The Shadow of Your Smile, the latest thriller from Mary Higgins Clark, is in almost every way typical of her previous books. I want to say right away that I enjoyed it, much more than her last book as a matter of fact. MHC raises some interesting points concerning the natural conflict between faith and science in this one.
Dr. Monica Farrell, a pediatrician with a successful practice in New York, doesn't know her father's birth mother was a woman who later took vows and is now being considered for sainthood. Miracles of healing have been attributed to Sister Catherine, her grandmother, including one involving a patient of Monica's with terminal brain cancer. Dr. Farrell is no longer a practicing Catholic and considers herself to be a scientist first and foremost. To her, miracles are simply events that will have a logical explanation some time in the future.
The man who fathered Catherine's child was an inventor whose patents provided an enormous income he willed to "any issue" of his, not knowing what had happened to the child Catherine bore in secret. The default heirs are two brothers whose greed and dishonest business practices have resulted in the necessity for multiple murder to keep their house of cards from collapsing. After the suspicious death of a close friend of Dr. Farrell's, one who was trying to help her find her father's parents, Monica is marked to be the next victim.
As with all other MHC books, there is no bad language, no descriptions of heavy sex or blood or violence, although obviously bodies do turn up - proof that a good thriller doesn't have to commit assault and battery on the senses. The female characters, whether eighteen or eighty-eight are all lady-like, dress conservatively, drink pots of tea and come from solid Catholic families. Come to think of it, the male characters are like that, too. But MHC is no lady when it comes to plotting. "Shadow" has some very ingenious twists and turns, and the steady pacing kept me turning the pages well past my bedtime.
Dr. Monica Farrell, a pediatrician with a successful practice in New York, doesn't know her father's birth mother was a woman who later took vows and is now being considered for sainthood. Miracles of healing have been attributed to Sister Catherine, her grandmother, including one involving a patient of Monica's with terminal brain cancer. Dr. Farrell is no longer a practicing Catholic and considers herself to be a scientist first and foremost. To her, miracles are simply events that will have a logical explanation some time in the future.
The man who fathered Catherine's child was an inventor whose patents provided an enormous income he willed to "any issue" of his, not knowing what had happened to the child Catherine bore in secret. The default heirs are two brothers whose greed and dishonest business practices have resulted in the necessity for multiple murder to keep their house of cards from collapsing. After the suspicious death of a close friend of Dr. Farrell's, one who was trying to help her find her father's parents, Monica is marked to be the next victim.
As with all other MHC books, there is no bad language, no descriptions of heavy sex or blood or violence, although obviously bodies do turn up - proof that a good thriller doesn't have to commit assault and battery on the senses. The female characters, whether eighteen or eighty-eight are all lady-like, dress conservatively, drink pots of tea and come from solid Catholic families. Come to think of it, the male characters are like that, too. But MHC is no lady when it comes to plotting. "Shadow" has some very ingenious twists and turns, and the steady pacing kept me turning the pages well past my bedtime.
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