When Day Breaks

The writer is always interesting and holds one's attention. The condition of the book was excellent.

I really enjoyed the book and find it interesting how the stories seem to come from the news with their own little twist to them. There's always twists and turns and just when you think you know who it is something happens to send you in a different direction.

Mary Jane Clark is my latest "find" who in a very short time has become one of my favourite authors. "When Day Breaks" is a suspense novel from the television business. The plot is brilliant. Beautiful news anchor Constance Young leaves Key News for a competitor. On the night of her debut at the morning news show, she is found dead at the bottom of her swimming pool. Not far from the pool also a huge dog is found dead at approximately the same time. Constance is a keen swimmer, so what happened? This is a fast paced easy read, with short chapters, not dwelling on unnecessary details. The characters are complex and interesting. (And no, it's not easy to guess who did it!) That the author works in television, is apparent from her detailed knowledge of this world. Add to this her obvious knack for writing page-turners, and her success as a bestselling author is no surprise. After "When Day Breaks" I bought the rest of her books and have enjoyed them all just as much. They all take place within the same (fictional) television network but are individual novels to be read separately. Highly entertaining reading. I loved it!

This is an exciting suspense thriller in Mary Jane Clark's series of books set in the "KEY TV" network world. There is "KEY to America," a morning show, and "KEY Evening Headlines," a nightly news show just for starters and the competition is fierce. The events happen over a week's time span in May. The story opens in a Manhattan animal shelter where an unknown person is intent on getting a dog, a large dog that is roughly 112 pounds. The attendant there convinces the stranger to take a Great Dane named Marco who was well-trained by his previous owner who had to move and couldn't take him with him. The new owner takes the dog far out in the country to Constance Young's get-away country home and convinces the dog to play fetch with a rubber ball and, as the dog gets muddy, throws a ball in the pool so the dog follows it. As Marco is swimming in the pool he sees something big and shiny thrown in the pool by his new owner. It is a toaster connected by an orange outdoor cord and the dog dies. This is a very scary prologue to the mystery and murder that is about to start and gives us insight into the murderer's character. This killer not only hates enough to kill a lovely dog that never hurt anyone but is also ready to take a human being's life, as well. Constance Young took over the show "KEY to America" after Eliza Blake went to anchor "KEY Evening Headlines." Constance became the "undisputed star of morning television" and was now quitting "KEY to America" and moving to the competition. At KEY News, co-workers and bosses alike have mixed feelings about Constance's new job as it either makes their job easier or much harder. Her replacement at "KEY to America" is going to be a young woman who is friend/lover to the producer. Constance enjoys her farewell show and luncheon and heads to her country house to relax before taking her new job. The next morning, Constance is found by her housekeeper; drowned in her pool. While it looks like an accident at first, the coroner and other evidence found by police soon lead to the conclusion that she was murdered. As Eliza Blake and her friends at KEY begin to investigate the murder on their own, the suspect list gets longer and longer and the danger to Eliza and her friends come closer and closer to home. Full of great plot twists and turns, this is a suspenseful and enjoyable read. Highly recommended!

"When Day Breaks" is a quick suspense story -- a great summer read. Mary Jane Clark paints her characters so vividly; when the book ended I was hungry for more and wanted to know what happened to all of them. I brought it with me to the beach and it definitely held my attention and my interest.