The Cradle Will Fall [Mass Market Paperback]

Mary Higgins Clark (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Pocket Books (1994)
• ASIN: B000J35ADA
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)

More About the Author

If I were to define myself in one sentence, I would say, "I'm a nice Irish Catholic girl from the Bronx."

I was a Christmas Eve baby all those years ago, the second of the three children of Nora and Luke Higgins. Mother was pushing forty when they married and my father was forty-two. My older brother was named Joseph. Nineteen months later I, Mary, was born. Three and a half years later, my little brother, John, came along.

We lived in a very nice section of the Bronx on a street off Pelham Parkway. I loved our house. I still love it. After my father died, when I was eleven, my mother had to sell it.

I went to Saint Francis Xavier Grammar School. Two years ago I went back and was Principal for a Day. Escorted by two of the tiniest children, I was led into the auditorium while the whole student body sang "Hello Mary. You're back where you belong." I still tear up thinking about it.

I was awarded a scholarship to Villa Maria Academy which is in the Pelham Bay section of the Bronx, otherwise I couldn't have afforded to set foot in it.

I went to Woods Secretarial School and at eighteen had my first full-time job as Secretary to the creative director of Remington Rand's in-house advertising agency. If I were making that choice now I would have gone to college even though God knows we needed the income. On the other hand the three years I spent in Remington Rand was a tutorial in advertising which served me well when I was widowed with five small children. Another plus was that I left Remington to be a flight stewardess with Pan American Airways and when my contemporaries were seniors in college, I was flying to Europe, Africa and Asia.

Warren Clark and I were married on December 26, 1949 and had five children in the next eight years; Marilyn, Warren, David, Carol and Patricia. Warren died of a heart attack in 1964. The highest compliment I can pay my kids are that they are like him.

I sold my first short story when I was twenty-eight. It was alled 'Stowaway'. It had been rejected forty times before a magazine in Chicago bought it for one hundred dollars.

My first book was about George Washington. It was published in 1969 and disappeared without a trace. Three years ago Simon and Schuster co-published it with the Mount Vernon Historical Society and retitled 'Mount Vernon Love Story', it became a bestseller.

My first suspense novel 'Where Are the Children' was bought in 1974 for three thousand dollars by Simon and Schuster. Thirty-three books later, I'm still with S&S.

Time to wind up - at least for the present. As soon as I sold 'Children' I enrolled in Fordham College. Went there for five years at night and earned a B.A. in Philosophy. Summa cum laude, if you please.

I never thought I'd marry again but ten years ago I threw a cocktail party on St. Patrick's day. My daughter, Pat, urged me to invite John Conheeney. Her opening words about him were, "Have I got a hunk for you!" He came to the party and we were married eight months later.

I'm Honorary Chairman of FraXa Research. My grandson, David, has the Fragile X syndrome, which is the second leading cause of retardation after Downs Syndrome. Basically the brain of the people who have it can't send out the proper signals because there's a kind of short circuit in the synapses that carry the signals. We raise money for research with the goal of finding a medication that will work around that short circuit. I go all over the country to the fund-raisers as new chapters of FraXa are opened.

I'm always asked to name my favorite book. They're ALL my favorites. If there is one book that is very special to me, it is my memoir 'Kitchen Privileges' because writing it made me relive my early life including those first struggles to become a writer. I think 'Kitchen Privileges' is both tender and funny and it's me.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A suspenseful thriller that will keep you hooked!!, October 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Cradle Will Fall (Mass Market Paperback)

The Mary Higgins Clark novel, "The Cradle Will Fall", is the suspenseful murder mystery about the death of a pregnant woman and the events that surround it. The book is about a brilliant O.G.B.Y.N. that has taken his proffesion to the next level, and will stop at nothing to do it; he will even go as far as murder. He somehow has devised a way to to take women who can't concieve, and make them pregnant. But when people start finding out about it, people start dying. Another character in the book is a lawyer that had been in an accident, and when in her room sees a man put a dead woman in his trunk. She can't remember whether it was a dream or reality but Dr. Highley(O.G.B.Y.N.) won't take any chances. We thought this book was your basic mystery thriller, a bit hokey in the sense that all the events somehow coincidentally fit together too easily. There weren't as many twists or turns as we thought there were going to be. Still, we thought this was fun, enjoyable reading. Once you started, it was hard to stop just because it was a fun book. All and all we gave this book 4 out of 5 stars. We would definetly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys mystery thrillers, or Mary Higgins Clark.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a Thrilling and Suspenseful Read, March 16, 2000

By 

James A. White (Cookeville, TN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Cradle Will Fall (Mass Market Paperback)

Unlike many of Clark's other books, in this one she gives the murderer away right from the start. The rest of the book is spent with the main character totally oblivious to the murderer, although she doesn't believe main suspect did it. This book can be compared to an Inspector Columbo mystery, where the identity of the murderer is known in the first five minutes, or in this case the first 50 pages, and the rest of the book is spend with the protagonist trying to figure out "whodunit." Like all of Clark's books, however, this book is high on suspense and thrills. It is sure to deliver a quick, enjoyable read!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not your average "Who Dunnit" mystery!, November 27, 2000

By 

Bernard R. Assaf (Johns Creek, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Cradle Will Fall (Mass Market Paperback)

When I think of "mystery novel," I think of a book which reveals "who dunnit" at or toward the end of the novel. Readers are left clues given by the author to help them figure it out. This novel by a proven master (mistress?) of the mystery genre takes a different approach. The sole witness at the scene believes what she saw was a dream, but her later encounter with the murderer draws her into the investigation without her even knowing it. Soon, readers discover who the murderer is, but the race is on for the other characters to make the same discovery, using clues left by the murderer. Do the "good guys" find all the clues in time? You'll have to read it to find out!

Not only did I enjoy this mystery novel as a departure from my regular roster of science fiction and fantasy novels, but I also liked the novel as the characters were believable, loveable, and or course, in the case of the "bad guys," easy to hate.

This book is a fast enough and enjoyable enough read for any adult reader, but is also another solid performance by Clark to satisfy her fans and fans of the mystery/suspense drama. Five stars! ** Word to the wary: some themes (abortion, murder, attempted murder) in this book are inappropriate for younger readers, but aren't gory or distastefully presented. **