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: 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: good for a shiver!
Review: Before I Say Goodbye started out slow for me, mainly because I don't consider politicians all that intriguing. However, I kept reading and I'm glad I did. The mystery's solution was creepy. It gave me the shivers. I'm tempted to tell, so I'd better stop right there. I will say that I love a mystery where the author leaves me with a feeling of complete justification for both my suspicion and my surprise. This makes for a very satisfying read. I also like the touch of romance in all of Mary Higgins Clark's novels.
Rating:
Summary: Gets tedious
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: Good but not the Best
Review: I really enjoy reading books by, "The Queen of Suspense", Mary Higgins Clark. Her nouvels are full of mystery and suspense that gives you chills up your spine. And the way she uses words to catch your attention and spark your imagination. The book, Before I Say Goodbye, was very suspenseful but I didn't find the mystery nearly as deep as some of her others. I found some of the text to have errors as far as her ordering of the plot, and so the book was somewhat hard to follow due to that. The book was mainly about a young woman, Nell, who, when young, lost her parents to a tragic plane crash and ended up living with her grandfather. Her grandfather was highly into politics which was the main reason why Nell, wanted to be part of the poitical world. Nell's husband died during a tragic boat eplosion leaving nasty evidence of her husbands life, which Nell hadn't known. Will Nell's help from her psychic friends help her to solve the mystery of her husband's tragic death or will Nell go on living her life never really knowing what happened and why.
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: another good one worth reading
Review: I will admit at first when I started reading I was worried because it appeared that it was a little choppy. What I mean is there were very short chapters introducing different characters in a day to day diary format. When I first started I thought there was not enough development in the eary stages. Then I realized she was going to continue writing about a particular day and make a new chapter for each character and expanding on them. Nell's huband Adam is involved in a boating accident that costs him his life as will as several others. Each person has a motive for getting rid of the other. The regret of him dying so suddenly is that she had a fight with him about her running for Congress. Adam's stated concern is that Nell is at the beckon call of her grandfather a former Congressman. But is there more to that concern? That is where the mystery begans. I really enjoyed this book, I am however a faithful reader of Mary Higgins Clark so I am always tempted no matter what anyone writes about her books to go ahead and read it. I have never been disappointed.. most times I think it was well worth my time to read it.
Rating:
Summary: Gets tedious
Review: It is SO LONG. Really thick. There's nothing in these characters that makes you care about them. Nell is a rich snob with an annoying grandfather. Her "dead" husband Adam is just a boring snob. Nothing in between suggests Clark's penchant for creating riveting tales of horror. Ultimately a letdown. Check out A Cry in the Night or The Cradle Will Fall instead.
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: 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.
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