Home :: Books :: Audiocassettes  

Arts & Photography
Audio CDs
Audiocassettes

Biographies & Memoirs
Business & Investing
Children's Books
Christianity
Comics & Graphic Novels
Computers & Internet
Cooking, Food & Wine
Entertainment
Gay & Lesbian
Health, Mind & Body
History
Home & Garden
Horror
Literature & Fiction
Mystery & Thrillers
Nonfiction
Outdoors & Nature
Parenting & Families
Professional & Technical
Reference
Religion & Spirituality
Romance
Science
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Sports
Teens
Travel
Women's Fiction
Kisscut : A Novel

Kisscut : A Novel

List Price: $25.95
Your Price: $17.13
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 4 5 6 >>

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fast Read
Review: I enjoyed this book tremendously. I first became aware of this author when I read A Thin Cold Fear. Didn't realized till then that it was one out of a series. I've since gone back and read them in order. I really enjoyed each book. While this story did have some disturbing subjects--incest,child pronography&abuse, etc.,--I knew that going in. The author did a great job of keeping the suspense going and the surprises coming. Can't say too much without giving them away though. I also have gotten into the relationship between Sara and her ex-husband cum boyfriend/lover Jeffrey, the sherriff. Each new installment is like a new episode of my favorite soap opera. I love how their relationship just won't die. I also love the interaction between Sara and her family. Nothing like being a doctor/coroner and still have your mother treat you like you're a teenager, and your dad calling you "baby". Personally, I'd buy the book all over again and will definitely re-read the series again later on. Can't wait for the next book!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Shocking and page turner
Review: I enjoyed this book. I could not sleep one night so I started this book. Big mistake!! Read till 2am. Good plot and worth the money.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Unrelenting Horror
Review: I found Karen Slaughter's first book, "Blindsighted," so repugnant that I felt I owed her another chance. "Kisscut," which concerns the same characters as the first book, is better, but Slaughter has a long way to go.

... The plot concerns an unspeakable cadre of pedophiles who have wormed their way into the town where pediatrician/medical examiner Sara Linton, her ex-husband Jeffrey, the police chief, and Jeffrey's assistant, Lena, all live and work.

Sara is a bit more likeable in this book, although I still have trouble believing in her double career (...). Jeffrey has become a great deal softer in this book, and Lena,..., has turned from tough to terrorized. Now the three protagonists are drawn into the equally graphic and gruesome doings of the pedophiles, part of a seemingly nationwide group of child molesters and rapists.

The reader is not spared any of the hideously gruesome tortures inflicted on some of the child victims--and in my view, as in the first book, this aspect of the story is way overdone... The perpetraors in "Kisscut" are not that hard to figure out, but the story of how they are found out and investigated makes for a fairly good read.

The worst problem that Karen Slaughter has as a writer is not her plots, but her thoroughly unbelievable characters. None of the protagonists--or the villains, for that matter--rings true. There is not enough characterization or explanation to make their kneejerk reactions believable, and that's what keeps me as a reader at arm's length from the story. As in "Blindsighted," I never became personally involved in "Kisscut." It's a fairly interesting story, with more than its share of violence, and less than its share of any meaning.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Caveat Emptor
Review: I had high hopes for this book. Karin Slaughter has been annointed the "Next Thomas Harris" and the "Next Patricia Cornwell". After reading both this book and her first outing, I can definitely say I agree.

She incorporates all of the grisly titillation of Harris, without his research and depth of characterization. She has the same facile writing style and preposterous abuses of procedure that embody the last 3 outings of Cornwell.

The book does propell the reader through with sparse prose, and that is a definite skill. As other reviewers have mentioned, however, the characterizations are facile and lack of in depth research is very apparent.

Some research online reveals that several of the 5 star reviews of this book are written by the author's agent, publisher and bookseller friends.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Thrilling read
Review: I have exhausted my stash of Cornwell and Reichs and also Sue Grafton and was looking for a new thriller / detective novel. I picked this up on holiday and couldn't put it down. So much so that I went to the airport book shop on the way home to see if I could purchase anymore of her work, and was not dissapointed with "A Faint Cold Fear" - that was equally enthralling. I highly reccommend, a very good read.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: ...not an easy read...
Review: I have read Karin Slaughter's novels since they first came into print and there is no denying that she is one of the most talented writers out there today. Her writing is such that the reader becomes hooked into the story so completely, it's easier finishing the book than it is turning out the light. This second novel in the Grant County series is no exception.

Centering around the death of a troubled teenager, town coroner Sara Linton and police chief Jeffrey Tolliver begin an investigation into the events that ended a young girl's life. With the help of a very troubled Lena Adams, a detective fighting her own demons, the trio uncover more than they ever thought possible in a town they once thought of as idyllic. It quickly becomes a race against time to uncover the truth before anyone else is hurt.

Despite the fact that the time frame of the story encompasses only a week, this is not an easy or quick read. The subject matter is not one that lends itself to going down easy with the average reader. That said, Slaughter has done a very good job of handling a sensitive issue despite the uneasiness the reader is ultimately left with. As an avid reader, I can now say that I've added another author to my very short list of "must reads".

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: What's all the fuss?
Review: I picked up this book at the recommendation of a friend whose taste I normally trust. However, just one chapter into this book I knew I was wasting my time. The writing is unremarkable, the characters patently unbelievable and unsympathetic and the plot unfocused. I was not put off by the violent subject so much as the writer's inability to make me care about the three protagonists. (And splitting the reader's attention among three main characters is another of this book's weaknesses.) I understand this is the second in a series. I have no desire to go back and read the first, let alone will I waste time with these three losers in the future.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Different, Excellent
Review: I read a lot of this kind of novel and when I saw this one, I read the plot line and added it to the pile. I'm delighted to say that this one is very different. Although I clearly missed a LOT in not reading her first novel, I found that I was unable to figure out even slightly where this one was going. I can usually figure out where and who most novels are going for miles in advance (don't even mention T.V). I just wanted to say that this writer, although the writing is a little choppy(Not always an authors fault, by the way), it's a book to be proud of and I really enjoyed it. If you're bored with the usual, this has the definite quality of something different.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Thrilling suspenseful addition to the series
Review: I was surprised to read all the negative comments about this book, because I enjoyed the story very much. I personally found the close examination of the characters, particularly Lena and her uncle, very interesting and relevant to the story line. I kept asking myself- how would I act if I were recovering from a brutal attack/rape? Lena and Sara both are trying to get on with their lives the best way they knew how after suffering similar attacks. Jeffrey is also recovering from the shock and guilt of having to shoot a teenager. All of these people may not be acting in likeable ways, but that does not mean that those ways are unjustified given their circumstances. Yes the novel does not have a neat happy ending (i.e.-all culprits apprehended; justice served) but again, in real life neat happy endings do not often happen. Finally, the theme of the novel, organized child abuse and pornography, might not be as fascinating to some readers as serial killer murders, but if the author constantly wrote about the same kind of crime, readers would be complaining that she doesn't try anything new. I did not enjoy this book as much as Blindsighted, but I still thought it was good and I look forward to the next in the series.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Better than it deserves to be.
Review: I was uneasy after I read Slaughter's first novel, Blindsighted. As much as I found it very strong, I also felt like it leaned too much on some particularly shocking and sensational elements of the crimes to provide its bite.

Unfortunately, instead of making me feel better about Slaughter, Kisscut seems to me a step in the wrong direction.

Be aware before you read this book-- it deals in an explicit way with incest, child pornography, genital mutilation, and violence towards children. It's not for the faint of heart, nor for young readers.

I found the plot points stretched rather thin here, and again I felt like the book strayed rather too close to exploitation of its subjects rather than exploration.

This said, Slaughter is a really strong writer. The characters are very well written, the details of their emotional responses are well-conceived and usually felt to me right on. Lena may be a bit tiresome as a character, but she also makes real sense, particularly coming off the events in Blindsighted.

I'd like to see what happens if Slaughter takes her obvious talents and applies them to less sensationalist material.


<< 1 2 3 4 5 6 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates