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KEY News #4
Si près de vous
Qui laisse des messages inquiétants sur le répondeur d’Elisa Blake, la présentatrice vedette de Key News ? Qui dissèque tout ce qu’elle dit à l’antenne et note scrupuleusement ce qu’elle porte chaque soir, lorsqu’elle présente le journal télévisé ?
Qui lui adresse des lettres anonymes de plus en plus menaçantes, pour elle et sa fille, âgée de cinq ans ? Qui connaît les moindres de ses faits et gestes ?
Le nombre de suspects est infini : il pourrait s’agir de n’importe quel téléspectateur. À moins que le danger vienne de plus près, bien plus près…
Qui lui adresse des lettres anonymes de plus en plus menaçantes, pour elle et sa fille, âgée de cinq ans ? Qui connaît les moindres de ses faits et gestes ?
Le nombre de suspects est infini : il pourrait s’agir de n’importe quel téléspectateur. À moins que le danger vienne de plus près, bien plus près…
284 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2002
53 people are currently reading
598 people want to read
About the author
Mary Jane Clark
41 books465 followersMary Jane Elizabeth Behrends Clark (1954-) is the author of thirteen novels, including 12 in the KEY News media thriller series, and one in her new Wedding Cake mystery series. A veteran writer and producer for CBS News, Clark worked for almost three decades at the network’s New York City headquarters. Her books are published in twenty-three languages. She lives in New Jersey and Florida.
Clark's former mother-in-law and sister-in-law are the authors Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark, respectively.
Clark's former mother-in-law and sister-in-law are the authors Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark, respectively.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
June 24, 2025
I love this series.
November 18, 2013
Seeing as my mom lent me this book, I figured I'd take a break from the long ones and go for a quick read before giving it back :D
I definitely agree with the other reviews I've read, regarding this book. It was a fun quick read. The very short chapters (longest about 4 pages) was what enticed me to read it so quickly. I kept saying to myself, "just one more chapter" and continued on. At first, it was alittle confusing with the sudden introduction of the different characters and their own story lines, but, soon they all tied into the same plot, leaving the reader second guessing their opinion of who the murderer was. This book has just enough detail to understand without cluttering additional pages with overkill. I must admit, I've never read Mary Jane Clark books before. However, I am now looking forward to completing this series, as well as her others. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a murder mystery within a quick read! :)
I definitely agree with the other reviews I've read, regarding this book. It was a fun quick read. The very short chapters (longest about 4 pages) was what enticed me to read it so quickly. I kept saying to myself, "just one more chapter" and continued on. At first, it was alittle confusing with the sudden introduction of the different characters and their own story lines, but, soon they all tied into the same plot, leaving the reader second guessing their opinion of who the murderer was. This book has just enough detail to understand without cluttering additional pages with overkill. I must admit, I've never read Mary Jane Clark books before. However, I am now looking forward to completing this series, as well as her others. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a murder mystery within a quick read! :)
February 17, 2017
HUGE new fan!!! Didn't know this was #4 in a series. Now I want to start from #1. So so good!!! Couldn't put it down!!! I've got to say though, I did figure out the murderer when they were first introduced. I wasn't 100% sure, but now I know I was!! Still, so good, and so engaging. Makes me look at news anchors differently now!
March 13, 2025
Eliza Blake, widow, a single mother and TV anchor. She has it all, the money, the looks, loving daughter, new home, wonderful in-laws and friends. But what could go wrong?
Life on air isn't as peachy as it seems, Eliza gets copious amounts of "fan" mail, within this fan mail is support, admiration and also threats, but what happens when those threats threaten to come to life?
I also liked that there was quite a bit of setting a precedent for different characters. It made you think who are they? What is their role going to be, it was great.
The story itself is very twisty and you think it's going to go one way but goes another. Then the finale....MY GOD!
Also the book was filled with short chapters which I love and the font was such a nice size and style too, it was great on the eyes. The characters were great, the story was captivating and I couldn't put It down! It was a great book!
Life on air isn't as peachy as it seems, Eliza gets copious amounts of "fan" mail, within this fan mail is support, admiration and also threats, but what happens when those threats threaten to come to life?
I also liked that there was quite a bit of setting a precedent for different characters. It made you think who are they? What is their role going to be, it was great.
The story itself is very twisty and you think it's going to go one way but goes another. Then the finale....MY GOD!
Also the book was filled with short chapters which I love and the font was such a nice size and style too, it was great on the eyes. The characters were great, the story was captivating and I couldn't put It down! It was a great book!
August 13, 2025
This review applies to the KEY News series. I do like the short chapters as each chapter is a good starting and stopping place. I did find that just like her ex MIL Mary Jane Clark tends to add too many characters and they're hard to keep track of. But the good is that the series is an easy read and not very hard to read, so I'll finish all the books in the series for something to read. Characters are pretty fleshed out and you get a feel for them good or bad (or just human). I have read about 4 books in the series so far and have Nowhere to Run waiting at the local library to pick up, most likely later today. I'll enjoy the reading I know. For me the violence is not gruesome or dwelt on which I appreciate very much. Tried to read the Jack Reacher series but the violence was horribly graphic and couldn't read anymore of the books. I'll stick with the KEY News series until I find another series to read.
January 4, 2022
Way too many characters. I couldn’t keep track. Some sort of weird backstory about a crazy nanny, but it was never explained. All of the characters were a little crazy and obsessive. The editing was terrible; there were many sentences where a word was left out. And I just plain hate that I mistook this for a Mary Higgins Clark book. This author is capitalizing on the fame of a much better writer.
April 14, 2020
Well written and Will keep you guessing. I was a little mad that when I was about 3/4 of the way though, I realized it was the 4th book in a series. Finished it anyways and will now go back and read the other 11 books in order.
August 14, 2024
3.5 ⭐️
I didn’t start getting into this story until the middle-end. That’s when the action started happening and I was hooked. I had to know how it ended. I did call who the suspect was which doesn’t happen often for me. The ending made it worth it but it took a while to get into it.
I didn’t start getting into this story until the middle-end. That’s when the action started happening and I was hooked. I had to know how it ended. I did call who the suspect was which doesn’t happen often for me. The ending made it worth it but it took a while to get into it.
January 30, 2018
Not a very well book IMO. Don’t think I’ll read any more
April 9, 2018
Good
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 8, 2019
Very suspenseful, surprise ending. Read in 2 days
December 10, 2019
Too many characters to keep track of.
February 9, 2021
I like this series of books but after reading a few, I can start guessing who is the evil one.
June 22, 2021
Fun summer read about a TV news anchor and her stalkers, lovers and co-workers. I love these "cozy" mysteries, but like candy, you can only take so much before you need something more substantial.
May 17, 2022
I couldn’t stop reading this stalker/murder thriller. I had to know what happened. It shows us how vulnerable those in the public sector can be to all the crackpots out there. Eliza Blake is the anchorwoman for KEY national evening news, and she has not one but three stalkers of varying degrees, she thinks.
Eliza purchases a gorgeous Georgian style house in an idyllic neighborhood just across the Hudson River a few miles into New Jersey from New York City so her daughter Janie can have a more normal life. Her beloved husband died a few months before Janie was born, and moving through her grief has been difficult. The move is one of the first steps she has taken.
She and Mack McBride, a news correspondent, have gotten fairly serious about each other until Mack made a slip-up when he was sent to London as head of the KEY bureau in Europe. Complications in the anchorwoman’s life abound. The plot could have grown tedious here, but thankfully, it did not. Mary Jane Clark knows network news and wound the story skillfully around it.
My only objection that led to four stars and not five is that things were not settled with Mack. This is obviously a series, and it is good enough to continue, but…. Aaaaaaarrrrrgh!!!
Eliza purchases a gorgeous Georgian style house in an idyllic neighborhood just across the Hudson River a few miles into New Jersey from New York City so her daughter Janie can have a more normal life. Her beloved husband died a few months before Janie was born, and moving through her grief has been difficult. The move is one of the first steps she has taken.
She and Mack McBride, a news correspondent, have gotten fairly serious about each other until Mack made a slip-up when he was sent to London as head of the KEY bureau in Europe. Complications in the anchorwoman’s life abound. The plot could have grown tedious here, but thankfully, it did not. Mary Jane Clark knows network news and wound the story skillfully around it.
My only objection that led to four stars and not five is that things were not settled with Mack. This is obviously a series, and it is good enough to continue, but…. Aaaaaaarrrrrgh!!!
Read
July 13, 2023Yawn
January 9, 2025
Loved it! The plot twists at the end always keep me on my toes!
July 24, 2010
Good story spoiled by way too many characters & subplots ...
We've felt the same way after all four of M.J. Clark's four novels of mystery and suspense set in the interesting venue of "Key News", no doubt a knock-off of CBS News where our author toils in real life. Her stories are invariably entertaining and suspenseful, even though her female leading characters verge on Wonder Women. And one eventually gets used to her one- and two-page (or less!) chapter lengths. But we really don't need three main plots and three sub-plots in one fairly short novel, much less the several dozen characters it takes to populate all those mini-stories.
The tale this time is about Eliza Blake, reprised from Clark's first novel "Do You Want to Know a Secret?", who now anchors the evening news broadcast. Two or more viewers, not to mention some of her co-workers, are taking way too much interest in Blake, leading to three variations of a stalking problem, two different male romances gone awry, and one potential female liaison thrown in for good measure! As before, Eliza is so perfect it's clear she's Clark's vision of a modern, progressive, gorgeous, single female parent on the pedestal personified, which gets just a little tiresome after a while. But even more tiresome is the seemingly endless cast of characters and plot details that only sap strength from the main story.
We've complained loudly about this same "clutter" in MJ's three earlier works. We guess there's just no recourse but too quit now before we invest any more time in an author who otherwise has tremendous potential. Can't an editor do something here?
We've felt the same way after all four of M.J. Clark's four novels of mystery and suspense set in the interesting venue of "Key News", no doubt a knock-off of CBS News where our author toils in real life. Her stories are invariably entertaining and suspenseful, even though her female leading characters verge on Wonder Women. And one eventually gets used to her one- and two-page (or less!) chapter lengths. But we really don't need three main plots and three sub-plots in one fairly short novel, much less the several dozen characters it takes to populate all those mini-stories.
The tale this time is about Eliza Blake, reprised from Clark's first novel "Do You Want to Know a Secret?", who now anchors the evening news broadcast. Two or more viewers, not to mention some of her co-workers, are taking way too much interest in Blake, leading to three variations of a stalking problem, two different male romances gone awry, and one potential female liaison thrown in for good measure! As before, Eliza is so perfect it's clear she's Clark's vision of a modern, progressive, gorgeous, single female parent on the pedestal personified, which gets just a little tiresome after a while. But even more tiresome is the seemingly endless cast of characters and plot details that only sap strength from the main story.
We've complained loudly about this same "clutter" in MJ's three earlier works. We guess there's just no recourse but too quit now before we invest any more time in an author who otherwise has tremendous potential. Can't an editor do something here?
February 1, 2017
This was a good book.
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...
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...
July 25, 2011
Eliza Blake is a beautiful news anchorwoman who enters your home, and the homes of thousands just like you, every day. For some, this isn't enough. Eliza has multiple "stalkers" sending her sick messages in the mail and on her phone. She and her five year old daughter are being threatened and it must end, before someone ELSE dies.
This had the makings of a really great story. In my opinion, it just didn't say all it should have. The main character, Eliza, should have done everything in her power to protect herself and her daughter. She really didn't do squat. She simply stood back, making observations. The writing was very predictable and matter-of-fact; I felt no suspense or any other emotions, for that matter. The dialog was very dull and rigid, like the words were simply pulled from a dictionary. I yelled at the book a couple times. You'll need a little patience with this one.
This had the makings of a really great story. In my opinion, it just didn't say all it should have. The main character, Eliza, should have done everything in her power to protect herself and her daughter. She really didn't do squat. She simply stood back, making observations. The writing was very predictable and matter-of-fact; I felt no suspense or any other emotions, for that matter. The dialog was very dull and rigid, like the words were simply pulled from a dictionary. I yelled at the book a couple times. You'll need a little patience with this one.
November 10, 2022
Mary Jane Clark beschreibt in Tödliche Nähe wohin falsch verstandene Bewunderung führen kann. Nur weil Eliza eine öffentliche Person ist glaubt der Stalker sie zu besitzen und ihr Vorschriften machen zu dürfen. Die Geschichte beginnt scheinbar mit dem Ende, nämlich der Tat und erst im Lauf der Erzählung wird klar dass das Opfer nicht Eliza ist. Doch der Leser weiß nun was sie zu erwarten hat und sieht deutlich den Kreis, der sich immer enger um die junge Frau zieht. Am Ende stehen sich Täter und Opfer gegenüber und der Weg zu ihrem Treffen wird mit jeder Seite des Buchs spannender.
November 11, 2011
Just finished this book that I had sitting in a pile of books that my mom gave me. It was very good! I LOVED how short the chapters were, liked most of the characters, and although it was slightly predictable halfway through, it was still hard to put down, waiting to see how it would all end. The story is about a newscaster who is being stalked by several creeps. The newscaster is a very likable character. Would recommend as a good, quick read.
October 29, 2010
The author is a producer and writer for NBC news in NY, her dad was a special agent for FBI who did everything from undercover espionage to working kidnappings. The stories she writes can be stand alone but are probably better if read in order, they are set around a fictional news station, entertaining fast reads...
February 25, 2018
There are too many subplots present, seeing as how 90% of them don't really tie back in to the main storyline. The chapters are ridiculously short, and it surprises me to read that this is the fourth book in a series as it screams "new author" in every other way. All in all, this one's not worth it. Save your time for better works.
April 4, 2009
Not bad- a relatively quick book to read- reminded me a little of Mary Higgins Clark (no relation) in the jumping back and forth of perspectives and the intertwining of story threads. I guessed wrong who was the bad guy, though, but was right in that it wasn't initially the obvious nutcases.
December 28, 2011
Quick,predictable but still enjoyable mystery. The short chapters are a huge bonus! I read the entire book mistakenly thinking the prologue was about the main character and the biggest mystery for me was why/when Eliza would be selling her new house and moving into a condo.
October 28, 2012
Being in the public view night after night is not all what it is cracked up to be. Nightly news anchor Eliza Blake is being stalked. But by whom. There are several admirers that could be threatening her.
May 7, 2013
Mary Jane Clark has done it again. She never fails to write a thriller that you can't put down. I read this book in less than 3 days and never got bored or found it difficult. It's not your typical mystery. Give it a chance.. it's not as predictable as you may think.
August 4, 2013
Enjoyed the twist at the end of the book. It was also interesting that Mary Jane Clark referenced Fragile X Syndrome several times in this book. Good publicity for the National Fragile X Foundation too! Great work, Mary Jane Clark!
July 27, 2016
I'd say it was a little overstuffed with names supporting characters and the mystery took a little too long to unspool. Still, it kept me guessing and for the most part, entertained. I'd read another.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews