Rating: 
Summary: Okay. 3.5
Review: On the morning of Friday June 9th, Nell McDermott and her architect husband Adam Cauliff part on bad terms after an argument about her burgeoning political career. However, soon Nell will come to regret the tone of this parting, as later that day Adam's boat will explode, with he and three others on board. Soon, it will emerge that the explosion was caused by a bomb, and Nell, over the coming days, will find herself in the thick of a construction scandal threatening to blow sky-high. But who wanted who dead? Was Adam the target, or one o the others? And why? And did all the others really die, or did one manage to escape in time? Wracked with guilt, Nell attempts to unravel the threads of Adam's life and quickly discovers a great deal about him that she never knew, and wishes she never discovered. She becomes even more disturbed when, after encouragement form her aunt, she goes to visit a medium in an attempt to gain some closure, and the medium seems shockingly insightful... Mary Higgins Clark is okay. And that's really the extent of my opinion on the subject. This book, like the others of hers that I have read (all two of 'em) is a decent enough read to take you away or a day or so. Her plotting is good (if sometimes pushing against the boundaries of reason) and her pacing is excellent. The books move quickly, with short chapters, form scene to telling scene in a way that is well structured and thought out. There are twists throughout, and a nice level of suspense right up to the tense climax. The writing style is also good, with well-written, easy to digest prose, but it never reaches very deeply, remaining mostly floating on the surface of the plot. The same is true o her character development. The lead character (the obligatory strong female) is well characterised - even if I can't really envision her in a real life situation - but the development of subsidiary characters isn't all that great, and most of them are amorphous. The occasional psychological insight she gives isn't really enough to build characters on, and nor is simply showing us how they interact with other characters around them. As a result, they're quite shallow and very samey, and we really need to see inside their heads a little more. But, yes, I enjoyed reading it. It passed the time of day, the plot was exciting, the surprises adequately thrilling, and it was quite worth the read. And do you know why? Because Mary Higgins Clark is okay.
Rating: 
Summary: Mary pulls off yet another page turner
Review: Okay, I think that by now, all of us Mary Higgens Clark fans got the whole thing down by now: Some lady is pulled into some murder mystery usually involving some political or upperclass thing, nearly gets herself killed, falls in love, while at the same time being around a whole bunch of people which you can cross off the list one by one as they develop reasons for murdering someone. Still, she always gets them original, and doesn't dish off a whole bunch of cloned books. That's why I love her. Again, we're not disappointed. In "Before I Say Goodbye" wannabe congresswoman Nell goes through the loss of her husband when the boat he was on with several associates suddenly explodes. The thing is, Adam (her husband) may have been involved with an architectural scandel, leaving way for anyone to have a motive to kill him. To learn more, Nell seeks the aid of psycics. To my surprise, the book did not totally dive into the psycic thing, only putting it a healthy dose that we could all deal with. The story is very exciting, especially with the two side stories that eventually weave their way into the main plot. The story is not exceptionally good, but is still quite excellent, and Mary definitly gets points for originality, even though it does follow the same rules. But again, that's why I love her books. So if you're a Clark fan, read this!
Rating:
Summary: A story of trust and love mis-placed
Review: This was a great read. I enjoyed it throughly. Ms. Clark developes wonderful characters, and she uses them to masterfully keep you guessing to the end. Like most of Ms. Clark's novels this story has a surprise ending that won't dissapoint. After reading this book I felt as is I was looking for something more in the end, and it would be easy enough to spin a sequel from the open ending. That just isn't Ms. Clark's style however. Even with an ending that I felt left too many loose ends, I didn't come away from this read with any true dissapointment. I would definitely recommend this novel to any reader looking for suspense.
Rating:
Summary: Slow paced but interesting.
Review: This is the kind of book that one reads just to read something not too boring. It does have a bit of suspense, which makes you keep going back to it, but if you put it down and forgot about it, you wouldn't be missing a lot. Nell is our main character, the granddaughter raised by a highly political grandfather, with political aspirations of her own that are being suppressed by her husband, Adam. Adam is much too vague a figure, and when Mary Higgins Clark gets into the psychic-reaching-the-dead portion of the story, it flops. Still, the book was interesting enough that I did finish it, and some of the characters are clever and enticing. The story itself is pretty clever, although the land deals will have you scratching your head trying to figure it all out. A good read, but I wouldn't rush right out and buy it. Mary Higgins Clark has done much better.
Rating: 
Summary: Can't believe my ears
Review: I have been reading all sorts of reviews about mary higgins clarks books and I can't believe my ears. I have loved absolutely everyone of her books and for people to say that it was a good plot but a horrible story is absurd! I would definitly have to recommend a head examine for all of those who think so. For the newest mary fans I would really like to say I hope you enjoy them as much as i do and that i have a couple of book of hers that I would highly like to recommend... While my Pretty One Sleeps, Silent Night, Moonlight Becomes You and Pretend you don't see her!
Rating:
Summary: Not her best
Review: I was disappointed in this book. I have read every story by Mary Higgins Clark, and eventually became distracted by this one. I also noticed where she got her character's names mixed up and that bummed me out. I ended up skimming through the last third of the book. I will continue to read her stories, but I was greatly disappointed in this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Plot Lacks Warmth, Characters Lack Personalities
Review: Before I Say Goodbye is a rather tepid, slow novel that never caught my interest. The main character Nell was much like the plot. They both lacked real direction or warmth. From the first page I thought that Nell was a bland character. The novel starts by Nell complaining that she is only 'attractive' rather than beautiful or sexy. This sort of character always gets on my nerves as this kind of complaining is ridiculously unnecessary and petty. The novel is fairly slow and the suspense never 'got to me' like it used to with Mary Higgins Clark books in the past such as Stillwatch. Nell reminisced a lot about her past marriage and her dead husband but I didn't think any of this sounded particularly heart felt, instead it came across as boring and only added in out of necessity. Eventually I thumbed to the end and read a fairly good twist in the plot although by then I was past caring about the assortment of characters. Overall Before I Say Goodbye was fairly tiresome and I could not finish it without skimming vast chunks. In the future I won't be snapping up any MHC books as I don't really like the characters that much anymore and the dialogue always seems strained and slow. The women MHC writes about could all be interchanged from book to book without anyone noticing. In terms of physical characteristics they are mostly tall and athletic and MHC seems to have a thing about making the male characters describe them as 'classy' constantly. The problem seems to be that the characterisations never go very deep and so it's hard to fully understand or sympathise with the female lead character, which is a real shame. JoAnne
Rating:
Summary: Before I Say Good-Bye
Review: Although this is not MHC's best work, this book is worth the read. Nell MacDermott is toying with the idea of running for office. Nell has doubts, and her husband's alleged scam is a definite negative obstacle. When he becomes a victim of a boat explosion, Nell begins to look into her husband's life and finds more than she bargained for! The characters are not as well thought out in this book as they are in most MHC mysteries. However, it is still entertaining.
Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly Suspenseful
Review: When Nell MacDermont loses her parents and grandma at a young age, all hope seems to be gone. Raised by her politician grandfather, Mac, she learns the ins and outs of all the Congress secrets.
After having a quarrel, her husband Adam's boat, Cornelia II, explodes while he and four other co-workers are on board. Feeling guilty, her great-aunt Gert suggests Nell go to see a famous medium, Bonnie Wilson. Skeptical at the beginning, Nell starts to believe everything Bonnie is telling her. But it seems there are just so many unanswered questions about the mysterious explosion. Nell has no idea that she is the next target for the insane killer.
Mary Higgins Clark's Before I Say Goodbye is a tale of tragedy, mystery, and suspense. The way Clark combines these three aspects will keep the reader up late into the night, devouring the intense story. As the plot thickens, more and more suspects begin to appear. The reader will constantly be wondering, "Who did it?" and just as you think you have it figured out, Clark twists the evidence to point to someone else. Before I Say Goodbye will keep you on the edge of your seat and is not the type of book that should be read alone.
Rating:
Summary: Worth a read but not a listen
Review: This isn't Mary Higgins Clark's best, but it's still an entertaining story. Unfortunately, I got the audio version in which the narrator's interpretation of men's voices consists of sounding uniformly surly, regardless of individual personalities or attitudes. This one would be better read than heard.
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