Just Take My Heart-Mary Higgins Clark

Just Take My Heart
Mary Higgins Clark
Simon and Schuster, Apr 2009, $25.95
ISBN: 1416570861

Several years ago Jamie Evans was seeing a married man Jess; her roommate Natalie Raines suggested she dump him because he will never dump his wife for her. A few weeks later, Jamie dies in what the neighbors and cops thought was a robbery turned ugly. Natalie thinks otherwise as she believes Jess either killed her or arranged it.

Over the next few years Natalie becomes an acclaimed Broadway star. Following a great performance, admirers come to her dressing room to congratulate her. She recognizes one of them calling him Jess as Jamie did. Fearing for her life, Natalie flees to her New Jersey home where he waits to kill her. She is found near dead with a bullet in her chest. Her soon top be ex husband Natalie's theatrical agent Gregg Aldrich is the prime suspect having been accused of stalking her. Still the evidence remains weak and loosely circumstantial until two years later convict Jimmy Easton insists Aldrich tried to hire him to kill Natalie; he offers insider information that supports his proclamation. ADA Emily Wallace is assigned to prosecute the case against Aldrich. As she works the case and the verdict comes in, Emily has doubts that reach deep into her transplanted new heart that warns her to beware of her friendly new neighbor.

Though the premise of a transplanted heart providing memories and messages from the original owner to the new owner is not new having been in books and movies (Hoskins-Washington film Heart Condition) numerous times, fans will enjoy this tense thriller. The story is told from Emily’s perspective as she shows an inner strength moving past the death of her spouse and adjusting to her heart transplant. She works the case brilliantly but has doubts even after the verdict. Fans will relish Mary Higgins Clark latest suspense as the killer of the two roommates will come as a hard to believe shocker

Harriet Klausner