The Christmas Thief : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: The Christmas Thief
Review: "The Christmas Thief" is the third short Christmas by the mother and daughter team of Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark. Mary Higgins Clark brings back lottery winner and amateur sleuth Alvirah Meehan, and Carol has her series character, Regan Reilly, the private investigator, team up with Alvirah. Packy Noonan. a scam artist who had conned millions from people who had invested in his bogus shipping company, gets out of jail after serving 12 years. He had hidden $80 million worth of diamonds in a blue spruce tree on Lemuel Pickens' farm in Stowe, Vermont. He needs to get the diamonds soon because that spruce had been chosen to be the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center in New York City. It just so happens that Alvirah and Reagan and their families are also in Stowe to see tree cut down and have a ski vacation. Alvirah and Regan do very little detecting. Much of the book is dedicated to Packy Noonan and his accomplices. It is written as a Christmas novel and is OK for a few hours of light entertainment.

Rating:
Summary: Framework needs a little more meat on it
Review: Both writers are ones I enjoy, but their effort to turn out a light holiday mystery is indeed rather lite. Maybe they feel the sinister villains of MHC's very popular and very suspenseful novels are too heavy for the holidays. This has the feel of the cozy mystery, but not enough character development.
I must admit I've always been a bit disappointed when Mary Higgins Clark's latest book is just short stories or is an Alvirah and Willy story. I'm always hoping for a new heavy duty full-length suspense novel that will worry me and keep me awake until I finish it.
Much as I wish I could give these very competent authors five stars, the story just isn't meaty enough for that. Go ahead and give it a read, but don't get your expectations up. Turn on the Christmas tree lights, get a cup of cocoa and zip through its 204 pages.

Rating:
Summary: Ho Hum...
Review: I was disappointed in this book. MHC is my favorite author and I was excited to read a holiday book from her. While reading it, I often found my mind wandering and just simply lost interest in the story. May be next year's story will be better.

Rating:
Summary: Should be listed under Young Adult Fiction
Review: I'm glad that I only checked this out from the library. Her stories have really seemed to lack substance recently and this is no exception. No suspense in this one. From reading the book jacket, most of her fans could have wrote this for her. These recent books are so watered down recently, they don't qualify to even be in the adult section of the store. Boring!

Rating:
Summary: Quick read but nothing too impressive...
Review: If you haven't read the previous holiday stories by these authors then you won't be disappointed with this read.....but if you have read them (like I have) then you will probably discover that this book is not as good as the ones that have come before it. Filled with the same characters we have grown to know and love, another adventure develops that combines mystery with holiday cheer.

Several other reviewers have done a great job of summarizing the plot so I won't waste my time, but I will say that it's a quick holiday read that will put you in a cheery mood no matter what time of year. I was happy to spend my spare time with it but recommend that you check it out of the library instead of spending the money to purchase it.

Like others have already mentioned, I too hope that the next holiday story is back up to five-star standards!

Rating:
Summary: A Fun Escapist Holiday Read
Review: Mary Higgins Clark and her daughter Carol Higgins Clark have the Rockefeller Center tree at the center of their third holiday suspense novel. As the Rockefeller Center tree is one of the best-known symbols of all things Christmas, it's easy for readers to get wrapped around the action that unfolds.

The story features Mary's series characters --- Alvirah Meehan, a lottery winner who has turned amateur sleuth, and her husband Willy --- and Regan Reilly, Carol's private investigator character and her fiancé, Jack. They are traveling to Vermont in anticipation of the holiday season to visit a tree that has been given to Alvirah. Along for the ride is Opal, another lottery winner whose winnings were lost in a bad deal with a scammer named Packy Noonan. She has never forgiven Packy for what he did to her, and as the holidays approach she is feeling mighty sorry for herself. Alvirah invites her along hoping to cheer her up.

As these New Yorkers head north to enjoy Vermont, an older couple there is readying themselves to watch their eighty-foot blue spruce get cut down as it has been selected to be the Rockefeller Center tree. The tree is full of many memories for them, and thus these days are filled with their recollections of earlier years.

These two groups of characters get linked together by the release of Packy from prison. He breaks parole with a mad dash from St. Patrick's Cathedral where he jumps into a waiting car being driven by two of his scammer accomplices. Their destination: Vermont to find a cache of diamonds that has been hidden in a tree there so they can all head to Brazil and live the good life. You can guess what tree they are in.

Written with humor as well as suspense, the tale gets more and more involved as Opal is kidnapped, the tree is cut down by the thieves, and assorted other characters all get drawn into the tale.

Yes, it's a tad farfetched and all neat and packaged, but it's also a fun escapist holiday read. It's perfect to curl up with next to the fire when the house is laden with gift wrap and ribbons and you just do not feel like dealing with it. It's great reading while the cookies are baking. It's a book you pick up once the guests leave and you just want to unwind.

Aside here: I have spent time with both Mary and Carol and have found them always to be such fun to be around. Reading this book, I am drawn once again into the very special relationship that the two of them have. I saw them on the "Today Show" talking about how they wrote the book. They sat there discussing the plot and they were finishing each other's sentences. As they bantered back and forth I could hear how they must have chatted as they wrote. Picturing them made reading the book all the more fun.

--- Reviewed by Carol Fitzgerald


Rating:
Summary: meow
Review: this book is ok, but i never would have bought it. Thanks, Johann, for purchasing this book for your grandmother. but when i'm shopping for books i go into the store and you know i almost pass out i just don't know where to look!
all the colors and shapes!
what i need is something familiar in the title of a book, like the word "cat".
in fact, halfway through the book i was getting a little bored with all the muss and fuss going on and what i did was i just imagined that all the characters were actually cats. talking cats.
when i did this the book was a breeze and a half to read until the ending where the main character is killed by his own wife.

Rating:
Summary: (2+) This Idea Deserved a Better Story
Review: This disappointing story results from a suggestion to the authors by one of their editors that they write a story about the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree being stolen. That idea forms the basis of a plot that with a little more effort could have been a reasonably suspenseful mystery. Unfortunately, the whole storyline is revealed on the bookjacket notes, so the only readers to whom this will probably appeal are people just looking for a brief light feel-good holiday story or devoted fans of Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark. (In fact, this reads like a book written by a committee, it probably would have been a better story if one of them had taken on the assignment by herself rather than the two of them attempting to collaborate.)

Supposedly this is a Regan Reilly mystery, and Regan and her fiancee Jack Reilly as well as her parents Luke and Nora all do play minor roles in the story, since the tree destined for Rockefeller center is stolen from the neighboring property during their weekend in Stowe, VT. Simultaneously, Opal Fogarty, a woman accompanying their friends Alvirah and Willy Meehan for the weekend, disappears and the search for Opal leads them to believe that Packy Noonan, a scam artist just released from prison and the man who had swindled Opal out her lottery winnings might be involved. Unfortunately, the story is told from the multiple viewpoints of all the main characters, so there are no surprises for the reader and the few attempts to inject any suspense into the story mostly fall flat. Finally, the trio of bumbling villians are more like the gang who couldn't shoot straight than dangerous desperadoes. Thus, this short book which makes no pretense of anything other than light holiday reading, barely even fulfills that criteria in its attempt to avoid any real tension and end happily.

Three elements rescued this book from a one star rating. First, the story is told in an easy to read manner, it's very brief and can be finished on a short trip or a stormy evening. Second, with the usual discount it is priced right. Third, it is after all supposed to be only a light feel-good Christmas story, and in that spirit it deserves a generous rating. Nevertheless, fans of the authors will undoubtedly find the more complicated plots of their other books and the greater degree of suspense which they provide much more fulfilling. Finally, for readers looking for a truly enjoyable holiday read (and obviously many publishers believe that there is a huge demand for the genre given the recent proliferation of books aimed at the "Christmas story" audience), I strongly suggest THE CHRISTMAS TRAIN by David Baldacci. That book (review 11/20/2002) succeeds in every aspect where THE CHRISTMAS THIEF fails. It really is a clever mystery which at least keeps the reader in suspense, although in keeping with the holiday tradition it eschews real tension. Baldacci's character development is far superior and additionally it manages to involves a wonderful romantic theme and captures the true holiday spirit. As a Baldacci fan, I felt THE CHRISTMAS TRAIN clearly revealed his skills as a storyteller and heartily recommend that book as far superior to this one.

Tucker Andersen

Rating:
Summary: Christmas Thief was a fast read..
Review: This was my first Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark book. I was pretty happy with it but I did think it could have been better. The plot was centered around the Christmas tree lighting at Rockefeller Center involving the Meehans, the Reillys, and some ex-convicts. Some parts were utterly unbeleivable. It was a different storyline that seemed pretty orginal but as I read below it's not their best work.

I am looking forward to reading their other books, seperately and jointly. It was a fast, fun read and hey, it occupied my time during Jury Duty!

Rating:
Summary: Boring...
Review: Thought we might have something in the first 2 chapters but then it became predictable and boring.....