Two years ago, then toddler Matthew Carpenter, son of Alexandra “Zan”
Moreland and her ex-husband Ted Carpenter, was abducted from his stroller in
the park while his babysitter slept on a blanket on the ground. Zan, a
Manhattan interior designer, has spent her savings on private investigators,
psychics, and anything else she thought might help her find Matthew. On Matthew’s
fifth birthday, photos surface depicting Zan taking her own child from the stroller.
Zan also discovers that someone has been using her credit cards and taking
actions in her name… Zan swears her
innocence, but with her ex-husband, the police, the media, and the seeming
evidence against her, and even her own friends starting to believe she took
Matthew, will it be possible to prove?Normally, my favorite genre is historical fiction, and I read quite a bit of non-fiction, so I wasn’t sure what to expect from Mary Higgins Clark’s mystery. Although an interesting plot, especially given the Casey Anthony trial in 2011, the dialogue and substance of I’ll Walk Alone are somewhat lacking. I originally started listening to the book on audio during our cross-country move this summer, but being extremely slow-paced reading, I decided to check out the print version and read it for myself. Since I don’t normally read mysteries, the suspense was a little frustrating; however, not so much in the sense that I couldn’t stand the suspense and needed to know what was going to happen in the end – it was more that I felt like there were more insignificant details than necessary about every single circumstance that happened, and that the plot could still have had the same effect with half the number of pages in the book. To me, the dialogue was also a little unrealistic and basic, but perhaps that’s because I grew up in a family of nerds who all enjoy using big words! {Editor's note: I am stymied by this "family of nerds" reference. I have no idea what Meagan is referring to.}
If you enjoy mysteries and need some light reading that doesn’t require much thinking, which you can put down if you need to, this is a fairly good book to read. On the other hand, if you’ve recently had your first baby, I wouldn’t recommend this book, as it may lead to crazy dreams about your child getting kidnapped… if you’re like me.
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Thanks to my sister Meagan for writing this review (even if it did give her nightmares about the adorable Anna being kidnapped). This is the last post in my Me(a)g(h)an Miniseries, be sure to check out the rest of them!
Do you read Mary Higgins Clark?
How do you feel about suspenseful novels?
