Kiss Her Goodbye by Robert Gregory Browne

Ah, a nice simple ‘race against time’ thriller, I thought to myself while scanning the back of Kiss Her Goodbye; a thin paperback novel that had caught my attention while roaming the racks of the used bookstore not far from my parents house. I’ll give it a -- that’s about as far as my mind got before another titled snagged my attention, and then another and another, each one added to the teetering stack in my hands, the store clerk constantly offering to hold the items on the counter while I continued to shop (as usual I refused so that I didn’t start to build a second stack). Two weeks later I stumbled upon the book again while browsing the growing ‘unread’ pile that sits on my dinning room table (I never have company so . . .), my eyes searching for something that would quickly dispel the unwanted disgust that had latched itself to my mind as I finished a different, unrelated title -- one that had started out so promising, but then failed to deliver as the plot crumbled into a series of unrealistic events that would try anyone’s patience. Making the situation worse was that this had been the third novel in a steady stream of disappointments, each of which had taken the pleasure out of reading to the point where flipping on the TV seemed a better way to spend my time. I needed something good, something that would take my mind away for hours at a time as I flipped the pages, my desire to read ‘just one more chapter’ always pushing aside the urge to sleep, or watch TV, or check my friends Facebook statuses. Would Kiss Her Goodbye be the one? Would this simple ‘race against time’ thriller bring the joy of reading back into my quiet life? Sitting down with the book was the only way to find out.

Kiss Her Goodbye is the story of ATF Agent Jack Donovan and his unplanned quest to rescue his teenage daughter Jessie from the horrible fate that Alex Guderson, a cult leader Donovan has been hunting for years, has planned for her. Wanting revenge against Donovan for unintentionally causing a car accident after a thwarted bank robbery that has left the love of his life Sara in a coma, Guderson kidnaps and buries Jessie alive with a limited supply of oxygen. Once that is done he allows himself to be confronted by Donovan so he can reveal the true horror of Jessie’s situation, and then demands the father surrender himself in exchange for his daughters life. Little do either know an overzealous Chicago Police Detective has Guderson in his gun sights and is about to pull the trigger, his bullet on course to sever the only living link between Donovan and the location of his buried daughter. Seeing Guderson killed pushes Donovan to the edge, one which he completely falls from when the only other clue in the kidnapping investigations leads him to his daughter’s school uniform which contains a cassette tape of her crying in the coffin -- a preplanned ‘in your face’ taunt. From there things really spin out of control and take a turn for the surreal when a sleep deprived Donovan recklessly drives his car off a bridge into a Chicago river and briefly comes face to face with Guderson before being brought back to life by paramedics. Opened up to the possibility of a spirit world, Donovan will now do whatever he can to confront Guderson again and find out where his daughter is, even if it means facing death for a second time. Little does he know Guderson may already have plans in place for this second confrontation. Will Donovan survive such an experience, and if he does will he learn enough to be able to rescue his daughter before her oxygen is used up?

My initial thought that Kiss Her Goodbye would be a simple ‘race against time’ thriller was only partially correct; it was a ‘race against time’ thriller, but one that was far from simple. I also was not expecting the supernatural / after life / near death experience phenomenon to play such a large roll in what I thought would be a standard detective type novel, and was blown away with the skill that author Robert Gregory Browne was able to fold the two together. Best of all my need to read something that gave me pleasure rather than disappointment was fulfilled, my mind and body once again experiencing the ‘one more chapter then I’ll call it quits’ joy that has been so sorely lacking from my life lately. Of course ‘one more chapter’ always ended up being ‘keep reading until my eyes won’t stay open’ which is why I finished the book in just over a day (I zonked out with it on the couch around two in the morning). I literally could not put this book down. Even after I completed it I just held it in amazement, and then quickly carried it to my computer so I could check and see what else the author had published, my fingers unable to resist the ‘add to cart’ button that hovered near each title. Now let’s see if the next one will be a page turner as well. It is titled Whisper in the Dark and judging from its opening sentence “It was a pretty uneventful night and then the naked lady tried to kill him.” I think it will be, and will let you all know once I confirm this. Until then, let me just say that Kiss Her Goodbye by Robert Gregory Browne was one of the best books I have read this year, and that I recommend it to anyone who likes a face paced thrill ride.