Hide Yourself Away

Rating:
Summary: A SHARP, SUSPENSEFUL VOCAL PERFORMANCE
Review: A producer and writer at CBS News Mary Jane Clark is also a savvy author choosing a background which she well knows and intricately plotting thrillers that leave listeners/readers guessing until the last minute. Fans of "Nowhere To Run" will be delighted with her latest which pits an ambitious 30 something intern against an unknown and impossible to guess who killer.

Actress Eliza Foss gives a sharp, suspenseful reading to this tale. She's especially effective when inhabiting the persona of Grace, a single mother, who very much wants and needs the full-time job promised.

An aspirant for the position at KEY news Grace arrives in tony Newport, Rhode Island, set to do week long coverage of this rich and ritzy resort town. Unbeknownst to her the skeleton of a wealthy woman who disappeared some fourteen years ago has just been discovered in a murky tunnel beneath one of Newport's mansions.

In addition the intern list is growing shorter - not due to lack of ability but the result of disappearance and a fatal car accident. Grace soon realizes that she, too, may be a target but who has her in their sights and why?

Once again, Clark listeners won't be able to outwit her. For a bit of network gossip, a puzzling crime, and a posh location, don't miss "Hide Yourself Away."

- Gail Cooke

Rating:
Summary: Totally engrossing, fascinating too.
Review: A page-turner, to be sure. I didn't guess the killer until the very end (in fact, I was sure it was everyone but the real killer -- still nothing can beat the ending of this author's NOWHERE TO RUN.)

You'll be fascinated by Newport, Rhode Island too. Unbelievable history woven into this.

Rating:
Summary: fine suspense thriller
Review: At KEY-TV, four interns compete for the position of assistant producer's for the news show KEY to America. The rivals are all in Newport trying to persuade producer, B.J. D'Elia to select them. The least confident, but most needy of the rivals is thirty-two old single mom Grace Callahan. Besides feeling inadequate next to the competitors, Grace feels guilty that she left her preadolescent daughter Lucy behind with her philandering former husband and his wife, especially since they want custody of the child.

Almost to the arrival of the news crew is the brutal murder of Madeleine Sloan, whose corpse was found at the bottom of the Forty Steps of the City by the Sea. Locals become concerned because fourteen years ago Madeleine's mother vanished, but now her remains have been found in an underground railroad tunnel. Soon the interns are murdered leaving Grace the job by default; others also are killed while Grace tries to uncover the identity of the serial killer before she joins the rapidly rising count.

The Key to the latest news mystery is the beleaguered amazing Grace who serves as an unconfident fine center to the suspense thriller. However, the support cast is stereotyped so that they come from set moulds like the intern rivals regardless of race, national origin or gender seem identical viz a viz Grace. The story line consists of short chapters so that every New Englander seems guilty of the murders, but that hurts the tale as too many souls become suspect and interchangeable. Still fans of Mary Jane Clark will enjoy Grace's efforts to be the last intern breathing.

Harriet Klausner


Rating:
Summary: Hide Yourself Away is an okay read
Review: Grace Callahan is a single mother working as an intern for Key to America, a popular morning television program. She is in competition with students a lot younger than she for the one position available. Grace would not be able to do her job without her Dad's help, despite his failing health. Her ex-husband Frank is making things difficult for her when he sues for full-time custody of their daughter Lucy. Grace goes to Newport, Rhode Island with the show to do an in-depth look at the area. The investigation into the cause of death of Charlotte Sloane is re-opened 14 years after her murder when her remains are found. Grace befriends her daughter Madeleine Sloane days before she is murdered. Sam Watkins, one of the interns is knocked unconscious after witnessing the crime. Zoe, another intern is murdered. Residents and workers of Key to America are tense because of the escalating violence. The art of scrimshaw is mentioned often throughout the story without really being explained. Some storylines are taken up and dropped without explanation. The chapters are each a quick read without too much depth. The killer is not revealed until the end but by then my interest wavered.

Rating:
Summary: Run-of-the-mill thriller.
Review: Grace Callahan is a thirty-two-old single mother with a great deal on her mind in "Hide Yourself Away," by Mary Jane Clark. Grace is having trouble making ends meet, since her nasty ex-husband, Frank, has been withholding child support payments. Grace wants to work as a broadcast journalist, and she takes an internship with KEY news that may give her an opportunity to break into the business. Unfortunately, Grace's professional responsibilities take her away from home for many hours at a time, and she feels guilty for neglecting her daughter, Lucy.

The KEY news crew goes on location for a week in Newport, Rhode Island. Grace is competing with other interns for a shot at a full-time job that she desperately wants. Suddenly, the discovery of a skeleton in a tunnel beneath an old mansion shocks the community and brings back unpleasant memories. The body is identified as Charlotte Sloane, a wealthy socialite who mysteriously disappeared fourteen years earlier and was never seen again. After Charlotte's death is ruled a homicide, the townspeople speculate about the identity of the person who killed Charlotte and dumped her in the tunnel.

Grace and the other members of KEY news all get involved in the investigation. They interview long-time residents of Newport who knew Charlotte, seeking that one bit of information that will break open the case. As more and more clues emerge, the murderer strikes again. It seems that whoever killed Charlotte is still at large, and he or she will do anything to elude detection.

"Hide Yourself Away" has a contrived and formulaic plot with one-dimensional characters, stilted dialogue, and enough red herrings to populate three mystery novels. Clark presents quite a few characters with motives for murder, but she does not take the time to develop her characters or to explore any meaningful themes. On the plus side, there is a pleasant romance to please female readers, and some nice local color regarding the history of Newport, Rhode Island. On the whole, "Hide Yourself Away" is a run-of-the-mill thriller, interchangeable with dozens of similar suspense novels that are churned out each year.





Rating:
Summary: a quick and easy read
Review: I didn't find this book to be as gripping as her previous novels. Still it was a good read.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable Read
Review: It may not be the Great American Novel, but this book was certainly enjoyable. It has a similar style to her other books, and I was definitely surprised by the ending. I read it on a six hour airplane flight, and it was good enough to take my mind off of my fear of flying! If you like her other books, you'll like this one.

Rating:
Summary: Murder Under the Sun
Review: KEY News travels to Newport, Rhode Island, just in time to solve a 14-year-old murder while putting on a weeklong morning show. The closer Grace Callahan, a new KEY intern in her 30s, gets to solving the mystery, the closer she gets to digging her own grave -- and maybe the graves of her fellow interns, too: a murderer who has escaped detection for a decade and a half won't stop at killing again. A modern-day "Murder under the Sun," Clark updates Christie's mayhem with suspects-a-plenty in America's First Resort. The clues are all there, with a heroine you root for all the way -- and it's a rollicking ride to the finish. I couldn't put it down!

Rating:
Summary: Plodding?? I don't think so!!
Review: One of the editorial reviews said 'plodding". NO!! Great read, hard to put down, engaging characters. Loved it.