Review: Say Goodbye by Lisa Gardner

I love author Lisa Gardner and have read all her books over the years. I was very excited to finally get a copy of her newest book, Say Goodbye, and I was not disappointed.

Say Goodbye is Lisa Gardner's sixth novel that involves members of the Quincy FBI family. This one focuses on Quincy's daughter Kimberly, an FBI lead investigator, and her husband Mac, a GBI Georgia Bureau of Investigation) detective.

Kimberly is pregnant and she and Mac are having "discussions" about her work: amount, level, dangerous-ness. Mac wants her to take a step back to protect herself and their child but Kimberly does not think she is putting herself in any danger and resents the implication.

Kimberly is contacted by a pregnant hooker who claims one of her customers has gotten rid of one of her friends. She calls her customer Mr. Dinchara, which is arachnid backwards, because of his love and ownership of many spiders.

Mac's friend and co-worker Sal has been working on a potential case involving missing hookers. Sal thinks his case is related to Kimberly's hooker and this Mr. Dinchara. Kimberly does not get an official 'okay' to work on the missing girl but continues to investigate on her own (and the discussions with Mac continue because she's adding MORE to her plate).

As you can guess, this turns into more than anyone could see at the beginning. Lisa Gardner has the unique ability to write a mystery/thriller that has you turning pages wanting to know more of what happens while developing her characters in real and significant ways. I'm always impressed (and maybe a little scared - lol) with how well I can understand and relate to her characters - both the good and bad. I would argue with Kimberly and Mac, seeing both sides of their discussions. But then I also thought "don't do it!!!" when Kimberly ... well, you can find out for yourself.

Say Goodbye, as with all of her novels, can stand alone and you will thoroughly enjoy the book. However, if you want to understand the characters even more deeply and appreciate the story even more, I recommend you read the series in order. The books in this series are (from the author's website):
— THE PERFECT HUSBAND (introduces Quincy)
— THE THIRD VICTIM (Quincy and Rainie meet)
— THE NEXT ACCIDENT
— THE KILLING HOUR (focuses on Quincy's daughter, Kimberly)
— GONE
— SAY GOODBYE (focuses on Kimberly, Mac, Rainie and Quincy)

If you are a mystery/thriller lover and have not read any of Lisa Gardner's books, you are missing out on one of the best. She has other books that are not related to the Quincy family that I also love. I highly recommmend you get these on your list!