Close to You (Chivers Sound Library)

Rating:
Summary: This Was A Good Book
Review:
Annotation: "Close To You" is about a television news reporter named Eliza Blake and the life of a news reporter. Eliza is constantly in the spotlight and she seems like she has the perfect life, but when you delve into her life it's not so peachy. She was first devastated by her husband's untimely death from cancer. Then when she thought she could love again, her new boyfriend moved to London for a job and cheated on her. Plenty of other people admire her and some will stop at nothing to make sure they get her.

Author Information: Mary Jane Clark is a writer and producer at CBS News Headquarters in New York. She graduated from the University of Rhode Island with degrees in journalism and political science. She has written many best-selling novels including "Nowhere To Run" and "Hide Yourself Away" and many more. She is the daughter of novelist Mary Higgens Clark.

Evaluation: I enjoyed this book "Close To You" by Mary Jane Clark. This is the first book of hers that I have read but I am interested to read more by her. I was first very interested in her mother Mary Higgens Clark's books because they were suspenseful and kept me on the edge of my seat. Then I was presented this book and I figured she would probably good too and she was. I believe that there is a sequel to "Close To You" and I am very eager to get my hands on it since the first one was so good!


Rating:
Summary: Close to You by Mary Jane Clark
Review: Close to You is about a young anchor-woman who goes through adventure escaping multiple stalkers. She struggles to protect her daughter, while her colleagues and those close to her try and keep her safe from trouble. After moving into a new house with a new nanny, Eliza, being a single mother, has no choice but to feel vulnerable to those after her. But when simple letters turn to threats, and she doesn't know who they are coming from, she starts to suspect everyone that is close to her. Eliza does her best to crack down on her problems, and free herself from harm.

Close to You is a book that Clark does a very good job of creating suspence and really makes you relate to all the characters and their feelings. It keeps the pages turning till the end, and creates a new kind of suspence from the celebrity stalker situation. This story was very well developed. If you are looking for a good mystery and can stick with a book, "Close to You" is just for you.

Rating:
Summary: Great Read!
Review: I could not put this down! The sub plots made the book interesting! The suspense was incredible. There were a lot of twists. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and would highly recommend it. Mary Jane Clark is extremely talanted. I am looking forward to reading Nobody Knows next!

Rating:
Summary: Close to You by Mary Jane Clark
Review: I have read a few MJC books, and all have been better than this one. I have noticed a trend she has: wrapping up the ending of her stories rather abruptly. This is no exception with this book, and was more obvious than her other books, probably because of the predictable plot. The heroine of the story is very likable with an interesting life. However, the reader had no clue to decide for themselves who was the villain until the heroine did right at the end which led to Clark wrapping up every other potential suspect's stories in matters of a few paragraphs. It seemed like Clark was tired of the story and she didn't want to put the effort in to make the ending more realistic and satisfying. If you really want to try a Mary Jane Clark book, I would recommend "Let Me Whisper in Your Ear" instead of this one.

Rating:
Summary: Semi-interesting storyline, but wrapped up way too quickly!
Review: I have read a few MJC books, and all have been better than this one. I have noticed a trend she has: wrapping up the ending of her stories rather abruptly. This is no exception with this book, and was more obvious than her other books, probably because of the predictable plot. The heroine of the story is very likable with an interesting life. However, the reader had no clue to decide for themselves who was the villain until the heroine did right at the end which led to Clark wrapping up every other potential suspect's stories in matters of a few paragraphs. It seemed like Clark was tired of the story and she didn't want to put the effort in to make the ending more realistic and satisfying. If you really want to try a Mary Jane Clark book, I would recommend "Let Me Whisper in Your Ear" instead of this one.

Rating:
Summary: WHY?
Review: I love MJC's books but I am inclined to agree with other reviewers that she wraps up her books too fast and that when the villain is ultimately revealed, there is no explanation behind his/her motivation to commit the crime.

In this book, she brings back Eliza Blake who is a loveable character from her previous books. Eliza who is a news anchorwoman is being stalked not by one but by a few psychos. The book moves along quickly and the reason behind some of the stalking was a bit surprising but when you find out who the "REAL" stalker turns out to be, you will have one burning question. WHY? We know that stalkers are usually crazy people who get fixated on someone but there usually is a reason why they become fixated (the person they are stalking, reminds them of someone who they hate/loved) but in this case you really don't get a grasp of why this person was stalking Eliza.

MJC has the potential to be another Mary Clark Higgins but she needs to work on her endings and this is why I am rating this book a 4 instead of a 5.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but not great!!
Review: This novel has a lot of characters. It was very suspensful because Clark keeps you guessing to find out which one of Eliza's admirers is more dangerous. However, The book has a very slow start because nothing really exciting happens until way passed the middle of the novel. It could have been better if more action was involved.

Rating:
Summary: Predictable
Review: With Close To You, Mary Jane Clark has an interesting premise but turns it into a disappointing novel. At under 300 pages, it's is certainly a quick read, but Clark fails to deliver genuine suspense. The so called "thrilling" sequences in the book are much too short, barely giving the reader time to think about what's going on. On top of this, the novel is quite predictable. Anyone with half a brain could figure out the identity of the killer within thirty pages.

One could forgive the predictability if the characters were well developed, but unfortunately, Ms. Clark didn't do this either. Other than the novel's heroine, we don't get much of a backstory for any character.

Mary Jane Clark has a long way to go before she can join the ranks of the great suspense novelists, such as James Patterson and John Sandford. All and all, you could easily find something worse to read than Close To You, but the real question is, why would you waste your time with it when there are so many better books out there?