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The Last Goodbye Hardcover – February 1, 2004

by Reed Arvin (Author)

3.7 64 ratings

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From the hot new suspense writer critics predict will have Grisham fans "switching their allegiance in midstream" comes a thrilling tale of love and murder set on the mean streets and in the sleek society haunts of Atlanta. . . .

Sleeping with a client's gorgeous girlfriend may have been the gutsiest move in Jack Hammond's formerly booming law career, but it wasn't the smartest. Booted from his elite law firm, Jack now scrapes by as a court-appointed attorney, his client list a revolving door of small-time drug offenders and petty thieves.

When his friend -- a computer whiz and former addict who'd brought his life back from the brink -- is found dead in his apartment with a syringe stuck in his arm, Jack knows something is very wrong.

Where the cops see just another overdose, Jack sees a murder. Investigating the case, he learns that his friend was obsessed with a beautiful singer -- who also happens to be half of the most popular power couple in Atlanta.

Talented and privileged, the spellbinding Michele Sonnieris nevertheless a deeply troubled woman, plagued by secrets. Against his better judgment -- and in a disturbing echo of his earlier fall from grace -- Jack is pulled further and further into her world, where he discovers more suspicious deaths, all pointing toward a mysterious cover-up.

A volatile tale of love, betrayal, and murder shot through with tenderness and poignant humanity, The Last Goodbye is a riveting thriller with a thunderously beating heart, a masterful page-turner that probes the meaning of love and the burdens of the past.

Print length

352 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Harper
Publication date

February 1, 2004
Dimensions

6 x 1.13 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

0060555513
ISBN-13

978-0060555511
See all details

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"As usual, the story begins with a woman crying." So says Atlanta lawyer Jack Hammond in this mesmerizing thriller about a good man caught in a web of bad love and murder. Beautiful client Violeta Ramirez is doing the crying on behalf of her dope-dealer boyfriend when Jack tumbles so hard for her his high-flying legal career is grounded and Violeta ends up dead. Two years later, Jack is working out of his one-man law office fishing for clients at the bottom of the criminal pool when he begins investigating the suspicious overdose death of his old college pal, Doug Townsend. With the help of a local hacker, Nightmare, Jack unlocks Doug's computer and stumbles into a quagmire involving the deaths of eight hepatitis C patients who were all enrolled in an experimental drug trial gone horribly wrong. Doug was also strangely obsessed with beautiful African-American opera singer Michele Sonnier, as is Jack after one look at her photos and a night at the opera. That her husband is the billionaire CEO of a local drug firm with its own hep C drug makes the liaison even more dangerous. After finding the disgraced researcher who headed the botched drug trial, Jack and his lowlife helpers begin to make real headway in solving the case. Even though melancholy, wisecracking Jack is a lawyer, this isn't a legal thriller so much as a knight-in-shining armor tale with the hero cast in the mold of the great Travis McGee. It's not Grisham that Arvin (The Will) should be compared to, but the incomparable John D. MacDonald. Those readers who value intelligence, fine writing and action will find it all in this outstanding novel.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Doug Townsend is just another overdose as far as the Atlanta cops are concerned. His friend and lawyer, Jack Hammond, doesn't share the cavalier attitude. His suspicions multiply when he learns that Doug's fatal dosage was delivered intravenously despite a lifelong needle phobia. Jack also learns Doug had an obsessive interest in Michele Sonnier, the hottest star in American opera and the trophy wife of Charles Ralston, founder of Horizn Pharmaceuticals. Jack contacts Sonnier and soon learns her well-hidden secret: Michele grew up in Atlanta's poorest, most notorious housing project and had an illegitimate child, whom she gave up for adoption while still a child herself. Doug was tracking down her daughter for her. Did Ralston's company, about to go public with a well-publicized cure for Parkinson's, get rid of Doug rather than allow him to drag the CEO through a scandal? Jack, himself a man with a regrettable past, enlists the aid of a Fagin's army of borderline miscreants to help Michele and, in the process, discover what Horizn is trying to hide. Arvin's first legal thriller, The Will (2000), generated excellent reviews. His second just might kick him to a whole new level, critically and commercially. He presents love, sex, money, power, and violence in an irresistibly melancholy noir package in which redemption is the motive but hell beckons at every turn. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

“Arvin’s writing is delightfully sardonic . . . you’ll be hooked.” (People)

“. . . breathlessly entertaining . . . as irresistible as a call from the grave for revenge.” (Kirkus Reviews)

“Arvin...combin[es] an array of supporting characters who colorfully illustrate the racial and economic divide of the new Atlanta...” (Entertainment Weekly)

“As the suspense comes to a boil, so do the hero’s feelings for his dead buddy’s troubled girlfriend.” (Us Weekly ("Hot Book Pick"))

“. . . smoldering . . . vigorous and jet-propelled . . . an exceptionally clever mystery.” (New York Times)

“A mesmerizing thriller ...readers who value intelligence, fine writing and action will find it all in this outstanding novel.” (Publishers Weekly)

“Love, sex, money, power, and violence in an irresistibly melancholy noir package.” (Booklist)

“On par with the early works of Grisham, this thriller is enlivened with sparkling dialogue and deft descriptions of place.” (Booklist on The Will)

“Compelling...[the] characters are …fully fleshed out and believable...The Will could be the beginning of an impressive career.” (Denver Post on The Will)

From the Back Cover

"The Last Goodbye is the best thing a thriller can be: suspenseful, intelligent and well-written. Reed Arvin is the real deal."
-Harlan Coben, author of No Second Chance

"I was moved by this gritty, romantic thriller. It's a heartbreaking love song to modern Atlanta its tragedies, its promises, its failure, its dreams. The Last Goodbye is magnolias and humidity, yet it's also crime and redemption. I've never met Reed Arvin, but I'd be proud to claim him as kin."
-Margaret Maron, author of Last Lessons of Summer

"A rare achievementReed Arvin has crafted a first-rate thriller that works both as an airplane read and as a serious novel. The Last Goodbye has depth, original characters and plot twists that truly surprise."
-Phillip Margolin, author of The Ties That Bind

About the Author

Reed Arvin grew up on a cattle ranch in rural Kansas. After a successful career as a music producer in Nashville, Arvin began writing full-time. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harper; 1st edition (February 1, 2004)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0060555513
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0060555511
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.3 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.13 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #4,024,661 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #46,021 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction

Customer Reviews:
3.7 64 ratings

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Customer reviews

64 global ratings

How customer reviews and ratings work

Customers say

Customers find the plot engaging with unexpected twists and turns. They praise the writing quality as well-written and edited. Readers appreciate the believable and likable characters.

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Twists Writing quality Character development

5 customers mention "Twists"5 positive0 negative

Customers find the plot twisty and unpredictable. They appreciate the author's depth as the story develops and find the characters interesting. Overall, they describe the book as an engaging detective story that keeps them hooked until the end.

"...It is excellent; great plot, keeps your attention, I swear I couldn't put it down even at the pool...." Read more

"...This is a pretty good detective story that will keep you glued to the pages as the plot slowly unfolds...." Read more

"Several twists to the story line. Non predictable. Surprising chain of events at times...." Read more

"This author kept adding depth as the story developed. I was interested in all the characters. None were two - dimensional...." Read more

5 customers mention "Writing quality"5 positive0 negative

Customers find the book well-written and edited. They appreciate the lack of lovemaking details and find the romance component beautifully written.

"...Reed Arvin is such an excellent author, I'll be watching for new books from him as well we looking to see what's out there that he has already..." Read more

"...Book is well written and well edited.......an enjoyable read.3 ½ stars" Read more

"...The romance component was beautifully written in such a way to allow the reader to drift away, so to speak, and understand the tragedy of deep,..." Read more

"This was a great read. The characters are well developed. The plot has twists and turns and an unexpected ending...." Read more

3 customers mention "Character development"3 positive0 negative

Customers find the characters believable and likeable.

"...The principle characters are well developed, believable and likable (or hateable), whatever the case may be...." Read more

"...I was interested in all the characters. None were two - dimensional. Unexpected twists kept me turning the pages. I thoroughly enjoyed the book" Read more

"This was a great read. The characters are well developed. The plot has twists and turns and an unexpected ending...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

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William J.

AWESOME PLOT

Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2020

Verified Purchase

If you are having trouble settling down with a good book, invest in Mr. Arvin's THE LAST GOODBYE! It is excellent; great plot, keeps your attention, I swear I couldn't put it down even at the pool. It was a great distraction in the difficult times we are experiencing in today's world. Reed Arvin is such an excellent author, I'll be watching for new books from him as well we looking to see what's out there that he has already written. Man, he is AWESOME! Thank you so much for the book, Mr. Arvin!

One person found this helpful

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wooster

Good Detective Novel

Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2015

Verified Purchase

Once a rising star in the legal world, a fallen and broken Atlanta attorney is slowly drawn into a world of white collar corporate espionage and murder when his college buddy is found dead from an unlikely drug overdose.

This is a pretty good detective story that will keep you glued to the pages as the plot slowly unfolds. The principle characters are well developed, believable and likable (or hateable), whatever the case may be. The setting (Atlanta) is described in such a way that you can clearly envision the different scenerios that are depicted.

Book is well written and well edited.......an enjoyable read.

3 ½ stars

One person found this helpful

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Gary Griffiths

Just Say 'Goodbye'

Reviewed in the United States on March 21, 2004

Verified Purchase

Given the great reviews of "The Last Goodbye", which include the coronation of Reed Arvin as the next Grisham, this was a book I was really anxious to read - a novel I really wanted to like. Unfortunately, I was disappointed - Arvin offers little in this muddled tale that can be recommended.
Set in Atlanta, it is the story of Jack Hammond, a once-promising young attorney down on his luck after sleeping with the wrong woman. Now, as an independent defense attorney, Hammond is barely getting by living on the cases of those who can only afford a court-appointed public defender. Hammond is drawn into the apparent but suspicious drug-induced suicide of a former best friend and computer whiz, Doug Townsend. Hammond learns that the nerdy and destitute Townsend was infatuated, and perhaps even romantically involved, with Michelle Sonnier, a breath-takingly beautiful and wildly successful diva of the Atlanta opera. But Michelle has a past, and she is also the wife of a hugely popular and ultra-rich CEO of Horizn. Horizn, an Atlanta pharmaceutical upstart, is in the closing days of a much anticipated IPO. Predictably, Hammond finds himself drawn to the magnetic charm and beauty of Sonnier, and in the process manages to attract the attention of a number of unsavory characters from the Atlanta drug trade and the stereotypically-evil corporate America, in this case Horizn.
The plot, while implausible, is no more so than much of today's popular fiction. For sure a more talented author could have pulled it off with the same material. But Arvin's dialog is silly, and while the pace drags interminably for long stretches, it is not time effectively used to inspire any empathy for the characters from the reader. For those who appreciate technical accuracy in their reading, Arvin's knowledge of IPO's and the public market was abysmal ("Horizn is going public today. We're going to buy it as high as we can, and sell it short.") But among the many flaws of Arvin's "Last Goodbye", most prevalent is the breadth and incongruity of issues and messages that continously assault the reader. That is, rather than simply concentrating on thriller for entertainment value, Arvin clutters the story with unnecessary and clichéd sermons regarding race, corporate excess, honor, and virtue. Neither the story nor the thinly developed characters provide the substance to support such weighty issues and, by the end, the story collapses in one of the most maudlin and melodramatically silly endings since James Paterson's abominable "1st to Die".
Trust me, this is no "DaVinci Code", nor is it remotely on par with Grisham's vintage thrillers. Save your time and money and just say "Goodbye" to Reed Arvin.

7 people found this helpful

Helpful

Robert Beveridge

A thriller!

Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2004

Reed Arvin, The Last Goodbye (Harper, 2004)
Before you read the rest of this review, do yourself a favor. Go to Amazon (if you're not reading it there) and put this book on pre-order. Then come back and finish.
Done? Okay.
The Last Goodbye is Reed Arvin's second novel, so I can't call it the most stunning debut I've read in the last two years (and I've read a bunch of them). And, to be fair, it does have a few minor faults here and there. But it's still better than most any thriller you've read in the last twelve months.
The story of Jack Hammond is so full of plot twists and turns that even explaining the first twenty pages would cause spoileritis (in other words, don't read any reviews but this one, or you'll lose the effect of the end of chapter one). Suffice to say that Jack Hammond is a lawyer whose buddy ends up dead. He wants to find out why. "Why" involves an internationally famous opera singer, a clinical trial of a new hepatitis-C drug, one of the most powerful lawyers in Atlanta, the main drug runner in Atlanta's biggest section of projects, computer hackers, and a whole cast of various freaks, outcasts, degenerates, and other generally fun human beings.
What kept going through my mind as I was reading this was that this was the return of the hard-boiled detective novel. Let's face it, the hard-boiled detective has gotten kind of, well, cuddly over the last thirty years. And as wonderful as Spenser is, we have to blame him for this. I mean, the guy cooks shrimp scampi in his spare time, when he's not getting beaten by thugs. Jack Hammond is no Spenser. He has more in common with Mike Hammer (and while that may not sound like a compliment, it is). The shysters talk fast, the dames are beautiful, the mugs get beat, the bullets fly, the mystery is solved only to find two more mysteries beneath. But layered over all that is the one thing it's impossible to write a book about Atlanta in the twenty-first century without addressing: race. So in actuality, The Last Goodbye is what might have happened if the new, improved hardboiled detective had taken a left at Robert Parker instead of a right.
The conclusion is obvious. And while two novels into a career is not a time to stand up and proclaim Reed Arvin as the next Robert Parker, or even the next Spillane, he's got the goods, he's got the mindset, he's got the potential. Read this book. ****

Helpful

Angie McCracken

Very well written!

Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2015

Verified Purchase

Several twists to the story line. Non predictable. Surprising chain of events at times. The story had many desired elements in a suspense type of novel including a poetically written romance undertone. The romance component was beautifully written in such a way to allow the reader to drift away, so to speak, and understand the tragedy of deep, profound love, doomed from the start. I appreciated the lack of lovemaking details. Tastefully well written. I would recommend this book to romance readers as well as those of us that are thriller seekers.

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