Customer Reviews

5 star:		(52)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Years ago, a college student named Charles ("Mack") MacKenzie walked out of his life for no apparent reason. Since then, once a year, he calls his mother to assure her that he's all right, and to ask her not to look for him. Now, Mack's younger sister, Carolyn, has decided to find him. Her search uncovers a lot of old secrets among the people closest to her, and someone is trying to prevent Carolyn from solving the mystery behind her brother's disappearance--by any means necessary....

Once again, Mary Higgins Clark has provided us with a sleek, fascinating thriller that builds to a terrific payoff. I read it in one long sitting, and you'll be tempted to do the same. There's a good reason for her 30-year reign as America's "Queen of Suspense," and WHERE ARE YOU NOW? is ample proof of her extraordinary talent. Recommended.

Mary Higgins Clark, America's Queen of Suspense, hasn't lost her touch. In Where Are You Now? she writes a chilling tale of a psychopath stalking his prey on the streets of Manhattan near the SoHo night clubs.

Four women are missing and presumed dead. Also missing for the past ten years, but presumed alive, is Charles "Mack" MacKenzie, Jr., who calls his mother once a year on Mother's Day, telling her he is OK and not to search for him.

Mack's sister Carolyn is frustrated that the NYPD and a private investigator, in spite of their intense efforts, have been unable to solve the mystery of Mack's disappearance. She resolves to find him, and, of course, by doing so, puts her own life in jeopardy.

Is Mack still alive, and if so, what kind of trouble is he in? Is he the serial killer? If not, then who is? And what is Mack's motive for dropping out of sight?

Scattering red herrings along the path, Clark leads us to suspect various candidates as being the shadowy predator of young women. We begin to wonder whom can we trust?

Clark's writing is crisp and clear. Although surprising, the plot resolution is convincing and satisfying; the veteran author ties together all the loose ends. And, as always, her work is admirably clean, without obscenity or profanity.

If you have a free afternoon, this book won't disappoint you. Carolyn's brother disappeared over 10 years ago. He calls his mother once a year on Mother's Day.

Carolyn sees the toll his disappearance is taking on her mother. She also wants to get on with her own life. She tells her brother she is going to find him on his most recent call.

On that same day, a young student disappears while walking home from a club.

Carolyn begins to search for her brother while uncovering many connections to the new disappearance and other cases of missing girls.

This book held my interest. Early on I suspected someone but the connections were a total surprise.

You will enjoy this book. It is as good as early MHJ books.

I have been a MHC fan for the past few years and have slowly been catching up on all her previous efforts.
I finished her more distant and far superior While My Pretty One Sleeps two days before starting her latest.
One of the MHC hallmarks for me is that you are instantly hooked with the first paragraph. This book didn't do that for me. I had to force myself to keep at it.
It didn't really start to gel until 80-100 pages in.
The whole plotline with the father and 9/11 felt forced and added zero to the story line. I can see that maybe she wanted to pay tribute to 9/11 but it just seemed added on.
Also the main character tells her part of the story in first person and that seemed out of place with the rest of the story. As well as her love interest never really seemed to spark with her.
I will say though that the ending was very very good. I didn't see a certain twist coming although I did guess another one from the first chapters.
All and all not her best effort, I would wait for the paperback or take it out from the library, it definitely wasn't worth the $16 I paid.

The author states at the opening that the idea for this novel came to her when an article in a newspaper caught her eye about a missing person who called home every Mother's Day. I am in awe of her talent and in admiration of her ability to craft an intriguing novel on that premise.

She weaves an incredible tale, and several options for the reader to peruse about the puzzle of what really happened to law student, Mack McKenzie. He had the world in the palm of his hand, when he seems to drop off the face of the earth. Even his father's death on 9/11 doesn`t bring him home, yet he calls his Mother every Mothers Day.
Ten years later on this Mother's day his younger sister puts her legal career on hold and vows to find him, or find out what happened to him so she and her mother can have peace.

This riveting ride with all its twists and turns is well worth the price of admission. Only a truly gifted writer can pull it off so well, and without the sex and profanity that is so common today. Just goes to show, if you have the talent you don't need the shock value. Highly recommend it.

I've read all of MHC books and I'm getting bored with some of the recent ones. This one is no different. I can honestly say I didn't care who the killer was by the end of the book. I agree that the character development wasn't there. At the end it seemed like she just picked someone to be behind all of it and gave them a convenient excuse but didn't really drop any hints along the way. I would wait to get this book at a library or buy it in paperback, it's not worth buying a hardcover.

I love MHC. I have read all of her books and I am a huge fan. I am dissapointed in having to say that this book left me bored to tears. It drug on and on. The premise is good-I highly anticipated reading this book and couldn't wait for it to come out. Once I got started it just became a convoluted mess. Too many characters to follow, which I guess were to be red herrings but all it did was add to confusion. I honestly got bored and couldn't wait to finish...not to find out the ending but just be be put out of my misery. Thankfully, I had a bonus reward and got this book for just a couple of bucks. Buy it used y'all or get it at the library or wait the year and get it in paperback. Trust me...you aren't missing a thing.

Mary Higgins Clark's "Where Are You Now?" centers on the disappearance of twenty-one year old Columbia University senior Charles MacKenzie, Jr., known as Mack. He "was the perfect son, the perfect brother, handsome, kind, funny, an excellent student." Although Mack has been missing for ten years, there is hope that he may still be alive. Every Mother's Day, he telephones his family at their luxurious ten room duplex on Sutton Place. Mack's father, Charles Sr., was killed on 9/11, leaving behind a twenty-six year old daughter, Carolyn, who is an attorney, and his wife, Olivia.

Carolyn has just completed a clerkship with a civil court judge in New York City and plans to apply for a job as an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan. First, however, she is determined to find out exactly why Matt went missing and where he might be now. When Mack's annual call comes through, his mom tearfully begs him to return. However, in her frustration, Carolyn cannot help but shriek, "I'm going to track you down, you lowlife, and you'd better have an awfully good reason for torturing us like this." Although Carolyn has asked the police for assistance, a detective informs her that they cannot launch an official investigation. After all, Mack is in touch with his family and apparently, no crime has been committed.

Clues emerge that make Carolyn even more determined to learn the truth. Someone, presumably Mack, leaves a note in his uncle's church collection basket, warning: "Uncle Devon, tell Carolyn she must not look for me." In addition, the elderly superintendents of the building where Mack lived at the time of his disappearance appear to be nervously hiding something; their stories are inconsistent with earlier statements that they made. The stakes are raised when another college student, Leesey Andrews, drops off the face of the earth after leaving a trendy club near Greenwich Village at three in the morning. Besides Leesey, two other girls in the last ten years have also vanished under similar circumstances.

Clark constructs her plot carefully, and she inserts enough red herrings to maintain a high level of suspense until all is revealed. Her prose is crisp and lucid, and she populates the book with an interesting and varied cast. Carolyn is an appealingly flawed heroine who has a quick temper and tends to behave impulsively. Thirty-two year old Nick DeMarco, Mack's former roommate whom Carolyn secretly admires, owns the club where Leesey Andrews was last seen and is considered a prime suspect in her disappearance. Elliott Wallace, the staid CEO and chairman of Wallace and Madison, handles the MacKenzie finances. He has been close to the family for a long time and is in love with the widowed Olivia. Aaron Klein, Elliot's long-time employee, is being groomed to succeed his elderly boss. Another one of Mack's former roommates, Bruce Galbraith, ended up marrying the woman Mack was seeing. Clark juggles these and other characters adroitly and throws in some juicy twists and turns to add spice to her tidy conclusion. "Where Are You Now?" breaks no new ground in a well-worn genre. However, when Clark works within her comfort zone, as she does here, she produces entertaining novels that are sure to please her legion of loyal fans.

I really enjoyed reading this book---so much that I stayed up until 1am to finish it. And since the ending surprised me, I can say it's a great book. It has lots of action, characters you can relate to, mystery, murder and surprises. That to me is a great book.
I think MHC is one of the all time great writers and I will always enjoy reading her stories. To think she came up with the idea for this one by reading a newspaper story makes me realize how her mind works----and I find that to be quite fun.
If you want a good beach or airplane ride story, this is for you. Enjoy.

I haad a difficult time putting this book down, but that's usually the case with a Mary Higgins Clark mystery. I was so curious about Mack's disappearance that I wanted to read ahead, but restrained myself as it's too much fun to guess the villain and find out if I'm correct. Carolyn is the intelligent and determined heroine I've come to expect, which reminds me of another expectation: a "clean" novel. Thank you, Mary Higgins Clark!