On the Street Where You Live
by Mary Higgins Clark
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Description
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 firm in Manhattan. Feeling a need for roots, she buys her ancestral home, a restored Victorian show more 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. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
DNF @ 9%. Unabridged audio
In my search for a thriller/mystery, this author had name recognition. Considering my DNF at single digits, I am baffled about how she gained such a reputation. I kept tripping over what I suppose was the author’s attempt to be original. It resulted in epic failures that jarred me so thoroughly out of the story that I gave up.
A character whose hair is described as “midnight brown.”
Another tripwire: “what goes up must converge.”
These two gems of “literary genius” were so distracting that I missed several minutes of narrative immediately after them, trying to figure out what the heck the author was saying.
In my search for a thriller/mystery, this author had name recognition. Considering my DNF at single digits, I am baffled about how she gained such a reputation. I kept tripping over what I suppose was the author’s attempt to be original. It resulted in epic failures that jarred me so thoroughly out of the story that I gave up.
A character whose hair is described as “midnight brown.”
Another tripwire: “what goes up must converge.”
These two gems of “literary genius” were so distracting that I missed several minutes of narrative immediately after them, trying to figure out what the heck the author was saying.
Emily is relieved that she can finally put the past couple of years behind her. Her stalker has been arrested, she has a new job as a defense attorney in New York City, and she used some of the money she made in a stock windfall to purchase a home in the beach side town of Spring Lake, NJ. The day she moves in two bodies are discovered in her backyard by the contractor installing a new pool. One of the bodies is of a young girl that disappeared four years earlier and the other body of Emily's great great grandaunt who disappeared over a hundred years ago. Soon it is apparent that someone is recreating the killing spree of a long ago serial killer. Is it possible that the killer has been reincarnated and has continued his crimes?
While show more it is not the genre I usually read, I enjoyed the story. Although it would have been more suspenseful if I hadn't figured out two of the three mysteries a lot sooner than the author's reveal. There were times that the red hearings made the book drag, but mainly because I had already figured out they were not the ones responsible. I found the nineteenth century murder and the investigation of it the most interesting part of the book. show less
While show more it is not the genre I usually read, I enjoyed the story. Although it would have been more suspenseful if I hadn't figured out two of the three mysteries a lot sooner than the author's reveal. There were times that the red hearings made the book drag, but mainly because I had already figured out they were not the ones responsible. I found the nineteenth century murder and the investigation of it the most interesting part of the book. show less
Another good story, but very similar formulaically to the previous one I read by her. There were way to many characters to keep it slightly confusing, there was the obvious antagonist to make you think they did it, but they were just a red herring. There was the friend, or friends, who weren’t. There was the fringe male character who became important in the end...anyway, you get the point. The plots were very different, and both books were written well, but the bones were the same, and it made this one very easy to figure out the “whodunnit”.
So this was the first Mary Higgins Clark I’ve ever read and I just really loved it. I’ve seen other reviews that say it isn’t as good as some of her others but for me it is one of my favorite mysteries. I liked all the characters, even the annoying ones and felt the suspense was perfect. Mary Higgins Clark did a fabulous job of intertwining the past with the present and bring into question fate and reincarnation.
I also really liked reading a story where the cops were actually trying to help and didn’t write off the main characters thoughts as paranoia. The main character in this story is great but flawed in her inability to realize the risk she is putting her own life in but what is even better is that several of the other show more characters call her out on it.
The author does a really good job of closing the loop on several side plots and really weaves the two current mysteries together as well as find closure for the past mystery. I don’t this isn’t a real detailed review but I just really enjoyed this story and found it completely entertaining and engrossing. It will become one of my re-reads. show less
I also really liked reading a story where the cops were actually trying to help and didn’t write off the main characters thoughts as paranoia. The main character in this story is great but flawed in her inability to realize the risk she is putting her own life in but what is even better is that several of the other show more characters call her out on it.
The author does a really good job of closing the loop on several side plots and really weaves the two current mysteries together as well as find closure for the past mystery. I don’t this isn’t a real detailed review but I just really enjoyed this story and found it completely entertaining and engrossing. It will become one of my re-reads. show less
Good solid suspense thriller with a strong female character. Relationships unravel as the body count mounts. Will the heroine get every last detail out of the killer before she becomes the next victim. Have to buy the book to find out.
Emily Graham is a criminal defense attorney who has already been through so much during her lifetime. Having already endured an exasperating ex-husband and the acrimonious breakup of her marriage - as well as the traumatic experience of being pursued by an obsessed stalker - Emily feels the need to get as far away from home as possible. So, deciding that she deserves a change of scenery, she eagerly accepts an offer to leave Albany and take up a position with a major law firm in Manhattan.
Feeling a strong desire to reestablish her roots, Emily buys her ancestral home - a restored Victorian mansion situated in the historic seaside resort town of Spring Lake, New Jersey. Her family had chosen to sell the house back in 1892, after the show more mysterious disappearance of nineteen-year-old Madeline Shapley - a distant relative of Emily Graham. Unfortunately, Madeline Shapley was never seen again.
More than a century later, as the house is being renovated and the backyard excavated to install a pool, the skeletal remains of a young woman are found. She is soon identified as Martha Lawrence, someone who went missing from Spring Lake over four years ago. However, Martha doesn't seem to have been buried alone - she has another woman's finger bone clutched within her skeletal hand. The lady's finger bone still has a ring on it - a ring that turns out to have been a Shapley family heirloom.
Now, as Emily seeks to discover the link between her family's past and the most recent murder, she actually finds herself haunted by both murders - despite the one hundred and ten years that separate them. Emily's subsequent investigation reveals that both crimes seem to be related to each other, yet this information isn't actually what frightens her the most. What actually begins to frighten Emily the most, is that she has somehow attracted the attention of a very devious and seductive killer - someone who ultimately sees her curiosity as a threat, and has chosen her as his next victim...
I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this particular book. Actually, the story gave me the slightest impression that I was reading an Agatha Christie-style mystery - which means that I hadn't any clue at all who the perpetrator was, but absolutely no one was beyond suspicion. In my opinion, it was an intriguing and intricate plot that held my attention all the way through. I would definitely give this book an A!
I may have said this before, but I will say it again: to me, Mary Higgins Clark is a bit like Barbara Delinsky in terms of enjoyment of their books. The books that I have read by Ms. Clark have all been very entertaining and enjoyable, but sometimes she is a bit of a hit-or-miss author for me. show less
Feeling a strong desire to reestablish her roots, Emily buys her ancestral home - a restored Victorian mansion situated in the historic seaside resort town of Spring Lake, New Jersey. Her family had chosen to sell the house back in 1892, after the show more mysterious disappearance of nineteen-year-old Madeline Shapley - a distant relative of Emily Graham. Unfortunately, Madeline Shapley was never seen again.
More than a century later, as the house is being renovated and the backyard excavated to install a pool, the skeletal remains of a young woman are found. She is soon identified as Martha Lawrence, someone who went missing from Spring Lake over four years ago. However, Martha doesn't seem to have been buried alone - she has another woman's finger bone clutched within her skeletal hand. The lady's finger bone still has a ring on it - a ring that turns out to have been a Shapley family heirloom.
Now, as Emily seeks to discover the link between her family's past and the most recent murder, she actually finds herself haunted by both murders - despite the one hundred and ten years that separate them. Emily's subsequent investigation reveals that both crimes seem to be related to each other, yet this information isn't actually what frightens her the most. What actually begins to frighten Emily the most, is that she has somehow attracted the attention of a very devious and seductive killer - someone who ultimately sees her curiosity as a threat, and has chosen her as his next victim...
I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this particular book. Actually, the story gave me the slightest impression that I was reading an Agatha Christie-style mystery - which means that I hadn't any clue at all who the perpetrator was, but absolutely no one was beyond suspicion. In my opinion, it was an intriguing and intricate plot that held my attention all the way through. I would definitely give this book an A!
I may have said this before, but I will say it again: to me, Mary Higgins Clark is a bit like Barbara Delinsky in terms of enjoyment of their books. The books that I have read by Ms. Clark have all been very entertaining and enjoyable, but sometimes she is a bit of a hit-or-miss author for me. show less
I always enjoy buying books at airports and I always enjoy Mary Higgins Clark, so I was happy with this purchase at Logan Airport on the way to Mark Juniors graduation from Southwestern Adventist University. However, of all the MHC books I've read I liked this one the least. Perhaps it was because I just finished a wonderful Anne Tyler book with her amazing character development. I found the plot in this book predictable and I never felt closely connected to the characters.
At the end of the book, there are questions and answers for the author. The first question mentions this book and says it is a "thriller." I couldn't believe it. I never thought of it in that category.
Emily Graham has made a large sum of money as a defense attorney. show more She purchases an old Victorian home for $2m cash in the coastal town of Spring Lake, NJ. The house had been in her family several generations back. Her grandmother's sister, Madeline Shapley had lived there. She disappeared as a teen-ager in 1841 and although foul play was suspected, a body was never found. show less
At the end of the book, there are questions and answers for the author. The first question mentions this book and says it is a "thriller." I couldn't believe it. I never thought of it in that category.
Emily Graham has made a large sum of money as a defense attorney. show more She purchases an old Victorian home for $2m cash in the coastal town of Spring Lake, NJ. The house had been in her family several generations back. Her grandmother's sister, Madeline Shapley had lived there. She disappeared as a teen-ager in 1841 and although foul play was suspected, a body was never found. show less
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Mary Higgins Clark was born in the Bronx, New York on December 24, 1927. After graduating from high school and before she got married, she worked as a secretary, a copy editor, and an airline stewardess. She supplemented the family's income by writing short stories. After her husband died in 1964, leaving her with five children, she worked for show more many years writing four-minute radio scripts before turning to novels. Her debut novel, Aspire to the Heavens, which is a fictionalized account of the life of George Washington, did not sell well. She decided to focus on writing mystery/suspense novels and in 1975 Where Are the Children? was published. She received a B.A. in philosophy from Fordham University in 1979. Her other works include While My Pretty One Sleeps, Let Me Call You Sweetheart, Moonlight Becomes You, Pretend You Don't See Her, No Place Like Home, The Lost Years, The Melody Lingers On, As Time Goes By and Kiss the Girls and Make Them Cry. She is the author of the Alvirah and Willy series, which began with Weep No More, My Lady. She is also the co-author, with her daughter Carol Higgins Clark, of several holiday crossover books including Deck the Halls, He Sees You When You're Sleeping, Santa Cruise, The Christmas Thief, and Dashing Through the Snow. She writes the Under Suspicion series with Alafair Burke. In 2001, Kitchen Privileges: A Memoir was published. She received numerous honors including the Grand Prix de Literature of France in 1980), the Horatio Alger Award in 1997, the Gold Medal of Honor from the American-Irish Historical Society, the Spirit of Achievement Award from Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University the first Reader's Digest Author of the Year Award 2002 and the Christopher Life Achievement Award in 2003. Many of her titles have made the best sellers list. Her recent books include All By Myself, Alone, I've Got My Eyes On You, and You Don't Own Me. Bestselling suspense novelist, Mary Higgins Clark died on January 31, 2020 at the age of 92. (Bowker Author Biography) Mary Higgins Clark has written nineteen novels & three short story collections since 1975. She has served as president of the Mystery Writers of America & lives in Saddle River, New Jersey. (Publisher Provided) show less
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Is abridged in
Reader's Digest Select Editions 2001 v06 #258: Summer Light / Echo Burning / The Rich Part of Life / On the Street Where You Live by Reader's Digest
Reader's Digest Condensed Books: Jackdaws • The Smoke Jumper • Hostage • On the Street Where You Live by Reader's Digest
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Dans la rue où vit celle que j'aime
- Original title
- On the street where you live
- Original publication date
- 2001
- People/Characters
- Emily Graham; Eric; Nick; Clayton Wilcox
- Important places
- New York, New York, USA; Spring Lake, New Jersey, USA
- Epigraph*
- /
- Dedication*
- Pour mes très chers
John Conheeney, mon merveilleux époux,
les enfants Clark
Marilyn, Warren et Sharon, David, Carol et Pat,
les petits-enfants Clark
Liz, Andrew, Courtney, David, Justin e... (show all)t Jerry,
les enfants Conheeney
John et Debby, Barbara et Glenn, Trish, Nancy et David,
les petits-enfants Conheeney
Robert, Ashley, Lauren, Megan, David, Kelly, Courtney,
Johnny et Thomas.
Je vous aime tous. - First words
- He turned onto the boardwalk and felt the full impact of the stinging blast from the ocean.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"Nick," Emily whispered, "in that picture, Douglas Carter was holding what appeared to be a woman's scarf with metal beading."
- Original language
- English US
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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