Where Are You Now?: A Novel

It has been ten years since twenty-one-year-old Charles MacKenzie Jr. ("Mack") went missing. A Columbia University senior, about to graduate and already accepted at Duke University Law School, he walked out of his apartment on Manhattan's Upper West Side without a word to his college roommates and has never been seen again. However, he does make one ritual phone call to his mother every year: on Mother's Day. Each time, he assures her he is fine, refuses to answer her frantic questions, then hangs up. Even the death of his father, a corporate lawyer, in the tragedy of 9/11 does not bring him home or break the pattern of his calls.

Mack's sister, Carolyn, is now twenty-six, a law school graduate, and has just finished her clerkship for a civil court judge in Manhattan. She has endured two family tragedies, yet she realizes that she will never be able to have closure and get on with her life until she finds her brother. She resolves to discover what happened to Mack and why he has found it necessary to hide from them. So this year when Mack makes his annual Mother's Day call, Carolyn interrupts to announce her intention to track him down, no matter what it takes. The next morning after Mass, her uncle, Monsignor Devon MacKenzie, receives a scrawled message left in the collection basket: "Uncle Devon, tell Carolyn she must not look for me."

Mack's cryptic warning does nothing to deter his sister from taking up the search, despite the angry reaction of her mother, Olivia, and the polite disapproval of Elliott Wallace, Carolyn's honorary uncle, who is clearly in love with Olivia.

Carolyn's pursuit of the truth about Mack's disappearance swiftly plunges her into a world of unexpected danger and unanswered questions. What is the secret that Gus and Lil Kramer, the superintendents of the building in which Mack was living, have to hide? What do Mack's old roommates, the charismatic club owner Nick DeMarco and the cold and wealthy real estate tycoon Bruce Galbraith, know about Mack's disappearance? Is Nick connected to the disappearance of Leesey Andrews, who had last been seen in his trendy club? Can the police possibly believe that Mack is not only alive, but a serial killer, a shadowy predator of young women? Was Mack also guilty of the brutal murder of his drama teacher and the theft of his taped sessions with her?

Carolyn's passionate search for the truth about her brother -- and for her brother himself -- leads her into a deadly confrontation with someone close to her whose secret he cannot allow her to reveal.
 

Customer Reviews:

out standing

Book arrived earlier than the timeline and arrived in the condition that I was told it would be. Good to to business with.

2008-10-13

Where Are You Now?

Where Are You Now?: A Novel My first Mary Higgins Clark book. I really enjoyed this book and am now a MHC fan.

2008-10-05

Disappointing

I can never wait for MHC's books but the last few have been very difficult for me to get through and this one was sadly disappointing, despite one of the better hooks she's had in recent years.
Though not nearly as routine as the last book, once again, I found myself totally confused by the plethora of new characters arriving every few pages and had to keep turning back to follow the threads.
The villain is, as usual with MHC's books these days very obvious. This time however, the plot spins around a major plot flaw. I wonder how many real life owners of trust funds blindly allow ANYONE to manage those accounts without checking balances etc. for over a decade?
What I always find intriguing in an MHC book is her detailed descriptions of New York's working class folk.
She studies them carefully and these characters seem authentic, though not particularly admired.
The higher class characters are all the same and quite...unreal, yet these are the characters we are expected to root for...difficult when we never learn much about them.

2008-09-30

LOVE IT! MHC's latest has it all--glamour, suspense, intrigue...

I've read every one of MHC's novels, and her latest "Where Are You Now?" rates high on my list as one of her most entertaining reads. I can't believe any one would call this novel predictable! I couldn't put it down wondering who was behind the tangled web of a myriad of mysteries that boiled down to one person I would least suspect. The characters and scenes were depicted perfectly, and MHC is back to her old self portraying the glitz and glamour of Manhattan's lifestyle coupled with gripping suspense. MHC is an amazing woman and I can't say enough good things about her writing style and the research she puts into her novels. She is my role model. Congratulations and keep up the good work!

2008-09-24

Not my favorite

I haven't read Clark in a while. This was not my memory of other books I have read. In all honesty, just too many characters...........

2008-09-15