Customer Reviews

Kiss Her Goodbye (Hard Case Crime)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

For Joe Hope, life in Edinburgh, Scotland isn't easy. He does not particularly like violence but inflicting violence and pain on others is his life's work. Well known for his ability to wield a baseball bat with great effectiveness, Joe Hope does his work on behalf of Cooper. When folks can't or won't pay back the money they owe, Cooper, who has been his friend and employer for years, has Joe help with the payment process. They will pay up-one way or the other.

In fact, the day Joe found out his only daughter, Gemma, was dead he was at Cooper's having just finished a session with a debtor. It was bad enough that Gemma apparently killed herself by overdosing on pills. What made it worse was the fact that Joe had trusted Adam Wright, a distant cousin as well as owner of some sort of writing colony near Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands to keep her safe. He failed and failed miserably. His daughter wanted to be a poet and now she was dead. Joe's wife, Ruth, had said all along this was bad idea and she had reason to hate Adam's guts. Now, she blames Joe in a series of violent heated arguments and Joe blames Adam. Now that she has died, Joe intends to follow through on his promise to Adam as Adam has a lot to answer for.

Before he can get to Adam, he is arrested for murder. Not in the death of his daughter, but for the murder of his wife. There is no doubt it was murder since she was found in the trunk of Joe's car at the airport and her body had clearly been beaten repeatedly with a baseball bat. As evidence against him mounts and Joe, with some help goes on the run, he must find a way not only to clear his name but to also bring justice to those who framed him so well.

This is a violent, intense story that spins a dark tale from the very first page. Violence is heavy theme, almost to the point of being a major character throughout the work. With very page, violence lashes out or sits coiled and ready to strike as Joe lives a nightmare. A nightmare that is skillfully depicted, as Joe seems to inch steadily closer to losing his mind, as he is overwhelmed with pain and rage. His suffering comes through in stark and vivid detail as the work steadily and engrossingly moves forward exploring the thin veneer of civility that covers us all. This intense well written mystery featuring a wide and deep cast of characters and a complex situation is a worthy offering in the noir field and well worth your time.


Book Facts:

Kiss Her Goodbye
By Allan Guthrie
Hard Case Crime
Published by Dorchester Publishing Co, Inc.
www.hardcasecrime.com
2005
ISBN # 0-8439-5355-1
ARC-Scheduled Publication 03/07/05

This entire review previously appeared online at The Readersroom.

Kevin R. Tipple © 2005

I had always thought of noir fiction as being a purely American thing, inspired as it was by mid- and post-war disillusionment and the consequences thereafter. However, crime happens everywhere and, if nothing else, Trainspotting proved that the Scots can get just as nuts as Americans -- not that that's necessarily a good thing. Part of a recent trend so widespread it has its own name ("tartan noir"), Kiss Her Goodbye by Allan Guthrie is a portrait of the other side of the ocean, and shows just how similar the responses of humans are given specific circumstances.

Joe Hope is an enforcer (not unlike Nolan in Two for the Money); his friend Cooper loans people money and, if it is not collected, brings Joe with him -- and Joe's baseball bat, an odd accessory for Edinburgh -- to offer some incentive in the form of broken bones. (If more motivation is needed, hitman Park is at the ready.)

When word is received of the suicide of his daughter, Gemma, Joe immediately flies to visit her cousin Adam in Orkney, with whom she was staying, to deliver his particular brand of blame. Instead, he is greeted by the local police, there to arrest him for the murder of his own wife, Ruth (the evidence is circumstantial but damning).

Caught in a presumably impossible situation, and still in the process of grieving his losses, Joe then conspires -- along with his lawyer and hooker girlfriend, Tina -- to discover what really happened, and why someone would want to frame him. Meanwhile, Adam isn't being very helpful because he has Gemma's diary, which contains information that could ruin everything.

Guthrie (Two-Way Split) is a fiend with his pen, and he's not just "taking the piss," either (to quote his main character). Not content to follow a formulaic narrative flow, he keeps the suspense up throughout Kiss Her Goodbye, leaving the important answers for the final ten pages. And he doesn't waste time on closure: after a literal head-cracker of an ending and two pages of wrap-up, it's over.

Considering how Guthrie keeps us guessing throughout Kiss Her Goodbye, his ending isn't as inventive as it could have been; it's just a little too pat after the intensity and imagination of what came before. To be fair, though, it does arise organically from the characters' expected behaviors and, after being sent through the wringer for 200 pages, an easy ending is a bit of a relief.

Joe Hope is a fascinating character with some intriguing flaws (including one I never would have expected, although I suspect Freud would have a field day with it); in fact, all of the characters are fully realized -- except perhaps Ruth, but she is really more of a plot catalyst than a necessary character. Kiss Her Goodbye is a welcome addition to the Hard Case Crime canon -- and comes with another terrific cover from Chuck Pyle (Grifter's Game). It's got enough violence and pathos to satisfy even the most jaded crime reader, and it offers solid insight into the realization that everybody is crazy, no matter where you live.

Joe Hope, enforcer for Edinburgh money lender Cooper (no first name), prides himself on never having taken a life. With a baseball bat as his weapon of choice, he walks a fine line between inflicting pain and meting out death. Now, in close but seemingly unrelated incidents, Joe has lost two people in his life and finds himself the only suspect in a murder investigation. There to help discover the truth behind the murder (and who is trying to frame Joe) is his long-time "friend", Tina (a prostitute by trade), Ronald Brewer, a young, baby-faced lawyer, and Adam Wright, a relative of his wife and friend to his daughter. On the other side of the fence is DS Monkman, one of Orkney's finest.

Heavy on both characterization and plot, this second book by Allan Guthrie (Two-Way Split) is not for the squeamish. The subject matter is dark, with intense violence and gutter language. The climax, with a twist in the last few pages, however, makes this an outstanding read!

Joe Hope is an enforcer for a loan shark in Edinburgh Scotland who finds out his daughter Gemma has committed suicide on the isle of Orkney. His immediate concern is to take out his anger on his wife's cousin who was supposed to be looking out for Gemma. But first he gets drunk and spends the night sleeping it off at his friend and employer's home. The next day he takes off for Orkney where he is promptly arrested for the murder of his wife. Turns out her body was found in the boot of his car, beaten to death with Joe's baseball bat. Joe's lawyer eventualy gets him released and he goes about unravelling the mystery of who is framing him for the murder and why his daughter killed herself.

This isn't a badly written book although it is unabashedly violent and the language is beyond salty. It isn't however that much of a mystery. You will figure out who is behind the murder fairly quickly. Then Joe himself reveals it with still about 80 or 90 pages to go. It is also hard to root for the main character of Joe Hope because there is nothing likable about him. There really isn't anything likable about any of the characters and their attitudes become overbearing after awhile. The thing that struck me the oddest is that for as hard and nasty of a story as "Kiss her Goodbye" was, the ending wraps everything up like a package with a big bow. It just didn't seem to fit the style of the book.

You know you're supposed to feel something at some point but nothing really breaks the skin. The charecters are soulless and pretty boring even when compared solely to the other books in the series. The plot is by the numbers and predictable at every turn.

When one reads a mystery novel you want to have to pay attention for every clue, every charecter shading, and yet hope to be surprised at the end despite your efforts. No such energy need be expended with this novel. You'd have to be reading the book in a different language to be surprised by anything that happens here. The set-ups are childish and can be seen a mile away.

If you have to buy this to complete your set of Hard Case Crime, be my guest. I did. Everyone else, take a few steps back and try "Fade to Blonde" or "Marked Woman".

The Good Stuff:

When reading this book, you are immersed in the main character's world. The description and dialogue are top notch.

The story is told in concise prose and every page and scene contribute to the plot.

The plot was nicely planned out and fed to the reader just as Joe discovers it. Great pacing!

The sprinkling of Scottish terms and colloquialisms were just enough to be realistic without overburdening the reader with trying to figure out a new language.

The Bad Stuff:

Joe, the main character, could have been explained a little better. We are handed an obviously very intelligent man who has 'been to University' and while it is explained that he got into the 'collection business' because of money, that doesn't really fully explain why he had such a propensity for violence. Many people need money, but they aren't necessarily willing to beat other people with baseball bats to get it.

I have never enjoyed books where the bad guy wants to kill everyone, but first wants to explain and brag about what he did, in detail, to his own detriment.

The ending tied everything up nicely. I don't think the police are quite so forgiving. I can't explain more due to spoilers.

The Kindle formatting was a little off with line breaks in odd places. It threw me off a couple of times, but it did not spoil my enjoyment of the novel.

Overall:

An interesting immersion into Scottish culture. A well-written mystery.

Length: Full Novel

Rating: R for violence, language, and sexual references.

Noir is back. The new line of crime novels published by Hard Case Crime, a partnership between Charles Ardai, Max Phillips and Dorchester Publishing, has brought the 1950s style paperback original, complete with alluring, colorful cover art and stark, dark stories of the noir era back into the mainstream. Hard Case has published eight novels to date, four original, and four classic noir reprints.

The latest original novel, KISS HER GOODBYE, arrived in bookstores in early March. It is written by Scottish writer Allan Guthrie. It is Guthrie's second published novel--the first was TWO-WAY SPLIT--and you will not be disappointed. If you like your action swift, your violence fast, your women tough and your men hard, you will love KISS HER GOODBYE. It is pure noir. The description is short and blunt. The dialogue is crisp and the characters are, to put it simply, anything but heroic.

This gritty thriller is the story of Joe Hope. He is a collector for an Edinburgh loan shark named Cooper-Cooper also made a brief appearance in Guthrie's debut novel. Hope is a rudderless man who lives for nothing more than the thrill of collecting and a night spent at the pub, but all that changes in a flash when his daughter kills herself and his wife is murdered. It's an understatement to say Joe is angry, but he also finds himself as the prime suspect for the murder of his wife. He goes on the run to solve the puzzle; he has to figure out who he can trust, why his wife was killed, who set him up, and then how to get payback.

The prose is written with a rapid fire pace that keeps the story cruising along. It is quick, concise and brutal:

"Bile rose in his throat. He stood up and spewed all over the carpet. He doubled up. Folded to his knees. Puked once more. His guts hurt. His damaged ribs were throbbing again."

The sentences are short. The storyline is well constructed and executed with the precision of a craftsman. This is the new noir: tough, hard and fast as a bullet. The pace is unrelenting and the plotting strong.

KISS HER GOODBYE is not for the squeamish. The language is coarse. The story is violent. The characters are difficult to like, but it is a masterpiece of noir. It is dark, dreary and real. This one is better than Guthrie's first, and I'm betting his next will be better still.

-Gravetapping

Let's get this out of the way first: if Hard Case Crime publishes it, I'll read it. Period. In fact, I have used it to learn about new authors and get reacquainted with older writers long out of print or lacking the respect of modern critics. Ken Bruen is a name I first learned because of HCC. Richard Aleas is another. Add to that list Allan Guthrie.

As I mentioned in my post about crime novels, I'm a late comer to the crime genre in fiction. I'm ever expanding my list of Must-Read authors. Allan Guthrie just landed himself on that list. And it was because of Kiss Her Goodbye.

Kiss Her Goodbye is Guthrie's second novel after Two-Way Split. One of the best things about HCC is the cover blurbs. I'm not talking about "From the author of Touch of Evil;" I'm talking about those one-liners that grab you by the shirt collar and scream for you to read it. For KHG, it's this: "For what she went through, somebody had to pay..." On the cover is a typical HCC girl--pretty, daring, wearing an expression to make a priest blush--with a baseball bat. I'm there, brother. Bring it on. Granted, as the story goes on, I did begin to wonder who the `she' actually was because there are multiple candidates. And that's part of the beauty of the story.

The main focus of the story is about Joe Hope, the muscle for a loan shark in Scotland. His daughter committed suicide and the cops think he killed his wife. His love for his daughter is palpable and struck me, a parent, right in the gut. It brought me along on a story of a guy who'd I'd cross the street to avoid.

The writing is tight but dense. Guthrie gives Joe good chunks of internal struggle. It is this internal struggle that carries us through half the book, as Joe spends most of the first half wandering in a daze or inside a police station. I'll admit that there are times, when reading a book, where I skim over the longer paragraphs to get to the next bit of dialogue. No so KHG. I dug deep and felt Joe's pain.

In one of the blurbs on the KHG page at HCC, a reviewer mentions Guthrie's `mastery of casual violence' and I didn't know what that meant. KHG is a modern noir book. I expected violence and I got it. But I now know what `casual violence' is. Almost like reading a grocery list, violence just happens. There's no big lead-up, there's little warning, it just is. I guess that's what it's like in real life. I like it. I'll try to incorporate it into my fiction.

One last thing: it's a rare book whose last sentence delivers a punch. Branded Woman is one. The Day After Tomorrow is a fantastic example. Kiss Her Goodbye delivers one, too, but it's a more nuanced punch. Don't get me wrong: it still smacks you but in a good way. Try it. You'll like the feeling.

Now, you'll have to excuse me. I have to go find me some more Allan Guthrie books. [...]

Given the protagonist's sorry state of affairs, Joe's last name, Hope, boggles the mind, the man embroiled in a grim predicament, accused of a brutal murder soon after the suicide of his nineteen-year-old daughter, Gemma. An Edinburgh man, Joe is no slacker, a tough guy who makes his living as an enforcer in the criminal underbelly of the city, his companion, Cooper, partial to violence when making a point. Hard-living and hard-drinking, Joe frequently accompanies his mate when it is necessary to convince an errant customer to pay his debts. Long-immersed in a lifestyle that favors as little contact with the law as possible, Joe's world is rough, dangerous and frequently violent, a baseball bat his tool of the trade. Indeed, it is the baseball bat that indicts Joe in the murder of his wife, Ruth, baseball not being a big sport in Edinburgh.

In a drunken haze after learning of Gemma's suicide, Joe barely has time to react to the news when he is summarily arrested for the brutal bludgeoning his wife. Granted husband and wife have been picking the marriage apart for years, no love lost between them anymore, but Joe can't recall a row serious enough for him to have reacted that violently. Instead, he has been focused on what happened to Gemma, traveling to Orkney to see Ruth's cousin, Adam Wright, who runs a writer's retreat where Gemma was staying when she ended her short existence on the earth. Trussed up by the so-called evidence that marks him as a murderer, it takes Joe a while, due to his hard-headed nature, to even begin to figure out who could be framing him and why. His alibi for the night of the murder is shot, the deadly baseball bat belongs to him and there is no one to support his own description of the facts.

Guthrie fashions his tough-guy-hit-by-tragedy tale from the criminal element in Edinburgh, perfectly capturing the downtrodden losers, the soulless, directionless lives of men who have little to celebrate save the occasional rousing drunk and whatever random violence attends the moment. As unsavory as most of his fellow travelers, Joe's world is filled with the harsh realities of people scrambling for an edge, as assortment of bullies and miscreants; but underneath his bravado, Joe has a heart, although he expends a great deal of energy avoiding his feelings. Inevitably, those feelings translate into action, the currency of his trade. In the end, it's no wonder that bullets fly, bats swing wildly and damaged bodies scramble for cover. Imbuing this underground life with menace, Guthrie recreates the dark side of Edinburgh, bristling with con artists, gangsters and opportunists acting out their personal dramas on the seedy streets, where every action has a consequence and the powerless bow to threat. Redeemed, Joe resurfaces, reeling from a betrayal even he didn't see coming, the world just as bleak as before. Luan Gaines/2007.

If you can get thru the first half-dozen chapters (or so) of the author calling every other character and/or street character the same name (starts with T, has a W, and ends with T) then you'll be pleasantly surprised with the double murder mystery that develops over the course of the rest of KISS HER GOODBYE, a double-dose of tough love for the main character, a small-town Scottish mob enforcer ironically named Joe Hope.

The lowdown: after spending a night away from his estranged wife, Hope is given the news that his daughter has committed suicide. He believes Adam -- her cousin -- failed to watch out for the young girl, but before Hope can arrange a formal sitdown with the man he's caught by the police and charged with the murder of his own wife! Hope must stay one step ahead of his lawyer, his (somewhat) love interest, and the police if he's going to save his skin and hold those responsible for these two crimes.

Allan Guthrie holds up his reputation for noir thrillers here, delivering a wealth of characters the average reader probably will hold suspect until the very last few pages, but there's little more to get excited about. The mystery unfolds rather predictably, but KISS HER GOODBYE is a quick, guilty-pleasure-read like much of the HARD CASE imprint. It's one of the stronger early entries in the line, and, on those merits alone, it deserves to be read.