I was a huge fan of Mary Higgins Clark 15-20 years ago, but in recent years I haven't found her books to be nearly as compelling. The Shadow of Your Smile was a welcome improvement over recent duds, but it still lacked the character development and punch of some of her former greats. Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable read, and I'm glad that she is still writing.
Like most MHC novels, The Shadow of Your Smile centers around a female protagonist who is in danger and features a potential love interest for a romance back-story. While I found the romantic subplot to be very thin -- they fall in love with each other too quickly and without much contact to be emotionally satisfying -- there were enough minor characters that were well-rounded to make the story interesting. As is common in MHC novels, Catholic teaching is a thread that runs through the plot, perhaps even more than usual because the question of a nun's potential beatification is the jumping-off point for the plot. The Catholicism gets a bit heavy-handed even for a reader raised Catholic at times, but is not completely oppressive.
The weakest point of the novel is that every major development hinges on unbelievable coincidences....[SPOILER ALERTS HERE]...that an adopted child ends up working for his father's company, that the father of a baby saved by a doctor is the driver for the one woman in the world who knows her true identity, that another child saved by the doctor is actually related to her, etc. Perhaps that might be plausible if the book were set in Small Town, Montana, but since it takes place in Manhattan, that's three too many coincidences to swallow.
Despite its many weaknesses though, I enjoyed the book. Perhaps it's just out of loyalty to Mary Higgins Clark, and in support of her continuing to write well into her 80's, but I'll happily read whatever she publishes next.
Like most MHC novels, The Shadow of Your Smile centers around a female protagonist who is in danger and features a potential love interest for a romance back-story. While I found the romantic subplot to be very thin -- they fall in love with each other too quickly and without much contact to be emotionally satisfying -- there were enough minor characters that were well-rounded to make the story interesting. As is common in MHC novels, Catholic teaching is a thread that runs through the plot, perhaps even more than usual because the question of a nun's potential beatification is the jumping-off point for the plot. The Catholicism gets a bit heavy-handed even for a reader raised Catholic at times, but is not completely oppressive.
The weakest point of the novel is that every major development hinges on unbelievable coincidences....[SPOILER ALERTS HERE]...that an adopted child ends up working for his father's company, that the father of a baby saved by a doctor is the driver for the one woman in the world who knows her true identity, that another child saved by the doctor is actually related to her, etc. Perhaps that might be plausible if the book were set in Small Town, Montana, but since it takes place in Manhattan, that's three too many coincidences to swallow.
Despite its many weaknesses though, I enjoyed the book. Perhaps it's just out of loyalty to Mary Higgins Clark, and in support of her continuing to write well into her 80's, but I'll happily read whatever she publishes next.
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