Nighttime Is My Time

by Mary Higgins Clark

Overview

From the Queen of Suspense, Mary Higgins Clark, comes a riveting tale of suspense, secrets, and revenge as seemingly unrelated women begin to disappear all over the country...and only one woman can find out why.Historian Jean Sheridan returns to Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York, excited about her twenty-year high-school reunion at Stonecroft Academy. But a dear friend of hers soon becomes the fifth woman in the class to meet a sudden, mysterious end. Then Jean receives a taunting fax about a child she gave up for adoption, whose existence she had kept a secret but whose life may now be in danger. For present at the reunion is The Owl, a murderer on a mission of vengeance against women who once humiliated him...and Jean is his final intended victim.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781668080122
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	04/08/2025
Pages:	432
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

The #1 New York Times bestselling author Mary Higgins Clark wrote forty suspense novels, four collections of short stories, a his­torical novel, a memoir, and two children's books. With bestselling author Alafair Burke she wrote the Under Suspicion series including The Cinderella Murder, All Dressed in White, The Sleeping Beauty Killer, Every Breath You Take, You Don't Own Me, and Piece of My Heart. With her daughter Carol Higgins Clark, she coauthored five suspense novels. More than one hundred million copies of her books are in print in the United States alone. Her books are international bestsellers.

Hometown:

Saddle River, New Jersey and New York, New York

Date of Birth:

December 24, 1929

Place of Birth:

New York, New York

Education:

New York University; B.A., Fordham University, 1979

Website:

http://www.simonsays.com/subs/index.cfm?areaid=12

Read an Excerpt

Nighttime Is My Time

It was the third time in a month he had come to Los Angeles to observe her daily activities. “I know your comings and goings,” he whispered as he waited in the pool house. It was one minute of seven. The morning sun was filtering through the trees, causing the waterfall that spilled into the pool to sparkle and shimmer.

He wondered if Alison could sense that she had only one minute more of life on earth. Did she have an uneasy feeling, perhaps a subconscious urge to skip her swim this morning? Even if she did, it wouldn’t do her any good. It was too late.

The sliding glass door opened, and she stepped onto the patio. Thirty-eight years old, she was infinitely more attractive than she had been twenty years ago. Her body, tanned and sleek, looked good in the bikini. Her hair, now honey blond, framed and softened her sharp chin.

She tossed the towel she was carrying onto a lounge chair. The blinding anger that had been simmering inside him escalated into rage, but then, just as quickly, was replaced by the satisfaction of knowing what he was about to do. He had seen an interview in which a daredevil stunt diver swore that the moment before he began to dive, knowing that he was risking his life, was an indescribable thrill, a sensation he needed to repeat over and over again.

For me it’s different, he thought. The moment before I reveal myself to them is what gives me the thrill. I know they’re going to die, and when they see me, they know, too. They understand what I am going to do to them.

Alison stepped onto the diving board and stretched. He watched as she bounced softly, testing the board, then positioned her arms in front of her.

He opened the door of the pool house just as her feet lifted from the board. He wanted her to see him when she was in midair. Just before she hit the water. He wanted her to understand how vulnerable she was.

In that split second, their eyes locked. He caught her expression as she plunged into the water. She was terrified, aware that she was incapable of flight.

He was in the pool before she had surfaced. He hugged her against his chest, laughing as she flailed about, kicking her feet. How foolish she was. She should simply accept the inevitable. “You’re going to die,” he whispered, his voice calm, even.

Her hair was in his face, blinding him. Impatiently he shook it away. He didn’t want to be distracted from the pleasure of feeling her struggle.

The end was coming. In her craving for breath, she had opened her mouth and was gulping water. He felt her final frantic effort to break away from him, then the hopelessly feeble tremors as her body began to go limp. He pressed her close, wishing he could read her mind. Was she praying? Was she begging God to save her? Was she seeing the light that people who have experienced a near-death event claim to have seen?

He waited a full three minutes before he released her. With a satisfied smile he watched as her body sank to the bottom of the pool.

It was five minutes after seven when he climbed out of the pool, pulled on a sweatshirt, shorts, sneakers, a cap, and dark glasses. He had already chosen the spot where he would leave the silent reminder of his visit, the calling card that everybody always missed.

At six minutes past seven he began to jog down the quiet street, another early morning fitness buff in a city of fitness buffs.

Editorial Reviews

Before you pick up (or dismiss out of hand) Mary Higgins Clark's latest suspense story, Nighttime Is My Time, consider this: Whatever her literary shortcomings, she gives good value. Her easy-reading novels always deliver a plot-driven narrative, a heroine who can take charge of a situation and some creeping menace that is genuinely scary because it is familiar in a personal way. — Marilyn Stasio

The New York Times

This time out, Clark ups the ante from her standard female-in-peril plot to three females in peril, all targets of a serial killer who fancies himself a night-hunting predator: "I am the Owl," he whispers to himself after he has selected his prey, "and nighttime is my time." The Owl kills his first victim, then it's off to attend his 20th high school reunion at Stonecroft Academy in Cornwall-on-Hudson, where he intends to do in the last several women who humiliated him when he was a geeky high school student. Jean Sheridan, one of the intended victims, was actually nice to the Owl, but he decides she has to die anyway because someone told him she once made fun of him. Jean's daughter, Lily, whom Jean gave away at birth, must also die, for obscure reasons, as must Laura, the class beauty. In the course of stalking and capturing these three, the Owl kills several innocent bystanders just to vent his anger and alludes to dozens more he has slaughtered over the years. The game here is figuring out which of the men who come to the reunion, all former nerds, is the Owl: Carter Stewart, now a genius playwright; Mark Fleischman, a psychiatrist with a syndicated television program; Gordon Amory, television magnate; Robby Brent, famous comedian; or Jack Emerson, local real estate tycoon. If the killer's animal fetish is the Owl, then Clark's is surely the red herring as she cleverly throws them in by the dozen, providing irrefutable proof that first one man, then another, must be guilty. Since any of the men might be the killer, the final revelation is anticlimactic, but Clark's multitude of fans will be happy enough to spend time with the innocent and imperiled Jean and to participate in the guessing game. Agents, Eugene Winick and Sam Pinkus. (Apr. 6) Forecast: No surprises here-this should hit #1. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Having narrowly avoided abduction, one young woman begins to suspect that the disappearance of other women nationwide is no coincidence. With an eight-city author tour. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

"Clark's multitude of fans will be happy...to participate in the guessing game."
— Publishers Weekly

"Creeping menace that is genuinely scary."
— The New York Times

From the Publisher

In her twenty-ninth novel, Queen of Suspense Mary Higgins Clark crafts a plot reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s TEN LITTLE INDIANS. Before attending his twentieth reunion at Stonecroft Academy, a killer who calls himself The Owl---“Nighttime is my time”--murders one of a group of female classmates who made fun of him in school and plans to kill the others. Several other male attendees of the reunion were nerds also, so which one of them is the killer? This familiar Higgins Clark puzzler, featuring a feisty heroine, but too many suspects, too many clues and red herrings, makes for a confusing listening experience. Further, Jan Maxwell’s lack of variation in character voices makes it often unclear who is speaking, and the use of long pauses between scenes slows down an already lethargic performance. M.T.B. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

FEB/MAR 05 - AudioFile