WHERE ARE THE CHILDREN NOW?

4 stars out of 5

Although I'm fairly sure I read the late Mary Higgins Clark's Where Are the Children? many years ago (1975??), I have to be honest and say I don't remember a thing about it  - heck, I can't even remember where we lived that long ago, much less a book that's been superseded by hundreds of others I've read over the ensuing years. So I'm glad that this one, billed as a follow-up, has enough explanatory references to that one to keep me from being totally lost. But despite being thoroughly engrossing, it's not on my Top 10  list of favorite MHC books.

In part, that's because it's not a favorite topic; I've never really enjoyed reading about children who have been kidnapped, murdered or otherwise abused. But here we are, and in this case, history seems to be repeating itself. Speaking of repetition, I must say there's plenty of that here, although in fairness some is necessary so readers can relate both to this story and its predecessor. In that book, the two children of a young Nancy Harmon were murdered, and she was convicted of killing them. While she "got off" on a technicality (a good thing because she really didn't do it), few believed in her innocence, and ultimately she relocated from California to Cape Cod, remarried and had two more children, Mike and Melissa - who would themselves become the victims of a cruel kidnapper.

That was something like 40 years ago, and now grown-ups Mike and Melissa are leading their own lives - Melissa as a lawyer with a successful podcast, a relatively new husband she loves and a 3-year-old stepdaughter Riley she adores and Mike as a charter boat captain. They're all getting together to help their mother Nancy move to a swanky spot on Long Island. Readers soon learn, of course, that all this sweet bliss is about to turn sour.

And it does, when Riley goes missing right from under Melissa's nose as she sleeps in her mother's new house. Of course, for Melissa and Mike, it's sort of deja vu all over again - and for her husband Charlie, it's the continuation of a nightmare that started with the unexpected death of his first wife, Riley's mother, from a freak accident not all that long ago.

The police, though, follow a path similar to the one police carved with Nancy's case all those years ago; Melissa, the evil stepmother, must be the prime suspect (aided and abetted by all those awful experiences from her childhood). Even Melissa's good friend and podcast assistant, attorney Grant Macintosh, gets in on the act, but we've all heard about the road to good intentions. 

For the most part, Melissa second-guesses herself and everybody else with more fervor than I'd expect from a competent attorney, but then wishy-washy, questioning females just aren't my thing no matter what their background. The only characters who seem reasonably tuned into reality in this one are her brother Mike and her mother Nancy. As for the ending, well, once again not exactly what I'd expect from a successful professional, but there's something to be said, I guess, for Melissa's mantra that happiness is a choice. All in all, it's an enjoyable experience, and I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review a pre-release copy.

Where are the Children Now? by Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke (Simon & Schuster, April 2023); 288 pp.

GONE AGAIN

4 stars out of 5

Told mostly from the perspectives of sisters Celia and Genevieve and in two different time frames - when they were kids living with holy-rolling parents from hell and the present, 25 years later - the details on both ends of the quarter-century span are engrossing, but disturbing. Once out of high school, Celia finally escapes to build a life elsewhere - leaving her beloved younger sister Genevieve and even younger sister Celeste to the not-so-tender mercies of their father and mother.

Not too long ago, Celia and Genevieve reconnect; in fact, thanks to Celia's generosity, Genevieve and her husband relocate to be near Celia and her husband. Celia has just celebrated her 40th birthday with a big bash, many gifts and a card with a nasty message that rattles her brain. Who would hate her enough to spoil her birthday? Unable to sleep, Celia wanders off to clear her head and disappears off the face of the earth. The rest of the story centers on efforts to find Celia and flashbacks to the sisters' childhood secrets - including one that's a whopper. Of course, I must keep it all a secret as well so as not to spoil it for others.

Now that I've finished, though, I must say it's rare for me to advise an author to lengthen a book - more often than not, books tend to be padded with pages of trivial details that are marginally significant to the plot. In this case, however, there are holes are big enough to drive a snowplow through with room to spare. I won't dwell on them, but say only that many readers, including myself, will be left with some heavy-duty questions that another 50 or so pages could have answered without making this almost-too-short-to-be-a-book too long.

But despite my leftover questions, I enjoyed the reading experience - to the point that I held up starting to make dinner because I was too close to the end to put it down willingly. Thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review a pre-release copy.

Gone Again by Minka Kent (Thomas & Mercer, March 2023); 239 pp.

WHAT HAVE WE DONE

4 stars out of 5

Actually, readers get the answer to the title question at the very start of the book. From that point on, the story mostly focuses on the lives of the "we" and how what happened a quarter of a century ago impacts what's happening in their lives now.

And what's happening isn't good. In fact, one of them, a judge, is dead - a murder victim. Another, a TV show producer and in-debt gambler, narrowly misses a similar fate. So does a third, a former rock star who can't give up the drugs and alcohol that kept him going during the glory years. The fourth, now a happy wife and mother, is learning that her previous life has come back to haunt her. Besides their shared actions all those years ago, the group shared one other thing: residence in a group home known as Savior House. The home was shut down after several of the resident children went missing; little by little (or chapter by chapter), layers of the past are peeled back to become clues as to what's going on now from the perspective of the remaining friends.

Gradually, they (and readers) realize they're not just paranoid; someone really IS out to get them - most likely someone who somehow found out what they did all those years ago. But who? Aye, there's the rub; can they get the answer to that question before they all get rubbed out? The ending does bring a twist or two, and there's plenty of action in between. Very enjoyable - and I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review a pre-release copy of another book by this very talented author.

What Have We Done by Alex Finlay (Minotaur Books, March 2023); 368 pp.

LITTLE SISTER

4 stars out of 5

This is the fourth book in what is a new-to-me series, but at no time did I get the feeling that I'd missed out on much except a fleeting wish that I'd been privy to previous interaction among the police coworkers and their significant others. Detective Chief Inspector Jonah Sheens, for instance, is trying to make a go of things with the mother of his infant daughter (mostly out of a sense of responsibility, it appears), but he's also in an emotional turmoil over leaving the more recent love of his life - ah, now there's got to be more to that story!

The current plot, however, took my mind off such concerns just because it's a doozy: As Jonah is in a pub garden with his daughter, a teenage girl pops out of nowhere (well, actually, out of the woods) covered with blood. But it's not hers; the girl, who says her name is Keely, insists that she's fine, but claims her younger sister Nina is missing after they both ran away from a children's home not long ago. 

But when Jonah asks for details - and hopefully Nina's location, since he suspects the blood is hers - Keely refuses to disclose anything except her story, which she will tell only from the beginning. It will, she claims, contain clues that will lead him and his team to Nina as well as three men who, she also claims, are responsible for reprehensible acts against her and her sister that have so far gone unpunished. Problem is, deciphering Keely's intricate, precise verbal presentations (way too much so to be believable coming from a 16-year-old, IMHO) proves challenging; and, if the blood is any indication, time to find Nina alive is running out fast.

Scenes shift from Keely's interrogations to her narrations to investigation reveals from other team members to Jonah's personal life and back again (and again), but each scenario adds more clues as to what's really going on - most of which isn't pretty. There are plenty of twists and turns in each perspective - more than enough to keep readers on their toes and guessing until the end, making for a suspenseful and engaging story. I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review a pre-release copy, and I'm now looking forward to the next installment.

Little Sister by Gytha Lodge (Random House, June 2022); 386 pp.

DARLING ROSE GOLD

5 stars out of 5

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, or so it's been said. Whether that's a result of nature, nurture or a combination of both is, I guess, still up for discussion. After reading this book I'm not much closer to deciding which option I lean more toward, but however this mother-daughter pair got where they are, it's not a pretty place.

To say their story is a wild ride would be an understatement; I was hooked from the beginning and reluctant to put it down. Likable characters? Oh heck no; but then, that's what makes this book so special. Mom is Patty Watts, who seriously mistreated her "beloved" daughter, Rose Gold, almost from the day she was born (apparently a severe case of Munchausen by Proxy). Somewhere around age 18, Rose Gold (her mother always objected to anyone who shortened her name to "Rose") figured out why she'd been so sickly and in and out of hospitals all her life. Her court testimony resulted in Patty's incarceration for five years, convicted of severe child abuse.

For almost all of those years, Rose Gold refused to have any contact with her mother. But then, as Patty is about to be released, Rose Gold begins to visit - claiming all is forgiven and that she wants nothing more than for them to be together from now on. Even though Rose Gold is now the mother of an infant son, she responds in the affirmative when her mother begs to stay with her after she's sprung from jail.

Needless to say, no one in their small town who knew what happened to Rose Gold is willing to forgive and forget what Patty did, and they're aghast that Rose Gold wants to be anywhere near her mother. But Rose Gold stands firm and mom moves in; but don't think for one second that everything from now on will come up roses (not even close). Chapters told from the perspectives of Patty and Rose Gold reveal what's going on in their hearts and minds. Some things have changed and others have stayed the same, but one thing is certain: neither has forgotten the past.  

All told, it's a dark tale that pits the psychological manipulation of two women at loggerheads - leaving readers to wonder who will emerge triumphant right up to the end. It's a "wow" from me - and I heartily thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

Darling Rose Gold by Stephanie Wrobel (Berkley, March 2020); 319 pp.

SAVING MEGHAN

4 stars out of 5


Based on the official description, I figured this book would have a melodramatic bent. But in no time at all, the bent went for broke and stayed there till the end. That said, it's very well written, moves along quickly and serves up several doses of suspense. For those reasons, I'm comfortable giving it 4 stars even if it isn't quite my cup of tea.

Becky Gerard and her husband of 20 years, Carl, have an almost 16-year-old daughter, Meghan, who's been in and out of doctors' offices and hospitals for years. All that time, there's been no firm diagnosis and no let-up in Becky's all-consuming attempts to find one (and ultimately, of course, a cure). The book begins as Becky is leaving Boston on an airplane, reluctantly leaving her ailing daughter for California to visit her dying mother. When she gets a just-at-takeoff text from Carl telling her he's taken Meghan to the hospital yet again, the news throws Becky in such an  emotional meltdown that she gets thrown off the plane.

Chapters shift among perspectives of various characters, and next up is pediatrician Zach Fisher, who still gets nightmares about the death of his young son Will. Turns out he's the physician examining Meghan this time around, and he wastes little of it coming up with a diagnosis of mitochondrial disorder, the same disorder (aha!) that resulted in his son's death. Others at the hospital aren't as ready to accept Zach's conclusion, though; not only is there no specific set of symptoms, Zach has earned a reputation for diagnosing way too many patients with the disorder. Becky, though, has no reservations whatsoever; instantly, Zach achieves demigod status - and the devil take anyone who disagrees (including her husband, who after all this time is far less inclined to grasp at straws). 

Becky, now firmly allied with Zach, not only grasps the straws, she darned near squashes the life out of the suckers. Her emotional outbursts are epic, especially as Meghan's episodes become increasingly serious - prompting the medical community (sans Zach, of course) to conclude that Meghan may be a victim of her mother's Munchausen by proxy. Along the way, readers also learn that secrets abound - not every character is as he or she seems - thus building excitement to learn the truth. Near the end, the story takes a darker turn, resulting in a conclusion that for me was half expected, half not.

The overarching question, I guess, is how far would a mother will go to save her sick child, especially when the rest of the world is conspiring against her (and as a mother/grandmother myself, I concede that there are few, if any, boundaries). Overall, this is a story that should appeal to anyone who enjoys relentless angst mixed with a hefty dose of medical details and a few thrills. I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for giving me the opportunity to read and review an advance copy.

Saving Meghan by D.J. Palmer (St. Martin's Press, April 2019); 374 pp.

NOT HER DAUGHTER

4 stars out of 5


Somewhere I read that this book is to be made into a movie - and it's easy to see that it could be a good one. It's a cleverly written story that's intriguing enough to make me not want to stop reading as well as raise more than a few ethical issues that really did make me stop and think where I stood pre- and post-read. I've never been a big fan of chapters that switch back and forth among characters, and this one does that as well as shift to before, during and after the main event, the kidnapping of five-year-old Emma Townsend by successful business owner Sarah Walker. Happily in this case, though, it's hard to imagine that the story could be told any better without using that technique. How that can be accomplished in a motion picture, however, remains to be seen.

In the airport on a business trip, Sarah sees Emma and watches with near horror as the girl's out-of-control mother is verbally and physically abusive to the child. Sarah desperately wants to intervene, but in the end everyone goes in separate directions, presumably never to see the others again. But as luck would have it, another chance encounter at Emma's Montesorri school (where Sarah is trying to sell her popular digital educational activity books) puts Emma back on Sarah's radar, where she discovers more child abuse. Not long after that, Sarah gets a chance to snatch the girl from her parents and baby brother - and takes it.

From that point on, readers watch Sarah's efforts to stay hidden from the authorities while she makes sure Emma is lavished with attention and fights to believe that she's acting in the child's best interests and, therefore, has done nothing wrong. Readers also begin to see how Emma's family ended up the way they are - especially Amy, Emma's abusive mother. Sarah doesn't get short shrift either; we see how her own background has played into her insecurities and abhorrence of the treatment Emma was getting at the hands of her mother.

As I mentioned earlier, the story raises important ethical issues. Does Sarah's intent to remove Emma from danger, for instance, justify the kidnapping? Amy's disastrous childhood may explain her treatment of her daughter, but does it justify the behavior enough that her daughter should be returned to her? If anybody cares about my opinion, it's no and no - but you'll just have to read the book and judge for yourself. The story is totally engrossing, although in my mind not totally believable. In this day and age, I can't imagine that the loose ends Sarah leaves everywhere they go wouldn't lead police right to her doorstep in less than a week - the most obvious being no attempt to change either of their names despite a nationwide media blitz. And, Sarah supposedly has plenty of money - but how is she able to access it on the run without leaving any kind of electronic trail?

Oh well, I'll never know. I do know, though, that this is an outstanding book - and I'm super-delighted that the publisher, via NetGalley, saw fit to offer me an advance copy for review.

Not Her Daughter by Rhea Frey (St. Martin's Griffin, August 2018); 352 pp.)

THE SUMMER CHILDREN

5 stars out of 5

So much did I love the first two books in this series - "The Butterfly Garden" and "The Roses of May" - that I couldn't wait to get my hands on this one. And I thoroughly enjoyed it as well, although for a somewhat different reason. It doesn't have the emotionally charged, edge-of-your-seat thrills like the others, but the writing is superb and I loved the character development and their interactions with one another.

And to that end, I'll offer a word of advice: Read the series from the beginning. The books can stand alone, yes, but the full understanding and impact from each, IMHO, will only come to those who've read them all in order.

This one begins as Mercedes Ramirez, an agent with the Crimes Against Children unit and survivor of horrific abuse as a child, comes home after a romantic evening with her lover, Siobhan, to find a bloodied child in her porch swing. An "angel," the youngster haltingly explains, forced him to watch while she murdered his parents. Then, she gave him a white teddy bear and dropped him off at Mercedes' house, telling him Mercedes would make sure he's taken care of.

I shall digress for a moment to say it's refreshing to see an openly gay woman (Mercedes) portrayed with such, well, normalcy. She's a competent agent who is both admired and totally accepted by her co-workers for who she is (that she gets hugs from her straight female team members unaccompanied by an "OMG, if I touch her it's gonna rub off on me" attitude is truly amazing considering the way gay females all too often are portrayed). 

The killer may be reprehensible, but she's right; Mercedes is the perfect person to make sure the young boy gets the right kind of attention and care. Immediately, she gets down to the business of identifying the killer, with help from her partner Brandon Eddison and boss, Victor Hanoverian - the two who, years ago, rescued Mercedes from her hellish life and are the reason she's making a career out of protecting abused children. 

The trail leads nowhere, and then three more blood-covered kids show up on Mercedes' porch telling the same story. And then come even more, prompting Mercedes to wonder why she's been chosen to be the children's savior. Could it be because of something, or someone, from her storied past? Whatever the reason, it's clear that the murders aren't going to stop anytime soon; if anything, they're escalating. In the end, it's a race to save lives - and the killer from herself.

Honestly, I'm a bit confused as to whether this is the last in the series - some places I've read that it is while others call it the third of four books. This one wraps things up in fine fettle; but that said, almost any of the characters are strong and intriguing enough to have starring roles in future editions, including Mercedes and her quirky but very capable team. In any event, many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this one.

The Summer Children by Dot Hutchison (Thomas & Mercer, May 2018); 300 pp.

THE MISSING ONES

4.5 stars out of 5


If I had to describe this debut thriller in just one word, I'd choose "engrossing." From the beginning, when three young children in a home for orphaned and abandoned children witness acts almost too horrific for them to understand, I thought I might have trouble putting it down. And as the often-gruesome story unfolded, I knew I was right.

This is the first in a series featuring small-town Ireland detective Lottie Parker, who gets the call to investigate when a murdered woman is found in a cathedral. Not long thereafter, another body turns up - this one a man found hanging from a tree outside his home. Identifying the woman presents quite a challenge, but the man is known; and when it turns out that both victims have what appears to be the same tattoo on their legs, it becomes apparent that the two murders somehow are related.

The real-time story takes place from around Christmas 2014 to just after the start of the new year, but readers also get flashbacks to 1971 and some of the scenes witnessed by the children at the home. Lottie and her team, including her partner and occasional sleepover partner Boyd, turn up clues suggesting that the now-abandoned children's home is central to the case. Now, it seems, the property has been sold to a developer who plans to turn it into a multi-million dollar hotel and golf course - plans that seem to have become lost somewhere in the local government bureaucracy.

Just when dwindling leads make solving the two crimes far less than a certainty, yet another body turns up - this time a priest who, Lottie and her cohorts are told, was sent to the local parish "to find himself." This death, though, could be the turning point; surely, three murders in this small community over the space of a few days can't be a coincidence (or, to put it another way, as did one of the characters in Ian Fleming's Goldfinger: "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.") And so it is that Lottie really digs in, going deeper and deeper as the dots from past to present begin to connect.

After reading a ton of books "starring" female detectives, I've concluded that it's a requisite that they be flawed (think, for instance, J.D. Robb's popular Eve Dallas). Lottie is no exception; she lost her beloved husband to cancer and is trying to deal with a demanding career that includes a rather nasty boss (also a requisite, I think), three near-grown children and a mother she loves but from whom she effectively is estranged. What's more, Lottie has a long-ago connection of her own to the abandoned children's home - trauma that's never been resolved and that brings the possibility of harm to her own children as the current case moves to a surprising conclusion (a couple of them, actually - one very believable and the other, at least for me, not so much).

Now I've finished, and I'll say with no reservations whatsoever that I hope this book will mark the successful start of a series - if for no other reason than I want to follow along. Meantime, my thanks to the publisher for allowing me to read it in exchange for an honest review.

The Missing Ones by Patricia Gibney (Bookouture, March 2017); 518 pp.

FURIOUS

4 stars out of 5


This certainly isn't the most pleasant book I've ever read, and I caution that those who are disturbed by the subject of sex trafficking of children may want to steer clear of it. I'll also point out that as the description points out, this is the first in a trilogy; and for better or worse, it ends with a mother of all cliffhangers. If you want to find out how the story continues, you'll have to read the next one (which, for the record, is titled Outrage, set for release Sept. 20, 2016). 

This one begins as schoolteacher Faith McMann comes home to find that her husband and two young children have been taken captive by a couple of very nasty guys. When the men don't get the answer to the question they pose, they slit both her and her husband's throats. He doesn't make it, but in his haste to get away one of the killers botches her murder and she survives. What happened to the children, though, is a mystery; Faith knows only that they are missing. She's understandably devastated, but when the police don't seem to be taking the kidnapping as seriously as she thinks they should, she gets, well, furious, and decides to take matters into her own hands.

Along the way, she gets help from her parents, her brother, her very pregnant sister and her sister's husband. And when she's forced to attend an anger management class in lieu of jail time after she bashed a detective over the head with a computer keyboard in frustration when he failed to pay sufficient attention to her children's disappearance, Faith meets a couple of oddball folks who share her fervor and jump into what quickly turns into a dangerous fray. 

Chapters shift between Faith's relentless efforts to find her kids and what's going on in the lives of the baddies and captured children. Slowly, the two scenes converge as more pieces of the puzzle are revealed. Interspersed are Faith's recollections of scenes from their once idyllic family life (they're printed in italics). Honestly, I never quite got the point of those, except perhaps to suspect they're intended to show a more "normal" side of an otherwise totally overwrought woman who has become incapable of thinking, speaking or doing anything that doesn't involve the search for her kids.

In the end, I agree that sex trafficking is a serious issue that needs more attention. And I've personally witnessed what happens when parents become obsessed over something awful that's happened to their children; watching what they went through wasn't pretty, nor is it here. My concern, though, is that in several places the author ventures into preachy territory. Mind you, that's not a fatal flaw - the likes of John Grisham and Brad Thor have done the same on more than one occasion and they both remain on my list of favorite authors. But no matter who's guilty of over-politicizing, it is to me a detriment to any book as a whole (prompting my rating in this case of 4 stars rather than 5). Still, it's a solid effort, and I thank the author and publisher, via NetGalley, for providing me with a copy to read and review.

Furious by T.R. Ragan (Thomas & Mercer, March 2016); 318 pp.