The Second Time Around - Mary Higgins Clark ( 2003)

I am a die- hard fan of Mary Higgins Clark. What I like about her is the gentle way of narrating a story. I think she is a writer who does not believe in gory descriptions to make her stories more thrilling. Still, there's mystery and suspense that can put you on tenterhooks right from the first page.

Her narrations lack artificiality. Perhaps, it might be because she finds clues for her story from the newspapers - in other words, incidents that happen in the normal lives of people and the reader can relate to the story, easily.

Nicholas Spencer, the head of Gen - Stone, a company which is developing medicine against cancer disappears without a trace. The wreckage of his plane is found but not his body, raising many eyebrows. What if he has staged this accident? Maybe because he was aware that the vaccine is not going to work.  Lots of people whose dear ones are being victims of the deadliest disease have invested their whole money in the Gen- Stone stocks - Ned and Marty being two among them. After the news of his death starts doing rounds, Nick's bungalow has been set ablaze by someone. Lynn, Nick's wife had a close shave.

Carly Decarlo who writes financial advice columns is now a journalist in the Wall Street Weekly and her first assignment is to do a cover story on Nick. Carley has met Nick personally and for her, he has come across as a genuine person. She too invested her money in his company. Apart from it, Lynn
  is Carley's stepsister. After her father's death, Carley's mother got married to Lynn's father. As the story progresses, Carley feels that Nick is murdered. Her doubt is intensified when Dr Boedrick who bought Nick's house where his father used to do experiments meets with an accident just after he passes on to her the information that he has handed over the record of experiments to a red - headed guy.

I have read many thrillers. But I could not figure out who was behind the murder though there were many explicit clues. That's the beauty of her craft and maybe because of this I might have immersed myself in the story rather than interrupting my reading thinking who is the culprit. This book might not be her best but it's worth reading.

- by Shalet Jimmy

Nobody Killed Her by SABYN JAVERI

Book : Nobody killed her
Author : Sabyn Jhaveri
Publication year : 2017

I chose this book to meet the ' kickass heroine 'and whom I found was an unapologetic heroine with little hypocrisy. Now, that stirred my interest. Prior to it, I had hardly any experience with South Asian thrillers though I was a huge sucker for mysteries and suspense fictions.

Javeri's book prompted me to turn my attention to South Asia and I ended up reading Kalpana Swaminathan and Ashwin Sanghi. Needless to say, it was a good experience. Reviewing these books gave me immense pleasure for there were many serious issues to ponder upon. Javeri's debut novel was no different.

When the story opens, former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Rani Shah was assassinated and her confidante Nazneen Khan ( Nazo )was held accountable for the murder. For, she was the one who was with Rani during her last hours.

 “ Who killed her?”


The story which was narrated in the course of courtroom proceedings was unputdownable. A pacy thriller with a maze of elements – treachery, gender equality, corruption, politics and what not.

Javeri had put the narrative in the unreliable hands of Nazo and this made the maze more thrilling.

What I liked about the book was that Javeri had left no stone unturned to depict the real life situations and it shunned hypocrisy to the core. The author was right when she said she was tired of suitable South Asian heroines. Even many of us were tired of that. She had torn apart those false faces which hardly existed and it's a big relief.


Jhaveri's character would make us think twice before we put every woman under one category when it's pertaining to topics like women empowerment, gender equality and feminism. The reasons for misinterpreting these words were mainly because we often tend to forget that there are different kinds of women with different circumstances with Nazo and Rani being the perfect examples.

There are a good number of women who have manipulative skills to get what they want. I liked the way Javeri left her characters ( Rani & Nazo) without judging them. They are at times strong, sometimes vulnerable and they get disillusioned too.

When Rani was born into an affluent family of politicians and everything had been offered to her on a platter, Nazo's family was murdered in front of her eyes by the General who was ruling Pakistan. Strangely, even such a strong background could not help Rani to wriggle through the maze of politics. But Nazo once determined had pushed the envelope and told us the story of survival. 


She was a refugee and Rani was Nazo's icon, God, lover and everything. She offered her at Rani's feet thinking that only she could save the country from the treacherous role of the General. But she was wrong. The moment Rani got the power her ideals quickly started changing. Mysogyny was prevalent. But with her hard-earned power did Rani do anything to change that? She comfortable placed herself where her society wanted her to be in.

The book created headlines even before it was released owing to Rani Shah's sharp semblance to the late Benazir Bhutto. It could not be denied but what amazed me was that even with a similar backdrop as of Mrs Bhutto, Rani Shah, all through the book hardly showed any traces of the late former premier. Now, that is something to be appreciated.


Once you finish reading the story, you will understand the quote mentioned by Sabyn Javeri at the outset of the book.

“I think you can love a person too much.You put someone up on a pedestal, and all of a sudden, from that perspective, you notice what's wrong - a hair out of place, a run in a stocking, a broken bone. You spend all your time and energy making it right, and all the while, you are falling apart yourself. You don't even realize what you look like, how far you've deteriorated, because you only have eyes for someone else.”

― Jodi Picoult, Handle with Care

Going to read her short story.

by Shalet Jimmy

Daddy's Little Girl - Mary Higgins Clark

Book: Daddy's Little Girl
Author: Mary Higgins Clark
Publication Date: 2002


Daddy's little girl – Yet another Mary Higgins Clark book. I enjoyed it. But if you think, if it's a typical who dunnit? It's not. It is written in a first person's account.


Just one sentence and I could easily give away the story. So let it be a suspense. I know that there would be only a few who have not read her books, especially this one. But I would like to believe that there are exceptions like me.  The title always intrigued me. I could not read as I could not get it anywhere, neither in the libraries nor in the book shops. Eventually, when I caught hold of that book, I am sorry to say that the story did not live up to the title. But I enjoyed reading it. I do not know how that strange phenomenon happens.

Ellie Cavanaugh, a journalist lost her sister when she was just seven years old. Her elder sister was 17 at the time. Robson Westerfield, a 20-year-old was put in prison as she had given testimony against him. Is he the real culprit?  After 22 years in prison, he is out and Ellie just wants to prevent her sister's murderer from roaming free. And her struggle makes the whole story.

Keeping the mystery part away, I started brooding over the relationships that fell apart due to Ellie's sister's murder. Emotions are a rarity when it comes to any suspense thriller.  Ellie's was a close knit family. But they drifted apart after the murder of their eldest daughter, Andrea.  

Though I have enjoyed the book, one question still looms in my head. Why did the murderer kill that girl?  Did I miss anything in the story?. When I close every MHC book, I never asked such questions. I would like to believe that I missed something substantial in the book and hence the doubt.

- by Shalet Jimmy

Remember Me - Mary Higgins Clark

Book: Remember Me
Author: Mary Higgins Clark
Publication date: 1994


When you are so entangled in mundane things and frivolous animosities, it is always good to read something which can take you to a different world, severing all the ties here. No doubt, Mary Higgins Clark often took me to a different world. Besides, Clark has always given me a 'Christmas feeling'. Maybe because I always start reading her when Christmas is round the corner.


So, to talk about the book ' Remember Me' – I loved it. The plot was quite simple but you get the real chill when you reach the last pages. After the death of their son, Bobby, Menley's and Adam's marriage begins to fall apart. But the knowledge that Menley was pregnant again gave them another chance to wedge the gap that distanced them. Despite, all the ruckus that caused in their lives due to the death of their son, their love for each other was something they could not ignore.

Menley was having post traumatic attacks after Bobby's death.  After the birth of Hannah, their daughter, they decided to take a break from the daily routine and shift to Cape Cod for a month where Adam grew up. But Adam had to take a few trips to New York for a client, Scott Covey, husband of Vivian Carpenter who died a few days ago in Cape.


Detective Nat Coogan was on a trail and he strongly suspected that Scott Killed his wife.  In Cape, Menley and Adam were living in a house which was named ' Remember House'. Menley was a writer for a Travel magazine and also a well-established children's book writer. When she realised that Remember House which was built in the 17th century had a story to tell, she decided to make it as the backdrop for her next story. It was Adams' childhood friend Elaine who gave them the ' Remember House' for rent thinking that perhaps the couple would buy it in future. 


Soon, some strange things started happening in the house. There were times Menley felt her late son Bobby was calling out to her. The strange incidents were too intense that she began to doubt her sanity and start seeking explanations for the strange incidents happening right under her nose.
 There were times when one tend to feel the involvement of super natural elements. Many a time I even actually got butterflies in the stomach. 


Long and short, I loved it....

by Shalet Jimmy

You belong to me - Mary Higgins Clark

Book: You belong to me
Author: Mary Higgins Clark
Publication Date: 1998

I do not have any regret that I have joined Mary Higgins Clark reading contest.

'Unputdownable until you finish it'.

You belong to me was a usual MHC book. But the writing was not winding but straight and stellar that you could put it down only after finishing it.

The story is about a killer who stalks beautiful and lone women and murders them.  The killings remained subdued until Dr Susan Chandler, an assistant district attorney turned psychologist churns it out through her popular radio show ' Ask Susan'. 

She invites Dr Donald Richards, another psychiatrist to her talk show to discuss his book ' Vanishing women' and the safety issues encountered by lonesome women. In the process, she discusses Regina Clausen who had vanished mysteriously about three years ago. Thus ensues many other killings.

When you thoroughly scrutinize the book, it offers nothing new. One of the criticisms I came across about this book was that MHC was interested in successful women who undertake rich cruises, falls for rich men.  Absolutely true regarding this book. But what matters finally is whether you have enjoyed the process of reading. If you think that you have wasted your three and half hours, then it is a sheer waste of time. 

But for me, it was the other way round. It was an easy read and enjoyed it.