On the Street Where You Live, by Mary Higgins Clark is a murder mystery/thriller that investigates crimes separated by over a hundred years.

Emily Graham is a defense attorney - a strong woman, and she'd better be, considering all she's going through.  She's been sued by her ex-husband for money she earned after they broke up.  She's been stalked by a man who's upset with the outcome of one of Emily's cases.  Now she's bought a centuries-old mansion, the home of her great-great-grandmother.  But she's barely finished moving in when remains are found on her property.  The remains belong to a woman who disappeared a few years ago.  But there's an extra bone that doesn't belong to this victim.  The extra bone belongs to one of Emily's ancestors - a woman who disappeared over a hundred years ago!

As it turns out, there were three women who disappeared in the late 1890's.  And now two women have disappeared in recent years, both of them on anniversaries of the original victims' disappearances.  Is someone copy-catting the original crimes?  Or has a centuries-old serial killer come back to life, with the purpose of repeating his spree?  In any case, the third anniversary date is coming up in just a few days - will there be another victim?  And if so, do the strange happenings in Emily's life mean she's the next target?


On the Street Where You Live is a very typical Mary Higgins Clark thriller.  By this I mean that there are a whole bunch of suspects and a huge number of red herrings tossed in, to misdirect the reader.  In fact, between the story from the 1890's and the current day story, there are a ridiculous number or characters to keep track of.  This is definitely a case where they should have included a family tree at the beginning of the book.  And, as if the sheer number of characters wasn't off-putting enough, some of them share the same name! 

The main character, Emily, is fairly well-defined and she's definitely someone the reader will root for.  But she does mix a little bit of "stubborn" with a whole lot of "stupid", thus leaving herself completely vulnerable.  So many people tried to help her stay safe, but she shunned their advice, even to the point of getting nasty with well-meaning people who only wanted to make sure she wasn't in any danger.

As for the rest of the characters, they are nothing more than cardboard cutouts.  None has any depth whatsoever, we never feel like we get to "know" any of them.  I think Ms. Clark went for "quantity" of suspects in this book, rather than "quality".  As a result, it was a bit difficult to care very much about the minor characters.  In fact, there are several subplots involving the minor characters, but I didn't really care about any of them.  The biggest waste of time was bothering to introduce us to the lawyers that Emily is going to be working with starting in a few weeks.  What was the point of delving into their issues?  They had nothing to do with the story, they were merely a distraction.

I did like the way the author throws in a few chapters told from the point of view of the "bad guy".  Without giving away any real hints as to his identity, we get to enjoy some very creepy scenes as we are privy to his very warped thoughts.  Knowing that the bad guy is one of the other characters in the book, but never knowing exactly which one, made the mystery even more enjoyable.

There was some discussion of reincarnation, and souls transferring from one generation to the next, that I could have done without.  However, I felt the author did a good job handling this aspect of the story.  She doesn't force any beliefs onto anyone, she merely raises the possibilities and leaves the reader to decide for him/herself.

Overall, this was an "ok" thriller.  I liked the fact that we were following two sets of crimes - separated by over a hundred years.  That added an intriguing aspect to this book, and sets it apart from some of the other thrillers out there.  If you're into murder mysteries/thrillers you might want to give it a try.  It's a fast read that will keep you guessing.  But it's definitely not a "great" story, by any means.

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Recommended: Yes