Pretend You Don't See Her (1997)

A typical tale of the damsel in witness protection falling in love and unable to open up to her knight in shining armor by order of her protectors. Not my favorite of Clark's, but not bad either. ( )

What happens when a young woman, having merely been in the wrong place at the wrong time, is accidentally caught up in a dangerous murder investigation?

What happens when she is placed under police protection, forced to give up her identity and move to another part of the country, at least until the killer can be positively identified and apprehended?

What happens when in her new life she meets the perfect man, only she can't risk falling in love because she can't tell anyone -- even him, especially him -- who she really is?

"Pretend You Don't See Her" is Mary Higgins Clark's brilliant and terrifying new novel, her fifteenth, and her most chilling and suspense-filled yet. Set in New York and in Minneapolis-St. Paul, it is the story of Lacey Farrell, a young rising star on Manhattan's high-powered and competitive real estate scene.

In the course of selling a luxurious skyline coop, Lacey becomes the witness to a murder and hears the dying words of the victim, a woman who is convinced that her attacker was after a journal kept by her daughter up until the day she died in what everyone but her grieving mother believes to have been a tragic accident. Lacey gives the journal to the police, but not before she makes a copy for herself -- an impetuous act that later proves to be almost fatal.

Obliged to give up her family, her job, her very identity, Lacey is placed in the witness protection program and sent to live in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, where she must assume a new life, at least until the killer can be brought to trial. Once there, she meets and quickly finds herself attracted to Tom Lynch, a young radio talk-show host. He likewise is drawn to her -- but Laceybecomes so upset and confused by the life of lies she is forced to live that she tries to break off their burgeoning relationship. How can she commit to him when she can't even tell him her true name?

Then one day she discovers that the killer has traced her to Minneapolis and will soon place not only her but everyone around her in dire jeopardy. Realizing that she is no longer safe, she decides to go back to New York, determined to confront the threat to her life head on.

Armed with nothing more than her own courage and the ambiguous and mystifying clues found in the journal, Lacey is caught in a fast-paced race against time as she tries to uncover who was behind the deaths of the two women before she, too, is killed -- not realizing that the journal itself is the reason for the murders....

Chilling, spine-tingling suspense is the hallmark of Mary Higgins Clark's novels. In "Pretend You Don't See Her," she surpasses herself. ( )

One of Clark's worst books in my opinion. I made it through, however, my interest in doing household chores took me away a few times. I will still check out her books first BUT this one wasn't a hit it my opinion. ( )

A realtor witnesses a murder, placed into Witness Protection, and spends several months looking over her shoulder. A few close calls. A good read. ( )

I listened to the audio book, read by Mary Pifer. The heroine, Manhattan real estate agent Lacey Ferrell , witnessed a murder and received a journal written by the murdered woman's daughter- who may have also been murdered. Lacey enters into the witness protection program for her safety. When her whereabouts become known and her life threatened once again she returns to New York to solve the case and hopefully resume her old life.
The plot was interesting enough, the characters less so, particularly the females. Lacey was so whiny during her Witness Protection time that I truly hoped she'd get shot. This was my second M.H. Clark book and while it was better than "My Gal Sunday" it was far from a good read. ( )