25 October, 2016

REVIEW: THE MELODY LINGERS ON by Mary Higgins Clark

Title: The Melody Lingers On
Author: Mary Higgins Clark
Series:  -
Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Source: Library print copy
Pages: 262

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BLURB: As the sole assistant to a famous upscale interior designer, Lane Harmon, mother to five-year-old Katie, is accustomed to visiting opulent homes around the tri-state area. A born optimist, Lane finds the glimpse into these gilded worlds fascinating, and loves the reward of exceeding the expectations of their often-demanding owners. When she is called to assist in redecorating a modest townhouse in Bergen County, she knows the job is unusual. Then she learns the home belongs to the wife of a notorious and disgraced financier named Parker Bennett.

Parker Bennett has been missing for two years. He dropped out of sight just before it was discovered that the $5 billion dollars in the fund he had been managing had vanished. Bennett had gone out on his sailboat in the Caribbean. Was it suicide or had he staged his disappearance? The scandal around his name has not died down. His clients and the federal government all want to trace the money and find Bennett if he is still alive.

Lane is surprised to find herself moved by Mrs. Bennett’s calm dignity and apparently sincere belief in her husband’s innocence. Gradually, Lane finds herself drawn to Eric, the Bennetts’ son, who is similarly determined to prove that his father is not guilty. Lane doesn’t know that the closer she gets to the Bennetts, the more she puts her life―and her daughter’s life―in jeopardy.


I grabbed this book on the go at the library. I have never read anything of the author and it was post me taking it that I was told she is a famous one so I expected kinda a lot. However, goodreads ratings are not so great but it was a very small book so why the hell not right?


THE WORLD: Just like we know it. It is a usual everyday world where we meet very rich, very poor and middle class people. Actually we have rather a few POVs but the perspective of the world does not change much.

CHARACTERS: Now despite there being many point of views I am going to mention only a few characters because others I just don't remember, seriously. So 'the main' lead is called Lane and she is an assistant of a designer who gets involved with a son of a criminal. Basically even tho I consider her as a lead of the story I really do not know much about her besides that she has a young daughter Kate and her husband died in a car crass when she was pregnant. Oh and also that her dad died also in a crash when she was young. Other than that all we really get about Lane is that she is lonely. That is all. Even when she goes on date to get to know each other these dates are cut off and we are just said they went on the date. Weird writing style. Next we have Eric, a son of a billionaire who took off with other people money. Now up till the end I was not sure what to make of him, actually now that the book is finished I still don't know if he was involved in fraud or not. Again we get nothing of real Eric other than that he is a kid of a criminal and that he wants things to be solved. Also he hires a detective agency to find his father and tells them that if they find some evidence of him involved they should go to FBI and of course they do find. It was a move I did not get, why Eric did this was beyond me. It's like the author wanted us to believe he is innocent but when you read about him he is so arrogant and just an unlikable person...I don't know. Politics I guess. Then there was this guy who blamed Eric and his mother for disappearance of the money. Basically his wife died and it was all Eric's and his moms fault, he was gonna kill them because you know they have to pay. This was just beyond me stupid. I mean seriously. All in all the characters felt totally flat and I will never give another minute of my time thinking about them again. Just not worth it.

LOVE: So Lane dates Eric and things unravel. Well no actually they don't. The romance, the dating here was completely dry. Booo.

PLUS: Not sure. I guess it's a plus the book was short.

MINUS: Now many things but one really disappointed me was that author told in basically first few pages that the husband who took all the money is alive and he is just a plain jerk. I wanted the mystery where I would guess if he is really dead or was he really so evil and just left his family to suffer. Bad move, very bad.

OVERALL: I read it and if you ask me in a month what it is about I won't remember. I have heard this author is pretty good but so far I am not in the mood to pick another of her books. Not inspiring at all.

What do you guys think about THE MELODY LINGERS ON?