Oh Boy! If it were not for the fact that I was sitting right at home when I decided to ask about this book during my next visit to the library, I would have assumed that I have passed a KalpaVruksha (the tree that grants your every wish) somewhere in my neighborhood :-) The synopsis of this novel was given along with that of 2-3 other Higgins Clark books at the end of 'All Through The Night' and I was fascinated by the story of two murders occurring in the same neighborhood, but a century apart. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this book sitting right on the front aisle as I began my hunt for the next reading material.
Criminal defense attorney Emily Graham seems to have more than her fair share of troubles in life lately. Her marriage is over but that hasn't stopped her ex-husband from suing her for his share of the money that she came into after selling stock of a hot dotcom. On top of it, she is being stalked by the son of a murder victim whose murderer she managed to get freed. Though the stalker has been put behind the bars, thanks to the cameras installed by her friend Eric Bailey - the owner of the dotcom - Emily feels the need to get away from it all. She decides to take up the offer of working for a major Manhattan law firm and moves to Spring Lake.
In a sort of 'Back to the Womb' way, she buys a home that used to belong to her ancestors several generations ago. But the restored Victorian house has a dark history. One of Emily's ancestors, a young girl called Madeline Shapley, had disappeared from it without a trace about a century ago, never to be found. As the backyard is getting excavated to make room for a swimming pool, a skeleton is discovered in the ground - bound in heavy plastic sheets. The hand of the skeleton is clutching a finger bone - with a ring on it. The ring turns out to be the same one that Madeline had supposedly worn on that fateful day.
Spring Lake is shaken to its very core when the police discover that the skeleton belongs to Martha Lawrence, a young girl belonging to a well-known Spring Lake family who had disappeared about 4 years ago. But the cops are startled when they find that over a century ago, two of Madeline's friends had also disappeared off the face of earth - Letitia and Ellaine. Moreover, the dates on which Madeline and Martha were killed match.
As the town goes crazy over rumors of a "Reincarnated" killer roaming the streets, Emily, to her horror, discovers that her stalker has followed her to Spring Lake.
*** Spoiler Alert Begin ***
First of all, I must confess that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one. The needle of suspicion never stops rotating - Dr. Wilcox and his wife, Natalie and her husband, Nick Todd, Eric Bailey, Will Stafford - each and every one looks like a suspect at different times. But I guess Clark went overboard with Eric Bailey's shyness and weirdness. We all know that a shy and weird character almost never is the killer. And then there is mention, however brief, of the carriage house where Will goes for picking up a few files. That did it for me. I would have been surprised if Nick Todd or Pete Walsh had turned out to be the killer. :-)
Apart from this, a few mistakes seemed to have crept in despite proof-reading. e.g. in one scene, Emily is said to be talking to Will as he begins to drive and yet on the very next page he asks her something 'as he starts the car'. And there is no mention of them stopping anywhere in between :-) Oh, and BTW, 'Nehru' is not the first name but a last name in India so 'Dr. Nehru Patel' is unlikely to be a name of someone of Indian origin.
*** Spoiler Alert End ***
I agree with USA Today when they say that it 'should come with a warning: start in the evening and you'll be reading late into the night'. I almost ended up doing it :-)
Criminal defense attorney Emily Graham seems to have more than her fair share of troubles in life lately. Her marriage is over but that hasn't stopped her ex-husband from suing her for his share of the money that she came into after selling stock of a hot dotcom. On top of it, she is being stalked by the son of a murder victim whose murderer she managed to get freed. Though the stalker has been put behind the bars, thanks to the cameras installed by her friend Eric Bailey - the owner of the dotcom - Emily feels the need to get away from it all. She decides to take up the offer of working for a major Manhattan law firm and moves to Spring Lake.
In a sort of 'Back to the Womb' way, she buys a home that used to belong to her ancestors several generations ago. But the restored Victorian house has a dark history. One of Emily's ancestors, a young girl called Madeline Shapley, had disappeared from it without a trace about a century ago, never to be found. As the backyard is getting excavated to make room for a swimming pool, a skeleton is discovered in the ground - bound in heavy plastic sheets. The hand of the skeleton is clutching a finger bone - with a ring on it. The ring turns out to be the same one that Madeline had supposedly worn on that fateful day.
Spring Lake is shaken to its very core when the police discover that the skeleton belongs to Martha Lawrence, a young girl belonging to a well-known Spring Lake family who had disappeared about 4 years ago. But the cops are startled when they find that over a century ago, two of Madeline's friends had also disappeared off the face of earth - Letitia and Ellaine. Moreover, the dates on which Madeline and Martha were killed match.
As the town goes crazy over rumors of a "Reincarnated" killer roaming the streets, Emily, to her horror, discovers that her stalker has followed her to Spring Lake.
*** Spoiler Alert Begin ***
First of all, I must confess that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one. The needle of suspicion never stops rotating - Dr. Wilcox and his wife, Natalie and her husband, Nick Todd, Eric Bailey, Will Stafford - each and every one looks like a suspect at different times. But I guess Clark went overboard with Eric Bailey's shyness and weirdness. We all know that a shy and weird character almost never is the killer. And then there is mention, however brief, of the carriage house where Will goes for picking up a few files. That did it for me. I would have been surprised if Nick Todd or Pete Walsh had turned out to be the killer. :-)
Apart from this, a few mistakes seemed to have crept in despite proof-reading. e.g. in one scene, Emily is said to be talking to Will as he begins to drive and yet on the very next page he asks her something 'as he starts the car'. And there is no mention of them stopping anywhere in between :-) Oh, and BTW, 'Nehru' is not the first name but a last name in India so 'Dr. Nehru Patel' is unlikely to be a name of someone of Indian origin.
*** Spoiler Alert End ***
I agree with USA Today when they say that it 'should come with a warning: start in the evening and you'll be reading late into the night'. I almost ended up doing it :-)
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