Title: Just Take My Heart
Author: Mary Higgins Clark
Reviewer: Karen
Genre: Adult Murder Mystery
Rating: Fabulous
Alerts/Warnings: violence, drinking, psychopaths
Premise: "Natalie Raines, one of Broadway's brightest stars, accidentally discovers who killed her former roommate and sets in motion a series of shocking events that puts more than one life in extreme peril." "While Natalie and her roommate, Jamie Evans, were both struggling young actresses, Jamie had been involved with a mysterious married man to whom she referred only by nickname. Natalie comes face to face with him years later and inadvertently addresses him by the nickname Jamie had used. A few days later, Natalie is found in her home in Closter, New Jersey, dying from a gunshot wound." "Immediately the police suspect Natalie's theatrical agent and soon-to-be-ex-husband, Gregg Aldrich. He had long been a "person of interest" and was known to have stalked Natalie to find out if she was seeing another man. But no charges are brought against him until two years later, when Jimmy Easton, a career criminal, suddenly comes forward to claim that Aldrich had tried to hire him to kill his wife. Easton knows details about the Aldrich home that only someone who had been there - to plan a murder, for instance - could possibly know." "The case is a plum assignment for Emily Wallace, an attractive thirty-two-year-old assistant prosecutor. As she spends increasingly long hours preparing for the trial, a seemingly well-meaning neighbor offers to take care of her dog in her absence. Unaware of his violent past, she gives him a key to her home." "As Aldrich's trial is making headlines, her boss warns Emily that this high-profile case will reveal personal matters about her, such as the fact that she had a heart transplant. And, during the trial, Emily experiences sentiments that defy all reason and continue after Gregg Aldrich's fate is decided by the jury. In the meantime, she does not realize that her own life is now at risk" (Book jacket)
Opinions: As soon as I started reading it yesterday, I was quickly drawn into the case and immediately became attached to the main character, Emily Wallace. What is even more intriguing is the twist and turns of events that happened in Emily's life that have a direct impact on the case that she is trying as the Assistent Prosecutting Attorney. I could not put the book down, and when I couldn't stay awake anymore last night to keep reading I reluctantly went to bed only to pick the book up again first thing in the morning.
Mary Higgins Clark is an impressive writer of murder mysteries. She captures the feeling of suspense, the intensity of a mystery, and colorful characters. Her books are easy to read, but capture your imagination as you try to determine "who did it" before she reveals the answer. Being a murder mystery you are reading about death and learning about how the minds work of those who commit the crime. In recent years Ms. Clark's books have become creepier than her early works, but that doesn't stop me from reading them. So even though I think this is a fabulous book I don't recommend it for younger readers or those with overly-active imaginations.
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