Monday, October 26, 2009

Just Take My Heart by Mary Higgins Clark ***

Why do people read novels? Following the formula perfected by Dickens, Just Take My Heart by Mary Higgins Clark unfolds a world both exotic and orderly. Unlike real-life, all the pieces fit together. Think how comforting it is to know that all the players have supporting roles, unlike the real world where most people enter and leave our lives with no impact, either positive or negative - how boring and pointless.

Thus when the actress Natalie Raines is murdered and her estranged husband, ex-agent Gregg Aldrich is fingered by petty thief Jimmy Easton, the reader knows that Prosecutor Ted Wesley gives our protagonist Emily Wallace the case for a good reason. The reader can also be confident that the creepy, serial killer who moved in next door to Emily Wallace has a part in the tale.

I found the plotting interesting, but I found the characters difficult to care for and thus the novel slow going.

Also, although the jacket promises some mystical personality transfer from a dead person from a heart transplant, this idea has little to do with the plot or the resolution. I think this is a case where art transcends or abandons the artist's inspiration.

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