The Lost Years: A Novel

This fast, engaging murder mystery is a perfect escape read, either on a single day or over several days. This murder intrigue surrounds a missing ancient document purportedly written by Jesus before his crucifixion and stolen from the Vatican archives.Mary Higgins Clark, a master of the short-chapter format, again creates a suspenseful thriller without traumatizing the reader with unnecessary shock-and-awe sensationalism.Clark's storytelling skills creates a believable murder tragedy with lots of victims and suspects, all mixed up together to have you guessing right up to the last few chapters. Wow!These well-written chapters create a most enjoyable reading experience with tightly packed paragraphs filled with so many important details, all crafted to inform without overwhelming the reader. Clark's active writing brings the reader right into the middle of things with each short chapter adding momentum and unanswered questions to the dramatic storyline.The plot emerges quickly through an engaging mix of narrative, dialogue, and character thoughts and reactions. Wow! A fun tead!A solid 4.5 star read, you won't be disappointed. Well done too was the Audible narration that adds both pacing and dramatic elements to enhance the reading experience.I only wished I'd found this gem earlier.

This was different than the author's previous books, but good. It was not so much of a romantic suspense as a religious thriller, more of Dan Brown's style. If you liked Dan Brown's Demons and Angels and DaVinci Code then you will like this book and wait for more like this from this author.I was not sure what to expect when I read the description of this book. I have read many of this author's books (if not all) and there are lots of twists in the plot. This book did not disappoint. You will hold your breath while you read this book and you can't put it down.The book tells about a lost (and newly found) parchment presumably written by Jesus himself. However, the scholar who claimed to have found it, is found dead himself. Why and how and who is the killer?You better read the book if you want to know.---- some spoilers -----About Jonathan and his family, his wife, Kathleen, has suffered from Alzheimer's disease, and this has put the family life in stress. When Jonathan is found dead, his wife is found hiding in a closet. She is holding the murder weapon... Could she have done the murder? Could she have been coherent enough to kill her husband and why would she do that? She needs help with her disease getting worse. It just does not make any sense to their only daughter, who has now the duty to find out the killer and clear her mother's name... But then they also found out that this priceless piece of history, this invaluabel parchment that Jonathan was studying, has disappeared about the same time as the death has happened... Did the wife hid it? Did somebody else take it? Did Jonathan hid it or store it somewhere that he only knows?Mariah, the daughter, is desperate. She can't let his father's death be unsolved, and his legacy, the valuable parchment, to be lost forever. She has to find out - not just for her own piece of mind, but also to find out the mystery of the missing parchment.------- end of spoilers ----I only wish that the publishers would lower the ebook prices because it does not make any sense that the ebooks are so expensive. They don't have the same publishing costs like the paperbacks or hardcover books. Why keep the prices so high?

I found The Lost Years by Mary Higgins Clark to be an interesting and intriguing book. The idea of a letter written by Jesus to Joseph of Arimathea is fascinating in itself, but to have been lost for five hundred years and then to possibly show up in the hands of Mariah Lyons' father, who is a Biblical scholar, is an even greater shock to other Biblical scholars and historians when they hear about it. If the parchment can be authenticated, not only will it be a priceless piece of Christian writing, but it can be returned to the Vatican Library from which it disappeared.Mariah's father, Jonathan Lyons, is found shot to death at his desk at home, and his wife, who suffers from advanced dementia, is inside the closet holding the murder weapon. Their daughter, Mariah, who lives in New York and works on Wall Street, believes that her mother had nothing to do with the death of her father, but the police don't see it that way. Mariah will have to move back into her parents' home in New Jersey until the case is brought to trial and work to keep her mother safe and her name clear.There are several characters in the book who have good reason to kill Jonathan Lyons, but none with such visible evidence as the smoking gun in his wife's hand.I found the book to go very fast and I especially liked the character of Mariah. Willy and Alvirah add humor and an uplifting note to the story, and I enjoyed their presence along the way. As a light suspense novel, I enjoyed it and recommend it for Mary Higgins Clark fans and mystery/suspense fans. No graphic violence or language.

Habe mir hier auf der Internet-Plattform von Amazon das Buch "The Lost Years" gekauft und zwischenzeitlich gelesen. Das Buch gehört zur Alvirah und Willy Meehan Serie. Beide sind hier einem Mörder und einem Juwelendieb auf der Spur. Außerdem geht es um ein gestohlenes Pergamentpapier das Jesus and Josef geschrieben haben soll. Das Buch ist spannend bis zum Schluss.

I realize I am a fan of Mary Higgins Clark however, this has been one of the most interesting books by her that I have read and I have read many...

This is my first time reading Mary Higgins Clark and must say that she has left a good impression with this one on me.What i like about the book is definitely the writing style which is crisp, clean and very engaging and the story plot is also good but not exceptionally good as somewhere around the middle you will know where the plot is going and in fact you can even predict the real antagonist.What i did not like is the fact that there were too many characters thrown in and with too much background information and even confusing as to who was who but i guess eventually it branches out later to the select few which actually matter in the story. The story plot could have been a little more spicier as i feel that this was a very average plot.Nevertheless the book is good for a one time read and to definitely get acquainted with the world renowned thriller novelist Mary Higgins Clark

I have read almost 10 book of Mary Higgins Clarke and each time I read.....it makes places me actually in the plot....her writing is so mesmerising. .....

I enjoyed other books from the author much more than this one. Predictable. I didn't even distinguish the characters one from the other..