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41 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"Every month, another girl vanishes.", July 20, 2008
This review is from: Say Goodbye (Hardcover)
Lisa Gardner's "Say Goodbye" is a dark and unnerving tale of sadistic torture, child abuse, and murder. Shortly after the book opens, a tough-talking teenager named Ginny Jones gets in a car with a stranger. She quickly realizes her mistake when it becomes apparent that "this man was never, ever letting her go home." The villain is a deranged yet calculating individual who needs to be in control; he kidnaps boys and women and revels in the power that he has over them. He calls himself Dinchara (an acronym for arachnid), since he is obsessed with spiders. He owns a large collection of the eight-legged creatures, and tends to their every need with meticulous care. Gardner begins each chapter with a quotation that imparts more information about arachnids than most of us need to know.
The book's heroine is Kimberly Quincy, an FBI agent in the Atlanta Field Office. Kimberley, who is five months pregnant, is gorgeous, bright, and obsessed with her career. "She worked too hard, compartmentalized too little, and probably would have a nervous breakdown before the age of forty." Although she is happily anticipating the birth of her baby, she is also conflicted. How can she, in good conscience, risk her life and the welfare of her unborn child chasing down dangerous felons for a living? Still, she is reluctant to leave the profession that means so much to her. She and Michael McCormack, an agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, have been married for a year. They disagree on the issue of motherhood vs. career, and the resulting quarrel puts a strain on their relationship. Kimberly does not want history to repeat itself. Her father was an FBI agent "whose workaholic ways imploded his marriage."
Kimberly teams up with GBI Special Agent Salvadore Martignetti to find the aforementioned spider fancier who has allegedly committed a whole host of crimes and is still at large. As is common in novels of this type, the author includes italicized first person passages in which the perpetrator describes how and why he became a cold-blooded monster. Abuse begets abuse; it is a vicious circle that never seems to end. Fortunately, there are some merciful people in the world, such as Rita, a woman who is approaching her ninetieth birthday. For nearly twenty years, this formidable and courageous woman fostered nearly thirty homeless children and tried to set them on the right path. She plays a small but crucial role in the narrative.
Although her writing is not particularly elegant, Gardner ratchets up the suspense nicely. She keeps the plot moving at a fast pace and provides engrossing and carefully researched details about the functioning of Georgia's various law enforcement agencies. Except for the requisite twists and turns, however, the plot offers few surprises. The dialogue is stilted, the characters are generally one-dimensional, and the plot adheres closely to the standard serial killer formula. Be warned that there are quite a few disturbing scenes of graphic violence and brutality. This nightmarish novel is by no means a light beach read.
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"Every Goodbye Makes The Next Hello Closer", November 10, 2009
An arrested prostitute calls FBI Special Agent Kimberly Quincy claiming to have information for her. Deliah Rose tells her that a wealthy john is taking street prostitutes and lets his poisonous spiders crawl on them and engage in other dangerous activities. She states that her friend Ginny was with him and has vanished. Delilah has found Ginny's boyfrind's school ring, that Ginny always wore on a neckless around her neck. The ring was in the john's car. She wants Agent Quincy to stop him.
Kimberly's associate, Sal Martingnetti, informs her that he's also worried that someone is picking off hookers. Twice he has had the driver's licenses of three women placed on the windshield of his car. But, no bodies have been found so it's difficult to get his superiors to permit him to mount an investigation. Even though Kim is five months, pregnant, a time when most women might begin to take things easier, she decides to work with Sal to attempt to stop the person responsible for his crimes against the prostitutes.
One night,they follow Delilah down a street where they know that Ginny's boyfriend was shot. Then, Kim realizes that Delilah is really Ginny. Ginny admits it and tells them that she calls the john Dinchara, a play on the word arachnid, because of his fetish with spiders. When Dinchara first took her, she realized that he got a kick when someone showed fear so when she didn't scream when he put a black widow spider on her, Dinchara let her live. He does make her turn tricks and once per month, he meets her and gets a pay off.
Kim and Sal must find a way to stop Dinchara and get enough evidence to arrest him. Then they find that he has a teenage boy helping him and is also grooming a younger boy. Now their mission is to stop Dinchara and rescue the boys.
The author knows suspense and has provided a story that will keep her readers turning the pages with anticipation. The characters are well described and the antagonist was truly evil, not only doing terrible things to people but training young children to help in his crimes. This well done novel will keep Gardner's fans coming back for more.
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47 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Disturbing, July 29, 2008
This review is from: Say Goodbye (Hardcover)
I agree with another one of the reviews already posted...this book was a decent mystery/thriller but so disturbing with regards to child abuse that I could not enjoy it, nor would I ever recommend it. I was a fan of Gardner's but hated this book. I am still bothered by many of the scenes. If you have kids, skip this one, seriously.
*I am not giving this book a low rating because Gardner wrote such vivid abuse scenes (I agree that they were not gratuitous and she probably did want to raise the profile of child abuse for a greater good). I am giving "Say Goodbye" a low rating because those same vivid scenes made it impossible for me to enjoy or like this book.
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