A Whodunit where you already know the who, just trying to figure out the why. The story pits the murderer, Hayley, against DI Beverly Samuels as the investigator assigned to solve the murders. It was a very intriguing story line even if the writing seems a little inconsistent. It has a satisfying ending that redeems the story. The author has crafted a good story, execution was not as expected, but still liked the book.

Interesting read with a few disturbing characters. I enjoyed the twists and ending. Definitely worth giving a chance if you love this type of story!

I would like to thank Aria Publishing and the Netgalley website for this partnership.

I was immediately attracted to the cover and the catchphrase: "She was my best friend, so why did I kill her?"

We find Hayley there who at seventeen years old has a best friend Kirsten except that she has disappeared. She killed her, of course. Hayley is not wanted anywhere in her family and at school she is a stranger. Her best friend Kirsten pushes her away if she can't own her, then she has to make the worst decision of her life.

Inspector Beverley has Kirsten's body under her arms, which brings back painful memories that she is trying to forget. There is almost no evidence to get involved in this case.

For a first novel I think it is super well written, I love Susan Gee's pen, it takes us into a psychological thriller as I like them with suspense of the twist, a story that holds up well, endearing characters. Looking forward to reading another one of his books.

The first thing that grabbed me with this book was that it was a great cover. This book is a thriller with a teenage character. It sort of made me feel like it belonged in the youth section. Having said that i still thought it was an ok read.

A disturbing story about a very disturbed girl.

Hayley Reynolds is, on the surface, a normal teenage girl, studying at the local college, a bit of a misfit but with a few friends. She lives with her mother and her new boyfriend. We are told that her father has left the family not long after the death of her baby brother and Hayley misses him dreadfully. Her mother has had a succession of boyfriends all of whom Hayley detests and the latest one, Michael Lancaster, has just moved in with them.

However, right at the start of the book Hayley is down by the river with her best friend, Kirsten Green, who is unhappy due to being bullied by another student, Maxine Turner. Hayley decides to set her free by pushing her into the river and drowning her after removing her necklace as a keepsake. As a reader, we are horrified by this act, but to Hayley, this was a good thing to do to end her friend’s suffering. We are drawn into Hayley’s terrible world in so many different ways. Her manipulation of events is built up layer by layer. She befriends Kirsten’s grieving mother and then steals from her, she leads her mother’s boyfriend on, seduces him and blackmails him.

DS Beverley Samuels is the detective investigating the murder of Kirsten and strongly feels that Hayley is in some way involved but cannot find any proof and the case is eventually closed as a tragic accident. Beverley is also a troubled soul; she has recently managed to finish her relationship with Tom, an alcoholic, but he will not leave her alone. Beverley Samuels had had a good friendship with her fellow detective, Nick Oldman but this has been ruined due to a one night stand with him. Although he tries to be supportive of her, he feels that she is becoming obsessed with Hayley and her family.

Hayley then decides to kill Maxine in exactly the same way as she had Kirsten, but amazingly this is also classed as a suicide.

The way Hayley manipulates everyone around her is compulsive reading because it is possible to see how the events could actually happen through lies and gossip subtly spread.

There are two major twists at the end of this book that I did not see coming, and the conclusion is shocking, to say the least.

My only criticism of this book and hence the loss of a star is I thought it was a little too long and detailed and I was also left slightly unsatisfied by the character of DS Samuels. However, I can see the possibility of a sequel which I am sure would be as compelling as this book. Well worth a read.

Dexter

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review

Thankyou to NetGalley, Aria and the author, Susan Gee, for the opportunity to read a digital copy of Kiss Her Goodbye in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.
I thought this book offered a good read. I was intrigued with the storyline from the outset. I had to read this book in one sitting. 3.5 stars
Well worth a read.

This book is.... woah. It starts off with a bang and you follow the mind of a dark, messed up girl. It was interesting the whole way through and had me rooting for a surprising character.

Hayley is a troubled young woman that is even darker than she appears. Is everything that comes out of her mouth a lie, or are there actually truths thrown in? She just might meet her match when Beverly comes into the picture and starts looking into death, mysteries, and secrets.

The book introduces us to Hayley Reynolds a teenager who appears to have it all together on the outside but is chilling on the inside. The term psychopath definitely comes to mind with her! Hayley feels like an outsider and unwanted at home and this just feeds her psycho side. Then we’re introducing to detective Beverly Samuels who is still haunted by a past case where she feels like she missed something . Detective samuels is investigation the murder of a girl named Kristen’s murder who is a student at Hayley’s school and detective samuels believes Hayley is hiding something . I definitely feel like this book is aimed for younger crowd due to the characters and I felt like this book I couldn’t connect with any of the characters due to that fact.

This book is written from the perspectives of the murderer Hailey and Beverly the policewoman hunting the killer. Hailey is a disturbed girl who manipulates people into believing what she wants them to. Will she manipulate her way out of having her dark side revealed? An enjoyable suspenseful read. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy. #susangee #kisshergoodbye #goodreads #litsy #tea_sipping_bookworm #netgalley

I'm not going to lie - this is a gorgeous cover.  It's initially what drew me to the book in the first place.  Which is a good thing becuase it made me want to read the blurb and the blurb intrigued me enough to request the book from Netgalley.  

Hayley Reynolds is quite a character.  Half the time you don't know if she's lying or being truthful, although you figure out quite quickly that she's not very trustworthy.  It was annoying in so many ways for the first half of the book, this constant lying and then retracting.  But, as you find out more and more about her history - her mother's 'illness' and the reasons why her father left - the pieces begin to fall into place.  By the end, when you find out the truth about the baby, I almost felt sorry for her.  Almost, becuase she's rational enough to know that the things she's doing are wrong and does them anyway.  While it makes for a great story, it also makes it difficult for me to feel any sympathy for her.  

Beverly Samuels is another story.  While she is also a fascinating character, her motives are much easier to undestand.  The guilt she carries from a previous case cause her to overthink everything she and everyone else says and does.  With her previous inaction having resulted in a teenaged girl dying, she's determined to not make the same mistake again.  Sadly, her narrow-minded approach causes something much worse to happen this time around.  While she's not totally at fault, Hayley's quite believable when she wants to be, if she'd had a bit of a more open-minded approach, maybe she would have seen the truth sooner.  

Both Hayley and Beverly are a mess emotionally, although their reasons are very different from each other.  Hayley's lies and Beverly's obsession with finding the truth lead the two into a convoluted dance of truth and falsehoods.  At times, this back and forth between them, as well as Hayley and her mother's boyfriend, Mike, cause the story to drag.  The characters are too busy scene setting to move the plot along.  I wasn't sure why some of the characters were even there, honestly.  That said, the premise was fascinating.  The idea of a teenaged psychopath is terrifying and lends to a dark, intense story.  Despite not wanting to dream a sixteen-year-old is capable of the things Hayley does, in today's world, it's all too believable.

First we meet Hayley Reynolds a teenager who appears to be calm and quiet on the outside but terrifyingly chilling on the inside. We get a good look inside her disturbing and manipulating mind and she makes for a fascinating psychopath. Hayley feels like an outsider and unwanted at home and that only makes her even more dangerous. I was intrigued by her and starting turning those pages as fast as I could.

Then we meet DI Beverley Samuels who is haunted by painful memories of a case where she missed some things. She is determined not to make the same mistakes again and I started to question if this affected her judgement.

At times I really enjoyed the dynamics here between the characters and the game Hayley plays here to manipulate her innocence and keep the finger from pointing to her. At times it was exciting, tense and entertaining but I did become weary with the back and forth between them and the pace slowed down a bit for me. Things did pick up for me again near the ending and I really enjoyed how it all came together. That ending was chilling and a bit unsettling and I didn’t see it coming.

I recommend this one to readers looking for something a little different here with a teenage psychopath and a DI with the case that haunts her. Just a heads up it does have a little juvenile drama at time.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Aria, and Susan Gee for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a review.

This book starts off with a chilling and gripping beginning. A few twists and shocks that will pull you into the book and have you flipping the pages as you read more. Hayley is a teenager who is clearly troubled, and is facing many issues she has to deal with, which she appears to be struggling with. I found the main character Hayley to not be very likeable as a character. She seemed calculating, mean, dishonest, and had a dark side. Most of the characters in the book, actually, were unlikable and the only one I actually liked in the novel was DI Beverley Samuels.

Hayley’s character gave me the chills as she was quite disturbed and the things she said and the things she did – wow! The girl had issues! Hayley seems to be a psychopath who enjoys lying, deceiving and manipulating others, and making them believe what she wants them to believe. Almost as if she is the master and she is manipulating all of her puppets.

The ending of this book, wow, it was brilliant! There were a few other ways the ending could have went and I suspected a couple of them would likely happen. So it wasn’t that much of a surprised to me to see it end the way that it did, but the ending was so good. You’ll just have to read the book for yourself to see which way the ending goes! 🙂

4 stars! Hauntingly atmospheric, suspenseful and unsettling.

This dark and chilling story follows Hayley Reynolds, a teenage girl who feels unwanted. With a highly unstable homelife, troubled childhood and very few acquaintances at school, Hayley is often left on her own, her dark and disturbing thoughts the only thing to keep her company. One day, Hayley makes an unsettling decision that changes her life, along with everyone in her small town.

DI Beverley Samuels is on the case in Hayley’s town to find answers to a young girls’ disappearance. However, Beverley is deeply haunted by a past case. She can’t get over the young girl’s murder – it preoccupies her every thought. This story really opened my eyes to how damaging a past case can be on a police detective. Beverley suffered from an extreme sense of guilt related to missing some critical pieces of information on a case – it consumed her.

This novel unfolds through Hayley and Beverley’s perspectives in alternating chapters. I found both narratives equally intriguing. The author, Susan Gee, did an excellent job immersing us into each character’s mindset, the tension building in each chapter. I felt chills creep up my spine at several points throughout this book. There was such a dark and unnerving tone to this story – I felt completely drawn into the unsettling and eerie atmosphere.

This was a Traveling Sister read with Brenda and Norma.

Thank you to NetGalley, Aria and Susan Gee for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Kiss Her Goodbye is available now!

3.5 Stars! Enjoyable, entertaining, and a highly compulsive read!

KISS HER GOODBYE by SUSAN GEE is a haunting, chilling, disturbing and dark psychological crime thriller novel that features quite the nasty, sinister and manipulative teenage psychopath.

The opening chapter was quite distressing and made me feel a little uncomfortable but once I got through that chapter and into the mindset of this brilliantly portrayed psychopath then I was totally consumed in this novel and couldn’t put it down.

SUSAN GEE delivers an intriguing, unsettling, and sometimes repetitive read here with one of the most disturbing main characters that I have ever read. Even the supporting cast of characters weren’t all that likeable or endearing. The whole sordid tale in general was so irresistible and totally grabbed my attention but I would say though that the tone of the novel was a little juvenile at times. Although I really think it reflected the characters well in this story though.

There were some aspects of this novel that did have me questioning what I was reading but it didn’t bother me at all though. One of the things was changing my mindset that college in the UK wasn’t how we perceive college to be in Canada. So I did have to remind myself that college in the UK starts at the age of 16 and typically ends when they are 18 so therefore some of the logistics and scenes in this novel were a little distracting but really not all that much though. Just made me pause a time or two and then continued on.

What made this novel really stand out was the manipulation and deceptive nature of the characters as well as how Susan Gee manipulated that deception into the plot. Very impressive!

Norma’s Stats:
Cover: Ominous, eye-catching, and intriguing. A good representation to storyline but maybe a little bit deceiving.
Title: Intriguing, suspenseful, and an extremely fitting representation to storyline.
Writing/Prose: Straightforward, captivating, and repetitive but oh so alluring though.
Plot: Dark, disturbing, engrossing, fast-paced, held my attention fully and extremely entertaining.
Ending: Shocking, disturbing, and satisfying. I was extremely pleased with the outcome even though it wasn’t necessarily a happy one.
Overall: The book was just as disturbing as the characters were which made this an exciting and gripping read! Would recommend!

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Aria, and Susan Gee for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a review.

This book was good and I enjoyed the main character and thought she was very well developed

I found the plot line easy to follow and it was nice to have a younger 'villain' - I can see this book appealing to those who like YA reads as well as those who enjoy psychological thrillers. The writing style was good and I enjoyed the flow of the book.

3.5 stars from me for this one, rounded up to 4 stars from Amazon and Goodreads!

Loved the twist! It just seemed to take a long time to get there ...

When Kirsteen Green rebuffs Hayley Reynolds' friendship, her life comes to an abrupt end. Shockingly, Hayley continues with her day-to-day life as if nothing has happened.

The case of missing girl Kirsteen lands on the desk of DI Beverley Samuels, and right away she has the feeling that it isn't going to end well. Bringing back memories of a similar previous case which has haunted her ever since, Beverley vows not to let this one go the same way. But is that experience interfering with this investigation?

This is a very different kind of read; a psychological thriller where we are inside the mind of both the killer and the investigating officer. The thought that there are teenagers around like Hayley is, quite frankly, terrifying. DI Samuels isn't as detached an officer as she should be and the result is a book that makes you wonder where it's going to end up. The ending, when it comes, is startling and shocking! I certainly didn't see that coming!

Although the conclusion was gratifying, the story itself doesn't seem fully plausible. I'm a bit of a purist and very little rang true about Beverley Samuels' investigation. Whilst the finale is certainly stunning, I'm just not sure about the methods - or lack of them - which led us there. Perhaps I read too many crime thrillers involving official methods!

My thanks to publisher Aria for my copy via NetGalley and for inviting me to take part in this blog tour. This is my honest, original and unbiased review.

2.5 stars

"I killed Kristen Green."

Hayley Reynolds is a 17-year-old who lives with her Mother and her Mother's boyfriend, Mike. Her father left soon after the death of her baby brother, leaving her to be raised by her Mother. Hayley keeps to herself and often thinks about her father and their shared time together enjoying photography. She had a "secret" best friend named Kristen. I say secret because no one seems to know that they were best friends- not their Mothers, not other students, and not the police. Possibly Kristen didn't even know that she was Hayley's best friend.

DI Beverley Samuels and her partner are called in to investigate Kristen's murder. Immediately DI Samuels begins to feel that Hayley is holding something back and that something is not quite right with Hayley or perhaps at Hayley's home life. With so little to go on, DI Samuels doesn't know who to believe. Plus, she is haunted by a previous case which weighs heavily on her mind.

Well, shoot! This book was not for me. The main character seems as if she is much younger than college age. All the college students do as a matter of fact. Plus, we are told she is seventeen-years-old. I was still in high school when I was seventeen. Which led me to wonder, in countries other than America is high school ever referred to as "College"? Because I had a lot of issues with this book talking about her being in college but everything feeling as if this book is really set in high school. For instance in this book they have an assembly at college. I had them in high school not college. Plus, again the main character behaved like a petulant child and not like a young woman in college. Yes, could she be emotionally stunted from the experience of losing her baby brother, her parent's divorce, being an outcast? Absolutely, 100 percent yes, she could be. I just wished this would have been fleshed out more, then I think her character would have been more believable to me.

The Author has a good premise here. A teenage psychopath who may or may not outsmart the police. Will she get away with murder, etc. The main character is a psychopath and usually I feel one way or another about those characters. I either loathe them or love to hate them, kwim? But in this book, I was apathetic. That is something I would usually lap up. There are some good parts of the book and there is a twist. I enjoyed the ending.

It's very rare that I rate a book lower than a 3, but this one just didn't work for me. I would encourage people to read all the reviews and decide for yourself. There are some glowing reviews for this book.

Thank you to Aria and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

Unfortunately, this book was not for me. I could not stand the writing style and was unable to even get into it enough to enjoy it and finish it, will use in a challenge and let Chapter Chatter Pub members know it's being released. Although, I found it to be written in a very weird manner.

Kiss Her Goodbye by Susan Gee is one of those books that starts off with a bang and doesn't let up until the last page has been turned. I picked it up one night before bed, and it was all I could do to put it down at a semi-reasonable hour so I could get some sleep. In short, it's just the thing for fans of twisty psychological thrillers.

Seventeen-year-old Hayley Reynolds feels like an outsider in pretty much every aspect of her life. She's ridiculed at school, and her mother is too wrapped up in her new boyfriend to pay much attention to Hayley's wants or needs. Fortunately, Hayley has found a true friend in Kirsten Green, one of the more popular girls at school, and she's managed to convince herself that life will soon start to look up for her.

When Kirsten snubs her, Hayley is filled with a mixture of fury and self-loathing. She can't understand why her one and only friend turned against her, but she's determined not to let it happen again. To this end, she arranges to meet Kirsten in an out-of-the-way spot, where the two girls can supposedly talk and sort out their differences. Moments later, Hayley heads for home, and Kirsten is never heard from again.

Detective Inspector Beverley Samuels can't figure out what to make of the body that washes up on the bank of a local river. Kirsten Green was reported missing, but Beverley and her superiors were pretty sure she'd just run away and would return of her own accord before too long. Now though, Beverley is being forced to reconsider everything she thought she knew about this case, for it seems that someone is playing a very dangerous game, and it's up to Beverley to put a stop to it before another victim is claimed.

Unfortunately, Beverley isn't operating at the top of her game. She's still reeling from a recent case that went horribly wrong, and no matter how hard she tries to keep the Green investigation in some kind of perspective, she is continually haunted by her fears of letting down another young girl. Her partner urges her time and time again to seek professional help, but Beverley is unable to heed his warnings. Soon, her investigation into Kirsten's death is consuming her every waking hour, and she's at risk of losing her job and perhaps her life.

We know right from the start who is responsible for Kirsten's death, but of course, Beverley isn't privy to this information. Often times, this kind of set-up falls flat for me, and I find myself growing bored pretty early on, but this wasn't at all the case here.  Hayley and Beverley are engaged in a thrilling game of cat-and-mouse, and I loved watching Beverley struggle to piece together what really happened to Kirsten while Hayley tries desperately to stay one step ahead of her.

I was intrigued by Hayley from the start. She's not a likable character, but she is someone I couldn't help but feel sorry for. It's obvious she just wants to be loved, valued, and understood, but no one is able to give her what she needs. Obviously, none of this justifies her actions, but knowing what motivated her did help me understand why she acted in such a reprehensible manner.

Beverley is also quite fascinating, but I did find myself growing frustrated by some of her behavior. She seemed incapable of learning from her past mistakes, and I got tired of watching her get herself into trouble time and time again. I wanted her to move on from the past and start focusing on her future, but it took her quite a while to start moving in a positive direction. Even so, I found her dedication to her job to be admirable, even if she didn't always make the best choices.

If you're looking for a creepy read to keep you company as the days get shorter, you could do far worse than Kiss Her Goodbye. It's a story that's sure to remain with me for a long time to come, and, for me, that's the mark of an author who really knows her craft.

Buy it at: Amazon/Barnes & Noble/iBooks/Kobo