Georgia – Present Day

He is seven years old when the burgerman comes. His big brother warned him that the burgerman would come for him if he was bad…and here he is. It’s dark; everyone in the house is asleep...and no one hears him whimper as he’s taken from the house to disappear forever into a nightmare world where there is no escape.

FBI Agent Kimberly Quincy and her husband, GBI (Georgia Bureau of Investigation) Agent Mac McCormick are expecting their first child. Mac is excited; Kimberly is at times terrified. She has no idea what kind of mother she will be. After all, she takes after her father, a former FBI agent, and lives for her work. Mac would like Kimberly to get out of the violent crimes division, but she’s not sure she wants to. This creates some tension in the McCormick-Quincy household.

Kimberly is called out in the middle of the night to a meet with a supposed informant, a young prostitute, Delilah Rose, who claims that other prostitutes have disappeared and have probably been killed by a man named Dinchara. However, with no bodies, and no one reporting these young girls missing, there really isn’t a case. Kimberly tells Delilah that if she can get some evidence of a crime, she will investigate, but since the alleged crimes don’t cross state lines, it’s really a case for the GBI, not the FBI. Delilah, however, will only talk to Kimberly. GBI Special Agent Sal Martignetti is waiting for Kimberly when she leaves the police department after talking to Delilah. He has had an interest in the missing girls ever since an envelope was left on his windshield; inside were the driver’s licenses of three of the missing girls. Sal is sure someone is killing them, but he has no clues and is hoping Delilah can shed some light on them.

A series of events occurs which draws Kimberly into the web created by a monster. Who is Dinchara? And if he is killing prostitutes, where are the bodies? Kimberly and Sal, along with Kimberly’s father, Pierce Quincy, and his wife Raine, team up to investigate after a sting using Delilah to trap Dinchara into saying something incriminating goes wrong. Who is Dinchara, and is he killing the prostitutes, or perhaps something even worse?

SAY GOODBYE is a very intense and emotionally draining reading experience. The cast of characters is large and includes new and intriguing characters such as Sal Martignetti and recurring characters from previous novels, such as Pierce and Raine Quincy. The story is told from various perspectives, including those of the killer, the victims, and Kimberly. Lisa Gardner is one of the best writers of suspense today, and in SAY GOODBYE, she has created a tale that will chill the blood and send shivers down your spine. However, I have to warn readers that the subject matter includes not only the murder of prostitutes, but child abduction, abuse, and murder, as well as a strange yet compelling fascination with spiders. (I hate spiders – and had the other subject matter not been so disturbing, I’d probably have been creeped out just by the spiders.)

SAY GOODBYE is a novel that you won’t be able to put down once you start -- however, it’s disturbing, and on one level so tragically sad that I found myself with tears in my eyes at the end. For a top-notch novel of suspense, do not miss SAY GOODBYE -- another phenomenal novel from the pen of Lisa Gardner.

Terrie Figueroa