Two Little Girls in Blue

Steve and Margaret Frawley are devastated to learn that their 3-year-old twin daughters, Kathy and Kelly, have been kidnapped while with a babysitter. Although the Frawley's are not rich the "Pied Piper" has demanded a 7 million dollar ransom for the girls and the new company that Steve works for agrees to provide the money. Once the ransom is paid only Kelly is returned as one of the kidnappers, the deranged Angie, decides to keep Kathy for herself. The parents are told that Kathy was killed by mistake but Margaret does not believe it espcially since Kelly continues to 'communicate' with her missing twin. The last part of the book has a fairly exciting race to find the now very sickly Kathy before it's too late.
There were so many show more characters in this book that it was hard to keep them straight at times and every single one of them had a suspicious secret they were keeping. I do believe that twins have very special bonds and that 'twin speak' is very common between them I'm not sure the manifestation of bruises on one child when the other is pinched is realistic, but I could be wrong. show less

Synopsis: Kathy and Kelly are identical twins who get kidnapped. Only one is returned but the returned twin insists the other is alive and that their parents must find her.

My Rating:

4/5

I am a mother of twins and loved the concept of this book. Kelly and Kathy have an incredible bond which connects them almost supernaturally. I loved the premise of this book as well as the way it was pulled off. The plot was really well done.

I thought the book was well paced. I couldn't put it down and ended up reading the whole thing in a single day. The stakes in this book, the life of one of the children, were high enough that I was desperate to know if she would be found in time.

I enjoyed learning about the person who had the twin and seeing the show more complexity of their character. In some ways I could relate to this character and her reasons for kidnapping the twin however the kidnapper has a dark side which doesn't allow me to offer her to much sympathy by the end even if I understood her pain and plight.

Despite overall loving this book there were a few things that didn't work for me.

Near the end of the book there were several things that felt like they just happened or that they came out of nowhere. There were times people were in peril and they just happened to be saved by something random.

Another issue I had was with the, for lack of a better word, subplot. The reader knows who kidnapped the children but not who arranged the kidnapping. There are four suspects and each has perspectives written from them. I wasn't thrilled with who the orchestrated ended up being nor the way these vignettes from the potential mastermind were placed into the book. I was fine that these people were being investigated but I didn't need whole scenes showing what was actually happening with them that made them suspicious. At times it distracted from the main story.

Another issue I had, and this was also an issue in Mary Higgins Clark's other book Where Are the Children, is the use of obesity in the portrayal of the "bad guy." In both books the "bad guy" being fat and sweaty is used and I felt the handling of obesity was often insensitive.

Also, in both this book and Where Are the Children, so many clues are withheld by well meaning "townsfolk." I am wondering if this is just a recurrent trope the author uses. I understand that it heightens the suspense but it got annoying that people had information and just didn't think it was relevant enough to bring forward to the police etc.

I think this is a good entry point to Mary Higgins Clark. It is the third I have read and my favorite so far. This one was fairly modern which is a plus for me as I felt some of her older novels did not age well.

I recommend this book if you are looking for a fun high stakes thriller. show less

The story was good... but some of the characters needed to be a bit more believable...especially the kidnappers. They were a rag-tag group of morons who decide to kidnap twins in an effort to gain ransom and they were bumbling idiots. The "twin talk" the girls shared was fairly interesting. I know there has been some long-term studies done on this and the results are pretty amazing. It was in whole, a good mystery...but not great nor was it the best or the worse that I have read by this author. My suggestion would be that this would more than adequately fill the gap if you just need a slow and easy break from hard core mystery & suspense.

Book on CD narrated by Jan Maxwell.

Three-year-old identical twins Kathy and Kelly are kidnapped while their parents are out for the evening, the babysitter left gagged and unconscious. An excessive ransom is demanded of this young, middle-class couple, and Steve’s employer agrees to put up the $8 million ransom as a gesture of goodwill (and to temper the bad press of some dicey business dealings). But things do not go as planned.

This is a fast-paced thriller with a building sense of suspense. The reader is always in on the crime, knowing the identity of the kidnappers and even the “secretive” Pied Piper long before the characters catch on. But the changing points of view, keeps the novel moving forward and helps maintain that show more sense of suspense.

My main problem with this book is how the twins are portrayed. I get that they have a sort of “twin telepathy” but I think Clark takes this to extremes. Also, their speech (although stated as advanced) seems just too complicated in both grammar and vocabulary for their age and experience.

Still it kept me interested and entertained, and certainly meets the standards of the genre.

Jan Maxwell does a fine job narrating the audiobook, though I did read the last half in text version. She sets a good pace and has sufficient skill as a voice artist to differentiate the many characters. I particularly liked the way she voiced Angie/Mona …. Really brought out her psychopathology. show less

Having read several other MHC books prior to this, I can't say that I was impressed by this one. The plot is cute, but the twin thing was played too much and came across as rather cheesy. Also, I was surprised to see who the bad guy was in her other books, it was always the person I least expected. However, with this one, I was able to guess who was responsible for the kidnapping. If you're new to MHC, do NOT get this book. There's plenty of other books she wrote that were enjoyable.

Steve and Margaret’s three year old twins, Kathy and Kelly, are kidnapped. When the ransom is paid and the FBI shows up to pick up the girls, they only find Kelly, along with the body of one of the kidnappers and a suicide note saying he accidentally killed Kathy. But the twins have always shared a special type of telepathic communication, and Kelly’s actions convince Margaret that Kathy is still alive and that Kelly holds key to finding her before it’s too late. The FBI is reluctant to believe that Kelly is really communicating with Kathy, and although they are searching for the remaining kidnappers, they don’t believe that Kathy is still alive and that her life is in danger.

I have to admit that I never would have picked up a show more book by Mary Higgins Clark if it weren’t for a book group and that I was prepared not to like it very much. I tried to keep an open mind, but I wasn’t very impressed. I thought the book really started out slowly. It took me about half the book to get into it at all. Also, the telepathic communication between the twins was the most realistic part of the plot. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, so I’ll just mention that one of the more unbelievable elements of the plot was that the FBI would allow a distraught mother to follow them around on their investigation. I also have to admit that the idea of parents potentially losing both of their children disturbed me a bit (and I don’t even have kids). I did like the structure of the book. The chapters were only a few pages each, so it was easy to pick it up and read for 5-10 minutes, then put it down and come back multiple times throughout the day. Overall, I just wasn’t that thrilled with this author. There are a lot of books out there that are just so much better. show less

This is my second book of hers. First was Where Are The Children? Plot line was similar two young children kidnapped. I gave it 3.5 stars, it's a solid read that kept me interest, but I eventually will forget about it. I was more invested in Where Are The Children. The who dunnit and why was more satisfying then this one.