____________________________
REVIEWS
"Guthrie writes with an urgency,
energy, cynical realism and mastery of casual violence that is rarely
encountered in British crime writing" Marcel Berlins, The Times
Full
Review
"delectably nasty"
Ruth Gutman, New York Post
Full Review
"... prose and scenes are lean and sharp, built for speed, built for
excitement, with characters who immediately make an impact as forceful as a
baseball bat through a car windscreen."
Calum Macleod, Shots Magazine
Full
Review
"This tough, uncompromising crime thriller grabs the reader's attention
from the first page and does not let hold of its grip until the
final...Recommended for fans of quality hardboiled fiction"
Canberra
Sunday Times
"Hard-hitting story
with plenty of excitement"
The Bournemouth Echo
"...a master storyteller" FishComCollective
Full
Review
"This book impressed me in a
whole lot of ways..."
Ron Fortier, Paperback Bazaar
Full Review
"...a good solid slice of
gritty urban noir"
Bullet
Magazine
"...a good book, well worth
the read."
Megan Powell
Full
Review
"This intense, well-written mystery -- featuring a wide and deep cast of
characters and a complex situation -- is a worthy offering in the noir field and
well worth your time."
Kevin Tipple, The Readers Room
Full Review
"Guthrie is a fiend
with his pen ... [Kiss Her Goodbye has] enough violence and pathos to satisfy
even the most jaded crime reader, and it offers solid insight into the
realization that everybody is crazy, no matter where you live." Craig's
Book Club
Full
review"
Kiss
Her Goodbye
moves fast, and there are plenty of interesting characters to meet along the
way. My favorite is Tina, a prostitute who can handle a baseball bat almost as
well as Joe. (Check out that great cover.) The climax is as nerve-wracking as
anybody could ask for."
Bill Crider
Full
review
"Guthrie builds characters a
bit more complex than the familiar Brit-noir toughs"
Kerry J. Schooley
Murder
Out There
Full Review
|
____________________________
REVIEWS
"A virtual classic that takes
the genre to its pared-back, squealing limit. The writing is tight, the story as
poised and precisely plotted as the finest of Ed McBain's procedural gems.
Guthrie's control of this dark material is sheer wizardry. Every detail earns
its keep, every slyly placed punctuation mark is a perfectly weighted tic in the
slipstreamed unfurling"
Tom Adair, The Scotsman
Full Review
"a gripping tale of betrayal and deception"
Marie Jenkinson,
Waterstone's Books Quarterly
"...this dark and violent tapestry will absorb you"
Sydney
Morning Herald
"Guthrie adroitly shifts
suspicions and bends allegiances over the course of his assured second novel. In
a manner that recalls the best of James Ellroy's L.A. Quartet, unexpected
alliances are forged ... characterizations are deftly revised and the terrain
remains engagingly uncertain ... Guthrie's is a stellar sophomore turn and Kiss
Her Goodbye is the noir equivalent of a double dram of Talisker: silky
liquid lava to die for." Craig McDonald
This Week Newspapers
Full
Review
"...a masterpiece of noir"
Benjamin Boulden
Adventure
Fiction Magazine"
"A classic underworld story
that moves along fast"
Hobart Mercury
"...lives up to Hard Case's
reputation for gritty noir thrillers that pull no punches."
Publishers
Weekly
"Scottish
writer Allan Guthrie’s second novel, set in Edinburgh, is a page-turning
countdown to Joe’s violent explosion in his hunt for the person he believes is
behind Gemma’s death."
Giant Magazine
"Guthrie
has a nice clipped way with scenes that in this age of bloat usually go on far
too long. He gives you the moment, like a snapshot, and goes on to the next
moment. Don't confuse this with underplaying. It's playing just right." Ed
Gorman
"Kiss Her Goodbye is
very well done, the Scottish scene vividly depicted and the characters memorably
three-dimensional. Allan Guthrie has a bright -- or should I say dark? --
future in crime fiction. I look forward to reading more by him."
Bill Pronzini
"Kiss
Her Goodbye is one hell of a page-turner. I couldn't have turned those pages
any faster if Guthrie had put a gun to my head and said, "Turn those
fucking pages faster, you bastard."" Charlie Williams
|
____________________________
AND MORE REVIEWS
"I have seldom read a
faster-paced novel and the energy in Guthrie's prose drags the reader along by
the hair into an Edinburgh peppered with petty thugs, gangsters, whores and
hapless cops that is never less than compelling."
Doug Shepherd, The
Herald
"...a surprisingly
sophisticated and well crafted tale that subtly weaves in subplots and
observations of his characters that keep the suspense going until the final
chapters."
Brian Lindemuth, MysteryBookSpot
Full Review
"a minor noir classic"
Gary Lovisi, Crime Time
"...a truly magnificent and
expertly written masterpiece"
Dr Amanda Gillies, Lothian Life
Full
Review
"The simplicity of the
novel's family-centred plot gives ample room for the development of characters -
and they are very vivid, the whole of the central cast, tough and funny, as in
the first novel, but also moving and vulnerable in ways that make the reader
anxious for their safety."
Lee Horsley, Crime Culture
Full
Review
"Guthrie has this stuff
nailed."
Charlie Stella, Knucksline
Full
Review
"Kiss
Her Goodbye is tough-as-nails Scots noir. Deftly characterised, with witty
dialogue and a mean plot, Guthrie’s excellent second novel is lean, keen and
pure hardboiled heaven. Its rare that a British writer comes along who just
pulls you into his world so easily. But Guthrie leads you willingly with a
tough, no-nonsense style and the kind of easy-going storytelling ability missing
from so many new writers trying their damndest to break the marketplace
today." Russel D McLean
Crime Scene Scotland
Full
review
"Kiss
Her Goodbye is a slice of Scottish granite, hard and bitter as the dialect
of an Edinburgh public bar, dark as the news that Joe Hope receives on the very
first page. Allan Guthrie's style is the spectre of Jim Thompson, drenched in
Highland rain, soaked in whiskey that burns across the page. Like the master,
there is a wicked gallows humour that has you laughing nervously as your teeth
hurt from clenching them. Raw, vivid and so in your face you can smell the beer.
Cooper, Joe's employer, is the most fascinating thug to wield a bat since Lou
Ford stepped up to the plate. In 'panic flicker', he gives us a whole new
concept. The ending is a kick in the gut that is as shocking as it is haunting.
A novel with moments of compassion to shrieve the cold heart and a cast of
characters—Tina, Monkman, Park—who scream off the page. Joe asks, the
narrative asks, almost mockingly: can you be still? Not with this keg of
gelignite in your hands. Awesome." Ken Bruen
|
