Do You Want To Know A Secret? (2005) - Plot & Excerpts
Good Venue, Satisfying Plot, But Lots of Clutter...By now y'all probably know Mary Higgins Clark is the ex-mother-in-law of our author here, Mary Jane Clark. Many speak to the similarities of style -- a dashing (and gorgeous wholesome single mom, young widow, and accomplished professional) leading lady who overcomes all odds; enough violence and suspense to entertain and befuddle; and a nice clean ending we can all feel good about. Well hopefully that could be said about many a good book. The differences we see are more interesting. First the venue -- set mostly in the surrounds of a major news network, midst the tribulations of the early morning shows and anchor broadcasts at night, we certainly get (ala the movie "Network News") plenty of up close looks at the pressured lives on the news set. In the best tradition of write about what you know about, MJ speaks from personal experience as a producer and writer for CBS News. Indeed, Dan Rather gets a cameo mention in the story, as he does in the acknowledgments up front for his encouragement to the author. We just hope the romances reported among many co-workers aren't quite that prevalent, although as we know, propinquity is a powerful force (said Zelda to Dobie...).Second, we get a pretty good story line. The first shocker is the apparent suicide of a famous anchor, followed thereafter (but paced well) by the murders of his doctor and his secretary. Even the most dense of us realize the connections, though the trained newshounds seemed to miss it. A big surprise at the end serves up a murderer we dare say few suspected more than a page or two before the unveiling, so high marks for suspense.Third, and of course not as welcome, we do get an awful lot of characters, relationships, AIDS pleas, disease causes, snippets of events, changes in scenery, etc.; to us, all that clutter gets a little tiresome. Certain loose ends never do get wrapped up, and we're not even sure that a major subplot, the campaign machinations of a presidential candidate, really advanced the basic story line that well. We also personally disliked chopping the book up into 141(!) chapters - do the math, they span 302 pages, so that's like two pages each. And the last 35 span only 25 pages, so we're down to barely more than the "sound bites" so lovingly quoted throughout.So - for her first outing (of four to date), not bad. Clean things up, simplify a little, give us a little longer reading stretch with out raising and lowering the curtain a hundred times, and we might have something here. We'll at least move on to number 2 - "Do you promise not to tell?". And you?
Do You Want to Know a Secret?by Mary Jane ClarktMary Jane Clark's name is designed on the cover to resemble that of her former mother-in-law, Mary Higgins Clark. No accident there. Besides the marketing value of a famous name, Mary Jane's style is slavishly imitative of Mary Higgins. A bright young career woman is stunned to find a dear friend dead, possibly (probably) murdered. The murderer knows she must be silenced. Several killings (and a new boyfriend) later, Miss Bright-Young-Career is menaced and nearly killed, but saved at the last moment (often by said, new boyfriend). The murderer ends up dead, or insane.tThis time around, it is young widow Eliza Blake who finds herself in peril. Her old friend and co-worker, anchorman Bill Kendall, has just committed suicide. The question as to why involves embezzlement from charities, a political election, a mentally ill homeless man, religion, psychiatrists, and AIDS. Also a killer who slays anyone who comes close to the truth. Little vignettes of the heroine, her friends, enemies, and coworkers are intercut together as the suspense (hopefully) comes to a head. Can I call this Mary Higgins Clark-esque?tFortunately, I like this kind of novel, so the manufactured air was bearable. It was dressed up well enough. Ms. Clark's day job is in a broadcast news studio and she seems to knows what she's talking about with the little details. The characters, though entirely predictable, were fine. However, the ending threw me for a loop. It was totally unexpected (which is good), but totally unbelievable. There are a few details that remain unresolved. Did Wingard confront his campaign manager about lying to him? What happened to the murderer? The gun goes off and that's that. Why did Bill keep verbatim transcripts of all his conversations on his computer? Honestly, though, I do not really want to know. Do You Want to Know a Secret would make a decent airplane read.
What do You think about Do You Want To Know A Secret? (2005)?
Do You Want to Know a Secret? is a passable enough murder mystery for what it is, i.e., the literary equivalent of a quaint 20th century soap opera.Implausible plot points and pedestrian dialogue abound, and even the most mundane characters speak to each other as if they’re reading their words via teleprompter. In addition, the book’s structure is puzzling; it contains more than 100 chapters, many comprising only a few sentences. Do You Want to Know a Secret? resembles the novelized version of a screenplay, full of frequent whiplash-inducing focus shifts from one character and location to another. Perhaps the author’s approach was deliberate given how the story is based around the goings-on at a CNN-esque TV station. Nonetheless, despite several shortcomings, the story did manage to pique my curiosity about the series. I am planning to make a second attempt at audiobooking next offering, Do You Promise Not to Tell?
—Debbie J
This was a good book, with a few twists and turns to divert the reader - or at least me - to guess who the real foe is - and I was surprised! The short plot summary: Anchorwoman Eliza Blake, the upcoming star at KEY News, is shattered by her friend and co-anchor's death. Her past is being ripped apart by tabloid magazines and she finds herself more and more in danger as others close to her mysteriously die. Accidents? Murder? It's a tale involving the possible next president's wife, a priest, a judge gone bad and others whose secrets are rather left closed up...I enjoyed reading this story. It was fast paced - also due to the 141 chapters - and never got boring for me. Eliza Blake is mother of a young daughter, and I could relate to her working and the nagging bad conscience of leaving her child with others.
—Tanja
Perfect diversion for the time following an eye doctor visit, where I got my eyes dilated and couldn't spend the rest of the day doing the things I like to do, including reading. An ear-read was a good substitute for page turning, though.Story was a bit formulaic, and a bit dated, but decent enough. The Clark women (Mary Higgins, Carol Higgins, Mary Jane) all tend to run together in my mind these days. I usually pick the least likely/most benign/trusted early on and pin the butler label on them. More often than not, I'm right.
—bookczuk
