Review - Before I Say Goodbye by Mary Higgins Clark

Blurb from the back cover

Voices from the dead...secrets from the past ...

Nell McDermott is devastated when the cabin cuiser of her husband, architect Adan Cauliff, blows up with him and three others on board.  As the investigation into the boat's explosion proceeds, she learns that it was not an accident but a bomb.

The last time she saw Adam, they had a bitter quarrel over her plan to embark on a political career.  Wracked with guilt over her last harsh words to Adam, she overcomes her scepticism and responds to a message from a medium claiming to be his channel.

While trying to unravel the threads of Adam's past and his violent end, Nell continues to see 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 leanrs the truth about the explosion -a truth she can't be allowed to live and tell.......


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my review

I am torn between giving this a 2 or 3 star rating.  The start of the book was fine, fairly decent pace to getting the story started and building a bit of background.  However I feel that it took an age to get to the good stuff and it dragged a lot.  There was quite a few things going on, psychic vibrations and mediums so you thought the ghost aspect was going to be quite big (in a sense it was but not what I exected given from the blurb on the back).  Also there was a lot of individual side stories going on which does happen in a lot of books but normally they get to a huge build up and they all link in together, I don't feel this happened in this book.

There was a lot that I felt didn't need to be in the story and it was a bit pointless although some of it did link up near the end but it took forever to get there.  The last say quarter of the book it did really pick up though and it kicked off and became exciting which is where I feel a 3 rating is justified but getting there was a slog which is why I considered a 2.

I have read MHC a few times and really enjoyed her books but this one for me was hardwork and dare I say it a bit boring until the latter part of the book.  It won't put my off reading anymore of her books and I did in the end enjoy it it just took far too long to get to the point, 3/5 for me.