Product Description

In a novel that reaffirms her reputation as "America's Queen of Suspense," Mary Higgins Clark delivers a gripping tale of deception and tantalizing suspense.

Nicholas Spencer, charismatic head of the medical research company Gen-stone, involved in the development of an anticancer vaccine, suddenly disappears. His private plane crashes en route to Puerto Rico, but his body is not found.

Early results of the vaccine seemed highly promising. Yet, coinciding with Nicholas Spencer's disappearance comes news that the FDA is denying approval. Then follows the shocking revelation that Spencer had looted Gen-stone of huge sums of money -- including the lifetime savings of people who had risked every penny they had.

Marcia "Carley" DeCarlo, the thirty-two-year-old columnist for the Wall Street Weekly, is assigned to cover the story. Carley is the stepsister of Spencer's wife, Lynn, an aggressive PR woman and socialite, whom she dislikes and distrusts.

The day after news of her husband's disappearance rocks the financial and medical world, Lynn attends a meeting of the stockholders of Gen-stone, flaunting expensive clothing and jewelry. Accused of having participated in the scam, she appears indifferent to the anger and despair of the people attending, among them a man whose child has cancer and who is now about to lose his home. That night, she narrowly escapes death when her mansion in Bedford, New York, is set on fire. She turns to Carley, begging her to use her investigative skills to prove that she was not her husband's accomplice.

As Carley proceeds with her investigation, she is confronted by seemingly impenetrable questions: Is Nicholas Spencer dead or in hiding? Was he guilty or set up? Why the sudden reversal in medical opinion of the vaccine from recognition to condemnation? And as the facts begin to unfold, she becomes the target of a dangerous group involved in a sinister and fraudulent scheme.

The Second Time Around is Mary Higgins Clark at her best, telling a story that intertwines fiction with the stuff of real-life headlines in a novel of breathtaking suspense and surprises.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #664323 in Books
• Published on: 2003-04-15
• Released on: 2003-04-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

From Publishers Weekly
There's something special about Clark's thrillers, and it's not just the gentleness with which the bestselling writer approaches her often lurid subject matter (in this one, for instance, there are numerous killings, but all occur off-page). Special above all is the compassion she extends to her characters-heroines, villains and supporting cast alike. In this latest effort, she conjures empathy even toward a mass killer, whose murderous spree has been sparked by a corporate crime. The smoothly told tale is narrated partly from the third-person perspective of the killer, and partly from the first-person point of view of Wall Street Weekly correspondent Carley De Carlo. Carley is the stepsister of Lynn Spencer, whose charismatic husband, Nicholas, dies in the crash of his small plane as he is fleeing arrest for looting the medical company he founded, which had made claims of a cancer cure, now proved false. Myriad investors have lost much, sometimes everything; one is Ned Cooper, whose beloved wife died as a consequence of Nicholas Spencer's thievery, and who determines to take revenge, setting off on a killing spree. Assigned to do a feature about the Spencer case, Carley digs deep, uncovering clues to a conspiracy within Spencer's medical company, as well as to the possibility that the cancer cure worked after all. Can she get to the bottom of the mess before Ned Cooper, or the possible conspirators, take her out? Clark's fans know the answer to that question, but what the novel lacks in suspense it makes up for in grace, charm and solid storytelling.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-A feature writer for a newspaper, Carley DeCarlo has been assigned to do an article on the life and death of Nicholas Spencer, an eminent researcher who was on the verge of developing a pharmaceutical cure for cancer. Since millions of specially donated dollars are missing from his firm, his airplane accident may have been a faked suicide, or murder. Occasional chapters feature a disturbed man as he retaliates for the death of his wife, which he blames on Spencer's firm. Carley's portion of the story is written in first person so readers follow her doubts and triumphs as clues are revealed. She is a true sleuth; she often gets a clue that confuses her, but she keeps on investigating. Tension builds gradually as readers see both the heroine and the schizophrenic at work. But is he the only villain? Short chapters help to keep the suspenseful plot moving along.
Claudia Moore, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Since her corporate husband is running from the law, a young mother assumes that he is responsible for their son's disappearance. But she's wrong.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

A great new Clark: suspenseful but realistic thriller
We can't really remember Clark's first dozen or so books that well, but her novels from this latest decade invariably feature high-achieving leading ladies who prevail above all to solve the mystery at hand. If we have a peeve, it's that these "wonder women" do so while looking glamorous at all times, while outsmarting every other character in the book (including almost always the police), by outrunning or outgunning everybody intent on doing them harm, etc. You get the drift -- interesting fiction but hardly real life.

So it was good to read a story, featuring leading lady Carley De Carlo, a financial free-lance writer and new employee of "Wall Street Weekly", where the plot and main premise are not overshadowed so totally by the star woman at hand. Our interest was captured at the outset in learning that Nicholas Spencer, CEO of a firm close to a cancer vaccine solution, has died in a small aircraft crash, after absconding with what millions were left in the company, having discovered that the vaccine is a failure. But then he is spotted in Switzerland?

The book alternates between searching for Spencer (or at least the truth) and a series of serial killings (done with little explicit action, mostly away from the narrative) by one of the numerous investors, large and small, who were stung by the company financially as well as disappointed by the lack of the promising vaccine, often the only hope of their loved ones. The killer eventually sets his sights on Carley, and it remains til near the end to see who comes out with the real story about everything.

Clark has served up exactly that for which she is well-known: a well-crafted tale, complete with heroes and villains and more than enough suspense to hold our interest; intriguing characters we care about -- it's even a little tough not to empathize with the killer; and a mystery that moves along smartly enough to entertain without divulging too much too soon. We commend the author on one of her better recent works, and suspect that most readers will thoroughly enjoy this novel, finding it an appealing contribution to the genre.

Mary Higgins Clark Excels With Novel Of Medical Fraud
I am a huge Mary Higgins Clark fan, and although this book was most enjoyable, I may have reached the end of my fascination for the "young girl in jeopardy" plot MHC has so successfully mastered. After more than twenty novels following the same basic pattern, the plots have become a little too familiar, the ending a bit too predictable.

With that being said, I still enjoyed this one. The deception and suspense were first-rate as always and the idea of corporate fraud very timely. The charismatic Nicholas Spencer who is determined to develop his vaccine that cures cancer is larger-than-life. Readers are drawn to him as we learn about his first wife's ill-fated battle with cancer and his concern for his own son and the millions of children he wants to save from the heartbreak of losing a parent to cancer.

Investigative reporter Carley DeCarlo is the heroine who has not only a professional interest in the disappearance of Nicholas Spencer but also a personal one. She is the stepsister of his second wife and wants to either clear his name of the fraud he is accused of or be satisfied that he did indeed loot the company and offer false hope to patients.

Carley is led on a hot trail of clues as she tries to establish Spencer's guilt or innocence while a disturbed killer who lost money on the vaccine methodically kills every person he feels has committed an injustice against him.

Watching the threads come together and uncovering the a world of medical fraud and financial manipulation is interesting, but it is the cancer patients themselves who make this book tug at your heartstrings. A young girl and a grown man find new life thanks to Spencer's vaccine, but others will fall hard as the truth comes to light.

Meanwhile, Carley's own tragic past is revealed and a new love gives her support and hope as she discovers love the second time around.

Suspenseful Thrill-Ride
As the author of twenty plus novels, Mary Higgins Clark tirelessly invents new plotlines amidst the theme of murder and suspense. In her latest, Nicholas Spencer, the charismatic leader of the medical research company, Gen-stone, is presumed dead when his plane crashes into the ocean.

On assignment with WALL STREET WEEKLY, reporter Carley DeCarlo is trying to discover why Nick apparently embezzled funds from his own company and misrepresented to investors the apparent success of Gen-stone's cancer vaccination. In a unique twist to this story, Carley tries to be empathetic to Lynn Spencer, Nick's widow and Carley's estranged stepsister. Add in a sub-plot where Lynn's mansion is burned, and she barely escapes, and you have a novel where no one is above suspicion. Did Nick fake his own death knowing his company was going belly up, or was his demise carefully orchestrated by moles wishing to take over his company?

Intensely gripping, Ms. Higgins Clark's latest leads the reader on a roller-coaster ride of thrills as Carly uncovers clues in Nick's disappearance using her gently probing investigative skills. And as she realizes that her discoveries might have put herself and others in harms way, her rekindled romance with an old high school crush might quite possibly save her life. ...