The endig to this book caught me totally off guard!
Broadcast journalism, as we know, is an exciting sometimes no-holds-barred field, and that is where Mary Jane Clark spent almost 30 years of her professional life. She knows that world well and she brings it to stunning life. Not only is Clark a former writer and producer for CBS News but her father was an FBI agent who investigated headline grabbing kidnaping and extortion cases, such as the Patty Hearst case and the kidnaping of Calvin Klein's daughter. As Clark has said, "kidnaping was my father's specialty......and I paid a lot of attention to the details at an impressionable age."
Now, bring together her knowledge of the broadcast journalist's life with her memories of what she learned from her father and you have a wow of a story, a can't-stop-reading suspense tale propelled by sharp dialogue and heart thumping twists.
With the second book in Clark's Sunrise Suspense society series we find Eliza Blake preparing for one more interview. Hers is a face much of the world knows as she's the host of one of our country's top-rated television programs - KEY to America. She's also a widow with Janie, a seven-year-old daughter whom she adores. Janie is reminded of her mother's devotion when the housekeeper, Mrs. Garcia, calls her "tesoro," explaining that the word means treasure, and says, " You are your mama's tesoro. She loves you more than anything."
That love is reiterated in Eliza's interview when the reporter asks her about Janie, and she replies, "Janie is my top priority."
With this background readers more than empathize with Eliza, they almost feel her pain when Janie is kidnaped. Two intruders wearing Popeye and Olive Oyl masks break into the Clark household one morning, and terrorize Mrs. Garcia into making a call to Janie's day camp saying that she must come and pick up the child as her mother needs her.
When Eliza returns home after a long day at work she is somewhat surprised not to find Mrs. Garcia there, but assumes she has gone on an errand. But Janie's camp bus should have delivered her to the house at 5:30, and it is soon past six. With fear filled l voice Eliza calls the police, and the chase begins. However, the combined efforts of law enforcement aren't enough. Eliza turns to her friends - Annabelle Murphy, blessed with incredible instincts; B. J. D'Ellia, photographer extra ordinaire; and Margot Gonzalez, who knows criminal minds.
It Only Takes A Moment fires forward from the first page, bristling with pinpoint characterizations and plotting par excellence. A compelling read!
Reviewed for Rebeccasreads.com
Author Mary Jane Clark is back with her latest novel involving Eliza Blake, the host of a morning news show on KEY News.
Eliza has lost her husband and it is now just her and her 7 year old daughter Janie. It is a normal day, Janie is off to camp for the day, Eliza is off to work and the housekeeper, Carmen, is doing her daily chores. All is going well until one of Carmen's rituals backfires and she is taken against her will and forced to take Janie from camp, possibly to never to be seen again by her mother.
Enter Stephanie Quick, a psychic that has helped police departments in the past solve crimes. She offers her assistance but is brushed off by the local police, until something she told them that she saw in her dream makes them at least consider the possibility.
Also involved are Eliza's co-workers and friends, Annabelle, BJ and Margo. While they have Eliza and Janie's best interests at heart, they also interfere with the investigation by the FBI by not revealing information to them that could assist in the search.
It has been a little while since a book pulled me in so quickly and I didn't want to set it down. I read half the book during my lunch break and finished it that evening. The short chapters also help.
The time frame of the story is only a few days. There are a variety of characters and it took me a short bit to keep them straight and while I tried to figure out who kidnapped Janie and why, the ending was a HUGE surprise. I did not see it coming and didn't figure it out until the main character, Eliza, did.
If you have never read anything by Mary Jane Clark, read this one. You needn't have read any of the other books featuring Eliza to be reeled in to this story line, especially since it is one that most parents fear, their child being abducted for unknown reasons.
