In the gripping new novel from America’s Queen of Suspense, a young woman is haunted by two murders that are closely linked — despite the one hundred and ten years that separate them. Following the acrimonious breakup of her marriage and the searing experience of being pursued by an obsessed stalker, criminal defense attorney Emily Graham accepts an offer to leave Albany and work in a major law … major law firm in Manhattan.
Feeling a need for roots, she buys her ancestral home, a restored Victorian house in the historic New Jersey seaside resort town of Spring Lake. Her family had sold the house in 1892, after one of Emily’s forebears, Madeline Shapley, then still a young girl, disappeared.
Now, more than a century later, as the house is being renovated and the backyard excavated for a pool, the skeleton of a young woman is found. She is identified as Martha Lawrence, who had disappeared from Spring Lake over four year ago. Within her skeletal hand is the finger bone of another woman with a ring still on it — a Shapley family heirloom.
In seeking to find the link between her family’s past and the recent murder, Emily becomes a threat to a devious and seductive killer, who has chosen her as the next victim.
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Best author! Every book is fantastic.
I love this author.
As always another of her page turning books that kept me up late into the night.
Mary Higgins Clark is the master at writing thrilling and captivating stories!! This one had me on the edge of my seat the whole way through!! Highly recommend!
All of her books are GREAT!
Mary Higgins Clark delivers another gripping, complex novel. Defense attorney, Emily Graham, buys her ancestral home after a nasty divorce, an upsetting trial, and the conviction of a man who had been stalking her. The day following her move into her new home, her life and those of her neighbors is thrown into turmoil. Two bodies are discovered in her backyard…one belonging to a young lady who disappeared 4 1/2 years ago…the other the remains of Emily’s missing relative from the 1890’s. Are the murders linked? Then 2 more bodies are unearthed. Is the present-day killer somehow re-enacting the murders from 100 years ago? I thought this was a terrific read!
very good.
In this chilling thriller, the Queen of Suspense presents a riveting plot that warns about the danger that can lurk on the street where you live! After her divorce, Emily Graham accepts an exciting new job offer and moves into her ancestral home in the picturesque town of Spring Lake. It’s also a chance to help her recover from the recent experience of being pursued by a dangerously obsessed stalker. But her chance at a new life becomes a nightmare when a young woman’s skeletal remains are found buried in her backyard while it’s being excavated for a swimming pool. In the dead woman’s hand is the finger bone of another woman, a woman who was wearing a ring that happens to have been a family heirloom… terrifying evidence that both women were murdered! While both were the victims of serial killers, one was killed only four years earlier while it is discovered that the other woman was killed more than a hundred years earlier. Unfortunately for Emily and the entire town, it is all too clear that the modern-day killer is still on the loose. What’s even more frightening is that the similarities between the recent murders and the century-old killings make it obvious that this killer is convinced that he or she is the reincarnation of the killer from the distant past. Can Emily help the police find out who this maniac is before he targets HER?? Plenty of clues, harrowing twists, a seemingly endlessly long list of suspects, and a stunning climax make this book a page-turner that fans of Mary Higgins Clark’s brand of breathless, keep-you-guessing suspense will love!
On the Street Where You Live, Mary Higgins Clark, 2001
My favorite quote: “If you want to be happy for a year, win the lottery. If you want to be happy for life, love what you do.”
Notable characters: Emily Graham, a criminal defense attorney; Madeline, her ancestor
Most memorable scene: When the bodies are dug up in Emily’s yard. I hope it gave her nightmares for years to come
Greatest strengths: It has a pretty cover. I like red books
Standout achievements: Well, it certainly wasn’t the author’s ability to conceal the identity of the killer …
Fun Facts: This is MHC’s 24th book. Whee.
Other media: N/A
What it taught me: That if you’re going to use a dizzying amount of characters and side stories in a book, they need to be well-developed and distinguishable if you want your readers to follow along. It also taught me that I’m not a fan of Mary Higgins Clark
How it inspired me: It didn’t. Not even a little. It reads like an especially weak episode of Murder, She Wrote
Additional thoughts: This is one of several books I’ve read by Mary Higgins Clark and at the risk of sounding insulting, she always comes off to me as a dumbed-down Agatha Christie for folks who don’t like getting their hands dirty. I don’t see the appeal. I’ve tried and tried. This one is especially flat. I can’t even understand how a book that has murderers, stalkers, cheating spouses, broken marriages, hidden bodies, and reincarnation can be dull … but On the Street Where You Live somehow pulls it off. Yet another miss for me from the so-called Queen of Suspense
My rating: 1.5 of 5
Haunt me: alistaircross.com