Customer Reviews

Kiss the Girls

5 star:		(164)
4 star:		(56)
3 star:		(25)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(22)

 

 

Well, it appears that I am flying through James Patterson's Alex Cross series faster than I can review them, but I'm going to try to catch up! I read Kiss the Girls, the second book in the Cross series, a couple of weeks ago, immediately after reading Along Came a Spider. Book two is similar in format to book one; it is equally thrilling, with non-stop action until the very last page. Gruesome killings, brought to life with sadistic and bloody description. Classic Patterson.

This time Alex Cross is hunting 2 killers, aptly coined "Cassanova" and "The Gentleman Caller." The former kills on the east coast, while the latter kills on the west coast., but soon enough it appears that they may actually be working together. Cross is pulled into the massacres after his college-aged niece, Naomi, is kidnapped by "Cassanova" and Cross will stop at nothing to get her back safely.

While Patterson's writing is formulaic and predictable at times, his books read fast and grab your attention right from the first page. Great summer reading, hence why I'm reading the series!

Beautiful young women have been disappearing in North Carolina and Los Angeles at an alarming rate, and some are turning up dead. So when Washington D.C. Detective Alex Cross's niece goes missing from Durham, he heads down there, determined to find her, without or without local police support. For a while, there is no support, which is why is good friend, Detective John Sampson, decides to help him. Alex is soon taunted by a killer calling himself Casanova, but he's not the only murderer aware of Alex. So is the LA serial killer known as The Gentleman Caller. Complicating things further is Alex's growing attachment to a young intern who's met Casanova in person and has good reason to fear for her life.

I'm not sure it was James Patterson's intention to create a story so strongly associated with the number two, but it struck me that two pairs of detectives are looking for Casanova, Alex has two children, and there are two serial killers at large. Whether this is significant or not probably depends on how closely you analyze the pairs' relationships.

Kiss the Girls is a fast-paced page-turner that had me totally engrossed until the lack of logic in places became irritating. To divulge where and why the logic didn't work would give too much away, but these absences made the story too contrived at times. Still, the suspense kept me reading to the satisfying conclusion.

This book got me hooked on Alex Cross, a detective I found very likable and whose life I became interested in. In this book his niece is one of the victims he's trying to save from an insane psychopath that is abducting girls. Alex is on a race against time to see if he can save her.
For those who say that the characters in this book are not believable, I totally disagree. And as for the plot, I read approximately 100 books a year, and only remember the full plot of very few, and this is one of them- That tells me the story is memorable. It might not be deep-thinking, Pulitzer prize worthy, but most crime thrillers are not, that's not why people read them, they're for entertainment value.

Also recommended: Katzenjammer by McCrae

I read the prequel, along came a spider in one sitting, awsome book! This book is not an expception. Great characther development!

Kiss The Girls was my favorite James Patterson novel! I read this book a few years ago and still vividly remember the haunting story of a saddistic killer...

This book got me hooked on Alex Cross, a detective I found very likable and whose life I became interested in. In this book his niece is one of the victims he's trying to save from an insane psychopath that is abducting girls. Alex is on a race against time to see if he can save her.

For those who say that the characters in this book are not believable, I totally disagree. And as for the plot, I read approximately 100 books a year, and only remember the full plot of very few, and this is one of them- That tells me the story is memorable. It might not be deep-thinking, Pulitzer prize worthy, but most crime thrillers are not, that's not why people read them, they're for entertainment value.

After reading this I picked up every Patterson book I could find...and I'm still a fan today- if that's not a recommendation for you, I don't know what is!

This is a thriller that reads like a cheap romance novel. The plot is simple and the characters are trite and unreal. After reading a Forsythe novel, this novel reads like a comic book.

The only reason I gave it two stars instead of one is that it is a mercifully fast read.

I have been a Patterson fan for almost a year and this book was difficult to put down. He has worked up the suspense really well in this one. The details of the torture that the one killer puts the woman through was so detailed that I shuddered to myself. I would not recommend to children or adults with weak stomachs though... it is pretty graphic. Great book!

This is my first James Patterson novel and I found him gripping, engaging and a master of terse prose (Shrunk & White would love his style). This is an enthralling thriller of detective, dementia, and sexual deviancy that sucks you in like a whirlpool and doesn't let you go until the very end.

But, there is one thing that is getting worn and frayed, both in this novel and in contemporary story writing (and Hollywood), and that is the over used story line where the brilliant, beautiful white female (doctor) is swooped up by the athletic, accomplished black male (detective). It would be refreshing to see the reverse profile happen just once - brilliant beautiful black female wins the heart of an accomplished, athletic white male. I have never seen it written.

Ok, I am getting down off of my soap box. This spellbinding thriller is strongly recommended. Highly recommended

Patterson does such a good job in this book, it is the last book of his I read. Yes, he scared me. The very precision with which this villian goes about his business, how easy it was for him, the depth of his illness and the lengths he went to, it was too much for my poor little mind. I can't read Patterson anymore, but he is a master of the craft.

When I read 'Kiss The Girls', I thought this book was masterful.
This is the second Alex Cross adventures, and i truly loved this novel. The novel is based on 'Casanova' and 'The Gentleman' these two men are notorious for collecting women from different backgrounds and different personalities.
Then when the kidnapping of Alex Cross's niece, Alex Cross then decides that he needs to find her, and goes to Virginia to find her, but he is out of his jurdiscidation, but that does not matter to Alex because his niece is gone, and he wants to fine her.
But then when one woman escapes from the hands of 'Casanova', she then finds Alex and tries to help him locate 'Casanova', but Alex does know that 'Casanova' and 'The Gentleman' have been working together, and he needs to find out now, and find his niece before she is possibly killed.
Now how this novel ends, I dont want to ruin the ending, but it is definitely a collection getter.