Too Late to Say Goodbye

By Ann Rule

Written within a cloistered environment to protect sources that have yet to be identified, TOO LATE TO SAY GOODBYE is a chilling portrait of two beautiful, successful women whose murders were made to look like suicides. Jenn Corbin appeared to have it all: two little boys, a posh home in the suburbs of Atlanta, and a husband - Dr Bart Corbin, a successful dentist - who was handsome and brilliant. Then, in December 2004, Jenn was found dead with a bullet in her head, apparently by suicide. Only later would detectives learn that another woman in Dr Corbin's past had been found years earlier with nearly the exact same wound to the head, also ruled a suicide.

In TOO LATE TO SAY GOODBYE, Ann Rule - working in cooperation with victims' families, police investigators, and sources from Georgia to Australia - unravels the now-sensational deaths. What emerges is an incredible tale of jealous rage; of stunning evidence that runs from the steamy to the macabre; and of a fateful, mind-boggling coincidence that appears to have motivated the killings. The definitive unravelling of one of the strangest murder investigations of our time, this is the greatest achievement of a truly great writing career.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Release date: Sep 4, 2008
• ISBN: 9781847396068

Ann Rule

Ann Rule wrote thirty-five New York Times bestsellers, all of them still in print. Her first bestseller was The Stranger Beside Me, about her personal relationship with infamous serial killer Ted Bundy. A former Seattle police officer, she used her firsthand expertise in all her books. For more than three decades, she was a powerful advocate for victims of violent crime. She lived near Seattle and died in 2015.

Reviews for Too Late to Say Goodbye

[acorley84 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Ann Rule really took this story and captured me! Knowing that it was a true crime story, it left me with trying to do all of the research that I could possibly dig up on this case to find out what has happened since this book's release. It is so compelling! I really enjoyed her style of writing and believe that she truly captured the character's the best that she could to correctly identify them in real life. There was also a movie that came out, which I couldn't hesitate to find and watch and it was good but not nearly as factual and good as the book. It really laid out all of the details of the story and was just truly a great book! I will be sure to add Ann Rule as a must-read author from now on!

[mikebiever · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I'm a big fan of true crime mysteries and watch Dateline and 48 Hours often. Found this book browsing at Goodwill. Drawn by the fact that it is "true" and written by Ann Rule, it was a murder mystery involving a dentist. It was an easy read and grwat with coffee.

[pwagner_57 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I work at the Medical College of Georgia so was there while all this was happening. It's very frightening to think we could have students like this. True scary real story.

[bcquinnsmom · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Contemporary true crime is not something I normally read, but I needed an audiobook & it was handy. Sadly, I realized I'd bought an abridged version, so maybe stuff was left out that may have more fully fleshed out the story.Anyway, Too Late to Say Goodbye is the story of the death of Jen Corbin, wife of Dr. Brad Corbin. One December morning in 2004, Jen's son ran out to the neighbors telling them that his dad had shot his mom and that his mom was dead. While he hadn't actually seen the shooting with his own eyes, he had witnessed his father's bad treatment of his mother on different occasions in the past. When the police began their investigation, Corbin wouldn't even talk to them, much less come to the aid of his children, making him a pretty likely suspect to the police immediately. Rule goes through not only the investigation into Jen's murder, but also brings up another death done in the same fashion -- it was a woman Corbin had known while in dental school years earlier whose sudden death had been ruled a suicide, like Jen's murder had been first considered. Putting together the pieces of the lives of the major players, Rule's book traces the long and often twisted career of Corbin as well as the lives of the women who may have met death at his hands.If you like true crime, this is okay. She's done better -- for example, Small Sacrifices was excellent and really managed to give readers a most uncomfortable view of a very twisted woman. Ann Rule readers may like this one; to me it was just okay.

[mahallett · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

okay but not that great. how did he ever get away with dolly? who else knows 4 murder victims?

[suzanne_mitchell-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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

[ylazear_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I like Ann Rule's books. They are a little stilted at times and repeats the information multiple times but the author appears to investigate thoroughly and makes the victim's and killer's story seem real.

[tamihindes · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have a love hate relationship with Ann Rule's books. I love the genre - true crime and I love that she's so thorough, but sometimes her writing is to sterile, too police report-like. I know that she's trying to do justice to the facts, but sometimes her writing is just downright boring. Luckily, this book is one of her better books. Dr. Bart Corbin is a dentist with a dark side. No woman ever leaves him...voluntarily. His first girlfriend broke his heart and let loose a monster. When Dolly Hearn tries to break up with Bart, he methodically stalks her and sets out to make her appear unstable. She ends up dead. When his wife of 9 years finally gets the nerve to leave him, she ends up dead. The two deaths are similar in many ways. Rule does a good job of being fair and impartial to all in this book. She is a true reporter in that sense. One of the key problems I have with her writing in this book as in others is that I really don't care about the characters because they're treated so clinically. I think she needs to add more of a human touch to them, then the true horror of the crime is apparent. As it is, I know from the beginning that people are dead and I never have any true sense of fear for them. But as much as I find Rule's writing somewhat clinical, I keep going back because I like the subject matter.