The Lost Years

I remember reading Mary Higgins Clark years ago and thought it would be fun to pick up her new novel. In this case, it was not fun and I struggled to find the energy to finish it.

There were many things about this book that bothered me. The major one was the plot development. In theory, it was a good idea. I would have loved to have read a book that dealt with historical confirmation of what happened to Jesus during the "Lost Years" from the Bible. At first, that is what I thought that this novel was going to delve into. However, it just glossed over it and that part of the story didn't go anywhere. The villain was almost known from the beginning, which meant that there wasn't any suspense on the part of the reader in terms of trying to figure it out. There also seemed to be large gaps of description and details missing from the plot. Sometimes it seemed more like dialogue only and I didn't get a good feel of the setting or what the character was doing.

On a positive note, I did feel that the characters, for the most part, were believable. They seemed to be grounded in reality and that was really the only part of the novel that kept it together.

Sadly, I did not really enjoy the novel and felt that it was not enough of a mental challenge for me. I love books that suck me into them and allow me to experience everything that the main characters do. This book just didn't do that for me. I loved her pervious books that I read once upon a time, but this book has left me wanting.

If you like books that give you a halfway decent story and doesn't demand that you work too hard to figure out who is behind the mystery/murder at hand, then this book is for you. However, if you like a crafty author who weaves an amazing tale that sucks you in from the very first line, then this book is not for you.

Rating: 1 star out of 5
I bought this book at a local bookstore; I was not asked to do a review on this book.