Book Review: Two Little Girls in Blue

I have never read anything by Mary Higgins Clark before. I do remember several girls at my high school reading her book, Where Are the Children? In my search for another audio book, Two Little Girls in Blue, sounded interesting.

It is the story of young parents whose 3 year old twin daughters, Kelly and Kathy, have been kidnapped and are being held for ransom. Trouble is, the parents spent almost every extra penny purchasing the old home that they have recently moved into. Thankfully, the husband's employer decides to offer up the money in exchange for the girls' safe return. Unfortunately, only Kelly is recovered, from a car with a dead man whose suicide note claims the other twin was accidentally killed.

There were several pressing questions which kept me reading. Who is the Pied Piper, the man who orchestrated the kidnapping? Will the parents get both girls back safely? How do all these extra characters play into the final revelation of what really took place?

It was very suspenseful and the narration was good. At times, when I would be driving just my ES somewhere, I would continue to listen. He commented that the book was weird. Then again, I've mentioned before that he tends to have a low opinion of books.

I guess I did have some difficulties with the book myself. For one thing, I wondered if the story could have been more effective if written from a different point of view. As the story unfolds you already know the identity and the location of the criminals.

I also kept questioning actions of the characters in the book. I suppose I found bits of it difficult to believe or accept. If a doctor had asked the mother to document moments of twin telepathy previously, why would the same doctor quickly discount the mother's belief that the twins were still in communication?

Moreover, these criminals did some pretty stupid things. Now, I know that criminals really do often do stupid things, but I found it hard to believe that the criminals would enter a store and request assistance with outfits for twins and mention that they weren't sure of the size. In fact, purchasing matching outfits seems like a sure way to arouse suspicion. Purchasing medications for the sick child at the local store where they normally shop didn't seem realistic either. Furthermore, would they really have kept two three year old girls in a crib? I doubt even one of my boys at age three would fit in a crib. Again, doesn't this beg discovery?

I also found the numerous characters to be confusing. Perhaps reading the book would have eliminated my confusion. I could have gone back to review bits and pieces about each character. Still, it seemed like a lot of characters were thrown in to create red herrings without really advancing the plot.

However, even with my skeptical position, I would say this book delivered a good mystery. The ending led to a satisfactory climax and adequate conclusion. I certainly would not have returned the book without finishing it. The concept of twin telepathy was interesting to consider. Sadly, the stupid criminals and the wrench in the plans were probably more realistic than I'm willing to admit. Maybe I should have started with Clark's first book, since a few Amazon reviewers mentioned that this book wasn't as good as her first mystery about children gone missing.