Rating: 
Summary: Intriguing
Review: In Grant County, a girl threatens to shoot a boy and ends up being shot herself instead. But what drove Jenny Weaver to such an extent has Sara Linton, Jeffrey Tolliver and Lena Adams on the trail. Like in Blindsighted, Lena was the most believable, likeable character. Jeffrey was too "woe is me", and Sara was bitchy towards her sister Tessa and Lena. A highly disturbing read but well worth your time. (A+)
Rating:
Summary: graphic thriller
Review: In the parking lot of the popular Heartsdale, Georgia teen hangout skating rink Jenny Weaver threatens to shoot Mark Patterson. Police chief Jeffrey Tolliver is forced to kill the teenage girl. His former wife pediatrician and Grant County coroner Sara Linton witnesses the fatal shooting. Inside a toilet of the rink resides a dismembered fetus.Sara's autopsy of Jenny provides several strange clues that do not add up. The deceased was a long time abuse victim, Her battered vagina had been sewn shut and there is no evidence of any recent sexual activity to produce a fetus. Detective Lena Adams, a victim of rape and grieving the death of her sister interrogates Mark. Soon she learns the horrifying perverted secrets of a town with quite a sideshow of pediophile, incest, and child pornography and prostitution. Living up to her surname, Karin Slaughter provides readers with a graphic thriller that combines elements of a police procedural with that of a medical examiner tale. The story line catches the audience from the start, but fans should not dive in with a full stomach as KISSCUT tears into boundaries rarely seen in a thriller. The author eases some of the tension by the use of puns and other humorous devices that at times can be missed due to the high level of excitement. Those who enjoy Patricia Cornwall will relish this novel and Ms. Slaughter's previous book (see BLINDSIGHTED), but this writer adds more red meat in her recipe. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: Two and a half stars
Review: In this, Slaughter's second effort, it would appear the author is somewhat fixated on bathrooms as places where horrors occur--using the bathroom, yet again, to kick off a book that is every bit as grim as the first one. While I give the author points for writing and narrative skills, her characters remain flat and unsympathetic; none of them comes to life in believable fashion--including the young victims of horrific sexual abuse. Slaughter has taken a serious issue and attempted to treat it with the gravity it deserves. Unfortunately, no genuine insight into the issue is on display here; the effects depicted are only somewhat better than superficial--which doesn't help to enlighten readers as to the extent of the problem or the true motives behind the multi-billion dollar business in child pornography, or the mind-sets of people who abuse their own children for profit, and, finally, the psychopathology of pedophiles. Overall, the author comes across as misogynous, evidencing what comes perilously close to contempt for females--of every age. When the heroine's ex, Jeffery, is musing angrily on his unsuccessful bedroom encounter with her, he actually takes mental issue with Sara for not shaving her legs: "And her legs had felt hairier than his." This is arrant silliness--female awareness foisted on a male character--and it doesn't fly at all. In all, it's hard not to come away from this second of Slaughter's books, feeling that she's pursuing hot-button issues and sensationalizing them. The descriptions of abuse, in particular, are way over the top without actually contributing anything to a reader's comprehension either of the issues or to remedying the lack of likability of the characters--particularly Lena, a detective with such an appalling attitude that it's simply not believable that any police force, no matter how small, would keep her in its employ. Just because the author is on the rise, it doesn't mean her books have special merit. So unless you're ready to wallow in some seriously gory stuff, don't go there.
Rating: 
Summary: absorbing mystery
Review: It's hard for me to say much about this book without sounding ike the dust jacket or giving away the plot. The Characters from Blindsighted are back, picking up where we left off. I loved the writing -- the characters really felt alive to me, and the plot pulled me forward so that I finished the book in an afternoon. My only reservation is that, looking backwards from the resolution, some of the plot elements seemed not to make as much sense as I would like. I would, nevertheless, highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: An explosive, MUST READ thriller.
Review: Jenny Weaver was a smart, pretty, high school student with everything to live for...then why did she go crazy threatening to shoot her sometime boyfriend after she attempted to flush her twenty-eight week old baby down the toilet? This is the question that puzzles Dr. Sara Linton as she examines the body of the teenager after being shot by Chief Jeffery Tolliver. As Sara examines the body she finds shocking evidence that proves Jenny could not have given birth to the child, and further still is more shocking evidence that leads to many un-answered questions. Jeffery Tolliver, riddled with guilt over killing the young girl, is determined to get answers, so he begins his investigation with detective Lena Adams, a scarred woman trying to cope with the nightmares of her rape, and the death of her sister, but as the case unfolds the two will need Sara's help and what they uncover is more shocking than anything they could have imagined. 'Kisscut' is an excellent, MUST-READ thriller that needs all it's secrets kept intact so I can't go further into the plot. The book grabs you by the throat on page one, and holds you captive until the explosive finale. There has been much hype surrounding this book, and for once it's warranted; it's a fast-paced, well written, page-turner that readers will devour in one sitting. Karin Slaughter has been compared to Patricia Cornwell but it's not a fare comparison because she's better, much better than Cornwell. 'Kisscut', being Slaughter's second novel, is a brilliant thriller that should land on all the bestseller list's, and prove her to be a master storyteller. A MUST read! Nick Gonnella
Rating:
Summary: Slaughter has written another intense story...
Review: Karin Slaughter has said in interviews that she wants to be a better writer with each book. She has clearly done that with Kisscut. I think it has tighter plotting, characters that are more human (even the evil parts), and a stronger narrative than in Blindsighted, her first book. While I don't think the plot is better in this book, the development of the story is. Just when I 'knew' the story was cruising to a certain place (and who and what and how), some unexpected turn of events jumped off the page -- more than once. We get to see more of small town life in Grant County. Sara, doctor and part-time medical examiner, and Jeffery, the police chief, are still central characters in Kisscut, but Lena, one of Jeffrey's detectives, is brought to the fore in this book and has her inner self laid bare. There are enough references to the first book's story to give a good idea of what happened without giving everything away. Without being Lena, I'd say that her thoughts and perceptions are congruous with how a person could behave and react to her experiences. The rest of this gives away just about everything except names, with each paragraph telling more. If you do not want to know about the plot and 'who done it', skip to the last paragraph. Kisscut has child pornographers who think it is appropriate to physically and sexually abuse children -- and they have no guilt or remorse about it. I'm not sure there is a way to write about that and have it seem comprehensible, because in my mind there is no understanding intentionally hurting children. I know it happens, though, because I know adults to whom this was 'normal' while they were growing up. The author has made her perpetrators believable, sympathetic characters at the beginning of the book. Ms. Slaughter took the bold step of making women (yes, plural) the primary 'evil doers'. Of course, after the warped attentions that her Blindsighted tormentor inflicted on his victims, we shouldn't be surprised at the ugliness springing from the human mind that this author conjures to put on paper -- although in person she appears to be an engaging young woman who couldn't possibly think of, let alone know, anything about the dark side of humanity. While I'm sure Kisscut was plotted out before this last year's revelations about the molestations by priests of the Roman Catholic Church, having a minister who is involved in this mayhem on children is certainly a timely addition -- and another reminder that you can't trust someone just because of his or her position or profession. There is some brightness to report. It looks like Sara and Jeffery could be getting back together. Ms. Slaughter has once again written a book that is not easy on the emotions, but is highly readable. Get Kisscut and settle in for a fine, intense story on the printed page.
Rating:
Summary: THE BEST THRILLER WRITER AROUND
Review: Karin Slaughter only gets better. A stunningly good second book (which is rare). Plotting, characters, excitement and lots of terror at every turn. I can't wait for her third (I hope there's one in the works). I won't give away any of the surprises but I heard every beat of my heart and every creak in my house the night I stayed up reading until done. Superb!
Rating:
Summary: Karin Slaughter does it again.
Review: Karin Slaughter's books are getting better each time. Blindsighted was good; Kisscut is better. The characters are more developed, and the mystery remains, well, a mystery, until the baddies are revealed. While Kisscut could stand on its own, the characters are struggling with the outcome of the events in Blindsighted, and that's something that needs to happen. Too often, in mysteries, the aftermath of a crime is ignored; the sleuth wraps it up and makes it go away, but for the victims, that doesn't happen. Life isn't that tidy, and it's good to see the characters working their way through their experiences. The subject matter is difficult to read about, but it's something that does happen, and ignoring it won't make it go away. And the writing's great. Slaughter's work is like pen and ink drawings, spare and accurate and absolutely right.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific Thriller
Review: Karin Slaughter's second effort is even better than the first. Kisscut isn't an easy book to read and not one I'd recommend to my cozy reading friends, but is is more than worth the effort to us thriller fans. When I looked up from the pages, I found I'd read the entire book while barely breathing, and I'm fairly sure the book cover has the imprints of my finger nails. Great thriller!
Rating: 
Summary: Powerful if sleazy sequel
Review: Kisscut is a sequel to Ms Slaughter's debut novel Blindsighted and it makes few if any concesssions to readers unfamiliar with the earlier work plunging us into a narrative in whch the events of the previous book cast a long shadow .For this reason I cannot recommend that people unfamiliar with the earlier work start their soujourn into Slaughterland with Kisscut and would instead urge them to start at the beginning and read Blindsighted ,which is to my way of thinking a better book anyway. Events take place as before in a small Georgia town and begin with a violent confrontation in the parking lot of the town's skating rink when a teenage girl threatens to shoot a boy only to be shot by the town sheriff Jeffrey Tolliver .At first it is assumed the killing was due to the aborted foetus which is found in the venue's rest room being that of the dead girl and that the intended victim was the father.
This turns out to be untrue and the case is linked to a child abuse ring and to incestuous family relationships within the outwardly respectable and God fearing community . The true theme of the novel is "the worm in the bud "--how a respectable facade can hide moral corruption and a lack of self -knowledge ;the chief abuser is persuaded he is motivated by love rather than cynical and inexcusable exploitative impulses.
It is a tawdry tale ,heavy and oppressive with an air of sleaze and corruption hanging like a pall over the whole novel.There is physical and forensic violence here but the real violence is one of atmosphere -a miasma of corruption hangs over the events described in the book and the realisation of this quality is the ultimate triumph of the novel .It makes it honest but does make for comfortable reading and some will find the subject matter inherently disquieting .
The events of the previous novel I referred to earlier that impact on the book are more to do with character than plot -Tolliver and town pediatrician / pathologist Sar Linton are striving to re-ignite their relationship , hard driven cop Lena is still suffering the trauma of rape which she endured in Blindsighted and struggling to rebuild her professional and personal life .
This is well written but the absence of any lighness in atmosphere or incident make the book heavy going .
Slaughte is immensely talented but for my money need to lighten up a little -it would throw the themes of her stories into starker relief but adding a contarsting shade .
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