Daddy's Gone A Hunting

By: Mary Higgins Clark

Narrated by: Jan Maxwell

Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

In this new novel by the #1 New York Times best-selling author Mary Higgins Clark, the reigning "Queen of Suspense", a dark secret from a family's past threatens the lives of two sisters, Kate and Hannah Connelly.

When the family-owned furniture firm, including the mansion where priceless antiques are kept, explodes into flames in the middle of the night, Kate must escape to save her life. But the suspicious circumstances point to her involvement. Was the explosion set deliberately? Why was Kate, a gorgeous CPA for one of the biggest accounting firms in the country, on the premises at that hour? And why was Gus, a retired and trusted employee, with her? Now Gus is dead and Kate lies in the hospital gravely injured. Hannah, Kate's sister and a rising fashion designer, must discover what drew them there and what dangerous secrets lies hidden in the ashes.

Step by step, in a novel of dazzling suspense and excitement, Mary Higgins Clark once again demonstrates the mastery of her craft that has made her books international best sellers for years. Daddy's Gone A Hunting presents the listener with a perplexing mystery and a fascinating cast of characters - one of whom may just be a ruthless killer.

©2013 Mary Higgins Clark (P)2013 Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Too much information about nothing

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

I'm not sure who would enjoy this one. The author spent a great deal of the time filling in information about the lives and histories of minor characters that only played a small role in the story. I was waiting for the action or suspense to start and instead, I was listening to what someone was having for dinner or how they had decorated their apartment. I like it when the author fleshes out the characters, but this story went too far. There was a detective in this story who was involved with one aspect of the book and for some reason, the author chose to give me lots of details about his wife and their dining room table. The wife wasn't involved in the real story. She was a background character. I'm still not certain why I need to know about the table.

What could Mary Higgins Clark have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

I would have liked this so much more if she had stayed on focus with one story. I think this tried to do too much. There were several things that needed solving within the story and every mystery came with a group of characters. By the time she told us who they all were, how they met, what they had for dinner, who lived next door to them, and how their marriages were going, I had lost interest in the whole thing.

Have you listened to any of Jan Maxwell’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This was my first time listening to Jan Maxwell and I think I would enjoy listening to her again. She did the best she could with the story she was given. I liked listening to her and she did a good job with the male voices in the story as well as the female characters.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Daddy's Gone A Hunting?

Without spoiling the story, I will just say that I would have cut out background information on people not important to the plot and left out at least one victim in order to give the reader fewer meaningless characters to sort through. I would also have left out the minor romance. It feels sort of squeezed into the book as an afterthought and it isn't important to the plot.

Any additional comments?

I normally love this author's books and have read most of them. This one just didn't work for me. There was a very interesting main plot but sadly, by the time all of the surrounding story lines were filled in and explained, the main plot suffered. I wanted to like the book, but this is the only Mary Higgins-Clark novel that I haven't enjoyed. I shall look forward to her next one though, because normally she is very entertaining.

This Book Sucked.

What disappointed you about Daddy's Gone A Hunting?

It was extremely slow. The author kept repeating the story line over and over again. It never went any where. The ending was terrible. This book was a waste of my time. HATED IT!!!!

A bad game of "Clue".

I had heard that Mary Higgins Clark was a great writer but I had never read any of her books. Thought the book was great until the end. VERY disappointed in the trite ending.
I felt that I had lost at the childhood game of “Clue”. I gave it a two because “she had me until the end”.

Not as good as expected.

Lots of unnecessary detail about characters who are not major players in the story. Lots of meaningless detail to try to "set the scene" or create a mood.

A major plot line was suddenly introduced and then immediately solved in a very short chapter without any solid clues or hints beforehand, and the primary mystery was "solved" soon after via the thoughts/reminiscences of a main character. A secondary mystery was then also quickly "solved" via the thoughts/reminiscences of that same main character. Very anticlimactic and somewhat lazy.

It's a mediocre book for mild entertainment but not a great mystery novel at all.

So Many characters

It was difficult to follow the story. So many names and characters to follow..
The story may have been good, if I could follow it.

Im sorry I couldn't even get through this

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

I don't like to do reviews and I really like Mary Higgins Clark but I couldn't even make it through this book. I am on chapter 32 and nothing. Really bummed.

What could Mary Higgins Clark have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Speed it up

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

Love Jan Maxwell

Story Dragged On

Struggled to finish. Got lost with characters. Was not compelled to finish. Almost gave up.

Disappointed

I couldn’t make it to the end. I wanted to and kept listening thinking there would be an, “ok, here it is” moment but it never came.