Rating: 
Summary: Kiss the Girls
Review: Advertising executive Patterson doubles neither our pleasure nor our fun by giving us two intense, Hannibal Lecter-type murderers for the price of one in an improbable and hopelessly derivative mess of a thriller. Feds and local authorities on both coasts are baffled by a pair of serial killers targeting beautiful young women: The Gentleman Caller works the scene in sunny L.A., where he brutally murders and dismembers his prey; his counterpart back East, who calls himself Casanova, trolls the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area for sexy coeds to victimize. Their MOs provide plenty of fodder for an author trying to cook up a work of psychological terror: Both are powerful, handsome, brilliant (natch), commit perfect crimes, and, despite their busy schedules, manage to keep in touch with each other. To catch them, you obviously need a perfect crime fighter. Enter Alex Cross, the Washington, D.C., detective/psychologist hero of bestselling Along Came A Spider (1993), who gets dragged into all this after his niece Naomi, a student at Duke University, vanishes. Working with the authorities and a medical student named Kate McTiernan, who was lucky enough to escape Casanova's clutches, Cross begins to understand how the two dueling psychos operate. Just in the nick of time, too, because the Gentleman Caller, on the run from the law out West, decides that nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina with his old buddy Casanova. So, what does Cross, whose favorite niece is now in the clutches of two sickos, do? Fall in love with Kate McTiernan, of course, in an ill-placed romantic subplot intended to raise the stakes in the deadly cat-and-mouse game. Does Cross save Naomi? Are the two killers brought to justice or, at the very least, consigned to gory demises? Who cares? As a storyteller, Patterson is a great ad copywriter.
Rating:
Summary: "If he comes back, we tangle."
Review: When I read the Amazon review for this book, I was very surprised to see that amazon apparently didn't like it. The reviewer called it "an improbable and hopelessly derivative mess of a thriller." Don't let this steer you away from 'Kiss the Girls'. Sure, Patterson's style of short chapter, minimalistic, fast paced writing isn't exactly normal, but it's not bad-it's just whether you personally like it or not. Amazon obviously didn't.
Amazon also says "Patterson doubles neither our pleasure nor our fun." Thank God he didn't, this book was already so intense that doubling it would possibly have made me the world's youngest heart attack victim. Patterson never lets up the tension, not for a second. I literally couldn't read it fast enough, I needed that badly to know what would happen in the next chapter, the next page, the next sentence. This is my first James Patterson book (I picked it up on a whim in the library), but it is far from my last. And as a testament to how great the plot of this book was, and how greatly Patterson weaved the tale, I'll tell you what I did after finishing 'Kiss the Girls'...I read it again. The only time I've ever read the same book twice in a row like that. It's more than worth it though, because after you know who the killer is, going back and rereading is fun just to notice all the little clues and hints that you didn't pick up on the first time (and trust me, you won't figure it out before the killer is revealed). This is a good book for pretty much anyone. I've been trying to ween my mom off of the Danielle Steele romance ... she reads, and gave this to her to read. She loved it and has read two other Alex Cross books. So read this even if it's not what you normally like to read.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful and Gripping
Review: I actually couldn't go to sleep because I had to see what happened next. I am very impressed with the book because it was tons better than the movie, they usually are. It was shocking at times and even down right scary at the thought of this happening to these girls. This is quick reading because it flows so well. Awesome book.
Rating:
Summary: U have to read the best book...and yur in the right place to
Review: I borrowed Along Came A Spider from my friend. When I finished i was satisfied to keep going. So I bought Kiss The Girls. From page 1-458 I was COMPLETLEY satisfied!!! I hope the movie didnt ruin the BOOK!! Detective Alex Cross is back from putting soneji away. He's on to something bigger and better. When he arives at his house his entire familys there! SOBING! who's not there? he thinks, who? who? WHO!!!!????? His inteligent loving niece, Naomi. But why? why? why? She had been kidnapped in NC! By who? Alex is the man for the job!!! After no clue, after no, no clue!!! Kate shows up! after being one of the kidnapped chain of women in "The Hell House". She had gotten away from the CASANOVA. In LA "THE GENTALMEN CALLER" seems to a copy cat. NO!! did they have a connection, yes! NO DOUBT YOU WILL LOVE THIS CAOST-COAST KILLING SPREA PAGE FLIPPER!!!
Rating:
Summary: U Dah Man
Review: This is the master at work, Patterson's finest book. Everything about the book is right--the dialogue, the social commentary, the bond between the two sickos, the suspense, the thrill ride, even the short little chapters and the shifts in point of view. Here is what Mr. Patterson should do before writing another book: re-read this one. When you write like this, U Dah Man, Jimmy. U Dah Man.
Rating:
Summary: You will want to sleep with the lights on!
Review: This second in the Alex Cross series is better than the first. I was much more intrigued and definitely more spooked by the criminal element in this book. As anyone who has read an Amazon book review by me knows I don't give away very many plot details or a synopsis of the book-better writers than I create more detailed reviews that include them. Alex Cross is an absolutely fascinating character and I can't wait to read more in this series. In this book the characters are explored more fully than the first book and you may get so scared that you sleep with your lights on! The book also makes you think about those twisted members of our society who walk around under the aegis of "normalcy" and have secret lives that we know nothing about but if we did? We'd run like hell if we saw them coming.
I particularly liked the character of Kate McTiernan which was played to perfection by Ashley Judd in the movie version.
Sometimes it is better to read the book first then see the movie but in the case of Kiss the Girls I think it's better to see the movie first then "flesh out the details" with the book. I hope more movies will be made with Morgan Freeman as Alex Cross and that James Patterson keeps them coming for a long time.
Rating:
Summary: Breezy, suspenseful and a little bit dumb
Review: This book is a very unique blend of those first two adjectives. While Patterson writes in 3-page chapters that can be devoured in minutes, it is clever and kept me guessing until the end (almost). It is pretty graphic despite the roughly 6th grade reading level and it's hard to get out of your head. But the antics become dumb near the end and the crime is resolved far before the book is. Patterson would do well to eliminate the entire last sequence of baiting the bad guy and ending it definitively earlier. Psychologically, the book explores some interesting issues, notably the twinning between Casanova and the Caller. All in all, it's worth your time and money, but don't be expecting a classic.
Rating:
Summary: Kiss The Girls
Review: James Patterson is one of the best authors I have come across.
The whole Alex Cross series is heartpounding. I could not put the book down. I recommend everyone read the Alex Cross series.
Rating: 
Summary: A FLAWED THRILL RIDE
Review: This book is fast-paced, I'll give it that much, but there wasn't much to sink your teeth into. Fans of Alex Cross will enjoy the continuity, but this book is nowhere near the level of, say, Jeffrey Deaver at his best. The author was fairly begging to have the screen rights bought when he wrote this, with completely unrealistic scenes like Alex clinging to the top of a speeding car on a California freeway, then sailing off the top over (3-4??) lanes of traffic, barely suffering a few scratches and bumps! The Gentleman Caller was probably the more interesting of the two criminals, but we meet him just as his attempted capture begins. Casanova, however, appears regularly throughout the book, ad nauseam (in more ways than one), to the point where you'll just want him to go away! The scene with the warm milk was so ridiculous - where did the author come up with this gratuitous junk? And, as in the first Alex Cross book (Along Came a Spider), you'll wonder how in the world a man is able to spend so much time planning, executing, and following up on his crimes, while still holding down a full-time job and being married??? Don't these wives suspect anything at all? Don't these criminals ever sleep? To plan perfect abductions with absolutely no forensic evidence left behind must require some periodic shut-eye. The heroine of the story must be some tough cookie, since she escapes after being drugged, raped, beaten, and held underground, but still manages to leap off a cliff into a shallow river and escape. Those must be some drugs. Finally, the whole kidnapping of Alex Cross' niece made no sense at all to the story. Did the killer want Alex to begin investigating? If not, why does he suddenly kidnap an African-American woman after choosing only white women? How does Alex manage all this time off from his regular job? It looks like this was just the author's way of having the story take place in an area outside Alex's usual stomping grounds. I have to say, though, I do like the Nana Mama and Sampson characters, but the story line is just too thin, with too many requisite "suspension of beliefs". Way too many
Rating:
Summary: Best Way to Enjoy this Book is the Audio Version
Review: My husband and I listened to this book on the drive from Dallas to Austin, Texas. We were on the last side of the last tape when we arrived at our daughter's house and, as much as I wanted to see my daughter and son-in-law, I wanted to hear the end of the story right then. Chris Noth and Robert Guilliame give a compelling performance. Noth makes the bad guys sound really spooky and scary and Guilliame makes Alex sound both smart and vulnerable. A lot of the book's shortcomings are diminished or, at least, not so noticeable in the audio version. Listening to this abridged version gives you the essence of Patterson in a most entertaining format.
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