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Summary: Second time around
Review: I was disappointed in this book. I thought is got boring at times, and the plot thin. I have so enjoyed most of her other books, but felt this one fell short.
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Summary: A Guaranteed Page Turner
Review: In Second Time Around Carley DeCarlo is a reporter for Wall Street Weekly. Her first assignment at the magazine is to co-write an article about Nick Spencer and his company Gen-stone. This is no ordinary story though as Nick Spencer is accused of stealing money from his company and staging his [demise] in a plane crash, because the vaccine his company promised to cure and prevent cancer was flawed. As Carley finds out there are many twists and turns in this story. Many lives are affected by the promise of the vaccine and the money that will be reaped from it. Carley has doubts about the fate of Nick Spencer and gets caught in the twists and turns the story takes.This book was absolutely wonderful! The whole storyline was very intriging to me. I must admit there were a lot of characters and it was confusing at times keeping them all straight. I found myself turning back to refresh my memory on who was who at the beginning. This book just drew me in and wouldn't let me go until I had read the last word. This is an absolutely wonderful read for a rainy day or a day outside in the sun. A must have and must keep book!
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Summary: First Book Club book - BC
Review: I was told many good things about MHC but this book seemed to be the worst one to read to begin knowing Clark. The story was too scattered for me jumping from one character to another and there were many characters yet not enough information on the important aspects of the story. Was a disappointment to me as well as a very flat ending.
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Summary: Not my usual Mary Higgins Clark
Review: This book didn't do it for me. I have all the MHC books and this is the first one that has disappointed me. It read more like a Carol Higgins Clark book than a Mary Higgins Clark book. I'm hoping the next one works better. I like having an author on whom I can depend.
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Summary: A mysterious vaccine may be a breakthrough or a hoax.
Review: Mary Higgins Clark's new suspense novel, "The Second Time Around," is about the mysterious disappearance of Nicholas Spencer, the head a medical research company named Gen-Stone. Before his disappearance, Spencer had been touting a new vaccine that could be a breakthrough in the treatment of cancer. However, the vaccine that held so much promise now appears to have been a failure, and Spencer, who may have died when his private plane crashed, could actually have faked his own death. Rumors soon circulate that Spencer is off somewhere living the high life with his mistress, using funds that he looted from his own company and its shareholders.
Carley DeCarlo is a spunky and ambitious reporter who is determined to find out the truth about Spencer. Was he a saint who risked his personal fortune and his reputation to help humanity? Or was he really a selfish and manipulative coward? Carly has personal and professional reasons for pursuing this story, and even after she receives death threats, she refuses to give up her investigation. Clark is a competent writer and "The Second Time Around" is a workmanlike but lightweight mystery. Although the scientific aspects of this book do not bear too much scrutiny, Clark keeps the story moving along at a fast pace, and she inserts enough action to hold the reader's interest. As always, Clark uses no foul language and the violence is sanitized for squeamish readers. I recommend this novel for those who enjoy an unchallenging and mildly entertaining novel.
Rating:
Summary: disappointing
Review: As an avid Mary Higgins Clark fan, I was totally enthusiastic about this latest book. But there has been a steady downfall in the quality of her fiction, and it has culminated in this one. The book is slow, predictable and not at all gripping. The plot is exagerated. What I used to love about her work was that I could easily relate to her characters, that is what made it so believable and gripping. This book is about rich and powerful people, and bad things and twists of fate that happen to them..I mean come on..she can do way better than that.
My suggestion..if you MUST read it, borrow it from someone..don't bother buying it
Rating:
Summary: Good, but not one of her best.
Review: Having read all of Mary Higgins Clark's books I would say that this one is good but didn't hold me at the level of suspense like some of her earlier work did. If you are new to her books I would recommend either Where are the Children or While my Pretty One Sleeps.
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Summary: Page Turning Suspense - DOES THE CANCER CURE WORK?
Review: Nicholas Spencer is the charismatic head of Gen-stone, a company attempting to develop a cancer vaccine and cure based on research conducted by Nick's deceased father during his years as a practicing physician. After the death of his first wife due to cancer, Nick has become obsessed with finding a cure in order to spare others the heartbreak caused by the disease. As the story begins, Nick has disappeared during a severe thunderstorm while piloting his plane to a conference in Puerto Rico, where he had hoped to convince additional investors to fund Gen-stone's research. While he is at first presumed dead, his body has not been recovered and subsequent events raise questions regarding his disappearance. Following the plane crash, Gen-stone reveals that recent clinical trials of the vaccine have not duplicated the earlier encouraging results. In addition, an investigation has uncovered evidence that substantial corporate funds have been embezzled. Marcia "Carley" DiCarlo is a financial columnist extremely interested in Nick's death for both personal and professional reasons. She is the central protagonist and primary narrator of this novel. Carley's stepsister is Lynn Spencer, Nick's second wife. Lynn's father only recently married Carley's mother. While Carley is very pleased with her mother's newfound happiness, she has intensely disliked Lynn during their three brief encounters, considering her an upwarding mobile socialite with whom Carley has no common interests. Conversely, she was very favorably impressed with Nick's sincerity and charm. In fact, she invested her savings toward the downpayment on a NYC apartment in Gen-stone stock based upon Nick's assurances of the promising nature of the vaccine research. Carley decides to attend the Gen-stone investor meeting which is not surprisingly dominated by hostile stockholders who are afraid that their money has been lost. Their pain is magnified by the fact that several had invested in the hopes of achieving a cure for the cancer from which their family members were suffering; thus in some cases they had lost both their hope and their financial resources. After a disastrous performance during the meeting and her fear of the legal and public relations consequences, Lynn attempts to enlist Carley's help in proving that she is innocent of any involvement in whatever illegal activities might have been engaged in by Nick. Carley is assigned by the editors of her new publication to collaborate with two other staff writers on a cover story investigating all aspects of the Gen-stone story, financial, legal, personal and medical. As Carley tries to uncover the truth, Lynn's Bedford mansion is torched and Lynn narrowly escapes the flames. As the story develops,there are several interrelated plotlines which are all woven together in a very engaging way. There are enough twists and turns to keep the reader's interest, altough with the exception of the gradual revelation of the truth concerning Nick's role at the center of all of the main events, most of the time the good guys are readily distinguishable from the villians. However, the reader is kept guessing until the very end as to who will remain alive and who might be murdered either to keep the truth secret or in revenge for shattered dreams. This book is well written and fast moving; it has all the elements necessary to keep the reader's interest including a boyfriend for Carley with an essential role in the story. I enjoyed the book; it is just right for a quiet weekend or a vacation trip. Therre are two factors that kept me from rating it five stars. First, with the exception of Carley, only one other (very unsavory) character (who is the narrator at times) had any meaningful character development. We did get to know Nick posthumously as Carley stuggled with her positive assessment of him in the face of so much apparently damaging evidence concerning his actions. But this is a story that largely eschews character development in favor of solving the mystery regarding Nick's disappearance and how it related to Gen-stone. This approach shortened the narrative at the expense of lessening the reader's involvement. Second, the extent of corporate malfeasance and the related criminal behavior that are the core of the plot are so extreme and unrealistic that they make Enron seem like some hanky-panky at a church picnic. Therefore, while the story is a pageturner and the plot is complex, the price that the reader pays is that a complete suspension of belief in the novel's plausibility is necessary to accept the conclusion. Thus, when I finished the book I felt that it was very clever but that nonetheless the author had left me somewhat dissatisfied as a result of attempting to nicely tie up all the loose ends. While I am sure that these minor criticisms will not keep THE SECOND TIME AROUND from the bestseller lists, they did keep it from receiving my five star rating.
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Summary: Bravo for Mary Higgins Clark
Review: I have never enjoyed a Mary Higgins Clark novel as much as I enjoyed this one. It had all the right ingredients for a suspenseful novel. Wonderful characters a fantastic plot and as well as turns and twists that will keep you guessing right to the very end. I couldn't wait to finish this book. No one will be disappointed by this book. A true gem
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Summary: She delivers again. No big surprise there!
Review: With her usual grace and compassion, Mary Higgins Clark's book The Second Time Around explores the mind of a mass killer; in fact, a good part of the book is told from his point of view. It's a complicated plot with everything spinning off from a corporate crime committed by a character who then dies in a small plane crash. As is usual with her books - indeed most mysteries, there is the sense of a clock ticking as the book nears its end: will the culprit be caught before...whatever?
Very well done, and a classic Higgins plot line.
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