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

by Ann Rule

2007

Status

Checked out

Publication

Pocket Books (2007), 448 pages

Description

Jenn Corbin appeared to have it all: two dear little boys, a posh home in an upscale suburb of Atlanta, expensive cars, a plush houseboat, and a husband--Dr. Bart Corbin, a successful dentist--who was tall, handsome, and brilliant. But gradually their life together began to crumble. There was talk of seeing a marriage counselor. Bart was distraught; Jenn seemed disenchanted. Then Jenn was found dead with a bullet in her head, a revolver beside her. From the position of the body her death appeared to be a suicide. But the detective was not totally convinced, nor was Jenn's family. And was this death related to another apparent suicide fourteen years earlier--that of a student who had dated Bart Corbin in dental school? Or was the answer to be found in a secret--even dangerous--relationship Jenn Corbin was having outside her marriage?--From publisher description.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member bcquinnsmom
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,
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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.
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LibraryThing member pwagner
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.
LibraryThing member ylazear
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.
LibraryThing member TamiHindes
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,
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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.
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LibraryThing member mahallett
okay but not that great. how did he ever get away with dolly? who else knows 4 murder victims?
LibraryThing member selenacate
Always a great read.
LibraryThing member acorley84
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
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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!
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LibraryThing member Suzanne_Mitchell
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
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"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
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LibraryThing member MikeBiever
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.
LibraryThing member bookbrig
Engrossing and a relatively quick read. This is the first book I've read by Rule, and her style reminded me of watching old episodes Unsolved Mysteries.
LibraryThing member Dianekeenoy
Riveting! Even after all this time.

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

2007

Physical description

448 p.; 4.19 inches

ISBN

0743460510 / 9780743460514

Barcode

1600809

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