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《两个蓝衣小女孩》在4月4日上市前，已在北美畅销书排行榜上占据了极靠前的位置。有“悬疑小说之后”之誉的作者玛丽·克拉克，沿用她发表于1975年的畅销小说《孩子们到哪儿去了？》的套路，依然从天下父母的噩梦—家中孩子被拐走着笔；不同的是，这次她的写作中少了往常令人透不过气来的紧张气氛。本书还未正式推出就已经广受瞩目，可见克拉克在悬疑推理小说迷心目中的地位。
In a riveting new thriller, worldwide bestselling suspense writer Mary Higgins Clark weaves the mystery of twins telepathy into a mother’s search for kidnapped twins, presumed dead. Margaret and Steve Frawley celebrate the third birthday of their twin girls, Kelly and Kathy, with an afternoon party in their new home in Ridgefield, Connecticut. The evening of the twins’ birthday party, Steve and Margaret attend a black-tie dinner in New York. When they return home, the police are in the house, and they are told that the babysitter had been found unconscious, the children are gone, and a note demanding an eight-million-dollar ransom had been left in their room...
世界悬疑畅销小说家玛丽·希金森·克拉克为读者呈现了一部引人入胜的惊悚新作。书中描述了一对被绑架并被推测已经遇害的双胞胎姐妹，与找寻她们的母亲之间具有神奇的心灵感应的故事。玛格丽特和史蒂夫·弗劳利夫妇为他们的双胞胎女儿凯利和凯茜庆祝3岁生日。他们在康涅狄格州里奇菲尔德的新家举办了一个午后聚会。在生日宴会的那天晚上，弗劳利夫妇去纽约参加一个正式晚宴，他们回家后，却发现警察在他们家里，雇来照看孩子的女孩已经不省人事，两个孩子也不知去向，留在房间里的一张字条上写着：用800万美元赎回孩子……
“Hold on a minute, Rob, I think one of the twins is crying. Let me call you back.”
Nineteen-year-old Trish Logan put down her cell phone, got up from the couch, and hurried across the living room. It was her first time babysitting for the Frawleys, the nice people who had moved into town a few months earlier. Trish had liked them immediately. Mrs Frawley had told her that when she was a little girl, her family often visited friends who lived in Connecticut, and she liked it so much she always wanted to live there, too. “Last year when we started looking for a house and happened to drive through Ridgefield, I knew it was where I wanted to be,” she told Trish.
The Frawleys had bought the old Cunningham farmhouse. Today, Thursday, March 24th, was the third birthday of the Frawleys’ identical twin girls, and Trish had been hired for the day to help with the party, then to stay for the evening while the parents attended a black-tie dinner in New York.
After the excitement of the party, I’d have sworn the kids were dead to the world, Trish thought as she started up the stairs, headed to the twins’ room. The Frawleys had ripped out the worn carpet that had been in the house, and the nineteenth-century steps creaked under her feet.
Near the top step, she paused. The light she had left on in the hall was off. Probably another fuse had blown. The wiring in the old house was a mess. That had happened in the kitchen this afternoon.
The twins’ bedroom was at the end of the hall. There was no sound coming from it now. Probably one of the twins had cried out in her sleep, Trish thought as she began to inch her way through the darkness. Suddenly she stopped. It’s not just the hall light. I left the door to their room open so I could hear them if they woke up. The night-light in the room should be showing. The door’s closed. But I couldn’t have heard one of them crying if it was closed a minute ago.
Suddenly frightened, she listened intently. What was that sound? In an instant of sickening awareness, she identified it: Soft footsteps. A hint of equally soft breathing. The acrid smell of perspiration. Someone was behind her.
Trish tried to scream, but only a moan escaped her lips. She tried to run, but her legs would not move. She felt a hand grab her hair and yank her head back. The last thing she remembered was a feeling of pressure on her neck.
“等一下，鲍勃，我想一个孩子正在哭。我再打给你吧。”
19岁的特蕾丝·洛根放下手机，从沙发上站起来，快步走出了客厅。这是她第一次在弗劳利家照看小孩，这家人很好，几个月前刚搬到镇上来。特蕾丝很快就喜欢上了他们。弗劳利太太告诉她，在自己小时候，家里人就常去拜访住在康涅狄格州的朋友，因此她很喜欢那个地方，也想能在那儿居住。“去年当我们开始找房子时，开车碰巧经过了里奇菲尔德，我知道这就是我想要居住的地方，”她对特蕾丝说。
弗劳利一家买下了坎宁安家的旧农场住宅。今天是3月24号，星期四，是弗劳利家双胞胎女儿3岁的生日，所以特蕾丝被雇来为生日宴会帮忙。晚上当弗劳利夫妇去纽约参加一个正式晚宴时，她还要继续照看这对双胞胎。
当特蕾丝上楼，朝双胞胎的房间走去时，她想 ：生日晚会的兴奋劲儿过后，我发誓这两个孩子很快便会酣然入梦。屋里的旧地毯已经被弗劳利一家磨破，19世纪的楼梯在她的脚下吱吱作响。
快到楼梯顶层时，她站住了。走廊里的灯灭了，有可能保险丝又烧断了。这所旧房子里的电线已经严重老化。下午厨房的保险丝就已经烧断过一次。
双胞胎的卧室在走廊的尽头。现在屋里一点声响都没有。当特蕾丝在黑暗中小心翼翼地前行时，她猜测或许是其中的一个孩子在睡梦中呼喊。突然她停了下来，不是因为走廊的灯。她想：我把这两个孩子房间的门打开了，那么当她们醒来，我就可以听见。房间里的通宵灯本应是亮着的。可是现在门却是关着的。如果一分钟前门就关上了，我不应该能听到她们哭。
她突然很害怕，于是侧耳倾听。那是什么声音？她立刻高度警觉，并很快意识到 ：这是轻微的脚步声，还夹杂着同样轻微的喘息声和浓烈的汗臭味。她身后站着一个人！
特蕾丝想要尖叫，却只发出了一声呜咽。她想要跑，但腿却不听使唤。她感到有只手抓住了她的头发，向后用力拽着。她记得的最后一件事就是脖子被紧紧地勒住。
林菲璐 摘译自 Popular Novel
In a riveting new thriller, worldwide bestselling suspense writer Mary Higgins Clark weaves the mystery of twins telepathy into a mother’s search for kidnapped twins, presumed dead. Margaret and Steve Frawley celebrate the third birthday of their twin girls, Kelly and Kathy, with an afternoon party in their new home in Ridgefield, Connecticut. The evening of the twins’ birthday party, Steve and Margaret attend a black-tie dinner in New York. When they return home, the police are in the house, and they are told that the babysitter had been found unconscious, the children are gone, and a note demanding an eight-million-dollar ransom had been left in their room...
世界悬疑畅销小说家玛丽·希金森·克拉克为读者呈现了一部引人入胜的惊悚新作。书中描述了一对被绑架并被推测已经遇害的双胞胎姐妹，与找寻她们的母亲之间具有神奇的心灵感应的故事。玛格丽特和史蒂夫·弗劳利夫妇为他们的双胞胎女儿凯利和凯茜庆祝3岁生日。他们在康涅狄格州里奇菲尔德的新家举办了一个午后聚会。在生日宴会的那天晚上，弗劳利夫妇去纽约参加一个正式晚宴，他们回家后，却发现警察在他们家里，雇来照看孩子的女孩已经不省人事，两个孩子也不知去向，留在房间里的一张字条上写着：用800万美元赎回孩子……
“Hold on a minute, Rob, I think one of the twins is crying. Let me call you back.”
Nineteen-year-old Trish Logan put down her cell phone, got up from the couch, and hurried across the living room. It was her first time babysitting for the Frawleys, the nice people who had moved into town a few months earlier. Trish had liked them immediately. Mrs Frawley had told her that when she was a little girl, her family often visited friends who lived in Connecticut, and she liked it so much she always wanted to live there, too. “Last year when we started looking for a house and happened to drive through Ridgefield, I knew it was where I wanted to be,” she told Trish.
The Frawleys had bought the old Cunningham farmhouse. Today, Thursday, March 24th, was the third birthday of the Frawleys’ identical twin girls, and Trish had been hired for the day to help with the party, then to stay for the evening while the parents attended a black-tie dinner in New York.
After the excitement of the party, I’d have sworn the kids were dead to the world, Trish thought as she started up the stairs, headed to the twins’ room. The Frawleys had ripped out the worn carpet that had been in the house, and the nineteenth-century steps creaked under her feet.
Near the top step, she paused. The light she had left on in the hall was off. Probably another fuse had blown. The wiring in the old house was a mess. That had happened in the kitchen this afternoon.
The twins’ bedroom was at the end of the hall. There was no sound coming from it now. Probably one of the twins had cried out in her sleep, Trish thought as she began to inch her way through the darkness. Suddenly she stopped. It’s not just the hall light. I left the door to their room open so I could hear them if they woke up. The night-light in the room should be showing. The door’s closed. But I couldn’t have heard one of them crying if it was closed a minute ago.
Suddenly frightened, she listened intently. What was that sound? In an instant of sickening awareness, she identified it: Soft footsteps. A hint of equally soft breathing. The acrid smell of perspiration. Someone was behind her.
Trish tried to scream, but only a moan escaped her lips. She tried to run, but her legs would not move. She felt a hand grab her hair and yank her head back. The last thing she remembered was a feeling of pressure on her neck.
“等一下，鲍勃，我想一个孩子正在哭。我再打给你吧。”
19岁的特蕾丝·洛根放下手机，从沙发上站起来，快步走出了客厅。这是她第一次在弗劳利家照看小孩，这家人很好，几个月前刚搬到镇上来。特蕾丝很快就喜欢上了他们。弗劳利太太告诉她，在自己小时候，家里人就常去拜访住在康涅狄格州的朋友，因此她很喜欢那个地方，也想能在那儿居住。“去年当我们开始找房子时，开车碰巧经过了里奇菲尔德，我知道这就是我想要居住的地方，”她对特蕾丝说。
弗劳利一家买下了坎宁安家的旧农场住宅。今天是3月24号，星期四，是弗劳利家双胞胎女儿3岁的生日，所以特蕾丝被雇来为生日宴会帮忙。晚上当弗劳利夫妇去纽约参加一个正式晚宴时，她还要继续照看这对双胞胎。
当特蕾丝上楼，朝双胞胎的房间走去时，她想 ：生日晚会的兴奋劲儿过后，我发誓这两个孩子很快便会酣然入梦。屋里的旧地毯已经被弗劳利一家磨破，19世纪的楼梯在她的脚下吱吱作响。
快到楼梯顶层时，她站住了。走廊里的灯灭了，有可能保险丝又烧断了。这所旧房子里的电线已经严重老化。下午厨房的保险丝就已经烧断过一次。
双胞胎的卧室在走廊的尽头。现在屋里一点声响都没有。当特蕾丝在黑暗中小心翼翼地前行时，她猜测或许是其中的一个孩子在睡梦中呼喊。突然她停了下来，不是因为走廊的灯。她想：我把这两个孩子房间的门打开了，那么当她们醒来，我就可以听见。房间里的通宵灯本应是亮着的。可是现在门却是关着的。如果一分钟前门就关上了，我不应该能听到她们哭。
她突然很害怕，于是侧耳倾听。那是什么声音？她立刻高度警觉，并很快意识到 ：这是轻微的脚步声，还夹杂着同样轻微的喘息声和浓烈的汗臭味。她身后站着一个人！
特蕾丝想要尖叫，却只发出了一声呜咽。她想要跑，但腿却不听使唤。她感到有只手抓住了她的头发，向后用力拽着。她记得的最后一件事就是脖子被紧紧地勒住。
林菲璐 摘译自 Popular Novel