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.
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.
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