Alone Time with I'll Walk Alone

 It has been many years since I have read Mary Higgins Clark...and I was surprised when I became thoroughly engrossed in this modern suspense novel. I highly recommend that you take I’ll Walk Alone by Mary Higgins Clark on your next vacation! Escape into a quiet place where you can be alone and read this book cover to cover uninterrupted.

 Unfolding like a suspense movie, the story begins when a woman makes a confession to a Father O’Brien. The unknown woman knows that a murder is about to happen but she can do nothing to stop it. The priest does not know the woman and cannot prevent the murder, so he prays. The priest has no idea that a killer has watched the young lady go into his confessional, and now he is a target.

 Today Zan Moreland is a rising star, a Manhattan interior designer about to attain the corporate design job that will firmly establish her top design reputation. Two years ago Zan’s young son disappeared in an afternoon in Central Park when he was being watched by a babysitter. Zan is trying to move on with her life, focusing on her career, but she thinks of her son daily and is especially sad on what would have been his fifth birthday. On the two year anniversary of her son's kidnapping, a photograph of Zan (or someone dressed exactly like Zan) appears in the papers and shows her taking her son out of his stroller. Zan feels crazy as the photo is impossible, and yet the look-alike is wearing the exact outfit that she wore the day her son disappeared. The photo is so convincing that Zan’s ex husband angrily accuses her of stealing their son.

 With the emergence of this new photograph, police detectives start reinvestigating the case of the missing child. Zan’s friends know that she did not harm her son, but the photograph makes them doubt themselves and her. Zan’s husband is now eager for Zan to be arrested. Zan’s interior design nemesis Bartley Longe is confident and secretly thrilled at the idea of Zan’s impending arrest; surely this means she will lose the job for which they’ve both placed competitive design bids.

 When the photo emerges, the rest of Zan’s life starts collapsing. Suddenly, Zan’s bank account has been reduced to nothing; all of her savings are gone. Someone has forged her signature for design jobs and ordered supplies against her credit; all the while that same person has purchased clothing on her credit card. Her assistant wonders why Zan has bought a one-way ticket to Argentina. Zan claims that she has not made any of these purchases, but her lawyer advises her against claiming identity theft when charges of kidnapping or worse are pending against her.

 There is a reason that Mary Higgins Clark is called the Queen of Suspense, and this novel is a continuation of her legacy. Many readers will enjoy the easy flow as the novel transitions quickly through small character chapters and story segments. First there is the priest, then Zan, Zan’s ex-husband, the kidnapper/ identity thief, and Zan’s friends. The plot moves along at a steady and interesting pace until all the pieces fall into place with a well-wrapped and satisfying ending.