Close to You » (First Edition)

Mary Jane Clark is the author of five novels. She is a producer and a writer at CBS News in New York City and lives in northern New Jersey.

Visit her Web site at: www.maryjaneclark.com

Millions of people are watching— one wants to kill her... What she found was her worst nightmare...

She thought she'd found safety.

In front of the camera, as anchorwoman for KEY Evening Headlines, she savvy, sexy, and sophisticated. But when she steps out of the spotlight, Eliza Blake is far more vulnerable than her devoted viewers would ever imagine. Single-handedly raising a young daughter, she's finally found a safe haven: a dream house in the suburbs, where nothing can ever threaten her again...

It begins with a venomous letter. No stranger to the occasional hate mail that mingles with glowing correspondence from adoring fans, Eliza is at first unaware that this time, the writer isn't a harmless nutcase. Then come the menacing phone calls. Now that her serene suburban life is shattered by fear, Eliza must face the chilling realization that the stalker is closer, and more lethal, than anyone ever suspected— perhaps even concealed behind a trusted, familiar face...

Publishers Weekly

Smooth is the word for this expert thriller by CBS producer and writer Clark (Let Me Whisper in Your Ear, etc.). Moving along effortlessly and unhurriedly, acquiring characters and subplots as it goes, and always focusing on the climax the reader knows will come when the killer finally makes his move, Clark's tale delivers the goods. Eliza Blake, anchor for the KEY Evening Headlines, is a 30-something celebrity, beautiful, smart and good at her job; she is also a single mother determined to be a good parent. As the novel begins, she has just vacated her New York apartment for a house in the suburbs, intent on escaping memories of her husband's death by cancer. Unfortunately, just after she moves, she begins to receive a fresh crop of threatening phone calls and letters. Hate mail is an occupational hazard for a new anchor, it seems, not to be taken too seriously unless, as in this case, the ante gets raised. Eliza finds herself threatened by several obsessives, two of whom may be dangerous, one of whom has killed before. These people are clever, not easy to detect or to catch. Clark's depiction of the stalkers who plague celebrities disturbs and convinces, and her characters come alive on the page: criminal, sick, genuinely evil, or simply flawed and very human. This is an excellent psychological thriller that will keep readers pleasantly bound to the page. Author tour. (Sept.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.