On the Street Where You Live: A Novel (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "HE TURNED ONTO THE BOARDWALK and felt the full impact of the stinging blast from the ocean..." (more)
Key Phrases: Spring Lake, Martha Lawrence, Emily Graham (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Emily Graham knows what it's like to have enemies. The pretty New York attorney--a millionaire due to a lucky stock market break--has been sued by her greedy ex-husband and stalked by a man who thinks she helped his mother's murderer escape punishment. But when she buys her great-great-grandmother's childhood home in the sleepy resort town of Spring Lake, Emily thinks her new life will be saner, even though five other young women, including Emily's ancestor Madeline Shapley, have disappeared from Spring Lake under creepy circumstances over the past century.

No sooner has Emily moved in than she starts receiving frightening, anonymous messages. Worse, when she breaks ground for a backyard pool, the backhoe brings up the body of Martha Lawrence, who vanished four years ago, and whose dead hand clutches the finger bone of Madeline Shapley, identified by her sapphire ring. Both women disappeared on September 7, 105 years apart. When the cops and Emily realize that a similar parallel exists between two other missing women and that the anniversary of yet another girl's disappearance is fast approaching, they quickly surmise that a sixth murder will be attempted in just a week. But by whom? Is today's serial killer a copycat of the Spring Lake murderer of the 1890s--or a reincarnation? Fueled by fear, anger, and scary little notes from the killer, Emily's actively researching the murders, but even she doesn't realize how many suspects there are: the retired college president, who's being blackmailed, and his perpetually angry wife; the town's bankrupt restaurateur with a weakness for pretty blondes; the middle-aged detective with his finger right on the pulse of the crimes. Even Emily's friend Eric, the software CEO who made her rich, and Nick, her new coworker, seem to show up at suspiciously convenient times.

Mary Higgins Clark's cast of characters may be overly large; in going for quantity she skimps on the characterization, and all of them, including Emily, are as wooden as Al Gore. But characterization isn't what's made this 24-book author a bestseller-list regular. The cleverly complex plot gallops along at a great clip, the little background details are au courant, and the identities of both murderers come as an enjoyable surprise. On the Street Where You Live just may be Clark's best in years. --Barrie Trinkle

From Publishers Weekly

Is a reincarnated serial killer at work in a New Jersey resort town more than a century after he first drew blood? That's the catchy premise that supports Clark's 24th book. In the 1890s, three young women in the upscale seaside village of Spring Lake died at the hands of an unidentified killer. In the present day, two young women have disappeared from town and their killer, whose first-person ruminations vein the third-person narrative, is preparing to strike again. His final target will be Emily Graham, an ambitious young attorney just moved to Spring Lake from upstate New York, where she'd been victimized by a stalker. Emily is a typical Clark heroine, bright and beautiful, and the friends she makes and suspects she meets in Spring Lake are her equal in stereotype, among them a former college president with a dread secret; a failed, aging restaurateur with a much younger wife; and a hunky real-estate agent. Emily's dream of a new start in the house once owned by her ancestor the first victim of the killer of yore sours when the body of a present-day victim is found buried on her land along with remains of her murdered ancestor. The dream curdles further when more bodies turn up and Emily's upstate stalker reappears. This is a plot-driven novel, with Clark's story mechanics at their peak of complexity, clever and tricky. There's some nifty interplay between past and present via diaries and old books, some modest suspense, and a few genuine surprises, including the identity of both the stalker and the killer. Clark's prose ambles as usual, but it takes readers where they want to go deep into an old-fashioned tale of a damsel in delicious distress. The first printing is one million; that, and Clark's popularity, will be enough to push this title to #1.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1st edition (April 17, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743206029
• ISBN-13: 978-0743206020
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (179 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #868,568 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mary Higgins Clark Does it Again..., April 23, 2001

By	Roz Levine (Virginia) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Talented criminal defense attorney, Emily Graham, is starting over. She's had to deal with a messy divorce from her greedy and adulterous husband and has been terrorized by a stalker for over a year. But now, all that is finally behind her and she's leaving Albany, New York for a great job with a presitigious law firm in Manhanttan and has bought her ancestral home in the beautiful seaside community of Spring Lake. On the day she moves in, a contractor, excavating her new backyard for a pool, finds the skeleton of Martha Lawrence, a young woman who went missing over four years ago. In her hand is a finger, complete with sapphire ring, of Emily's great great grandaunt, Madeline Shapley, who disappeared without a trace, from Spring Lake over 100 years ago. Now as Emily begins to investigate this double crime, that's landed literally in her backyard, she finds out that two other young women also disappeared in the early 1890s. She is even more shocked to discover that over the last five years the 1890's crimes seem to be repeating themselves as two young women have disappeared again, without a trace and the anniversary of the third is less than a week away. Is it a coincidence or is there a serial killer loose in Spring Lake, with a link to the past.....? Mary Higgins Clark has written a fast paced, intricately plotted page turner that's about to keep you up reading, all night. Her crisp, suspenseful writing is full of clever twists, turns and vivid, riveting scenes that will keep you off balance and guessing to the end. The only weakness to this book is its over-abundance of characters that become distracting and take away from the compelling story line and you'll need a score card, at times, to keep them all straight. Perfect for the beach or a long plane ride, On the Street Where You Live is a very satisfying read with a surprise ending that will knock your socks off. Mary Higgins Clark is one of the best in the mystery/suspense business and you really can't go wrong with this book.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Reflections Of A Girlhood?", September 1, 2007

By	Steve Guardala "Support The ASPCA. Ignore All... (?????) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: On the Street Where You Live (Mass Market Paperback)

This is the first Mary Higgins Clark novel I have read, but it won't be the last. This is a very worthy page turner, with many secrets, subplots, richly described characters, & numerous murder suspects. There is a realistic, & highly detailed quality to the authors writing that is very refreshing. Feisty defense attorney Emily Graham's new home in Spring Lake, New Jersey was once owned by her family one hundred years earlier. Soon after moving in a dead body of a girl who had gone missing four years earlier is found in her back yard while she was having a pool put in. The body is found with the finger of an even earlier murder victim complete with a Sapphire ring. As if that was not ominous enough, she also finds that she is being stalked again. Could it be some one from her past, or a new menace? The dead start to pile up, as Emily is hell bent on solving the link between the present murders with those committed a century earlier. Some of the locals even think a reincarnated serial killer is on the prowl?

The most fascinating aspect of this novel is that the author takes us DEEP into the mind of the killer, without revealing his/her identity. The overarching question that slowly grows to a crescendo is who is this obsessed psychopath? Is it Will Stafford, the real estate agent, Gary White, her greedy ex-husband, Eric bailey, the timid but shrewd owner of a dot-com company whose stock helped Emily amass a fortune? could it be Ned Koehler, a man convicted of stalking Emily when she lived in Albany, or Bob Frieze, the cranky restaurant owner prone to unexplainable blackouts when he can't remember anything? Perhaps, it is Nick Todd, the defense attorney fed up with getting guilty clients off? Maybe, it is a woman? Could it be the elderly & supremely bitter Rachel lashing out at young girls for her husbands indescretions decades earlier, or a jealous secretary of an eccentric College professor? I won't tell you the shocking ending, read it for yourself. You won't be disappointed.

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spell-Binding Plot, Nail-Biting Ending Make This Classic MHC, May 8, 2001

By	Antoinette Klein (Hoover, Alabama USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Having read all the novels of Mary Higgins Clark, I feel this one may be her very best yet. She returns to the classic "young woman in jeopardy" theme she is famous for and surrounds heroine Emily Graham with a cast of well-defined characters, each with motive and opportunity to be a serial killer.

In a recent television interview, MHC mentioned she had just purchased a home in Spring Lake, NJ, the setting of this novel. The previous owner had been a Mrs. Eleanor Higgins and the fact that her own complete name is Mary Theresa Eleanor Higgins was not lost on the intrepid queen of suspense. The idea for this novel was conceived and the heroine of the novel purchases a home that had been in her family 110 years ago when a serial killer took the lives of three young Spring Lake girls. Is history repeating itself when a new string of killings occurs or is there such a thing as reincarnation of an obsessed killer?

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of this novel is that MHC takes us into the mind of the killer. Without knowing his identity, the reader knows his moves, his plans, his mindset. But the looming question is who is this obsessed man? Is it Gary White, the greedy ex-husband? Will Stafford, the handsome real estate agent and Emily's frequent dinner partner? Ned Koehler, a man convicted of stalking Emily at her previous residence in Albany? Eric Bailey, the meek but intelligent owner of a dot-com company? Clayton Wilcox, the retired college professor who is being blackmailed? Nick Todd, the defense lawyer tired of getting guilty clients off? Or Bob Frieze, the restaurant owner prone to blackouts when he can't remember his actions for hours at a stretch?

Into this rich blend of characters, Mrs. Higgins adds a look at life in this upscale resort community and a touch of budding romance.

The suspects are many, but the ending is classic and chilling in the Mary Higgins Clark tradition. Definitely one to keep you up all night finishing.