Product Description

Mary Higgins Clark, America's Queen of Suspense, and her daughter, bestselling author Carol Higgins Clark, have followed the successful publication of last year's holiday bestseller Deck the Halls with a heartwarming tale that combines much of the charm of the classic movie It's a Wonderful Life with unexpected menace.

Meet Sterling Brooks. His was not an exemplary life -- he was too self-absorbed to ever really think about anyone else or make a commitment to the woman he loved. On the other hand, he had endearing qualities. His actual misdeeds were few -- his were sins of omission, not commission.

It is a few days before Christmas. For forty-six years Sterling has lingered in the celestial waiting room outside the heavenly gates, awaiting summons by the Heavenly Council. Will he be deemed fit for entrance into heaven? At last the day comes and the council settles on a test for Sterling -- he will be sent back to earth and given an opportunity to prove his worthiness by helping someone else.

Sterling Brooks finds himself in Manhattan, at the skating rink in Rockefeller Center. Among the skaters is a heartbroken seven-year-old named Marissa, and as Sterling soon realizes, it is she he has been sent to help. Marissa's sadness comes from her separation from the father she adores, a talented young singer, and her sparkling grandmother, owner of a popular restaurant. Both have been forced into the Witness Protection Program because two mobsters, the Badgett brothers, have put a price on their heads to prevent their testifying against them in an arson case.

Sterling, able to move back and forth in time and place, masterminds a plan to eliminate the threat from the Badgett brothers and reunite Marissa with her loved ones.

Filled with suspense and humor, He Sees You When You're Sleeping is a perfect story for the holidays, a delightful and warmhearted tale of perseverance, redemption, and love.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1707943 in Books
• Published on: 2001-11-20
• Released on: 2001-11-20
• Format: Bargain Price
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 208 pages

Review
The Virginian-Pilot Blends suspense and redemption. --mary higgins clark

Review
"A dynamic team."-- People

Atlanta Constitution

These bestselling authors blend suspense with a heartwarming story....

Los Angeles Times

A new spin on It's a Wonderful Life....

San Antonio Express-News

Consume in one sitting with a tumbler of hot mulled wine.

The Virginian-Pilot

Blends suspense and redemption.

About the Author
Mary Higgins Clark is the author of twenty-four worldwide bestsellers, including Deck the Halls, which she wrote with her daughter Carol. She lives with her husband, John Conheeney, in Saddle River, New Jersey.

Customer Reviews

DYNAMIC DELIVERY OF A YULETIDE THRILLER
The Clark ladies are a formidable literary pair, often co-authoring to offer double dips of pleasure for mystery loving readers. Now, they've taken a leaf from the classic Christmas film "It's A Wonderful Life" and spiced it with danger. Carol Higgins Clark gives authentic voice to their story.

Sterling Brooks might be everyman--except for the fact that he's in heaven's anteroom, where he's been waiting for almost 50 years for admission to heaven. In his case patience isn't its own reward, and the Heavenly Council proposes a test for him. Sterling must return to Earth and prove his Pearly Gates eligibility by helping someone else.

Where to start but Manhattan and the Rockefeller Center skating rink? There he finds a woebegone seven-year-old, Marissa, whose family has been placed in the Federal Witness Protection Program due to the threats of the murderous Blodgett family. It is the Christmas season and Marissa is separated from those she loves.

It does take some work and thought on Sterling's part but, of course, the tale has a happy ending. After all, even almost-angels have mysterious powers.

Check Your List Twice Before You Buy
Sterling Brooks is marking time in the celestial waiting room watching everyone else get their wings. As a lawyer during life, described as the kind of person who was first in the lifeboat, who never went out of his way for anyone and who was too smug and self-absorbed to notice what was going on around him (trial lawyers won't like that portrait of one of their own), it's not going to be easy for Counselor Brooks. Summoned by the Heavenly Council and informed that his only chance for admission will be his participation in an earthly experiment to recognize someone with a problem and help them solve it, Brooks is off to earn his wings. Transported back to Rockefeller Center during the holiday season, Brooks doesn't have that much time to help seven year old Marissa get reunited with her father and grandmother. The road to heaven may be paved with good intentions; but Brooks' trip takes him to the underworld of gangsters Junior and Eddie Badgett who have scared Marissa's father and grandmother into the witness protection program because of something they know.

While this book may fly off the shelves this holiday season because of its authors' following, it's not destined to take up residence next to Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" or Capra's "It's A Wonderful Life" in this reviewer's holiday collection. Sure, it's probably not expected to be a classic, but even as an afternoon read with Mel Torme crooning in the background and the chestnuts roasting on an open fire, it's a disappointment.

There's not enough humbug in me to say don't read this book during a free moment in the holiday rush. It is short at 199 pages. It's just that I think mother-daughter authors Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark could have done much better if they lightened up on the sugar coating.

Awesome suspense
I don't give book reviews but here goes. This one will get you to sit straight up, no slouching. My wife told me my eyes would be so wide open at times... and she was right. I can't see why anyone would not enjoy this good writing. Mary has a very real and capturing way. We have all seen movies and read books about the person who needs to do the good deed on Earth to gain rights to Peter's gate, but this one is arousing. I am not a regular reader of Mary's, my wife is, she also says this is intense. I want to recommend another book my wife ordered here, and is as satisfying, SB 1 or God By Karl Mark Maddox.