Mary Higgins Clark
A Stranger is Watching (1977)
Author: Mary Higgins Clark
Genre: Suspense/Mystery
Plot Summary:
Ronald Thompson is on death row, falsely accused of murdering Nina Peterson. Journalist and anti-death penalty activist Sharon Martin is fighting for his life and falling in love with Steve Peterson, the lonely widower left behind. When the real murderer kidnaps Sharon and Steve's young son Neil, and secretly threatens to blow up Grand Central Station, it's up to Steve and the police to come up with Eighty-two thousand dollars and save them before it's too late. SPOILER: True to form, Clark never lets her main characters come to harm, especially the child. Despite the roller coaster suspense, a happy ending is guaranteed for all.
Geographical Setting: New York City and surrounding suburbs
Time Period: Contemporary (1970s)
Appeal Characteristics:
This soft-edge suspense is fast-paced, with short chapters and
countdown-like reminders to the urgency of the action. Explicit violence is minimal, although
the tension is built both through the danger to Sharon and Neil, and the rapidly approaching
execution of an innocent man. The reader is kept on their toes by the rapid change in points
of view as the story is told from the perspective of the heroes, the villain, and other side
characters.
Read-alikes: Readers who enjoyed Mary Higgins Clark's A Stranger is Watching may also enjoy the soft-edge suspense of Michael Allegretto's The Suitor, about a divorced woman with an 8 year old son, and her dangerous new boyfriend. Joy Fielding also captures Clark's mood and character types in The Deep End, a domestic suspense about a housewife being stalked by a killer, with no one to turn to. Readers who enjoy Clark's watch-the-clock suspense and romantic interests may enjoy Dean Koontz's The Husband, about an average guy pushed to do anything in 72 hours to save his wife from a kidnapper. For readers not afraid of of hard-edged suspense with more violence, there are Lisa Gardner's The Other Daughter, or P.J. Tracy's Dead Run, both of which feature strong suspense with light mysteries and intelligent, independent heroines. Gardner's book features the story of an adopted girl's search for her true parents, and Tracy's is the technological suspense of two software detectives and a deputy who break down on the road just in time to witness a double murder.
Red Flags:As in many Clark novels, the plot involves a young child in danger and
witnessing violence, which may be a turn off to some readers. There is also a mildly descriptive murder scene towards the end, although not nearly as graphic as others in the genre
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