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| Always Say Goodbye: A Lew Fonesca Mystery (Lew Fonesca) | 
 enlarge | Author: Stuart M. Kaminsky
Publisher: Forge Books
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy New: $4.49
You Save: $9.46 (68%)
New (28) Used (18) from $0.15
Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 264026
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.9
ISBN: 0765318806
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780765318800
ASIN: 0765318806
Publication Date: November 27, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: BRAND NEW ............(Will be shipped out within 24 hours of purchasing)
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Product Description
Four years ago, Lew Fonesca’s wife Catherine was struck and killed in a hit-and-run. Grief-stricken, he fled to Chicago and wound up in Sarasota, Florida where he’s made a living as a process server. Four years on, he's still savoring his depression like fine wine, and his therapist--and sparring partner--has had enough. It's time, she tells Lew, to get on with his life. Time to go back to Chicago and find out what really happened to his wife.
Lew hates to admit it, but Ann Horowitz might be right. Even if it kills him, he has to know the truth about his wife's death. So he returns to his home, his family, his friends--and a mystery. He's resolved to dig until he finds out who killed his wife. In doing so, he'll uncover both sweet and painful memories of his past. He'll also confront a murderer who'll not hesitate to kill again to make sure hidden secrets stay buried.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 Kaminsky has done much better September 15, 2008
I've read all 5 of the Lew Fonesca series by Kaminsky. This book was by far my least favorite. I perused the other reviews and saw some comments that mirror my own thoughts: a) Don't read this book first (of the series) and preferably read them in order. b) I was very confused why Kaminsky chose to switch the writing person from first (all 4 other books) to third? I enjoyed Lew much more from the first person vantage point.
I hope he comes back for book number 6 with Lewis safely ensconced back in Sarasota.
 Well written, but where was the editor? March 16, 2008
I always enjoy Mr. Kaminsky's novels and this was no exception. His wonderful three-dimensional characters, his sparse, eloquent prose, and interesting plots are a pleasure.
Unfortunately, I kept getting distracted by the sloppy editing in this one: A character "nods" in disagreement, "Bernice" briefly becomes "Beverly" and then returns two pages later to being "Bernice" again, and a pretty blonde nine-year-old girl in the prologue turns into a homely, dark-haired thirteen-year-old at the end with no explanation.
The most disturbing error in continuity takes place between the previous Lew Fonesca novel ("Denial") where Lew says,
""I don't get headaches. ... I was cursed with almost perfect health."
Yet, one year later in "Always Say Goodbye", it is written:
"Then the headache came. Lew knew it would, expected it, almost welcomed it. ... Lew's family had a history of headaches. ... When he lived in Chicago with Catherine [four years prior], when the headaches came, he would strip to his undershorts and curl in the darkness on the cool tiles of the bathroom, his head on a bath towel."
How could Kaminsky forget this detail from one book to the very next? This is not an editing/proofreading error, but one resulting from carelessness by the writer. I'm beginning to think that this author is so prolific because he has a staff of ghost writers who don't bother to check details from previous works.
If there were any proofreaders or editors for this book, they were asleep on the job. Mr. Kaminsky should pay closer attention to his own details.
A Look at Guilt from the Bottom of the Depressive's Dark Well July 28, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is so dark you almost need antidepressive medicine to survive it. You'll find the darkness illuminated by occasional plot surprises, surprising confessions, and redeeming actions.
Process server and sometime problem solver Lou Fonseca pulls himself out of his deep depression over his wife's death to return to Chicago to find who killed her four years earlier. With the help of his family and former colleagues, Fonseca makes good progress as his steps are dogged by watchers. Bracketing that Chicago search in the book is a Florida experience with serving court papers that leads to an acquaintance with a sleazy character who needs a problem sorted out in the book's end.
If someone killed your spouse and disappeared from sight, what would you do? How would you feel? Those are just two of the compelling questions that will fill your mind as you read Always Say Goodbye. But what if you got your hands on the person? What then?
There are so many good things in this book; it's hard to disrespect it. But in places the plot takes huge leaps that seem largely disconnected from any prior hints. I found myself wondering what was going on when that happened. That broke the dark mood as I wondered what I had missed. It's a shame. To work, the story didn't need to pull large rabbits out of the hat.
Be sure you always leave your loved ones with a smile on their faces.
Not quite up to the others July 3, 2007
I've read all of Stuart Kaminsky's novels that I could get my hands on, and in general I've admired them very much--with less admiration for the Russian series. This book, of the very good Lew Fonesca series, is a bit below the others, and I'm not quire sure why.
The plot is certainly twisted intricately enough to my satisfaction. There is sufficient oddball humor. The characters the little Italian process server meets are quirky, as they always are in a Kaminsky novel. I have no quarrel with the reality and atmosphere of Chicago and environs. The dialogue is first rate, as usual. But somehow I miss Sarasota, the DQ, and the elderly Jewish psychologist who treats, after a fashion, Fonesca's depression, his self-destructive behavior, his surrender.
Fonesca does return to Sarasota briefly at the end and takes the case of the ex-dog fight promoter's kidnapped daughter. What it has to do with the rest of the story is a bigger mystery than the girl's disappearance. The book starts with the dog fight owner and ends there. In between is a wholly different matter.
Others have gone into the plots in more detail than one should in a review. Lengthy plot outlines are for book reports, to prove to the teacher that you read the book. Suffice it to say that Fonesca is on a quest to find the hit and run driver who killed his wife--four years ago. Which begs the question, "Why now and not then?" There's an answer but not a good one. Fonesca's quest soon gets out of hand, owing to a series of misunderstandings that divert him into dangerous situations. And I should have liked that sort of twist series more than I did.
 One of Lew Fonesca's Best Stories May 13, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The title says it all. This time Lew returns to Chicago, the place where his wife was killed. The storyline moves away from the typical Lew Fonesca novels. In this one, he and his family are personally involved. Stuart Kaminsky is one of my favorite authors, and I recommend anything written by him.
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