Dance all night, Die all day (Loves music, Loves to dance - Mary Higgins Clark)

Member Name: Emma1973

Product:	Loves music, Loves to dance - Mary Higgins Clark
Date:	04/05/08 (129 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to read, good mystery

Disadvantages: Ultimately pulp fiction, probably not worth RRP

Mary Higgins Clark is never going to win a Nobel prize for literature, or indeed any prizes for her work, but as, what I consider a pulp fiction writer, she is definately one of the better ones.

Clark writes thrillers, usually with a serial killer or two thrown in, she is also one of the queens of cliffhangers with her heroines in mortal danger.
And Loves Music, Loves to Dance is no exception! It concerns the story of Darcy Scott and Erin Kelley, a pair of stereotypical single successful New Yorkers, the latter 'an' upcoming' jewellery designer, the other an 'upcoming' interior designer'. But the first chapter doesn't introduce us to the intrepid pair but a seemingly very disturbed individual called Charley (Remind me never to call any of my kids Charley, seems to be one of the names often picked as a baddie)

We find out he's a murderer with a foot fetish after being thwarted by his crush as a teenager. Unfortunately, after 15 years, the urges are back and through personal ad placements he's now met and killed seven more girls. Now Erin and Darcy are in his sights after answering his ad.
Now why would two such girls be answering personal ads? Well a certain Nona Roberts, television producer is making a documentary on said adverts persuades them to answer in order to get some more material.
Nona, as is necessary appears throughout the book, but is a very insipid character, no more than just a name, we find out nothing about her character and nor does she add anything to the story, whereby I feel she could have been utilised more.

So our girls are answering the ads, Darcy only manages to get one date whereby her 6ft 1 executive turns out to be a midget with grandiose ideas. Erin however, has eight dates lined up and intends to go on every one. Can you see what's coming? I certainly did, she's managed to disappear in the third chapter of the book after meeting a chap called Charles North, and is presumed to be murdered after a bit of chasing up by Darcy, and her body is later discovered dumped on the road..
So Erin is physically out of the picture, but by no means out of the story, her character development continues, and we get to know more about her, it feels like she is still taking an active part in the storyline, and is extremely well done by Clark.
So despite FBI and friends advice Darcy decides to carry on answering ads in order to try an find her killer, presumably he has murderer or the like tattooed on his forehead?
So to our remaining heroine, Darcy is a strong character, yet very uninteresting at the same time, there's very little character development, what you see at the beginning is what you get at the end. She is the daughter of two very famous actors and references to this are made throughout the book, I haven't quite discovered why this is, because it adds nothing to the story. Darcy also meets quite a few men along the way, but doesn't seem to work out to whether any of them are Erins killer, until he, quite literally, wallops her over the head! Although I have to say her taste in men is rather dodgy! Unfortunately the main character in the book almost recedes to a secondary one, much more important are the men she encounters along the way, we know that one of them is the killer, but which one? Each has his own reasons and there are things that point to them being the murderer.

Chris Sheridan: Brother of the first murdered girl, Nan. Could he be exacting revenge for what happened to her?
Jay Stratton: Supposed business associate of Erin. Easily angered, he also met Erin through a personal ad, and is involved in some very dodgy dealings surrounding Erins Work. He also went to school with Nan

Len Parker: A meeting between him and Darcy turns into an obsession with him, and he stalks her. He uses a false name and keeps a secret apartment, he has also met Erin through an ad.
Michael Nash: A psychiatrist approached by Nona to appear on the documentary, he has to decline as he is writing his own book on personal ads, during the research of which he met Erin. He and Darcy start to embark on a romantic relationship.

Doug Fox/Fields: A married philanderer who regularly meets women from the ads in yet another secret apartment. Boxes have been mailed to the victims families with their shoes in, the boxes are covered with illustrations, which Doug does for a career. He also went to school with Nan and his wife gave him a false alibi for that night
David Weld: Answered Erins ad and is a shoe buyer for a large store.

Gus Boxer: Superintendent in Erins apartment block, has been found in her apartment and was once superintendent of a block where a young woman was found murdered.
And I have to give Clark credit for this, the way she introduces these character and the more you find out about them on the way is superb, I really had no clue as to who the murderer was, although the inklings had started to arise, and I like to think I'm pretty good at guessing 'whodunit' I was getting a wee bit frustrated by this point as writers are usually dropping big hints towards the end of the book, but Clark manages to drop big hints about every character!

Undoubtedly this is one of the best thrillers Clark has written, and that I have read. In fact this probably had me wrinkling my brow in exasperation than did Patricia Cornwells latest book 'Book of The Dead', which did surprise me as Cornwell is regarded as being a much better writer than Clark.
A strong storyline, strong characters that will leave you guessing all the way through, a great cliff-hanger and nail biting end, although the ending is the archetypal rescue of our heroine. It's defiantly not so much the rescue as the revealing of the killer that makes the ending so good.

Whether I would pay the full £6.99 price for it is debatable, but this may be coloured by my own view that if I had a limited amount of money to spend and had a choice between Cornwell and Clark, Cornwell would win, because of her consistently good writing which cannot be said for Clark.
But defiantly worth paying the prices that large supermarkets charge or in one of those discount bookstores.

Summary: Gripping, easy to read book