Ironically, as I read this novel and wrote this review, a murder re-trial is proceeding in my community. The convicted murderer and his girlfriend kidnapped a young man, drove 150 miles to a wooded area, and murdered him in order to steal his Mustang, which they then repainted. His lawyers argue that this was a crime due to automatism, that the murderer did not know what he was doing, that he was, in effect, on automatic pilot.Clark builds a compelling case against Carrington. What would a murder suspense novel be without this? Bit by bit the cases build, including one for murdering Kay's father! How can the two main characters have so much trauma visited upon them and still recover - if they can? The experienced reader "knows" that every thing will work out; it is the getting to such resolution that creates the suspense and the enjoyment of reading this genre. Unfortunately, this novel is more predictable than earlier offerings by Clark. She sows too many seeds of doubt as she plants elements of guilt. Alternating between first person narrator and omniscient narrator simply does not work well in this instance.The most interesting character in I Heard That Song Before is the private detective, Nicholas Greco. Hired by the dying mother of Carrington's dead wife, he uncovers compelling information that points to Carrington's guilt, which he shares with the prosecution. But, something does not sit well with seemingly inconsequential bits of information. Why, for example, did the dead woman have part of a page torn from a magazine in her pocket when her body was recovered from the swimming pool? He continues to investigate and eventually makes the connection to other information that points in a different direction.Despite the narration issue and the obvious implicating and exonerating circumstances, this is an enjoyable read. Obviously, after 24 books and 80 million copies in print, Mary Higgins Clark is doing something right. Few authors have been so extensively honored as she has.
I Heard That Song BeforeBy Mary Higgins ClarkISBN 0743564073Simon & Schuster Audio | 2007Read by Jan MaxwellI’ve resisted audio books in the past, but that reluctance is now gone thanks to spending many hours in my car. Jan Maxwell, who does a good job being the narrator as well as voicing the various characters, reads my latest audio book, “I Heard That Song Before.” In fact, I suspect that listening to the novel, rather than reading it, actually helped me enjoy it more.The heroine is Kay Lansing, a librarian who meets, falls in love with, and marries wealthy Peter Carrington. What gives the reader pause about the advisability of her whirlwind romance is that Peter is associated with a young woman who has disappeared, with an employee of the family who committed suicide, and his own first wife who accidentally drowned. Oh, and that employee who committed suicide? He’s Kay’s father.I don’t actually know, but suspect I would not have enjoyed this book as much if I had read it and perhaps would have done some eye rolling over Kay’s actions. But I enjoyed listening to it. Jan Maxwell did a nice job of drawing me in and making the story interesting. (Stop reading here if you do not want a spoiler.)Peter Carrington has so much evidence built up against him that I think most readers would figure out quickly he is not guilty. That would have been anti-climatic. With Jan revealing clues one by one, I enjoyed listening and deducing the identity of the real killer. I figured that out correctly, which is always fun, but not too early in the story, which would have made things boring.This is an agreeable audio story to enjoy on a drive. Mary Higgins Clark avoids my two pet peeves of some mystery writers: holding back clues so that it is impossible for the reader to determine who-done-it and making the outcome too predictable.So readers start your engines, put the book in the CD player, and enjoy “I Heard That Song Before” as you roll down the highway.
Do You like book I Heard That Song Before (2015)?
This book was really bad. The characters are so flat that calling them two dimensional would be a compliment and tend to do and think things that haveno basis in reality. The story is predictable and written in such a way that I found myself thinking, after every few pages, "Ah yes, the author is trying to trick me into thinking xyz, but it won't be." It was done in such an obvious way that I actually felt insulted. This story is written from the perspective of everyone who has even thought of showing their face in the novel. This makes the story feel disjointed and adds to the flatness of the characters. Is it necessary to see everything from the poin-of-view of the wife, the business associate, the prosecutor, the prosecutor's assistant, the housekeeper, the housekeeper's husband, the grandmother, the defense attorney, the victim's mother, the step-brother's secretary, the victim's father, a private detective and a policeman who only exists for a page and a half? I apologize profusely to any other narrating characters that I may have forgotten, but my goodness there are a lot of you. Yes, give me a story from two or three angles, from important characters who can really make me see things from another perspective. I definitely don't need a policeman, who I've never met before, showing up in the last 15 pages to describe driving to a door. Is his perspective on the matter of any importance? No. This book feelslike the murder mystery equivalent of a Mills and Boone novel. Don't bother reading it unless you know for a fact that your brains are made of pureed butternut.
—Sara
I agree with you. I also thought she did a poor job of highlighting some of the key clues. There's a balance to be struck there, but I think she fell on the side of lacking foreshadowing.
—Jaime
Just what one expects from a Mary Higgins Clark formula: a few possible suspects from the outset, some twists and turns, and a fairly predictable ending. This is her formula. I always enjoy trying to predict the killer within the first twenty pages. Occasionally, I begin to doubt myself as I turn the pages, but I am usually right with my initial prediction. But this is what makes these books such fun to read! Almost two days of my reading time on the beach were taken up with this one, and I don't regret that. I enjoyed the book, and would recommend it to any MHC or crime fiction fan.
—Lance Greenfield
