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Kiss the Girls

Kiss the Girls

List Price: $7.99
Your Price: $7.19
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 2 stars
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: 4 stars
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.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Gripping for much of the time, but flawed
Review: What was, on the whole, an exciting and fast-paced book, was spoiled for me by obvious flaws. For example, rape/kidnapping victim Kate McTiernan's insistence (with street-wise detective Alex Cross's acquiesecence) on remaining at home alone after her escape from the "house of horrors"...knowing that the "human monster" who imprisoned, abused and nearly killed her is still on the loose...and close by! This is just one of many instances where the reader has to suspend credulity to stick with the book. A great shame, too, because these pitfalls could have all been avoided if Patterson had just considered the events in the context of the real world. Nevertheless, worth a read.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: See Movie
Review: I agree with the other review of this book. I saw the movie and really enjoyed it. So I picked up the book. I found the book very disturbing, and not in a fun way. I found it degraded the women characters in a way I have rarely seen. As a woman, it was so uncomfortable to read I wanted to put a warning here.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Sadly Disappointing...
Review: This book becomes more and more displeasing the more I think about it - an unfortunate outcome for any story. Not to sound like a Spice "Girl", but "Kiss" is truly degrading to women.

A lonely-hearts sociopath who calls himself Casanova is kidnapping gorgeous, intelligent young femmes from the Research Triangle in Durham, North Carolina, and forming a private harem. His "guests" are killed and abandoned in the woods if they break his rules.

I'm not a psychologist, but even I know that serial killers tend to select and then prey on one type of victim. Why would a villain who's been grabbing relatively helpless coeds in their late teens suddenly go after a kick-boxing doctor in her early 30s?

Why, to introduce Dr. Kate McTiernan, his latest conquest, of course. She's beautiful enough to turn men's heads, but charmingly klutzy enough to bang into stair railings. She's brilliant enough to excel as a young surgeon, but hip enough to wear a Mickey Mouse watch. And after being zapped with a stun gun and pumped full of enough dope to space out a Grateful Dead concert, she's coherent enough to methodically run through a list of drugs that Casanova could have given her based on the side effects she's suffering. Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's SuperDoc!

Like kidnapping her isn't bad enough, Casanova also insults Kate by trying to con her into thinking that if she behaves, he'll let her go. Please. If she were stupid enough to believe that, he never would have picked her in the first place. His "high standards" would not have allowed it.

"Kiss the Girls" also includes a brutal rape scene that turned my stomach. Sometimes I can cope with the depiction of rape in stories because I like to see the criminals get their punishment in the end, but this was OTT.

Upon her daring escape, the book has Kate - a recovering civilian - jump straight from the hospital into a sting operation to catch the creep with Cross. Has she forgotten the horrific rape and beatings she's endured? Are we supposed to? And are we likewise supposed to cheer on Alex Cross, a psychologist and police officer who is "sensitive" enough to cry over the death of a child and kiss his male friend but fails to even mention the possibility that Kate might benefit from counseling?

Oops. Silly me - I forgot that Kate has superhuman strength....

The ONLY realistic aspect of this story is the hard fact that even if Cross and his cronies manage to snare Casanova, they need to tread lightly. If he's killed or incapacitated before they discover his secret lair, his victims - including Cross's niece - will starve to death. Sadly, this is the only drop of dew in a lonely, barren wasteland.

I also have a bone to pick with the prose in "Kiss" - namely the way its characters think and make profound discoveries all in italics. Like Agatha Christie. Patterson might be a best-selling author, but he is no Agatha Christie.

If the storyline itself interests you, please do yourself a favor and watch the atmospheric, stylish film, starring Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman, instead.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Can't put down this book from the first page...
Review: This book was my first Patterson book. Strongly recommended...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A captivating Read
Review: Kiss the Girls is on of the best books I have read in the recent past. The book is fast paced and Patterson managed to get me so involved in te book that I was worried sick about the fate of Alex Cross's niece. I was impressed with the quick pace and the fact that I breezed through the novel within one day. Also Patterson managed to lead me on as to who the perpetrators were and had me fooled almost to the end. This is one of Patterson's best books. Unfortunatley he has run out of steam somewhat on the Alex Cross series. The later books in the series are not that good.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Amazing
Review: I read maybe one or two books a year. I picked this one up at the airport as I was leaving for spring break. 2 days later i was finished. The next day i went out and picked up two more of his novles and I was equally pleased. 3 novels in 1 week from someone who reads MAYBE 2 a year; that alone speaks for itself.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Riveting (Not for the timid)
Review: Couldn't put it down. Very intriguing & creepy. Very fast-paced -- most "chapters" are 2 pages or so. Really keeps you guessing with twists, turns, & more than 1 storyline. I wouldn't recommend it to women living alone though -- too scary.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Thriller!
Review: Of all the Patterson books I have read so far, this is my favorite...the suspense just builds and builds, with vintage Patterson twists


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