I am surprised to see this come from an author who gives us spine chilling mysteries. Makes me wonder if she wanted to take an easy take on her mystery like her daughter, Carol Higgins Clark. I did not like any of Carol Higgins books, though that is a story for another post. Coming back to this novel, it seemed to have too many characters, too many twists that lead no where or simply end in an expected alley. Mary Higgins Clark started as usual on a high note with the introduction of "The Owl" who's favorite tag line in the entire novel would be "I am the owl, and I live in a tree". The chilling performance he gives in killing what happens to be the fifth woman from his class is beautiful. A sudden and unexplained death! Yet when he proceeds to target the sixth woman, his performance degrades to nothing more than an actor in a poorly directed school play. Even then The Owl seems to be the main character of the novel as opposed to Jean Sheridan, around whom most of the novel revolves. Or perhaps it is supposed to be The Owl and we are just trying to make Jean as the central character. Only Mary Higgins Clark can tell.Jean Sheridan, a successful college dean and historian was coming to her hometown in Cornwall to be honored at the 20 year reunion of alumni of Stonecroft Academy. She is being honored along with five other members of her class: Laura Wilcox, who is trying to keep her television career; Carter Stewart, successful playwright; Mark Fleischman, renowned child psychiatrist; Gordon Armory, a media mogul; Robby Brent, famous stand-up comedian. Apart from these there is this detective, Sam Deegan, who is obsessed with one murder that he hadnt been able to solve till now; and Jack Emerson, chairman of the reunion. There are myriads of other characters that entwine with these primary characters all thru the book.Jean comes to the town with lot of things on her mind. When she was studying here she had fallen in love with a West Point Cadet. An accident took his life and left her being pregnant. She gives up her child, Lily, for adoption and leaves the town. But now The Owl has found out about her baby and has been traumatizing her. Then Laura Wilcox disappears. Everyone thinks it's one of her temper tantrums or a publicity stunt. However, Jean thinks otherwise considering five of her friends had already been killed.Who wants all these seven to be dead? Why? What is his motive in bringing up Lily now after so many years? Has the murder that Sam Deegan looking into do anything with these five murders of Jean's classmates? Who will be the next target? Jean? Lily? or both? Certainly felt a twisting murder plot when the book began, yet when the story unfolded it wasnt that much.Although it seemed intriguing to understand who and why, I felt that there was a serious flaw in the character, Jean. I wanted her to be a little more bold, a little more tough. But she seems to crumble at the wisp of a wind or jump at ring of her phone. And she doesnt behave anything like a well-educated and highly professional college dean. She behaves like the girl she was 20 years ago when she was studying in the academy; frightened, dumb and taking foolish steps. May be that was the idea behind the character but again it did not jive well with the overall book.I could have read thru the book even with all the above flaws, but what disappointed me was the ending, the killer primarily. Never expected this person to be the killer when the character was not elevated at all to be thought of as a killer. And once again that was perhaps the hidden agenda...a low-key person during daytime becomes a serial killer by nighttime. Well, not her best book, but a good read if you want some light thriller.
3.5 STARS "The definition of an owl had always pleased him: a night bird of prey...sharp talons and soft plumage which permits noiseless flight...applied figuratively to a person of nocturnal habits. 'I am The Owl', he would whisper to himself after he had selected his prey, 'and nighttime is my time.'"Jean Sheridan, a college dean and prominent historian, sets out to her hometown to attend the twenty-year reunion of Stonecroft Academy alumni, where she is to be honored along with six other members of her class. There is something uneasy in the air: one woman in the group about to be feted, Alison Kendall, a beautiful, high-powered Hollywood agent, drowned in her pool during an early-morning swim. Alison is the fifth woman in the class whose life has come to a sudden, mysterious end.Adding to Jean's sense of unease is a taunting, anonymous fax she received, referring to her daughter -- a child she had given up for adoption twenty years ago.At the award dinner, Jean is introduced to Sam Deegan, a detective obsessed by the unsolved murder of a young woman who may hold the key to the identity of the Stonecroft killer. Jean does not suspect that among the distinguished people she is greeting is The Owl, a murderer nearing the countdown on his mission of vengeance against the Stonecroft women who had mocked and humiliated him, with Jean as his final victim." (From Amazon)I really enjoyed this suspense novel...kept me flipping the pages.
What do You think about Nighttime Is My Time (2004)?
Author: Mary Higgins ClarkGenre: Mystery, suspenseRating: 9I read this book while I was reading The Great Gatsby. I tend to be one who enjoys mystery novels, so I read it mostly for fun. I enjoyed reading this book, and I liked the various twists and turns that the book took. The weren't too forced, nor were they outrageous or reached for, which I think can be accredited to the fact that Clark is truly the queen of this field. The book revolves around Joan, and her graduated class who is back in town for a high school reunion, I would say their 20th or so. At the reunion it comes to pass that there is a picture of a group of girls at lunch, and since graduation they have been dying off in the order that they sat. This was the only sketchy part of the story. I think that once a couple of girls who were friends in high school started to die, someone would have noticed this coincidence, but maybe not. The list of suspects is as large as the class itself when one reunion attendee, and lunch table sitter goes missing during the reunion. Joan is caught in the middle, as the last girl to be harmed and because her unknown daughter she put up for adoption shortly after graduation is being threatened.For anyone who enjoys a good mystery, Clark is your lady. I personally need to read more of her books.
—Mrs Pearl
(genre:mystery)I don't have much recreational "reading time" right now, so I picked this up on CD at the library to help the housework be a little less boring. Mary Higgins Clark has several shelves of books at our local library and after hearing from several sources that her writing isn't overly explicit, I thought I would give her a try. This story centers on a private high school's 20 year reunion. A small group of alumni have been chosen to be honored for their career achievements. One of the chosen alumni drowns just before the reunion and at the reunion it is discovered that she isn't the only former student to die a young and tragic death. A group of seven young ladies used to sit together every day at lunch. 5 of the seven are missing or dead and their 'accidents' happened in the order that they used to sit in at this lunch table. The serial killer is a former classmate who is out for revenge against those girls who teased or mocked him when he was growing up. As a reader, we don't know which alumni is the murderer and Clark does a great job of giving us many red herrings to distract us from the real killer. My only complaints were that the story seemed to go really long (by CD #4 I was really ready for something to happen & for the mystery to wrap up, but there were still 5 more CDs to go!) and some decisions made by the main character (#7 girl at the lunch table & therefore the next victim) seemed just a little off (i.e. rushing off to met a missing person without contacting the police who were investigating her disappearance and some threatening faxes that she had been receiving. Really? I think anyone intelligent would leave behind a note or a message about where they were off to. Just saying.). But overall, it wasn't too bad. I will probably try something from this author again.
—Darla
Jean goes back to her hometown for a school reunion, someone has found out she had had given up a daughter for adoption when she was 18 and they are sending her messages making her believe Lily's life is in danger. when one for her classmates goes missing young reporter points out that 5 of the girls that used to sit at the same lunch table at school have died in the past 20 years and there is only 2 of them left including Jean.We do know that the killer is one of the honorees who attended the reunion but we don't know which one, he refers to himself as "The owl" and there is something about all of them that makes them sound guilty.With the help of Sam Deegan a detective, Jean needs to find out where her daughter is and who adopted her to warn them that her life is in danger and also figure out which one of her classmates is " The Owl"This was my first Mary Higgins Clark book and I absolutely loved it, I cannot wait to check out her other books.
—Nadine
