It’s a Mystery: Now You See Her, by Joy Fielding

Marcy’s second honeymoon

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Marcy Taggart is a middle-aged woman whose husband has recently left her. They had been planning a second honeymoon in Ireland, and, since it’s been paid for, Marcy decides to go by herself. She’s sitting in a Dublin pub when, through the window, she spots a young woman who’s a ringer for her daughter Devon, who committed suicide 2 years ago. She takes off in pursuit, only to lose sight of her when she is run down by a bicyclist. Convinced that Devon is not dead at all, but alive and well and living in Ireland, Marcy sets out to track down her beloved child.

The picture is a complicated one, because Devon seemed to have inherited her grandmother’s bipolar disorder, and Marcy is still trying to come to terms with all the ramifications. Alone in Dublin, still in distress over the break up of her marriage, when she meets an amiable fellow tourist, Vic from Chicago, she sets caution to the wind and embarks upon a holiday affair with him. Marcy is also flattered by the attentions of the sexy young man who serves her at the pub.

That’s the set-up to this novel of is-she-or-isn’t-she —- crazy, that is. For Marcy has been unhinged since her daughter’s disappearance, and, as she makes her way through the days, she routinely hears the voices of her husband, her sister, and her long-departed mother. She’s a woman on a mission, and having an affair with a virtual stranger is the safest of the choices and decisions that Marcy makes in her quest to find Devon. I’ve avoided Joy Fielding’s work, believing her to be too “romance-y” for my taste, but Now You See Her has shown me that, yes, there’s an element of romance here, but there’s also a stronger element of mystery, psychology, and adventure. Marcy is clearly in need of some psychotherapy, but sometimes her instincts are right on, and she lives through her Irish adventure and comes out stronger in the end. I enjoyed Now You See Her,  even the unbelievable parts,  and will now investigate some of Ms. Fielding’s other titles.