Pretend You Don't See Her [Paperback]

Mary Higgins Clark (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; Largeprint edition (June 30, 2006)
• ISBN-10: 0743261399
• ISBN-13: 978-0743261395
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (151 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,760,448 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Keeps you turning the page to see what will happen next!, November 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Pretend You Don't See Her (Mass Market Paperback)

Mary Higgins Clark has not failed us with this one. Pretend You Don't See Her is a captavating story that keeps you always wanting to find out what is going to happen next. At the beginning of the story we are introduced to the main character in the story Lacey Farrell. Lacey is a prominent real estate agent in the hustling city of New York. While preparing to sell an apartment in the heart of the city, Lacey witnesses the murder of her client. From their her life was turned upside down. Being forced into the witness protection program Lacey believes she would be safe. But like any good thriller the plot only thickens by her discovery of new evidence that might capture the killer. By staying involved in the case, even though being warned not too, the murderer is close on Lacey tracks to hunt her down and lay to rest anyone who might be able to tie him or her to the murder. Mary Higgins Clark's Pretend You Don't See Her is an exciting book that keeps you wanting to keep turning the page to find out what will happen next. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a good mystery with many twists and turns that keeps the plot interesting.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another EXCELLENT book by the Queen of Suspense!, March 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Pretend You Don't See Her (Mass Market Paperback)

Pretend You Don't See Her is one of Mary Higgins Clark's best. It starts off with a bang and keeps your adrenalin up through out the entire book. You won't be able to put down this incredibly suspenseful novel. I suggest you read it.

The book is about a woman named Lacey Farrell, a real estate agent. One day, while showing a skyline co-op, Lacey is witness to a murder, and the dying words of the victim. The victim tells Lacey to take her dead daughter's jounal, which Lacey makes a copy for herself, then gives to the police. Lacey is put in the witness protection program and sent to live in Minneapolis. She then discovers that the killer has traced her to Minneapolis. Lacey heads back to New York, determined to find out who's behind the death's of two women, before she herself is killed.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A suspenseful novel a woman who witnesses a murder, September 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Pretend You Don't See Her (Mass Market Paperback)

This exciting novel is about a woman named Lacey Farrell, who lives in Manhattan and is a real estate agent. One day she is witness to the murder of Isabelle Waring, whose daughter, Heather, was killed in a car accident. Lacey is placed in the witness protection program, and sent to live in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Before Isabelle died, she made Lacey promise to give her daughter's journal to her father, and asked her to read it too. Isabelle was convinced that Heather's death was not an accident. So Lacey takes the journal, gives the original copy to the police, gives a copy to Heather's father, and makes a copy for herself. But then she gets into trouble with the police, because they say that she could be charged with removal of evidence from a crime scene. While Lacey is in Minneapolis, somehow the murderer of Isabelle Waring has managed to track her down. I enjoyed reading this novel, because I liked being kept in suspense and not knowing what would happen next. I recommend this book to people who like to read suspenseful books with unpredictable plots. This novel is so unpredictable, it will keep readers guessing throughout the entire book.