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| It Only Takes a Moment LP: A Novel of Suspense | 
 enlarge | Author: Mary Jane Clark
Publisher: HarperLuxe
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $14.83
You Save: $10.12 (41%)
New (23) Used (6) from $14.83
Avg. Customer Rating:  58 reviews
Sales Rank: 646120
Format: Large Print
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 464
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9 x 5.9 x 1.3
ISBN: 0061562874
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780061562877
ASIN: 0061562874
Publication Date: September 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new item. Over 3.5 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Order with confidence. Code: B20081006210455T
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Product Description
Eliza Blake, host of the top-rated KEY News morning show, has witnessed tragedy and danger in her career. But nothing the accomplished professional has experienced has prepared her for when her seven-year-old daughter, Janie, is snatched from summer camp. The country's viewers are glued to their television sets, anxiously awaiting the news that their favorite morning-television personality's little girl has been found. With each passing day, the FBI and local authorities track down every lead: A profile of the kidnapper's most likely characteristics is developed, every fan letter written to Eliza over the last six months is scrutinized, every sex offender registered within a fifty-mile radius is interviewed, and psychics from around the country appear on Eliza's doorstep offering their help. But Eliza isn't going to sit around and wait for answers. She and the rest of the Sunrise Suspense Society—brilliant producer Annabelle Murphy, cameraman extraordinaire B.J. D'Elia, and psychiatrist Dr. Margo Gonzalez—will band together to outwit a cunning criminal whose shocking motives threaten to snuff out a terrified little girl's life.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 53 more reviews...
 FAST-PACED AND COMPELLING August 3, 2008
12 out of 14 found this review helpful
Broadcast journalism, as we know, is an exciting sometimes no-holds-barred field, and that is where Mary Jane Clark spent almost 30 years of her professional life. She knows that world well and she brings it to stunning life. Not only is Clark a former writer and producer for CBS News but her father was an FBI agent who investigated headline grabbing kidnaping and extortion cases, such as the Patty Hearst case and the kidnaping of Calvin Klein's daughter. As Clark has said, "kidnaping was my father's specialty......and I paid a lot of attention to the details at an impressionable age."
Now, bring together her knowledge of the broadcast journalist's life with her memories of what she learned from her father and you have a wow of a story, a can't-stop-reading suspense tale propelled by sharp dialogue and heart thumping twists.
With the second book in Clark's Sunrise Suspense society series we find Eliza Blake preparing for one more interview. Hers is a face much of the world knows as she's the host of one of our country's top-rated television programs - KEY to America. She's also a widow with Janie, a seven-year-old daughter whom she adores. Janie is reminded of her mother's devotion when the housekeeper, Mrs. Garcia, calls her "tesoro," explaining that the word means treasure, and says, " You are your mama's tesoro. She loves you more than anything."
That love is reiterated in Eliza's interview when the reporter asks her about Janie, and she replies, "Janie is my top priority."
With this background readers more than empathize with Eliza, they almost feel her pain when Janie is kidnaped. Two intruders wearing Popeye and Olive Oyl masks break into the Clark household one morning, and terrorize Mrs. Garcia into making a call to Janie's day camp saying that she must come and pick up the child as her mother needs her.
When Eliza returns home after a long day at work she is somewhat surprised not to find Mrs. Garcia there, but assumes she has gone on an errand. But Janie's camp bus should have delivered her to the house at 5:30, and it is soon past six. With fear filled l voice Eliza calls the police, and the chase begins. However, the combined efforts of law enforcement aren't enough. Eliza turns to her friends - Annabelle Murphy, blessed with incredible instincts; B. J. D'Ellia, photographer extra ordinaire; and Margot Gonzalez, who knows criminal minds.
It Only Takes A Moment fires forward from the first page, bristling with pinpoint characterizations and plotting par excellence. A compelling read!
- Gail Cooke
 no fun with Dick and Jane August 10, 2008
9 out of 11 found this review helpful
If you're looking for books to donate to a literacy program, this is a good pick: there's not a word over two syllables in it. (OK, there's Camp Musquapsink and Guatemala, so not a 2-syllable work that isn't a proper noun.)
The characters are flat, the dialogue is simplistic, the settings are bland, and the whole thing verges on falling into Romance Land. It was one of the few books left when I picked it from Vine, and now I see why it was still there.
The Sunrise Suspense Society is a poor woman's knock-off of Patterson's Women's Murder Club - and I'm not much of a fan of that cliche-ridden series, either. Yes, there's a kidnapping and yes, there's a solution, but with these cookie-cutter characters spouting banalities (Eliza actually says "prison is too good for you") it's very hard to care about either.
Fast-paced excitement keeps the pages turning July 31, 2008
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
It Only Takes a Moment: A Novel of Suspense
Widow Eliza Blake as host of the top-rated KEY News Morning Show has a high visability career, one she balances with caring for her seven-year-old daughter in an upscale New Jersey residential area.
It Only Takes a Moment highlights five days in the abduction from summer camp of Janie and their Guatemalan housekeeper.
The story hits the ground running, carrying the reader along with dynamic action and short chapters that set a fast pace. Eliza, Janie and housekeeper Carmen Garcia are skillfully portrayed, their emotion palpable. A host of secondary characters provide added interest as well as a few red herrings.
All in all, this is a good read with enough excitement to keep the pages turning. My complaints are minor, however, in fairness I feel they need to be addressed. The author introduces so many characters, one right after the other, that this reader became confused. Secondly, I felt the ending, though appropriately surprising, seemed too abrupt. I wanted more.
Awesome Suspense Novel September 3, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Thank God I chose to read this book. What a find! Mary Jane Clark rises to the highest mark with this one. The novel starts off with a bang and never lets up. The basic plot is that the daughter of Eliza Blake, host of a morning television show, is kidnapped. But this book has so much detail and never lets up on the suspense.
Eliza is a very believable character and you really feel all the emotions she goes through. The book keeps you on your toes and is told from the perspective of many different characters. The suspense builds and anyone is a possible suspect. This is not a book where you figure things out early on. I could not put the book down till the end and what an end. It was totally unexpected.
This book is more a true suspense/psychological study novel than the mere romantic suspense one would expect. Yes, it is a quick read but it delivers a wallop. You will get totally caught up in the story and be amazed by the well crafted plot and ending.
Very well written and highly recommended.
Suspenseful until the end July 23, 2008
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
"It only takes a moment" is an excellent novel of suspense. Eliza Blake's day started like any other when she goes off to work and her daughter Janie goes off to summer camp. But while Mrs. Garcia, Eliza's nanny/housekeeper is home alone, two masked strangers come and demand that she get Janie from summer camp. After that, it's a chase to find Janie, Mrs. Garcia and the people who kidnapped them.
From the moment the book started, I was into it. It's quite high-paced with chapters of just a few pages long and jumping from different place to different place. There are a lot of characters introduced, especially one right after the other and it was slightly confusing. It was also little hard to keep straight who was who. Another slight complaint was that the book seemed to end abruptly. The case was solved but it felt like there should have been a little more to it. I was kind of expecting an epilogue that featured Eliza and her family in the future after the craziness had calmed down and things went back to normal.
But I thought that overall, the book was very good and I would recommend this book to any Mary Jane Clark fan or people who like suspenseful thrillers.It's a book that keeps you guessing and until literally the last page. Not to be missed.
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