prose, swift and sure pacing, and grand characterization, Carlene Thompson pulls the reader into the retro-trauma of Carlene Webb, whose daughter, Hayley, was kidnapped twenty years ago. The body was found decapitated and burned. Have Hayley and her clown doll Twinkle, kidnapped with her, returned to haunt Caroline; Hayley's father, Caroline's ex-husband Chris; and Caro's current daughter, Melinda?

If, like me, you read a lot of "True Crime" and forensic books, you might see the end of this one coming - but Thompson stirs in enough red-herring people to keep the suspense stew boiling and the reader guessing. Reviewed by TundraVision, Amazon Reviewer.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, January 1, 2003

By 

Marylynn "professional sleeper" (NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black for Remembrance (Mass Market Paperback)

This is an awesome book from an amazing author. I could not put this book down once I started reading it. It's a good creepy book. It starts with the kidnapping and murder of Hailey Corday. Twenty years later her mother Caroline is remarried with two more children. Creepy things start to happen, Hailey's doll suddenly reappears, her daughter meets a new friend who bears a striking resemblance to Hailey. People that were involved somehow with Hailey start meeting horrible ends. Has Hailey come back from the dead? Well you'll have to read it yourself to find out. Trust me you won't be dissapointed.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic! This mystery kept me guessing., February 19, 2005

By 

MZ (Minnesota) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black for Remembrance (Mass Market Paperback)

Since this is the first book I'd read by Carlene Thompson (a present from my mother-in-law), I wondered until near the end if this book was going to be one with supernatural elements. The characters were interseting enough to keep me reading, but when I'd finally given up and decided, yep, this was going to be one of THOSE books, which was greatly disappointing.

But I kept reading. And hopefully you will too. The ending was a great surprise (and not one of THOSE books after all!), and everything came together very neatly.

What I liked most about this book was Thompson's theme, Black for Remembrance, which was well placed throughout the book. It was a great hook. The characters were pretty well rounded, too. In addition, the surprise ending was perfect: I was convinced I knew who-done-it and was WRONG.

I found very few flaws in the mystery plot of this book, in fact. I liked it so much, that I will hurry out and find another book by Thompson, hoping it's even half as good!