Before I Say Good-Bye: A Novel (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "NELL SET OFF at a brisk pace on her familiar walk from her apartment on Park Avenue and Seventy-third Street to her grandfather's office on..." (more)
Key Phrases: soup kitchen card, navy jacket, landmark status, Adam Cauliff, New York, Bonnie Wilson (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Mary Higgins Clark's 22nd romantic thriller is destined for bestsellerdom on the strength of her reputation alone. Which is not to say that Before I Say Good-Bye doesn't have a bit of all the ingredients of the Clark genre: a little mystery, a likable heroine, and even a nice guy who turns up midway through the novel and promises her romance and a second chance at happiness. But while the set-up is promising and the bare essentials of a compelling read are all here, only readers who are already Higgins fans will be kept completely spellbound.

Nell MacDermott is the politically ambitious granddaughter of a canny politician in Manhattan's silk stocking district, and her grandfather wants her to run for his old congressional seat. But there are rumors that Adam Cauliff, Nell's husband, has been involved in a real estate and construction scam, and until Nell gets to the bottom of this her political future will be clouded. When Adam and his assistant are killed in an explosion aboard his boat, Nell is determined to clear his name. Nudged into action by her nascent psychic powers and a medium who may be her only link to Adam, Nell learns more about her husband's mysterious past than she bargained for and--naturally--stumbles onto a conspiracy that puts her own life in danger. The narrative seems more like an outline for a novel than a novel itself; the characters are sketched rather than fully explored--particularly Nell, whose back story doesn't provide enough information to make her actions understandable. But the pacing is expert, and Clark's dedicated fans will doubtless forgive her for not making this her strongest outing. --Jane Adams

From Publishers Weekly

Romantic suspense has no more reliable champion than Clark, despite the relative weakness of her writing. For 25 years, through 22 novels (counting this one), she has delivered respectable entertainment to her legions of fans, who haven't dwindled in number. This novel, too, gives them what they want--a damsel in distress aided by a dashing knight; and Clark adds a little zest to the formula by weaving psychic phenomena, including messages from the dead, throughout. The damsel is columnist Nell McDermot, granddaughter of legendary Manhattan congressman Cornelius McDermott and about to run for office herself. Nell's plans are put on hold when the ship on which her husband, Adam, an architect, is attending a business meeting is blown to pieces. Evidence surfaces that Adam may have been involved in shady deals; meanwhile, the cops investigate the explosion, with suspicion falling on a petty hood looking for vengeance for one of those deals; a new man--stalwart physician Dan Minor--enters Nell's life, as does a psychic who claims to be channeling Nell's dead husband; and a predatory real-estate developer circles Nell and property she's inherited from Adam. For much of the novel, the danger is more implied than actual, like dark clouds amassing in the sky, and often manifests itself psychically as Nell sees black auras envelop people or feels terribly afraid. The novel's finale, however, which unmasks some unexpected villains, pulls out the stops in melodramatic fashion. Clark's characters aren't deep--after donating old clothes to charity, two of them, "feeling virtuous for having done a good deed had lunch at a new Thai restaurant on Second and Eighty-first"--but they're breezy fun, and so is this confection of a book. 1.1 million first printing; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club Main Selection; simultaneous S&S Audio; 7-city author tour. (Apr.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 274 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; Bk. Club Ed. edition (April 18, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684835983
• ISBN-13: 978-0684835983
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (136 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,304,411 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An exciting 'Page-Turner'!, May 2, 2000

By	[e-mail] (Bayside, Queens) - See all my reviews

I thoroughly enjoyed Mary Higgins Clark's latest thriller "Before I Say Goodbye" -- An Exciting and suspenseful 'page-turner' that kept me guessing 'who-done-it' til the very end.Nell McDermott is a distraught young woman whose husband Adam is killed along with 4 others in a boat explosion. Nell is doubly upset because she and Adam had a big fight before he left for the boat trip over her decision to run for a Congressional seat once held by her grandfather. It soon becomes apparent that the explosion was no accident but a planned murder. As Nell begins to discover that her husband was involved in illegal real estate deals and bid-rigging the story becomes increasingly intriguing and suspenseful.Many interesting and well-defined supporting characters add to the mystery and Mary Higgins Clark, in her own wonderful stye, has weaved them all into another winner!

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Holds the readers interest, although the plot is shaky., May 14, 2000

By	E. Bukowsky "booklover10" (NY United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Mary Higgins Clark is a smart writer. She knows her strengths and she sticks to the type of writing that she does well. Clark's latest novel, "Before I Say Goodbye," is the story of Nell MacDermott, a newspaper columnist who wants to run for her grandfather's former Congressional seat. She has been married for three years to Adam Cauliff. Adam is an architect who has been acting secretively of late. He is vehemently opposed to Nell's idea of running for office, and this is a source of friction in their marriage. Suddenly, a terrible accident occurs on Adam's cabin cruiser, and Nell's entire world is turned upside down. The man whom she loved is suddenly a stranger to her, and Nell must come to terms with some harsh truths about her husband's secret life. Clark's plot is intricate, with many characters woven in to the narrative. One problem with the book is the large number of coincidences that tie all the characters and plot elements together. Too many unbelievable things happen to bring the story to a "logical" conclusion. To her credit, Clark avoids writing gloppy romantic scenes, and she limits the melodrama to the very end of the novel. "Before I Say Goodbye" is good escapist fiction, a genre at which Mary Higgins Clark excels.

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Page-turning, April 20, 2000

By A Customer

BEFORE I SAY GOOD-BYE includes a lot (romance, corruption, envy, politics) and makes full use off all of them. It's a fabulous who-done-it. The best suspense thriller since Michael Crichton's TIMELINE and Craig Furrnas' THE SHAPE. And I think it's a treat that this novel is longer than a lot of Clark's novels. More words to savor!