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Kiss Her Goodbye
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224 pages, Paperback
First published March 6, 2005
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December 27, 2017
This is a deliciously nasty, noirish, early entry in the Hard Case Crime series. The protagonist, Joe Hope, walks the mean streets of Edinburgh, working as an enforcer for a loan shark named Cooper. Joe is especially effective wielding his baseball bat, the sight of which leaves delinquent borrowers terrorized.
Joe's a heavy drinker, especially when he's been out collecting with his buddy, Cooper, and after one of these all-night sessions, Joe returns home to discover that his teenage daughter is dead. She has apparently killed herself after going to stay with an uncle in northern Scotland.
Joe is devastated and furious, and he vows to take revenge against the uncle who, in Joe's view, did not sufficiently protect his daughter. But Joe has barely begun to take his revenge when he is arrested for a murder that he did not commit. The evidence is heavily stacked against him and it's clear that someone is attempting to put him into the frame.
As the book progresses, Joe must sort out what happened with his daughter and at the same time stay one step ahead of the cops who are in hot pursuit. Neither will be easy, and his efforts align him with some pretty hard characters. One doesn't normally think of Scotland as prime territory for traditional noir crime stories, but by the time Guthrie gets through, he has produced a story worthy of the masters of the genre. This is a book that should appeal to any fan of hard-boiled crime novels.
Joe's a heavy drinker, especially when he's been out collecting with his buddy, Cooper, and after one of these all-night sessions, Joe returns home to discover that his teenage daughter is dead. She has apparently killed herself after going to stay with an uncle in northern Scotland.
Joe is devastated and furious, and he vows to take revenge against the uncle who, in Joe's view, did not sufficiently protect his daughter. But Joe has barely begun to take his revenge when he is arrested for a murder that he did not commit. The evidence is heavily stacked against him and it's clear that someone is attempting to put him into the frame.
As the book progresses, Joe must sort out what happened with his daughter and at the same time stay one step ahead of the cops who are in hot pursuit. Neither will be easy, and his efforts align him with some pretty hard characters. One doesn't normally think of Scotland as prime territory for traditional noir crime stories, but by the time Guthrie gets through, he has produced a story worthy of the masters of the genre. This is a book that should appeal to any fan of hard-boiled crime novels.
December 4, 2017
"In my world, everybody's guilty."
If you borrow money from an Edinburgh loan shark, and can't pay it back, you may just get a visit from Joe Hope and his trusty baseball bat. It's rather a strange profession, but in Joe's mind - somebody's got to do it.
He hurt people and he could live with that.
But not long after his daughter commits suicide, Joe finds himself charged with murder.
"Did you love your wife, Mr. Hope?"
"I hated the bitch." Joe twisted his wedding ring a fraction. He tugged it towards his knuckle. No way it was ever coming off. "But last time I checked, that wasn't against the law."
Now Joes's got to stay out of jail long enough to figure out who framed him, and decide what he's going to do about it.
This is one rough and tumble ride, filled with unpleasant people who do nasty things. It's a quick read that held my interest. Not recommended to anyone who insists on having likable characters to root for, or to fans of ladies' book club books.
I definitely want to read more by this author.
If you borrow money from an Edinburgh loan shark, and can't pay it back, you may just get a visit from Joe Hope and his trusty baseball bat. It's rather a strange profession, but in Joe's mind - somebody's got to do it.
He hurt people and he could live with that.
But not long after his daughter commits suicide, Joe finds himself charged with murder.
"Did you love your wife, Mr. Hope?"
"I hated the bitch." Joe twisted his wedding ring a fraction. He tugged it towards his knuckle. No way it was ever coming off. "But last time I checked, that wasn't against the law."
Now Joes's got to stay out of jail long enough to figure out who framed him, and decide what he's going to do about it.
This is one rough and tumble ride, filled with unpleasant people who do nasty things. It's a quick read that held my interest. Not recommended to anyone who insists on having likable characters to root for, or to fans of ladies' book club books.
I definitely want to read more by this author.
September 28, 2018
Career criminal Joe has his life turned upside down following his daughter Gemma’s unexpected suicide. Holding his cousin Adam responsible for his daughter’s untimely death, Joe travels to Adam with annihilation on his mind. However, upon arrival, Joe is told of his wife’s gruesome murder and due to their rocky relationship as well as some damning evidence, Joe is believed to be a prime suspect. Pleading his innocence, can Joe clear his name? And what did Gemma write in her diary prior to her death seemingly damning her father?
After a rather lackluster September, I decided I need to turn to crime fiction to cleanse my reading pallet ahead of a month of horror novels. Luckily, I had a few Hardcase Crime novels sitting on my bookcase that I had picked up over the past few years from used book shops. Given it won the Edgar Award in 2005, Kiss Her Goodbye was an easy choice to sink my teeth into.
Having published well over one hundred novels since its inception in 2005, like all publishers, Hardcase has had some hits and misses. Luckily, Kiss Her Goodbye is one of the good ones. It’s filled to the brim with what makes these throwbacks great; tough characters, gritty settings and dialogue that punctures scenes like a semi-automatic.
While Guthrie isn’t exactly doing anything new here, he does produce a solid story with hard-hitting, hard boiled elements that left me satisfied at the end of the story. A few weeks ago, I wrote in a review that I was surprised at how easily I figured out the twist in a story (something uncommon for me). The same happened here. I liked what Guthrie was going for by including excerpts from Gemma’s diary, but it didn’t take long to see where he was going with it. That said, it didn’t make the ending any less explosive. Guthrie has some great chops when it comes to writing tension; you could almost feel the electricity in the room during the novel’s final scene.
If you’re a fan of noir storytelling, you’ll find Kiss Her Goodbye hits all the marks of the genre. One of Hardcase’s early success stories, Kiss Her Goodbye is a great stand-alone read that should satisfy fans of the publisher’s work.
After a rather lackluster September, I decided I need to turn to crime fiction to cleanse my reading pallet ahead of a month of horror novels. Luckily, I had a few Hardcase Crime novels sitting on my bookcase that I had picked up over the past few years from used book shops. Given it won the Edgar Award in 2005, Kiss Her Goodbye was an easy choice to sink my teeth into.
Having published well over one hundred novels since its inception in 2005, like all publishers, Hardcase has had some hits and misses. Luckily, Kiss Her Goodbye is one of the good ones. It’s filled to the brim with what makes these throwbacks great; tough characters, gritty settings and dialogue that punctures scenes like a semi-automatic.
While Guthrie isn’t exactly doing anything new here, he does produce a solid story with hard-hitting, hard boiled elements that left me satisfied at the end of the story. A few weeks ago, I wrote in a review that I was surprised at how easily I figured out the twist in a story (something uncommon for me). The same happened here. I liked what Guthrie was going for by including excerpts from Gemma’s diary, but it didn’t take long to see where he was going with it. That said, it didn’t make the ending any less explosive. Guthrie has some great chops when it comes to writing tension; you could almost feel the electricity in the room during the novel’s final scene.
If you’re a fan of noir storytelling, you’ll find Kiss Her Goodbye hits all the marks of the genre. One of Hardcase’s early success stories, Kiss Her Goodbye is a great stand-alone read that should satisfy fans of the publisher’s work.
October 21, 2010
Joe Hope is the muscle for an Edinburgh loan shark. When his daughter dies, an apparent suicide, he's heartbroken and wants revenge for whomever is responsible. He flies up to Orkney, only to find himself wanted by the police. A passage in Gemma's journal seems to indicate Joe raped her and to top it off, Joe's wife Ruth's body was found in the trunk of his car at the airport. Joe spends the rest of the novel running from the cops while trying to figure out what the hell is going on and get revenge.
The writing in Kiss Her Goodbye is good but kind of exhausting to read, because of the stark violence and all the swearing. It reminds me a lot of a Guy Ritchie movie. In fact, Vinnie Jones should play Joe if they ever turn it into a movie.
To sum it up, it's another quality entry in the Hard Case line. If you like Hard Case, you'll like this.
The writing in Kiss Her Goodbye is good but kind of exhausting to read, because of the stark violence and all the swearing. It reminds me a lot of a Guy Ritchie movie. In fact, Vinnie Jones should play Joe if they ever turn it into a movie.
To sum it up, it's another quality entry in the Hard Case line. If you like Hard Case, you'll like this.
July 7, 2017
“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” 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.
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.
December 15, 2017
I found this book through the Pulp Fiction group on Goodreads.
Joe Hope is a debt collector who's good at his job, and seems to rather enjoy the violence that goes with it. When his daughter commits suicide things take a turn for the worse and Joe is in trouble with the underworld and the law.
I gave this four stars in the end. I was hanging around three for a while there. It's accessible and an easy read. Just good, fun, hard-boiled genre fiction. Characters cartoonish at times. For a while that annoyed be, but I found that once I accepted it I kind of started to like it.
The best thing about the book is the grand, Tarrantino set-piece at the end. I was satisfying and cool too.
All in, I won't be thinking about Kiss Her Goodbye for years to come but I had a good couple of weeks reading it. That's all.
Joe Hope is a debt collector who's good at his job, and seems to rather enjoy the violence that goes with it. When his daughter commits suicide things take a turn for the worse and Joe is in trouble with the underworld and the law.
I gave this four stars in the end. I was hanging around three for a while there. It's accessible and an easy read. Just good, fun, hard-boiled genre fiction. Characters cartoonish at times. For a while that annoyed be, but I found that once I accepted it I kind of started to like it.
The best thing about the book is the grand, Tarrantino set-piece at the end. I was satisfying and cool too.
All in, I won't be thinking about Kiss Her Goodbye for years to come but I had a good couple of weeks reading it. That's all.
October 22, 2009
I didn't think I would ever say this about a Hard Case Crime book, but this cover does not do the book justice. It's a fun cover, don't get me wrong. And it actually represents a moment in the book. However, in my opinion, it misrepresents the tone of the book completely.
Perhaps it is in the spirit of the vintage paperbacks that Hard Case emulates to sell the sizzle rather than the steak (can you get more sizzle in hard-boiled terms than a woman wielding a bat).
The reason I go on about the cover is that this is a good book with pulp roots, but also a book that makes an effort to convey some interesting moral dilemmas in its story. While in cases, the plotting and conclusions are a little forced, the characters are consistently met with unique challenges that only crime fiction can offer.
If the steak is good, there's no need to oversell the sizzle.
Perhaps it is in the spirit of the vintage paperbacks that Hard Case emulates to sell the sizzle rather than the steak (can you get more sizzle in hard-boiled terms than a woman wielding a bat).
The reason I go on about the cover is that this is a good book with pulp roots, but also a book that makes an effort to convey some interesting moral dilemmas in its story. While in cases, the plotting and conclusions are a little forced, the characters are consistently met with unique challenges that only crime fiction can offer.
If the steak is good, there's no need to oversell the sizzle.
January 18, 2018
You won't find writing much better than Allan Guthrie's Kiss Her Goodbye - - - The story is pretty basic and you guess the villain pretty quickly but the writing is delicious - - you actually don't want the book to end because the writing is so terrific - - - The writing reminds me of Elmore Leonard - you end up drooling over the words! - - That's how good a writer Allan Guthrie is - - I'm looking forward to reading more.
January 8, 2018
Well, I shall count this as 'read' although I only made it 50% of the way through.
It's not a bad tale, it's just too ... slow, too 'bitty'. Some of the dialogue tries to hard to mimic Raymond Chandler, and not the best bits!
There was nothing in it which excited me or made me regret having to put it down. I think a lot of the problem lies with me, I'm like this at the start of a new year, finding it difficult to know what I want to read. I still don't know, but I know that (at the moment) this isn't it.
It's not a bad tale, it's just too ... slow, too 'bitty'. Some of the dialogue tries to hard to mimic Raymond Chandler, and not the best bits!
There was nothing in it which excited me or made me regret having to put it down. I think a lot of the problem lies with me, I'm like this at the start of a new year, finding it difficult to know what I want to read. I still don't know, but I know that (at the moment) this isn't it.
January 3, 2016
It is a tribute to the quality and strength of Allan Guthrie's writing that despite being wholly populated with nasty characters - some more so than others - it is impossible to stop reading, all the way to the end. The writing I really liked, the story, not so much, hence the three not four stars. Perhaps it would be more generous to rate it the other way round ...
January 18, 2018
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!
June 21, 2014
Decent story. Quick, pulpy, and full of action. Takes place in Scotland but - aside from a few stray details - does not establish a strong sense of place. True to the spirit of the Hard Case Crime series.
June 28, 2021
Kiss Her Goodbye made this a great Noir Sunday, which is a tradition I've needed to revive. This novel is dark twisted and violent-yes! Joe Hope is a legbreaker for a loan shark-when his daughter dies his entire world undergoes a seismic shift. (These are not spoilers-it's all there on the back of the book.) Things go downhill from there. This story unfolds at a terrific pace but it is just right to keep the reader buzzing along. Joe Hope is not your typical thug, and author Allan Guthrie succeeds in giving us a protagonist with more depth than you might expect.
December 21, 2024
Finishing the Hard Case Crime year strong with this one. A bit saggy in spots but for the most part, it’s well-written and noir as hell. Enjoyed it.
May 1, 2025
not good, not bad...a thug in scotland has his daughter die of suicide and his wife murdered within days of each other...it's billed as a noirish crime fiction but it's actually a dramatic soap-opera....it has a few good parts but i can't recommend...2.0 outta 5.0...
June 10, 2013
Joe Hope is a 'hard man': as an enforcer for his loan-shark best friend, he doesn't do the killing but he's no stranger to inflicting pain. It's not a great life but it gets him through. He takes what little solace his life possesses in the arms of Tina, a prostitute with whom he never has sex out of loyalty to an alcoholic wife who hates him deeply.
Yet life only has more pain for Joe. First his daughter, his only other bright spot, commits suicide. Then his wife is found dead in the trunk of his car. Worse, everyone seems to think that Joe had something to do with both, leaving him wounded, angry, and confused. But Joe knows he just can't wait for the walls to cave in. He needs to form an alliance with several unlikely characters to get to the bottom of what's really going in, which will take Joe much farther down the rabbit hole than he's ever wanted to go, and from which he may not return.
Guthrie writes "books about bad people doing bad things to each other," noir with a very modern British flair. To my mind, mentions of Guthrie with Ian Rankin, Irvine Welsh and James Ellroy are not out of place, though Rankin's characters are often embedded in plots that border on the labyrinthine, and Ellroy is a bit more bombastic. Guthrie writes straight forward unflinching crime novels about people in rough places where more 'normal' or socially-acceptable choices aren't ever viable options.
Yet life only has more pain for Joe. First his daughter, his only other bright spot, commits suicide. Then his wife is found dead in the trunk of his car. Worse, everyone seems to think that Joe had something to do with both, leaving him wounded, angry, and confused. But Joe knows he just can't wait for the walls to cave in. He needs to form an alliance with several unlikely characters to get to the bottom of what's really going in, which will take Joe much farther down the rabbit hole than he's ever wanted to go, and from which he may not return.
Guthrie writes "books about bad people doing bad things to each other," noir with a very modern British flair. To my mind, mentions of Guthrie with Ian Rankin, Irvine Welsh and James Ellroy are not out of place, though Rankin's characters are often embedded in plots that border on the labyrinthine, and Ellroy is a bit more bombastic. Guthrie writes straight forward unflinching crime novels about people in rough places where more 'normal' or socially-acceptable choices aren't ever viable options.
August 9, 2012
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 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
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 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
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 2, 2011
The intelligent thug. One of crime fiction's favorite characters. Joe Hope is just such a character. He did some college. He got a girl pregnant. Dropped out of college and took an enforcer job with a loan shark buddy. At the heart of this story is family tragedy (suicide and murder). The book feels a bit different than previous Hard Case Crime novels partly because it geographically takes place in the UK which provides the reader with some of those fun British words that we Americans find amusing (eg. chips for fries or bangers for sausages). Anyways, it's a decent story of betrayal and revenge with some slightly different and amusing characters to follow but the humor is in small, dry doses. I will say that I'm not altogether on board with the ending and whether the police would actually allow the kind of latitude they provide Mr. Hope but it makes for a dramatic conclusion. Warning: this isn't a story for weak stomachs out there (think Pulp Fiction or Goodfellas level of violence).
September 26, 2014
A fun and quick read that in the end I found a bit too predictable. I was waiting for a flash-change ending that never quite came. Nevertheless, Guthrie does a great job at capturing main character Joe's essence.
January 9, 2015
Great story. Didn't slow down.
November 28, 2017
I came across this slice of Scottish Noir when I saw that it was originally published as part of the Hard Case Crime series, of which I am a big fan and thought I would give it a go.
The novel is set in Edinburgh, where Joe Hope is an enforcer for loan shark and friend Cooper, both of whom were at University together. Joe's daughter Gemma, now living in Orkney, dies from an apparent suicide and Joe travels there to find out more about her death but he soon finds himself in custody for the murder of his wife, with whom he had an unconventional relationship. With the help of his young solicitor and his prostitute friend Tina, Joe sets out to find out what ties the two deaths together and who is responsible.
I've got mixed feelings about this one as I must admit I found it difficult to believe that two ex university law students would turn out to be a loan shark and the other his enforcer ! Because of their supposed intelligence we get some quite highbrow references and quips but this is offset by their thuggish attitudes and behaviour. The story moves along at a fast pace with a sprinkling of violence thrown in for good measure but it doesn't really set the heather on fire and I culminates in a showdown involving all the main characters.
I must admit that I don't know much about Allan Guthrie and his work and whether this is representative of it or not but I will probably give him another try.
The novel is set in Edinburgh, where Joe Hope is an enforcer for loan shark and friend Cooper, both of whom were at University together. Joe's daughter Gemma, now living in Orkney, dies from an apparent suicide and Joe travels there to find out more about her death but he soon finds himself in custody for the murder of his wife, with whom he had an unconventional relationship. With the help of his young solicitor and his prostitute friend Tina, Joe sets out to find out what ties the two deaths together and who is responsible.
I've got mixed feelings about this one as I must admit I found it difficult to believe that two ex university law students would turn out to be a loan shark and the other his enforcer ! Because of their supposed intelligence we get some quite highbrow references and quips but this is offset by their thuggish attitudes and behaviour. The story moves along at a fast pace with a sprinkling of violence thrown in for good measure but it doesn't really set the heather on fire and I culminates in a showdown involving all the main characters.
I must admit that I don't know much about Allan Guthrie and his work and whether this is representative of it or not but I will probably give him another try.
September 5, 2011
As a reviewer, once in a while I dream at night that I am on the witness stand and somebody is asking 'Are you NOW or have you ever BEEN a member of the trashing-second-novels club!?'
Feck.
It's true, many writers knock it out of the ballpark on their second try, and as a result everyone's patience is sorely tested. To avoid all this, Guthrie was judicious enough to make KISS HER GOODBYE yet another altogether extraordinary, lullaby-free Noir Classic. Again the total absence of all the word 'mercy' could possibly hold is a creepy stimulant in this book. As a payoff we get raw prose, hard-nosed dialogs and an overall post-human feeling just to prove the author's staying power in dark territory.
Like TWO-WAY SPLIT, KISS HER GOODBYE is set in the grim part of Edinburgh, where entropy rules and displaced evildoer run rampant. The reader is kept in a state of nervous imbalance: literally everybody appears more ore less wrecked in this underworld atmosphere, and street shrewdness does not help much to prevent bad stuff from happening.
The daring of this second novel is that it slows the breakneck pace of the debut, if only just a fraction. In parallel, the story enlarges the scope of visible and invisible injuries of its battered protagonists. Guthrie gets away with it by filtering big time desaster through bits of his central figures' past. Which makes the general idea of human goodness look as badly here as any made-up, faraway cardboard kingdom.
Throughout the book, the narrative remains tight and resists to linger - no image is held too long, nothing is overstated to clog the action. Much like in TWO-WAY SPLIT, KISS HER GOODBYE doesn't stress, but rather hints at the meaning of a dehumanized environment: the main characters aren't aware of a moral choice anymore, and restrained energies can only be released in nastiness.
Again it catches the soul how Guthrie uses fast cutting, how he plays with brutality in an impersonal, intellectual way: the violence in his prose has a look, a fascination.
Accordingly, all carefree thoughts get cleared out of the reader's head as main character Joe Hope, a local loan shark's dogsbody, faces maximum trouble. Hope has let assignments take over from the person: uptight, in a terrible mental state, as tense as a spring and sexually twisted, he comes across as a confused torturer, as an odd kind of small-time criminal robot, more angry than alive, and helpless in his struggle for contol. Hoodlumism appears to be just one of his strait jackets.
In contrast, Hope's boss Cooper displays a cocky attitude to release tension, but also to gain some fake kind of breathing space ('Fucking patience is a fucking virtue, Joe'). This money lender's every turn glistens with the possibility of terror on the brink of sadism.
Joe's the numb robot, the at once itchy and frozen madman supposed to do the dirty work in case a debtor defaults on a loan, but it's usually Cooper who jumps alive like an evil monster, and wields a baseball bat to defile all ethics. Guthrie carefully estranges the reader from each of his protagonists - another fine trick to enhance the degree of Noir.
When Joe learns that his only daughter Gemma, who lived in the Orkneys as an aspiring young writer, has died, an ugly blend of grief, rage and sense of failure takes a new turn. The clumsy way Hope tries to turn out his agony on his wife Ruth triggers a haunting case of spousal abuse. The near to perfect dialog captures not only the sickening way Ruth parrots her husband's vile demeanor, it also flings one of those tired adult silences at the reader - when neither of a couple has the guts to speak first, not wanting to talk about getting too drunk, not wanting to be close to someone who can be read in a second, someone who used to be another person, right?
Since Adam Wright, a distant relative in the Orkneys, was supposed to keep Gemma safe, Hope has another target of vengeance, and a sudden travel destination. But the pull of Guthrie's strings aims differently: Ruth gets murdered, and found in the trunk of Joe's car, thus it's him getting convicted for this crime. A young lawyer who hasn't fallen prey to cynicism yet, a down-to-earth, unblinkingly loyal hooker named Tina, and a blighted DS do their bit in the plot's flip, twisted craziness and its only seemingly calmed showdown, featuring unlikely allies.
KISS HER GOODBYE never undercuts its excellent dialog. Some of it is as charming as rotting leaves in gutters. If you've never read a book by this author before, you may not quite know what hit you, and what nags at the mind long after reading.
Feck.
It's true, many writers knock it out of the ballpark on their second try, and as a result everyone's patience is sorely tested. To avoid all this, Guthrie was judicious enough to make KISS HER GOODBYE yet another altogether extraordinary, lullaby-free Noir Classic. Again the total absence of all the word 'mercy' could possibly hold is a creepy stimulant in this book. As a payoff we get raw prose, hard-nosed dialogs and an overall post-human feeling just to prove the author's staying power in dark territory.
Like TWO-WAY SPLIT, KISS HER GOODBYE is set in the grim part of Edinburgh, where entropy rules and displaced evildoer run rampant. The reader is kept in a state of nervous imbalance: literally everybody appears more ore less wrecked in this underworld atmosphere, and street shrewdness does not help much to prevent bad stuff from happening.
The daring of this second novel is that it slows the breakneck pace of the debut, if only just a fraction. In parallel, the story enlarges the scope of visible and invisible injuries of its battered protagonists. Guthrie gets away with it by filtering big time desaster through bits of his central figures' past. Which makes the general idea of human goodness look as badly here as any made-up, faraway cardboard kingdom.
Throughout the book, the narrative remains tight and resists to linger - no image is held too long, nothing is overstated to clog the action. Much like in TWO-WAY SPLIT, KISS HER GOODBYE doesn't stress, but rather hints at the meaning of a dehumanized environment: the main characters aren't aware of a moral choice anymore, and restrained energies can only be released in nastiness.
Again it catches the soul how Guthrie uses fast cutting, how he plays with brutality in an impersonal, intellectual way: the violence in his prose has a look, a fascination.
Accordingly, all carefree thoughts get cleared out of the reader's head as main character Joe Hope, a local loan shark's dogsbody, faces maximum trouble. Hope has let assignments take over from the person: uptight, in a terrible mental state, as tense as a spring and sexually twisted, he comes across as a confused torturer, as an odd kind of small-time criminal robot, more angry than alive, and helpless in his struggle for contol. Hoodlumism appears to be just one of his strait jackets.
In contrast, Hope's boss Cooper displays a cocky attitude to release tension, but also to gain some fake kind of breathing space ('Fucking patience is a fucking virtue, Joe'). This money lender's every turn glistens with the possibility of terror on the brink of sadism.
Joe's the numb robot, the at once itchy and frozen madman supposed to do the dirty work in case a debtor defaults on a loan, but it's usually Cooper who jumps alive like an evil monster, and wields a baseball bat to defile all ethics. Guthrie carefully estranges the reader from each of his protagonists - another fine trick to enhance the degree of Noir.
When Joe learns that his only daughter Gemma, who lived in the Orkneys as an aspiring young writer, has died, an ugly blend of grief, rage and sense of failure takes a new turn. The clumsy way Hope tries to turn out his agony on his wife Ruth triggers a haunting case of spousal abuse. The near to perfect dialog captures not only the sickening way Ruth parrots her husband's vile demeanor, it also flings one of those tired adult silences at the reader - when neither of a couple has the guts to speak first, not wanting to talk about getting too drunk, not wanting to be close to someone who can be read in a second, someone who used to be another person, right?
Since Adam Wright, a distant relative in the Orkneys, was supposed to keep Gemma safe, Hope has another target of vengeance, and a sudden travel destination. But the pull of Guthrie's strings aims differently: Ruth gets murdered, and found in the trunk of Joe's car, thus it's him getting convicted for this crime. A young lawyer who hasn't fallen prey to cynicism yet, a down-to-earth, unblinkingly loyal hooker named Tina, and a blighted DS do their bit in the plot's flip, twisted craziness and its only seemingly calmed showdown, featuring unlikely allies.
KISS HER GOODBYE never undercuts its excellent dialog. Some of it is as charming as rotting leaves in gutters. If you've never read a book by this author before, you may not quite know what hit you, and what nags at the mind long after reading.
January 14, 2014
Joe Hope sorts problems out, usually by the application of violence with a baseball bat, on behalf of his loan shark boss, Cooper. But for once it’s Joe that has the problem, first his daughter, Gemma, commits suicide. Joe immediately flies to the Orkneys where she’s been living at a writer’s retreat with a relative, Adam. But as soon as he arrives Joe is arrested. The accusation? The murder of his wife, battered to death with Joe’s work tool.
But, there are further complications, Gemma kept a diary in which she’d revealed the reason behind her death – she’d been raped by someone she called ‘Daddy’. But for once Joe is innocent and he sets out to track down the killer.
This is a straightforward, no-nonsense, high quality crime novel which focuses on anti-hero Joe Hope. It’s a well plotted, well written and a very satisfying read. One of the strongest aspects of this novel are the characters. All are well drawn, believable and have a part to play.
First is Joe himself. He’s not the most pleasant of people, sorting out non-payers on behalf of Cooper, often beating them senseless. Joe even keeps a baseball bat in his car. He has a terrible relationship with his wife and instead spends time with a prostitute, Tina (Joe pays her, but interestingly it’s for no more than company) or in the dubious company of Cooper, seemingly his only friend. But despite everything he does have a degree of morality – Joe won’t kill people – interesting, considering murder is the crime he’s accused of. Also of note is that Joe is clearly intelligent, he had been taking a degree before dropping out to work for Cooper, who himself was training to be a lawyer.
Which leads us to Cooper. He’s thoroughly unpleasant and loyal only to himself, and maybe his young son. No one else matters. Tina the prostitute is an interesting character, literally hard-nosed and lived a tough life. They’re ably backed up by Adam (who’s initially wet and useless, but finds some backbone) and Joe’s youthful lawyer, Ronald Brewer.
The plot is also very strong, several story arcs brought together for a satisfying conclusion where everyone gets what they deserved. Joe receives several shocks (on top of the suicide and murder) and perpetually seems to be in an almost constant state of turmoil and flux.
The story is mainly set in Edinburgh. It’s seedy and grim, but then again the characters themselves live this kind of existence – loan shark, thug and prostitute. The scenes suit the narrative. The pace is high and maintained throughout, it’s a real page turner and enjoyable to boot (or should I say bat).
**Originally reviewed for Books and Pals blog. May have received free review copy.**
But, there are further complications, Gemma kept a diary in which she’d revealed the reason behind her death – she’d been raped by someone she called ‘Daddy’. But for once Joe is innocent and he sets out to track down the killer.
This is a straightforward, no-nonsense, high quality crime novel which focuses on anti-hero Joe Hope. It’s a well plotted, well written and a very satisfying read. One of the strongest aspects of this novel are the characters. All are well drawn, believable and have a part to play.
First is Joe himself. He’s not the most pleasant of people, sorting out non-payers on behalf of Cooper, often beating them senseless. Joe even keeps a baseball bat in his car. He has a terrible relationship with his wife and instead spends time with a prostitute, Tina (Joe pays her, but interestingly it’s for no more than company) or in the dubious company of Cooper, seemingly his only friend. But despite everything he does have a degree of morality – Joe won’t kill people – interesting, considering murder is the crime he’s accused of. Also of note is that Joe is clearly intelligent, he had been taking a degree before dropping out to work for Cooper, who himself was training to be a lawyer.
Which leads us to Cooper. He’s thoroughly unpleasant and loyal only to himself, and maybe his young son. No one else matters. Tina the prostitute is an interesting character, literally hard-nosed and lived a tough life. They’re ably backed up by Adam (who’s initially wet and useless, but finds some backbone) and Joe’s youthful lawyer, Ronald Brewer.
The plot is also very strong, several story arcs brought together for a satisfying conclusion where everyone gets what they deserved. Joe receives several shocks (on top of the suicide and murder) and perpetually seems to be in an almost constant state of turmoil and flux.
The story is mainly set in Edinburgh. It’s seedy and grim, but then again the characters themselves live this kind of existence – loan shark, thug and prostitute. The scenes suit the narrative. The pace is high and maintained throughout, it’s a real page turner and enjoyable to boot (or should I say bat).
**Originally reviewed for Books and Pals blog. May have received free review copy.**
February 19, 2011
Joe Hope is an enforcer for his friend Cooper who is a loan shark. Joe is not afraid of violence, but he's always drawn the line at killing someone. Then his daughter, who had suddenly moved from Edinburgh to Orkney to live with a distant relative, commits suicide and Joe loses his reason. Then he's accused of a murder, and life really takes a turn. Can Joe rely on his friend, or is his only hope for salvation a hooker with a heart of gold and a well-used baseball bat?
Joe Hope could have been a one-note character, but within a few chapters you realize that you're reading about a man who could have been much better than he is; a man whose main redeeming grace is that he was a good father despite the circumstances of his life. Guthrie does a nice job of making most of the characters well-rounded while keeping the focus on the world of violence these people willingly inhabit.
The action is fast-paced and the book changes direction several times. What starts out as a classic loan shark and enforcer work someone over story quickly morphs into a quest for "revenge" on the man he thinks is responsible for his daughter's suicide, and then into a classic "who framed him" story with a somewhat predictable yet cleverly-written climactic scene. There are a couple of down notes. One character's reason for thinking Joe is a bad guy comes down to an almost too simple case of misunderstanding that I noticed long before the characters did; and a romantic subplot for two of the supporting characters is just awkward and a distraction from the main action.
Overall, though, this is a great story with some wonderful twists. Most of the characters are not very likeable, but are still relatable in some way. Recommended.
Joe Hope could have been a one-note character, but within a few chapters you realize that you're reading about a man who could have been much better than he is; a man whose main redeeming grace is that he was a good father despite the circumstances of his life. Guthrie does a nice job of making most of the characters well-rounded while keeping the focus on the world of violence these people willingly inhabit.
The action is fast-paced and the book changes direction several times. What starts out as a classic loan shark and enforcer work someone over story quickly morphs into a quest for "revenge" on the man he thinks is responsible for his daughter's suicide, and then into a classic "who framed him" story with a somewhat predictable yet cleverly-written climactic scene. There are a couple of down notes. One character's reason for thinking Joe is a bad guy comes down to an almost too simple case of misunderstanding that I noticed long before the characters did; and a romantic subplot for two of the supporting characters is just awkward and a distraction from the main action.
Overall, though, this is a great story with some wonderful twists. Most of the characters are not very likeable, but are still relatable in some way. Recommended.
July 21, 2013
Allan Guthrie has author blurbs to die for on the back cover and inside. Maybe his other books have warranted those, but "Kiss Her Goodbye" does not. On the surface, the book is written in Brit-speak, which takes a bit of getting used to for us Yanks. But that's not really the problem: the problem is that its story about a bad guy who's framed for the murder of his wife has only a short-story's worth of actual plot. The other 200 pages are filled up with sometimes contradictory inner narrative and the kind of endless, circular, repetitive conversations that characterize David Mamet plays, but which don't work in noir crime fiction. The characters aren't so much multi-faceted as schizoid, and in some cases act so irrationally that you want to line them all up like The Three Stooges and do a running slap. The protagonist, Joe Hope, is either a sociopathic leg-breaker, a sensitive, loving father with impotency problems, or a college-educated lover of classic literature, depending on the chapter. Perhaps James Gandolfini could have combined all of that into a real, consistent character, but Allan Guthrie can't manage it. There are some pretty stunning leaps of logic, too. I came very close to tossing this book aside on several occasions, but I kept hoping that my perseverance would be rewarded with a twist or surprise at the end. It wasn't. The climax also contains one of the more drawn-out "Moishe the Explainer" scenes in recent memory. Hard Case Crime is a very hit-and-miss publisher; this, alas, is one of their misses.
May 1, 2011
If you can get thru the first half-dozen chapters (or so) of the author calling every other character and/or street character the same name (starts with T, has a W, and ends with T) then you'll be pleasantly surprised with the double murder mystery that develops over the course of the rest of KISS HER GOODBYE, a double-dose of tough love for the main character, a small-town Scottish mob enforcer ironically named Joe Hope.
The lowdown: after spending a night away from his estranged wife, Hope is given the news that his daughter has committed suicide. He believes Adam -- her cousin -- failed to watch out for the young girl, but before Hope can arrange a formal sitdown with the man he's caught by the police and charged with the murder of his own wife! Hope must stay one step ahead of his lawyer, his (somewhat) love interest, and the police if he's going to save his skin and hold those responsible for these two crimes.
Allan Guthrie holds up his reputation for noir thrillers here, delivering a wealth of characters the average reader probably will hold suspect until the very last few pages, but there's little more to get excited about. The mystery unfolds rather predictably, but KISS HER GOODBYE is a quick, guilty-pleasure-read like much of the HARD CASE imprint. It's one of the stronger early entries in the line, and, on those merits alone, it deserves to be read.
The lowdown: after spending a night away from his estranged wife, Hope is given the news that his daughter has committed suicide. He believes Adam -- her cousin -- failed to watch out for the young girl, but before Hope can arrange a formal sitdown with the man he's caught by the police and charged with the murder of his own wife! Hope must stay one step ahead of his lawyer, his (somewhat) love interest, and the police if he's going to save his skin and hold those responsible for these two crimes.
Allan Guthrie holds up his reputation for noir thrillers here, delivering a wealth of characters the average reader probably will hold suspect until the very last few pages, but there's little more to get excited about. The mystery unfolds rather predictably, but KISS HER GOODBYE is a quick, guilty-pleasure-read like much of the HARD CASE imprint. It's one of the stronger early entries in the line, and, on those merits alone, it deserves to be read.
December 17, 2007
This was a little less formulaic in parts than other books of this imprint. Still have the anti-hero, but this was more of a whodunit, than a straight crime/noir novel. After a while, I stopped caring about finding out who had actually dunit. Still, an ok mystery ride. One method of the genre is beginning to wear thin-- the villain's exposition. It comes off as lazy. You're already writing in third person omniscient, why do you need the villain to explain everything at the end through dialogue? Not my favorite by any means, but there are worse ways to spend my time.
February 7, 2018
I really didn't like this book, but I'm unsure what the value is of writing a bad review. that said: it's a mean spirited novel, populated by characters and themes that lean hard on old fashion cruelty. none of this is eased or multiplied through aesthetic means or narrative structure. this book has almost no discernible style, except what it's trying to imitate badly. even (or especially) in the world of pulp crime novels, you need something beyond the crime to make the whole thing go. I don't think you get that here.
June 8, 2014
While I enjoyed the mystery of this crime thriller, the main character was just too much of an ass for me to care. I needed to see less of the thug and more of the concerned parent if I were to buy the whole premise. By the time I learned enough about him to actually begin empathizing with him, it was too late...I just didn't care much for any of these bad people, and I finished the book simply to see how the mystery was solved.
June 5, 2012
Well-paced plot and strong characters. I guessed part of the mystery before the main character, but given what kind of person he is, it fits the story. My view of the characters changed during the novel, sometimes turning 180 degrees. A bit of British slang will throw me from time to time, but this is just a great read. Highly recommended.
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