I needed a little light summer reading—the kind of book that you can read when the children interrupt every half sentence or so. Mary Higgins Clark usually fits the bill but Second Time Around disappoints. I was hooked on Clark for easy reading after a coule of books that took people (usually women) in ordinary lives and put then in the kind of terrifying situation that we fear could happen.
The problems with Second Time Around are all minor but combine to drown the story. The protagonist Carley writes a weekly financial column and then gets a job at Wall Street Weekly, while not giving up the column. Either she had nothing to do before she got the job or she ought to be sucking wind. Her new co-workers at WSW are high-powered reporters who only seem mildly interested whenever she breaks yet another bombshell. Her boyfriend goes from casual dinner companion to love of her life in the course of the book but her interaction is so sporadic that she may as well be developing a crush on a movie star.
THe plot revolves around the head of a successful startup who disapppears in an apparent plane crash after apparently looting the copany. Clark tackles the corporate America crisis for her fans. There are sufficient twists and turns to keep you guessing as to the final outcome. Therefore, it meets the standard for summer reading. Just don't look for much more.
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