Kiss Her Goodbye (Hard Case Crime)

Kiss Her Goodbye by Allan Guthrie is a hard-boiled, gritty crime story set in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is difficult to find a single likeable character in this book, it is full of bad guys, bad women and bad cops. The main character, Joe Hope earns his living by being the muscle for a loan shark. He has just spend the night breaking bones with a baseball bat when he learns that his daughter, Gemma, has committed suicide. After arguing with his wife, Ruth, and desperately wanting someone to blame Joe flies to the Orkney Islands to confront his wife’s cousin, Adam, with whom his daughter had been staying but once. But once there is he arrested and charged with the murder of his wife who had been beaten to death and left in the trunk of show more his car.

Joe and Adam actually become unlikely allies as it becomes obvious that someone close to the family is trying to frame Joe. When Adam places Gemma’s diary in Joe’s hands, he immediately knows who he is seeking. Dark secrets emerge from the past and lead to an inevitable and brutal showdown.

Kiss Her Goodbye pulls no punches, the book is populated by rough, violent people who live on the fringe. The story is grim but it moves along at a rapid pace and amid the swinging bats and thrown punches the reader finds themselves involved in a classic pulp fiction story. With it’s tight narrative and thug-like characters this story about treachery was a fun and satisfying crime read. show less

“Kiss Her Goodbye” was one of the earliest of the Hard Case crime publications, eighth if you are keeping count. What makes this novel stand out from the rest of Hard Case Crime’s gallery of rogues is that it is neither a reprint of a fifties/sixties pulp novel nor a newer novel that sets out to attain the feel and atmosphere of the fifties/sixties pulp world. It is decidedly modern in that it involves cellphones and it is one of the few HCC novels that is not American. (Obviously, AC Doyle’s Valley of Fear is not American noir either.) Although it is hard to put your finger on it, this Scottish noir has a feel that is simply different, but it doesn’t feel contrived. If you could have the British version of “Shameless” show more playing in the background or even the Clash pounding out your stereo, you might just have some of the atmosphere that is in this novel.

In any event, it is the saga of Joe Hope, who you first meet breaking into someone’s house in the middle of the night and beating him senseless with baseball bats because he didn’t make the vig and said some things in a pub.

Joe isn’t your young, innocent, starry-eyed reporter/college student caught up by accident in criminal mischief. Rather, he is a guy who has never held a job according to official reports and consorts with various underworld figures. But, he is, on the other hand, human, and despite a troubled marriage, bitter to the point of acid, he internalizes a lot of agony.

But, he has never faced agony like what is about to happen to him. Flying to Orkney to bury/avenge his suicidal daughter, Joe is arrested to his great surprise for his wife’s murder. All alone against the State with not much left for him to live for, Joe stands up tall and soldiers on to wreak justice against whoever wasted his family.

It opens with great violence and passion and, although it doesn’t manage to maintain that same lightning strike intensity and grittiness throughout, is nevertheless a good, solid story and well worth reading. This apparently was Guthrie’s second published novel and it will be interesting to read whatever else he has penned. show less

A quick, dirty read! Joe Hope finds out his daughter is dead, his wife is murdered, and he's the one being blamed! But he didn't do it! So he's off to prove he's innocent, and to find out who is responsible! I enjoyed this read, as I do almost all of the Hard Case Crime books I've picked up! They sure seem to know their audience - me!

Story: Joe Hope learns that his daughter Gem is dead and heads off to make Adam Wright answer for Gem's death (Wright had promised to look after Gem). While there, Joe is arrested for the murder of Ruth, Joe's wife (Joe is naturally confused, didn't know wife was dead).

Characters:
Joe Hope: Loan Shark enforcer
Cooper: Loan Shark - friend of Joe’s and Joe’s boss
Park: Killer for Cooper

Ruth Hope: Joe’s wife, now seemingly dead
Gemma Hope: Joe’s daughter, dead

Sally: Cooper’s girlfriend and mother of Cooper’s child

Adam Wright: Ruth's cousin and a writer with a “Writer’s Retreat” in the islands off coast of Scotland

Tina: Joe’s hooker/streetwalker (real name, oddly enough: Ruth)

Cover/title: Mixture of the title and cover gives show more a very wrong impression. Mixture of a small segment written on the back and cover gave impression lead character was the woman on the cover. It was flat wrong.

Review: Interesting book. One plot twist I didn’t expect, and many plot twists that I saw a mile away.

Quick read, not too demanding.
Recommend?: Maybe
Rating: 4.22 show less

Good quick read, reminds me of 40s crime noir fiction, but updated. The Hard Case Crime series is generally pretty good, overall.

One of the better modern efforts from Hard Case.

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