Allan Guthrie

Kiss Her Goodbye by Allan Guthrie is a hard-boiled, gritty crime story set in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is difficult to find a single likeable character in this book, it is full of bad guys, bad women and bad cops. The main character, Joe Hope earns his living by being the muscle for a loan shark. He has just spend the night breaking bones with a baseball bat when he learns that his daughter, Gemma, has committed suicide. After arguing with his wife, Ruth, and desperately wanting someone to blame Joe flies to the Orkney Islands to confront his wife’s cousin, Adam, with whom his daughter had been staying but once. But once there is he arrested and charged with the murder of his wife who had been beaten to death and left in the trunk of his car.

Joe and Adam actually become unlikely allies as it becomes obvious that someone close to the family is trying to frame Joe. When Adam places Gemma’s diary in Joe’s hands, he immediately knows who he is seeking. Dark secrets emerge from the past and lead to an inevitable and brutal showdown.

Kiss Her Goodbye pulls no punches, the book is populated by rough, violent people who live on the fringe. The story is grim but it moves along at a rapid pace and amid the swinging bats and thrown punches the reader finds themselves involved in a classic pulp fiction story. With it’s tight narrative and thug-like characters this story about treachery was a fun and satisfying crime read.… (mere)