You Belong To Me

You Belong to Me was my first Mary Higgins Clark. She's such a popular and prolific author, I had put off reading her books. I was afraid I wouldn't like them, but what I should have been afraid of was enjoying them. You Belong to Me was an exciting, suspenseful read that made me regret not reading Clark's books earlier.

Susan is a former assistant district attorney turned psychologist and radio host. When she inquires on-air about a missing woman she sets off a murderous chain reaction she never could have predicted. I cared about what happened to Susan, but I also questioned her often. I couldn't understand why she wouldn't follow certain obvious - to me at least - leads. She had a lot of stuff going on, personally and professionally, show more so ultimately it could have been a realistic portrayal of things slipping through the cracks unnoticed.

Each page of You Belong to Me drew me in further than the last. I could not put this book down. It could be a little repetitive at time, going over certain things two or three different times, but I was so wrapped up in the story I barely cared.

I was in awe of the storytelling in throughout the entire book. I highly enjoyed the way the book was written and that actually stopped my progress on a few occasions. Clark took the full advantage of what writing for print has to offer and exercised freedom that visual media can't compete with. She was able to show the story from multiple perspectives, including the killer's. She showed the actions and thoughts of all the suspects and the killer without letting on which suspect was the killer. You were in the killers head, seeing what he saw and yet couldn't tell which man was guilty or innocent. It was an amazing experience. show less

I've read several MHC books and generally enjoyed them, but this one was pretty meh, because of the ending. The story starts off well and left me guessing as to who the serial killer was, but when it was finally revealed, it was done in such a rushed way, with a poor motive for the bad guy, so not one of MHC's better books.

This makes the third MHC book I purchased just after Clark died. I was trying to remember what her work is like. Generally, I put her in the B category. Not a favorite author but I don't hate her.

Susan Chandler is a psychologist with a call-in radio show. She interviews another doctor, who has written about women who disappeared, and as an adjunct to the show she discusses the disappearance of Regina Clausen, a woman who went on a cruise and never got back.

Regina's mother has asked Chandler to bring the matter up. Even though it has been several years, she has not gotten over Regina's disappearance and wants answers. So Chandler essentially asks her readers if they know anything. She sets herself up as a detective, and a very public show more one.

A couple of women call in who know something that may be relevant to the case. But they become the victims of attacks. Are these attacks related? Chandler suspects that they are. She dons her investigative hat while going about her regular life, dating men who might have ulterior motives.

The book tells us something about what happened to the women who were on cruises and disappeared, but unlike many other authors, Clark does not choose to let us have the experience firsthand, as felt by the victims. The suspense is set back a bit. I knew- and most will know - that ultimately Chandler will be a target - but it is not a nail-biting novel. That's really okay with me.

What I didn't get, really, was the whole investigation-by-radio scenario. Chandler's show put women in danger. It seems like it would have made more sense for her to request that people with potential real evidence contact her privately. It also seemed bizarre that she took it upon herself to investigate the case. show less

I've read other books by MHC but this one us not one of my favorites. it's been on my to-read list for a while and was a bit disappointing. I didn't really sympathize with the characters. Although I could see that the point was to make the reader believe one thing while another was going on, and she did deviate attention marvelously as she always does, the story wasn't riveting.
Not bad, but not great either.

I've seen her name on so many books I thought I'd give her a try, and this was the one I bought.

I can't in good conscience recommend it at all. It made me wonder just how it is she's sold millions of copies of her books if this is representative. The characters were flat and uninteresting, the plot was perhaps believable but forced, and the ending was contrived.

Oddly enough, I found Clark's daughter's (Carol Higgins Clark) Regan Reilly books far more interesting. They're amusing fluff, unlike You Belong to Me.

Entertaining light weight reading from back when Mary Higgins Clark still felt original.

This was your usual MHC fare. By halfway through the book I was pretty certain which guy was the bad guy and which ones were just red herrings. Though I was a bit sad that the bad guy was who he was, because I liked the character.