Zapped by Carol Higgins Clark

Author:  Carol Higgins Clark

Publisher:  Pocket Star Books, a division of Simon and Schuster, Inc.

Copyright:  2008 by Carol Higgins Clark

Pages:  287

Genre:  Mystery

Paperback edition

Following in her mother`s footsteps, Carol Higgins Clark has become a fabulous mystery novelist as is her mother Mary Higgins Clark.  This book, Zapped, is the 11th in the 14 books Carol Higgins Clark has written about the sleuthing wife/husband team of Regan and Jack Reilly.

Returning to New York after a weekend away, Regan finds signs of an intruder in their apartment as she stays behind while Jack is called in to police headquarters following a black-out. Inadvertently, Regan finds herself locked out while up on the rooftop terrace as she attempts to increase the ventilation in the apartment by making ajar the door to the terrace.

Meanwhile an art gallery is burglarized, a young man has gone missing and is last seen in the company of a young woman thought to be deranged and dangerous and more than one person has reason to gain access to Regan and Jack`s apartment.  After being rescued by Jack, Regan gains an entourage as she takes on the mission of finding the missing young man, Chip, while Jack fields problems from the station.  It promises to be a long, hot night in a New York City black-out!

Like all of her novels, this one is well-written and entertaining. Zapped is a quick paced mystery/suspense that can, if one is able, be read in one sitting; however, I didn`t have that luxury. The cast of characters can become confusing as the plot develops and more people become involved.  The author jumps from one character/story line to another, generally doing so in separate chapters, so I found myself having to refresh my memory as to which character was which, especially when it came to the three men whose names all began with `C`.  I`ve heard others comment they found it distracting to have so many characters and different sub-plots in her other books but the author does a good job tying them all together in the end of this novel.  One must be on their ``toes`` to keep up with Carol Higgins Clark!  All in all, I enjoyed this novel and recommend it as a good light read.

Rated 4/5.