Rating: Summary: Fast paced and rivoting Review: Mary Higgins Clark writes a well-crafted novel that succeeds in luring the reader in and keeping them turning those pages. In "You Belong to Me" her highly lucrative formula of alternating chapters focusing on the varying third person perspectives works extremely well to keep the reader from guessing the identity of the murderer until Clark sees fit to reveal it at the very end of her story.
The plot revolves around likeable call-in radio psychologist Susan Chandler who inadvertantly triggers a spree of seemingly unlinked killings when she decides to center a few of her broadcasts on the subject of disappearing women, in particular Regina Clausen, a leading financial analyst who disappeared 4 years earlier without a trace while on a cruise in the Far East. As readers, we get a glimpse into the mind of the murderer as he himself listens to the show and strategizes to keep his overall plan a secret by eliminating people who simply get in his way. We are privy to police investigations, and the ruminations of private eyes and eye witnesses. We walk for a while in the shoes of intended victims and share their horror as the murderer moves along his amoral course without regrets. We uncover facts about Dr Susan, immediately understanding that she is undergoing some personal problems of her own regarding her parent's divorce and her father's subsequent marriage to someone she dislikes; her mother's ensueing depression and her sister's angry betrayals. Most entertaining is guessing which of the three men linked to Dr. Susan personally is our deranged serial killer and what motivation has provoked such a terrible vengenance.
Clark doesn't disappoint, she keeps you interested until the last page. As in her other novels, none of the characters are really developed---there are so many of them---it would be difficult to analyze each of them thoroughly and stay within the 300+ page parameter of the popular novel. Nevertheless, the momentum of the story allows you to overlook the lack of indepth characterization. Indeed the story itself is the strongest character as is the backdrop of New York and its world of traffic, crowds and taxi rides.
Recommended to all lovers of suspense who like a contained story where all loose ends are tied at the climax and denouement in a lovely logical bow.
Rating: Summary: You Belong to Me Review: I'm not the type that usually reads mystery books. In the past I favored fiction and science fiction books. After reading this mystery thriller I have become interested in mystery reading. This book is about a killer who targets lonely women on cruise ships. Dr. Susan Chandler decides to use her daily radio talk show to find out more clues about these strange disappearances of women. Most of these women targeted are lonely and insecure. Dr. Susan Chandler has no idea that she is exposing herself and others around her to the killer who will seek out anyone who is trying to obtain clues of there whereabouts. Dr. Susan Chandler receives a call from a listener who was on the same cruise ship when Regina Clausen was aboard and suddenly disappeared. On her way to meet Dr. Chandler personally she comes to a terrible end that was ruled an accident. Dr. Susan Chandler finds that she doesn't have much time left. The killer is getting closer. I recommend this book to people who like mysteries. If you're not a mystery reader like me you should give it a try. This story will grasp you into it and gets you glued to the book.
Rating: Summary: If you haven't read this book, you should! Review: This book is about a psychologist by the name of Susan Chandler, who has her own call-in radio talk show called "Ask Dr. Susan". While interviewing a psychiatrist named Dr. Donald Richards about his newly written book "Vanishing Women", she brings up the disappearance of a missing woman named Regina Clausen, who vanished while on a luxury cruise ship. An unexpected call-in from a mysterious woman reveals that she may know important information related to the case. As Susan begins investigating, she finds herself hot on the trail of a serial killer who preys on lonely women and she herself becomes one of his targets. I really enjoyed this book! Once I picked it up, I couldn't put it down. The plot was intriguing, the book was well-written and detailed and the ending was a complete surprise! I would recommend it to anyone!
Rating: Summary: A grim reminder Review: MHC does a wonderful job reminding all of us just how vulnerable we are. Not only are there interesting strangers on the street, but there are also dangerous ones as well! We should be oh-so-careful with the "little things" -- telling personal info over the radio, traveling [obviously] alone, and choosing our company carefully. I know, it is a fictional work, and a very enjoyable one at that. I've read many of her books, and this one ranks right up there at the top!
Rating: Summary: You belong to me, or do you Review: Mary Higgins Clark has always written great books, so I knew You Belong to Me would not be an exception. At first, the book seemed to be somewhat confusing due to the fact that there were ten main characters and each chapter was devoted to one character, so the book kept skipping around between people. After learning who was who though, the book went great. I have never been so intrigued or into a book as much as I was with this one. Trying to summarize this book without giving away the murderer might be a challenge, but I will give it a try. As the story starts out in New York, there is a daily radio talk show host named Susan Chandler who decides to bring it upon herself to find out whatever happened to Regina Clausen, a forty year old woman who went on a cruise and never returned home. The first day of the show an unidentified woman calls into the show to say that she was on a cruise before, after her husband and she had a fight, and a man gave her a ring with the inscription that said, "You belong to me." She then said that she would bring the ring to the show incase it had any relevance to solving the mystery. As she was delivering the ring, a man, who turned out to be the murderer, pushed her in front of a van which sent her to the hospital with a coma. Regina's mother then found a ring with the exact identity as the one from the unknown woman, so she gave it to Susan. Another woman later called in and said she had a ring that sounded almost the same as the one the other women described. The murderer was listening to the show and he knew he had to get rid of this woman so she would not tell where she bought the ring from. As the investigation continued on the air of the talk show, the murderer has to continue killing people who might know he is the killer. Susan also finds out that this man has killed two other women because the song "You Belong to Me" has four destinations and he wants to kill one woman in each spot. Susan then is close to figuring out who the murderer is, so she becomes the next prey for the killer. That is all I can say because if I tell the rest of the story, I will give the ending away. There was a ton of information I left out, but there is no way possible to fit the whole summary on a page. As I said before, this book was the best. At many times in the story I thought I knew who the killer was, but then I was not sure. Eventually I narrowed the possible choices down to three and close to the end of the story I narrowed my guess down to two possible suspects. The ending was great though because in a way the murderer was suspected, but then again I could not be so sure. The reason the book is so good is the fact that people have no idea what is going to happen next, so people are on the edge of their seats the whole time reading the book. I do not believe that any of the book was farfetched because everything that happened could happen in everyday life to any average person. The characters were also well developed and I knew throughout the whole book who the author was talking about. Something else that is great about the book is the fact that there are only two swear words used throughout the whole book, so anyone would enjoy reading it. My Grade: A-(was a little confusing at times in the beginning) Highly recommended for: Thrillogy and suspense lovers
Rating: Summary: You Belong To Me Review: You Belong To Me traces the mystery surrounding the deaths of several lonely young women. Dr. Susan Chandler, radio talk show host, finds herself in the middle of the story after she invites a guest on her show to talk about his book. The underlying plot to this book seems a little strange. Although it is not obvious who the killer is until the end of the book, it is also not obvious why they killed in the first place!
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