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

A charming and briliant dentist,
tied to two murders nearly two decades apart....
A twisting case in which past and present colide....

Go inside one of the most compelling double homicide investigations of our time with Ann Rule, who was given exclusive access inside the case of Bart Corbin, the "handsome twin" responsible for murder times two.

Bart Corbin appeared to share an idyllic life with his pretty wife, Jennifer: a home in an upscale Atlanta suburb, two adorable young sons. But there were secrets below the surface -- including an affair of Bart's that drove Jenn to look for love on the Internet -- that would prove deadly on the December morning Jenn was found with a single gunshot wound to her head. Police suspected suicide, but her disbelieving family knew Jenn had been excited to move on from Bart with someone she had met online. As disturbing clues emerged, a relentless county investigator dredged up a shattering revelation: fourteen years earlier, Bart Corbin's former girlfriend, lovely dental student Dolly Hearn, also died -- a gunshot wound to her head that was ruled a suicide. It was a chilling link in the chain that would ensnare the remorseless killer behind both tragic deaths: Bart Corbin.

And if you think you know everything about this outright shocking case, discover the truth behind the headlines -- and one incredible irony on which the entire case turned -- in

Too Late to Say Goodbye
 

Customer Reviews:

Adequate

Typical Ann Rule biases and opinions dot the presentation. Victims are presented as almost saintly and she chooses to ignore the fact that early investigators could have done more.

Rule even tosses out a missing person in another part of the country at the end of this book and tries to link the killer in this book to her, which, if anyone is familiar with that case, knows is incredibly off-the-wall.

But, this book seems to have been well researched and is an interesting read.

2008-10-06

The Dentist From Hell.

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.

2008-09-19

Can't help myself for reading this

Why do we read these true crime melodramas? For the same reason we gawk at car crashes. We can't help our voyeuristic impulses. And we are glad it's not us in the spotlight. This one looks at a Georgia murder where it was obvious the husband did it. The twist is he did once before, too, 14 years earlier, and almost got away with it. You won't learn anything here. You'll be entertained, if your idea of entertainment is reading about domestic murders. There's little doubt they got the right guy, at least in this account. The wife is a bit too beatified by the author, one suspects. And the husband is too evil to be true in this account. It's all black and white, but there must have been shades of gray. Just not here. Worth reading, though, because the author knows how to move the pages along.

2008-09-09

1st and last Ann Rule I will ever read

What a mess to read. Desperately in need of an editor and/or proofreader. Maybe 'true-crime' has lower standards for writing ability, but this book was a real chore. Extremely repetitive, excessively flowery and descriptive. Minimal suspense or insight. Why is this a story we need to read? Smacks of exploitation. According to the other reviewers not one of her best, but I will not give her a second chance.

2008-08-27

it's ok

I've read a lot of true crime novels and this one just seemed flat. It seemed more like a report than a story. And I was looking more for a story

2008-07-27