Où es-tu maintenant ? (urspr publ 2008; utgåvan 2008)

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. ( )

4.5 Stars ( )

Hace diez años el joven Charles "Mack" Mackenzie desapareció de Nueva York sin dejar rastro ni dar ninguna explicación. Desde entonces, las únicas noticias que de eél se tienen son las llamadas telefónicas que , como un ritual, realiza el día de la Madre. La decsión de Mack dio pábulo a infinidad de teorías, desde un incomprensible secuestro hasta una huida voluntaria por haber cometido algún delito inconfeso pasando por un trastorno mental....Harta de ver sufrir a su madre durante tanto tiempo, Carolyn Mackenzie decide reanudar la búsqueda de Mack y descubrir de una vez por todas qué le ocurrió realmente a su hermano mayor.

While the overall premise of the book was intriguing, too many irritating things kept me from enjoying it. Told in multiple POVs (I lost count after the 10th person chimed in), much of the time in the beginning I had to skim back to figure out who was who and how (if at all) they connected.

I found Carolyn, our only first person POV, to be an inconsistent character. One moment she's spouting about being an amazing lawyer and the next she's seeking counsel over general law questions any attorney should have known.

The other major issue for me was how incompetent and cold-hearted the police were portrayed as. The hurting siblings of the missing were out finding clues (with no investigative background), while the police apparently never thought to look in those places. Furthermore, they were made out to look extremely closed minded and hyper-focused on one suspect (to which each officer had a different idea as to who that was). Although police do make mistakes, I found this an unrealistic portrayal of what would happen in these circumstances.

The ending itself had a few good twists, but I felt the character development for most of the players was weak and made certain parts of the ending feel unbelievable.

I haven't read a Clark novel since high school, and I remember them being more suspenseful, but now I am thinking that may have been my young age and more innocent mind. Sadly, I found the story and the writing to be subpar to what I've come to expect out of my mysteries and thrillers. For great mysteries, I recommend [a:Tana French|138825|Tana French|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1277505771p2/138825.jpg], [a:Michael Connelly|12470|Michael Connelly|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1406128068p2/12470.jpg], and [a:Kathy Reichs|26372|Kathy Reichs|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1407166867p2/26372.jpg].
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