Nighttime Is My Time (Hardcover)

by Mary Higgins Clark (Author) "It was the third time in a month he had come to Los Angeles to observe her daily activities..." (more)
Key Phrases: pewter owls, lunch table girls, last fax, Laura Wilcox, Robby Brent, Jack Emerson (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
This time out, Clark ups the ante from her standard female-in-peril plot to three females in peril, all targets of a serial killer who fancies himself a night-hunting predator: "I am the Owl," he whispers to himself after he has selected his prey, "and nighttime is my time." The Owl kills his first victim, then it's off to attend his 20th high school reunion at Stonecroft Academy in Cornwall-on-Hudson, where he intends to do in the last several women who humiliated him when he was a geeky high school student. Jean Sheridan, one of the intended victims, was actually nice to the Owl, but he decides she has to die anyway because someone told him she once made fun of him. Jean's daughter, Lily, whom Jean gave away at birth, must also die, for obscure reasons, as must Laura, the class beauty. In the course of stalking and capturing these three, the Owl kills several innocent bystanders just to vent his anger and alludes to dozens more he has slaughtered over the years. The game here is figuring out which of the men who come to the reunion, all former nerds, is the Owl: Carter Stewart, now a genius playwright; Mark Fleischman, a psychiatrist with a syndicated television program; Gordon Amory, television magnate; Robby Brent, famous comedian; or Jack Emerson, local real estate tycoon. If the killer's animal fetish is the Owl, then Clark's is surely the red herring as she cleverly throws them in by the dozen, providing irrefutable proof that first one man, then another, must be guilty. Since any of the men might be the killer, the final revelation is anticlimactic, but Clark's multitude of fans will be happy enough to spend time with the innocent and imperiled Jean and to participate in the guessing game.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From The Washington Post
As pointed out in Book World's May 2 Summer Forecast, readers hardly need to be reminded that Mary Higgins Clark's latest spring offering is here. Nighttime Is My Time brings to 29 the number of novels to bear her name, novels that have routinely graced bestseller lists and earned her numerous awards and the title Queen of Suspense. It is equally significant that Clark, an icon in the mystery field, has been generous with her time and attention to numerous younger writers, as evidenced by an award she and her publisher have sponsored since 2001 to recognize new talented authors, including Barbara D'Amato, Judith Kelman, Rose Conners and M.K. Preston, who follow the vein of suspense Clark has so expertly mined.

In a recent interview, Clark attributed her popularity to readers' ability to "walk in the shoes of the character." In the guidelines for eligibility to win the award that bears her name, Clark spells out the makings of a good suspense novel: "A very nice young woman, 27-38 or so, whose life is suddenly invaded. She is not looking for trouble -- she is doing exactly what she should be doing. She solves her problem by her own courage and intelligence. She's in an interesting job. She's self-made -- independent -- has primarily good family relationships. No on-scene violence. No four-letter words or explicit sex scenes."

Nighttime Is My Time hews to this formula by creating an admirable protagonist, Jean Sheridan, a historian and author of a well-received book on Abigail Adams, then adds other elements to which virtually every reader can relate. Jean is returning to her hometown to be honored at the 20-year reunion of her class at Stonecroft Academy, a private school in upstate New York. But one of the six other honorees won't be attending the festivities. Hollywood agent Alison Kendall has been murdered in the book's opening pages by a man who had the resources to travel repeatedly to Los Angeles to stalk her before he drowned her in her own swimming pool.

Alison's death strikes Jean hard. The two had been friends and part of a group of girls known for lunching together, their good looks and their cruelty to boys in the school. Typical high school behavior perhaps, but, like the boys of Columbine, Alison's killer has nursed a grudge over how the girls taunted him, most specifically for taking advantage of his stage fright when he played an owl in a school play. This murderer's vengeance, planned and implemented over two decades, calls for killing each lunch-table girl, and other unrelated women, and leaving no "signature" to alert law enforcement, save the little pewter owls he places undetected near their bodies, a "silent reminder of his visit, a calling card that everybody always missed." And although he readily admits to himself that Jean was the only girl who was kind to him, in fact had enough family problems of her own to have been ridiculed herself, our serial killer (who calls himself, unsurprisingly, The Owl) has decided she too must die.

A reunion saddened by the tragic loss of a friend, a loss readers know is murder; the resourceful, successful heroine who has risen to the heights of her profession but must struggle to save herself and her daughter from the killer; the disappearance of actress Laura Wilcox, another honoree, before the reunion is over; a stalking serial killer who sits among the unsuspecting as a classmate and friend -- Clark enlists these and other trademark devices to ratchet up the empathy and suspense.

While her fans may be delighted as the red herrings and misdirections pile up in chapters so short that their white space consumes a hefty percentage of the novel's pages, for this reader so much exposure to the killer's habits, thoughts and actions undermines the novel's plausibility. While he may call himself The Owl and wear a frightening feathered headdress, it's unlikely that the kidnapped Laura wouldn't allow herself to say his name, even to herself, regardless of his admonitions not to speak it aloud. Implausible, too, is Sam Deegan, an about-to-retire veteran investigator in the D.A.'s office, whose inability to link past and present crimes is troubling. So is his tendency to share information with suspects and people unassociated with the case, including a nosy reporter for the high school paper whose sole purpose seems to be to move the plot along when the action gets sluggish.

Clark's successful contributions to the genre clearly indicate that she knows, and has done, better work. And while diehard fans may not object as Nighttime Is My Time wends it way to its inexorable conclusion, others who wish for more sizzle in their suspense or more spine-tingling entertainments may want to wait for Clark's next novel or try D'Amato, Kelman or the others whom she has so graciously encouraged.

Reviewed by Paula L. Woods
Copyright 2004, The Washington Post Co. All Rights Reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (April 6, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 074320607X
• ISBN-13: 978-0743206075
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (118 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #514,507 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent thriller, April 6, 2004

By	Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews (#1 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

She would prefer to ignore the invitation to return to Stonecraft Academy for her class' twentieth anniversary reunion, but renowned historian Jean Sheridan is one of six recipients being honored at the gala for their accomplishments. Still the award would not have propelled Jean to return to the academy, but posthumously honoring another winner is the reason for the author to drive to Croton on the Hudson to attend the festivities.

At the hotel, Jean receives a fax that follows up on a package sent to her that contains evidence that someone kidnapped her teenage child, who she gave up for adoption at birth. She is further stunned when attendee Laura Wilcox followed by Robby Brent vanish. When Laura calls to confess that she sent the fax and wants to meet Jean, the historian has no idea the danger she will be stepping into. The serial killer the Owl has made a home at Stonecraft Academy and Jean would be a prize addition to the victim list of at least five from the class of two decades ago.

Though the plot seems anemic in spite of a serial killer and the abduction, the suspense is at its usual stratospheric levels as expected from a Mary Higgins Clark thriller. The story line focuses on the Professor dealing with two crises that interconnect with her. Readers will appreciate the heroism of the reluctant female champion as she grits her teeth and goes forth to do battle against an unknown enemy who might be abetted by a peer betrayer. Ms. Clark shows why she is amongst the top echelon of psychological suspense authors with this taut tale.

Harriet Klausner

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Psychological Thriller Is Late Night PageTurner, May 18, 2004

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

Mary Higgins Clark takes us to the twenty-year reunion of what must have been the unhappiest high school ever. Six members of the class are being honored, and you would be hard-pressed to find another group of such obvious malcontents. However, amongst the honorees is renowned historian Jean Sheridan who harbors the secret of having given up her out-of-wedlock child for adoption. Now, not only Jean, but her child and everyone who shared her lunch table is systematically being eliminated by a disturbed fellow student who identifies himself as "the Owl" because nighttime is his time.

This is a look into the mind of a psychopathic serial killer and the lasting effects of childhood bullying. Interestingly enough, all the men being honored were bullied as high schoolers, but all have become successful in their chosen fields. However, those long-ago scars cause serious repercussions that erupt at the reunion.

My main complaint with this book is there are too many characters to keep track of. The four men being honored are barely distinguishable one from the other and it is virtually anitclimatic when the killer is finally exposed.

On the other hand, the suspense you expect from Mary Higgins Clark is present as well as two sub-plots involving romance.

If you are already a fan of her work, this one will not disappoint.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved this one; use a matrix to follow the suspects, June 8, 2004

By A Customer

I've been in a dry spell in the past month trying to get involved in a book and this one cured me - I found it extremely gripping, fun and impossible to put down.

When I started, my attempt to keep track of the main characters (and in particular the five male suspects) was just impossible. I finally took out a piece of paper and started taking notes in a matrix form - on everything including height, appearance, occupation, place of residence, nicknames, etc. This made the book much more fun to read. And the author really pulls no punches - she provided no inauthentic or inconsistent information meaning that you can ultimately deduce the identity of the killer. Without this matrix of suspects, however, I know I would have been lost and probably would have found it impossible to follow and thus difficult to enjoy.