La desaparición de su hermano, diez años atrás, marcó para siempre la vida de Carolyn. Mack estaba a punto de licenciarse en Columbia University cuando una tarde salió de su apartamento en Manhattan y jamás volvió a ser visto. Eso sí, cada Día de la Madre llama a su madre por teléfono para comunicarle que está bien. Un día, Carolyn se da cuenta de que no podrá seguir con su vida hasta que no averigüe qué le sucedió a Mack. Aunque se encuentra con la oposición de toda su familia, Carolyn no se rinde y sigue adelante con su investigación. Una persona muy cercana quiere mantener un secreto en la sombra.

This was my first Mary Higgins Clark! - is she the most recognisable name or what?? I've seen her name around for a long time but thought she wrote gritty murder mysteries. This is that but not so gritty. I'm pretty sure I found it in a list of romance novel recommendations, but the romance is very light and very much secondary to the mystery. I would not call this a romance, though it does have a HEA. Despite ticking this box, I think the relationship has to be a little more central to the story to qualify.

The heroine has one of the most attractive names I think I've ever heard - Carolyn Mackenzie. She runs in to her childhood crush and best friend of her brother when she investigates her brother's disappearance 10 years after his disappearance. This was a riveting enough plot line to entertain me, without creating a sleepless night.

I loved the setting, in the centre of New York - I haven't been in New York for ages in my reading. I usually have about 3 or 4 books on the go at any time, and I've been in Montana, Hampshire (England), Washington DC, deep in the English countryside, Kazakistan. ( )

Predictible. I think her books have really gone downhill but I'll continue to read them I'm sure. I have read all of her books to date. She churns them out too quickly...a good fluff book though I guess.

Summary from Amazon:
It has been ten years since twenty-one-year-old Charles
MacKenzie Jr. ("Mack") went missing. A Columbia University senior, about to
graduate and already accepted at Duke University Law School, he walked out
of his apartment on Manhattan's Upper West Side without a word to his
college roommates and has never been seen again. However, he does make one
ritual phone call to his mother every year: on Mother's Day. Each time, he
assures her he is fine, refuses to answer her frantic questions, then hangs
up. Even the death of his father, a corporate lawyer, in the tragedy of 9/11
does not bring him home or break the pattern of his calls. Mack's sister,
Carolyn, is now twenty-six, a law school graduate, and has just finished her
clerkship for a civil court judge in Manhattan. She has endured two family
tragedies, yet she realizes that she will never be able to have closure and
get on with her life until she finds her brother. She resolves to discover
what happened to Mack and why he has found it necessary to hide from them.
So this year when Mack makes his annual Mother's Day call, Carolyn
interrupts to announce her intention to track him down, no matter what it
takes. The next morning after Mass, her uncle, Monsignor Devon MacKenzie,
receives a scrawled message left in the collection basket: "Uncle Devon,
tell Carolyn she must not look for me." Mack's cryptic warning does nothing
to deter his sister from taking up the search, despite the angry reaction of
her mother, Olivia, and the polite disapproval of Elliott Wallace, Carolyn's
honorary uncle, who is clearly in love with Olivia. Carolyn's pursuit of the
truth about Mack's disappearance swiftly plunges her into a world of
unexpected danger and unanswered questions. What is the secret that Gus and
Lil Kramer, the superintendents of the building in which Mack was living,
have to hide? What do Mack's old roommates, the charismatic club owner Nick
DeMarco and the cold and wealthy real estate tycoon Bruce Galbraith, know
about Mack's disappearance? Is Nick connected to the disappearance of Leesey
Andrews, who had last been seen in his trendy club? Can the police possibly
believe that Mack is not only alive, but a serial killer, a shadowy predator
of young women? Was Mack also guilty of the brutal murder of his drama
teacher and the theft of his taped sessions with her? Carolyn's passionate
search for the truth about her brother -- and for her brother himself --
leads her into a deadly confrontation with someone close to her whose secret
he cannot allow her to reveal ( )

man disappears calls once a year to tell family — he's okay — sister searches for him — mixed up ending involving many mysteries all tied together

It has been ten years since twenty-one-year-old Charles MacKenzie Jr. ("Mack") went missing. A Columbia University senior, about to graduate and already accepted at Duke University Law School, he walked out of his apartment on Manhattan's Upper West Side without a word to his college roommates and has never been seen again. However, he does make one ritual phone call to his mother every year: on Mother's Day. Each time, he assures her he is fine, refuses to answer her frantic questions, then hangs up. Even the death of his father, a corporate lawyer, in the tragedy of 9/11 does not bring him home or break the pattern of his calls.

As always, Mary Higgins Clark created an interesting mystery with unexpected twists and turns. I always enjoy her books, and this one was no different. I was kept guessing until the very end and was surprised at who the culprits were. I always make sure to have one of her books loaded onto my Kindle when I travel - her books always make the trip go by quickly. ( )