Too Late to Say Goodbye: A True Story of Murder and Betrayal

Ann Rule is one of the best living chroniclers of deathly crime. She has her own shelf in this reviewer's TrueCrime Bookcase. But Best True Crime writer ever = Truman Capote (with a lotta help from his friend Nelle Harper Lee*) In Cold Blood . *See Infamous and Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee Is this Ann's best work? No. That distinction, in her very distinguished career in the True Crime genre, goes to Small Sacrifices: A True Story of Passion and Murder . But a not-her-best Ann Rule is better than almost all the rest of the writers in this genre. Ann started in this grizzly biz by happenstance - she was working, just the cozy two of them, on an all-night helpline with a nice, bright, good looking young man. Imagine her surprise when that nice Ted Bundy - Yes, THAT Ted Bundy, was exposed as serial rapist/slayer. So she wrote a book about The Stranger Beside Me (Revised and Updated): 20th Anniversary - and she and we, the readers, found she had a knack for it. So, Ann's settled in to a routine - a full-length in-detail book and a "summary collection" of crimes that didn't make it to full book, every year. It's become a formulaic forensic science. In the big books, we learn about the crime. We learn the bios of the victim, the perp, and the Law & Order folk involved. Here - the bio of the vicitmS (with an eerie similarity in the crimes - albeit about 15 years apart.) Kind of like Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegone, where "the women are strong, the men are good looking, and all the children are above average," Rule's interviewees are all described as beautiful and handsome and Einstein-intelligent. This reviewer has speculated previously that this must be Ann's way of compensating them for their time spent with her and enticing future potential interviewees regarding crimes as yet to be reported by Rule. The reader is able to view these folk in the center photo pages to judge for her/him self. Which gets us to: Owen's Ann Rule: Unless you are the kind of reader who reads the last chapter/denouement of murder mysteries First, do not peek at those photos in the middle of the book until the Law & Order folk have got their man/woman - lest it ruin it all for you. Which gets me to one of my peeves - and why I'm not going to do it here: I HATE it when reviewers tell you everything that the author is going to tell you in the book - what then is the point of purchasing it?!? So, like I said several paragraphs ago, it's another fine entre in the Ann Rule oeuvre. To borrow a phrase from another Internet purveyor: Buy It Now! /TundraVision, Amazon TrueCrime Reviewer

All I can say is this book is truly an A+ effort and one of the finest from the Queen of True Crime - Ann Rule. No other author in this genre does what she does - making nonfiction read so smoothly just like a novel. The story here is very disturbing. How she finds these cases is amazing. But her intense, thorough research is obvious as the book is so meticulously written with no detail spared. And the people are all three dimensional and become very real. It's as if you are experiencing all this with them. This book is in no way gratuitous. I think it is important to see that evil does exist - not to glorify it - but to try to see in some way where it comes from and what triggers it. This book does that. It also warns us all to always be careful in our daily lives. Anne Rule is the best and brings true crime to an art form. I always treasure her full length novels. I understand they come out infrequently for she spends years doing the research. Give yourself the gift of quality writing and buy this exemplary book.

With so many positive reviews, there is no need for a lengthy review of "Too Late to Say Goodbye". There is a special feature here: TLTSG features not one but two murders. One is set in eastern Georgia, near Augusta, the other in an Atlanta exurb. The suspected perp is a young semi-successful dentist, Bart Corbin. Corbin is one of those guys readers may instantly dislike. AR is at her best here. The suspense is maintained far into the text. The authoress ably portrays both the careful investigation by the Georgia Law plus the pain felt by the two victimized families. This reviewer has railed about excessive verbiage in other true crime stories but no "sharp blue pencil" is needed here. The length is just about right. AR had a lot of material to deal with. As the header states, Ann fans should simply pounce on that "Add to Cart" button. New readers should be pleased but could always sample shorter AR works like "The I5 Killer" or "The Want Ad Killer" before proceeding. TLTSG is definitely one of the authoress' better efforts. That infamous "Ann Rule Rule" is definitely in effect here: The back cover and those centerfold photos divulge all. Skip them until the finish. The pictures do however, personalize the two tragic victims. How sad that these young women met their senseless demise as they did.

I read this book in two days. It’s an on the edge of your seat read. Excellent! I highly recommend.

I remembered this case. It was a a big case in Atlanta, my hometown. I can see his picture in the newspapers. He was arrogant and smug. The question in my mind is how could he ingratiate himself into these wonderful close knit families and friends and no one knew he was totally unstable? He must have been the consummate actor. I understand the initial reaction. It was love in its most basic form. It covered up the reality of what was underneath. I understand why these young naive girls would not realize it at first, but he was spending blocks of time with their families. He was abrasive, rude and sarcastic. But they kept saying he had a hateful sense of humor. He was a sociopathic narcissist in its truest form. No one stood up to him. Trust me. It’s the southern way. Please read this cautionary tale about letting your guard down. I don’t care how long you have been in a relationship with someone, do not close your eyes to their true behavior. When someone shows you who they are, BELIEVE THEM!

Ann Rule's meticulous research means that, as with all her books, we get an insight into the various personalities involved in the case. She's very skilled at pointing out the small personal quirk or even decorating style that makes us feel we know the victims & their killer. Where the book doesn't work for me is that despite this insight & compassion, she resolutely maintains a good/bad, black/white view of the world that doesn't quite jell with the facts she reveals. The killer, Bart Corbin, is so bad tempered, nasty, anal, & just plain crazy that it's hard to believe the two murdered women had anything to do with him. The author is so busy maintaining the "good girl" personae of the two unfortunate victims that we learn little of why they were happy to embark on relationships with him. This, for me, trivializes the tragedy of their deaths. Relying heavily on relatives of the victims for information on the killer's personality seems unwise. Who could be impartial in such circumstances? Despite the length of the book I learned little of the character & motivations of the killer. On the other hand, the persistence of the investigators in bringing him to justice is detailed in a fascinating & enthralling part of the story. I'd recommend this book, but with reservations as given above.

Ann Rule is simply the best true-crime writer around, not only because of her writing style but also because of her meticulous research into the lives of the psychopaths and narcissists who commit the crimes and their victims. She makes us understand not only how and why the crimes occurred but also why the victims became involved with the murderers and why they stayed for them until it was too late (very few of her books deal with stranger-to-stranger murders; most involve intimate partners). Here, the young wife of an Atlanta-area dentist is found shot dead in her bed, an apparent suicide...until it's discovered that one of the dentist's girlfriends had also died in almost exactly the same way. That death had been ruled a suicide - but the unbelievable coincidence ( a man loses two of the women in his life to self-inflicted gunshot wounds?) led to the first case being reopened. A compelling page-turner.

All Anne Rule books are well researched, written, and interesting. Name one that took you longer than 3 days. This one is no different. While it is great, and the story deserved to be told for the purpose of the memories of the victims, it is not the same intensity as Death By Sunset, 'Stranger..", or Everything She Ever Wanted. This is not due to the writing or research, merely due to the fact that Bart Corbin was just not a very interesting person. He was an egotisical, self-centered man, who thought he could get away with anything. This profile is not rare in true crime novels. Nevertheless, the story is interesting and worth reading.

Well written

This is the first of Ann Rule's books I have read, and it has really surprised me - the book is very well constructed and so well informed and researched that I could not wait to turn over the page to see what happened next. This is easily the best 'true crime' book I have read, with the exception of Joe McGinniss's Fatal Vision. I didn't think that the book was too long, either, I was gripped from start to finish. It may be of interest for people to know that a film of the same title has been made, with Rob Lowe as Bart Corbin. Unfortunately I don't think the film does the story justice, but Rob Lowe is very good in the part so I think it's a good accompaniment to the book.

Histoire vraie et intrigeante sur un homme qui se venge sur les femmes qui veulent l'abondonner. Deux femmes, deux histoires pareilles, qui par leur analogie sont finalement éclaircies. Ann Ruhe est une écrivaine qui cherche à comprendre les comportements déviants et criminels.

Product was received within the specified time and as described.

Great read would recommend it