Product Description

A young woman probing into the mysterious circumstances of her husband's death receives a message from a medium claiming to be his channel in Mary Higgins Clark's #1 bestselling thriller,

BEFORE I SAY GOOD-BYE.

When Nell MacDermott learns that her husband, architect Adam Cauliff, and three of his business associates have died in an explosion of his new cabin cruiser, she is not only devastated but wracked with guilt. The last time she saw Adam, they had a bitter quarrel over her plan to run for the congressional seat long held by her grandfather; she had told him not to come home.

As the investigation into the boat's explosion proceeds, Nell learns that it was not an accident but a bomb. Despite her skepticism, Nell is swayed by her great-aunt Gert, a believer in psychic powers, to see a medium claiming to be Adam's channel.

While trying to unravel the threads of Adam's past and his violent end, Nell consults the medium, who transmits messages to her with instructions from Adam. The story reaches a powerful climax in Nell's final encounter with the medium, in which she learns the truth about the explosion -- truth she can't be allowed to live and tell.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #257619 in Books
• Published on: 2001-04-01
• Released on: 2001-04-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 416 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780671004576
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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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.

From Library Journal
With an intriguing story line embellished by psychic phenomena and extrasensory perception, this novel is another best seller. Nell McDermott is a political columnist and the granddaughter of a wealthy, well-connected, retired Congressman who has raised her since both her parents were killed in an accident. Nell had the psychic gift then to feel the presence of her parents' spirits right after they died, although she was not present at the scene of their deaths. Cornelius McDermott, her grandfather, has spent most of his political career preparing Nell as his prot?g?e and heir apparent in the New York political scene. But when Nell marries Adam Cauliff, an architect on the rise, her political ambitions are suspended; all she wants is a happy, workable marriage. Still, her powerful grandfather wants her to run for his Congressional seat. Good characterizations by Jan Maxwell; expect this to circulate.AKristin M. Jacobi, Eastern Connecticut State Univ., Willimantic
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

An exciting 'Page-Turner'!
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!

Holds the readers interest, although the plot is shaky.
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.

Page-turning
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!