Before I Say Goodbye: Summary and book reviews of Before I Say Goodbye by Mary Higgins Clark, plus links to an excerpt from Before I Say Goodbye and a biography of Mary Higgins Clark.

Mary Higgins Clark, America's "Queen of Suspense," delves into the mystery of psychic powers and communication with the dead in her gripping new thriller, Before I Say Good-Bye. When Adam Cauliff's new cabin cruiser, Cornelia II, blows up in New York harbor with him and several close business associates aboard, his wife, Nell MacDermott, is not only distraught at the loss but wracked with guilt because she and Adam had just had a serious quarrel and she had told him not to come home. The quarrel was precipitated by Nell's decision to try to win the congressional seat long held by her grandfather Cornelius MacDermott. Orphaned at age ten, she had been raised by "Mac," as she called him, and was always at his side on Capitol Hill. Politics was in her blood, and Adam had known her ambitions when they married. Suddenly, however, he became opposed to her plan to run for Congress. Nell, like her great-aunt Gert, possesses psychic gifts, which her grandfather scoffingly dismisses as "flights of fantasy." As a child she had been aware of the deaths of both her parents and grandmother at the exact moment they died. She knew because at that very moment she sensed their presence near her. Even though Nell has the rare gift of extrasensory perception, she is much too levelheaded to accept most of the claims made by many so-called psychics and is skeptical about Aunt Gert's fascination with mediums. After Adam's death, however, Gert begs Nell to see a medium, Bonnie Wilson, who has contacted her, claiming she is in touch with Adam. Still regretting her last angry words to Adam, Nell agrees, hoping that she will be able to reach him through the medium and part from him in peace. As the investigation into the boat's explosion proceeds, Nell is shocked by the official confirmation that it was not an accident but the result of foul play. Adam, an architect, had been involved in a major construction project on land he had recently purchased and which had since had a spectacular rise in value. Was Adam the target of the explosion? Or was it Winifred Johnson, his self-effacing, fifty-two-year-old assistant, who knew too much about bribery in the construction business and who was openly in love with him? Or was it Sam Krause, a builder with a questionable reputation who was involved in the new project? Or Jimmy Ryan, the debt-ridden construction foreman whose wife, after his death, discovers money hidden in their home? Or was it Peter Lang, the wealthy man-about-town real-estate entrepreneur, whose minor traffic accident caused him to miss the fatal meeting on the boat? As Nell searches for the truth about Adam's death, she carries out instructions from Adam transmitted through the medium. What she does not know is that she is being closely watched, and the nearer she comes to learning what actually happened on the boat that night, the nearer she is to becoming the next victim of a ruthless killer.

Media Reviews

Library Journal With an intriguing story line embellished by psychic phenomena and extrasensory perception, this novel is another best seller.   Kirkus Reviews Clark's heavy-breathing 22nd asks who planted a bomb on a rising architect's yacht, and whether the killer may be closing in on his widow....Less suspense and more honest-to-goodness mystery than most of Clark's best-selling output (We'll Meet Again, 1999, etc.), though the author telegraphs each twist so conscientiously that few fans will be fooled.   Publishers Weekly Romantic suspense has no more reliable champion than Clark, despite the relative weakness of her writing....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.

Recent Reader Reviews

Rated of 5 by kim
Before I say good-bye
I've read so many books & I can say that this is one is excellent! I didnt expect that the ending will be like that! Awesome!

Rated of 5 by bballblondi
I loved this mystery, but I only gave it a three because I did not like the physic part of it. That is not something I believe in or would encourage.

Rated of 5 by Cara
I dont really like mysteries but this one was actually interesting.

Rated of 5 by Rana Karca
I have read many many books, this is one one the best ...I actually wanted to visit mrs clark ,since she lives in saddle brook...i'm so thankfull to her she keeps alive with her stories because there isn't much to enjoy with...but , i just love...   Read More

Rated of 5 by scotty
Predictable

Rated of 5 by Maddie Miller
Before I say Goodbye was one of the BEST books i have ever read! This book keeps you reading tell the very end, and you would never suspect the ending! Mary Higgins Clark is THE QUEEN OF SUSPENSE!

...4 More Reader Reviews

Readalikes

If you liked Before I Say Goodbye, try these:

---

---

This is one of 3 readalike suggestions for Before I Say Goodbye. Members have full access to all readalikes. If you are a member, please login. To find out more about membership, click here.

Books with similar themes

• Love Stories
  
• Romantic Suspense
  
• USA 
  
• Mid-Atlantic 
  
• NY State 
  
• 1980s & '90s 
  
• Magical or Supernatural Elements