Thank you Simon & Schuster Audio for the ALC and @BookClubFavorites & Simon & Schuster #partner, for the finished copy of Where Are the Children Now? in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Simon & Schuster / Simon & Schuster ALC
Published: April 18, 2023
Summary:
The legacy of the “Queen of Suspense” continues with the highly anticipated follow-up to Mary Higgins Clark’s iconic novel Where Are The Children?, featuring the children of Nancy Harmon, facing peril once again as adults.
Of the fifty-six bestsellers the “Queen of Suspense” Mary Higgins Clark published in her lifetime, Where Are the Children? was her biggest, selling millions of copies and forever transforming the genre of suspense fiction. In that story, a young California mother named Nancy Harmon was convicted of murdering her two children. Though released on a technicality, she was abandoned by her husband and became such a pariah in the media that she was forced to move across the country to Cape Cod, change her identity and appearance, and start a new life. Years later her two children from a second marriage, Mike and Melissa, would go missing, and Nancy yet again became the prime suspect—but this time, Nancy was able to confront the secrets buried in her past and rescue her kids from a dangerous predator.
Now, more than four decades since audiences first met Nancy and her children, comes the thrilling sequel to the groundbreaking book that set the stage for future generations of psychological suspense novels. A lawyer turned successful podcaster, Melissa has recently married a man whose first wife died tragically, leaving him and their young daughter, Riley, behind. While Melissa and her brother, Mike, help their mom, Nancy, relocate from Cape Cod to the equally idyllic Hamptons, Melissa’s new stepdaughter goes missing. Drawing on the experience of their own abduction, Melissa and Mike race to find Riley to save her from the trauma they still struggle with—or worse.
Just like the original, Where Are the Children Now? keeps listeners guessing and holding their breath until the very last moment.
My thoughts:
I grew up reading Mary Higgins Clark and could not read them fast enough. When I heard that Alafair Burke was collaborating with MHC on the Under Suspicion series, I knew I had to read them, and I thoroughly enjoyed them. So naturally, I knew I would be reading this follow-up to MHC’s iconic novel, Where Are the Children, which I recently reread as it had been many, many years since I first read that one. You can read my review here.
Before I get into my review of this book, I will say while it’s not necessary to read Where Are the Children before picking this new book up, as this one does stand on its own, I think you will have a much richer reading experience if you do. But, if you decide not to, you can always read it after because there are enough mentions of what happens in that book that you just might find yourself wanting to know more.
This book, just like the previous one, really grabbed me from the start and never let up. It’s intense but I loved that while we have some of the same characters, we are also introduced to a bunch of new ones. The podcast element was my favorite, and I love how that was woven in. This is another fast-paced story with plenty of twists and turns that really took me by surprise. I thought I had figured things out and while I did have one or two things worked out, I had only scratched the surface. That ending really shocked me in the best possible way!
I definitely think Alafair Burke did this story and MHC justice here…the tension and suspense, the layered plot, the twists, the characters and how multi-faceted they were – I hope she continues to bring these stories to life because she definitely has the ability to do so.
Audio thoughts:
I was thrilled to see that January LaVoy was narrating this one. She had narrated the previous book and I thought she was just a natural fit for this one, too. She also happens to be one of my favorite narrators, so I always love listening to her. Her ability to make a story come to life make me want to not put the book down once I start listening to it. She also has a way with children’s voices that sound authentic and not over-done.
