Where Are the Children Now?

By Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke

Book Overview

The legacy of the "Queen of Suspense" continues with the highly anticipated follow-up to Mary Higgins Clark's iconic novel Where Are the Children?, featuring the children of Nancy Harmon, facing peril once again as adults.

Of the fifty-six bestsellers the "Queen of Suspense" Mary Higgins Clark published in her lifetime, Where Are the Children? was her biggest, selling millions of copies and forever transforming the genre of suspense fiction. In that story, a young California mother named Nancy Harmon was convicted of murdering her two children. Though released on a technicality, she was abandoned by her husband and became such a pariah in the media that she was forced to move across the country to Cape Cod, change her identity and appearance, and start a new life. Years later her two children from a second marriage, Mike and Melissa, would go missing, and Nancy yet again became the prime suspect--but this time, Nancy was able to confront the secrets buried in her past and rescue her kids from a dangerous predator.

Now, more than four decades since readers first met Nancy and her children, comes the thrilling sequel to the groundbreaking book that set the stage for future generations of psychological suspense novels. A lawyer turned successful podcaster, Melissa has recently married a man whose first wife died tragically, leaving him and their young daughter, Riley, behind. While Melissa and her brother, Mike, help their mom, Nancy, relocate from Cape Cod to the equally idyllic Hamptons, Melissa's new stepdaughter goes missing. Drawing on the experience of their own abduction, Melissa and Mike race to find Riley to save her from the trauma they still struggle with--or worse.

Just like the original, Where Are the Children Now? keeps readers guessing and holding their breath until the very last page.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 198218941X
• ISBN13: 9781982189419
• Release Date: April 2023
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.3" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

The ending saved this book

I will try not to spoil the book...too much. The main character, Melissa, is a genius, according to everyone that keeps telling her that. However, within a span of a single chapter is definitely not. (spoiler!!!) Married a guy she's known for less than a year with a sketchy story? And Melissa is supposed to be a "genius" lawyer but did absolutely ZERO research on him. (Spoiler!!!) Then she's a grade A mean person to her brother: acting like only her trauma is the one that matters. It took me multiple days to get through this book because of our protagonist Melissa. By chapter 44, I literally wanted to throw this book against the wall and hoped Melissa was killed. Sorry, not sorry. I have never disliked someone this much in any of Clark's previous works. Some of the characters were not fleshed out like Nancy and some of the stakes didn't seem so high. Also, I'd believe pigs could fly than Melissa being a lawyer. I'm happy I bought this book used as it would have been the only book I would have ever returned. Two stars cause the twist ending saved it. Either way, just skip it.