Product Description

As two serial killers terrorize different regions of America, the FBI begins to suspect that the two are competing with each other, and Washington, D.C., police detective Alex Cross embarks on a personal quest to find the perpetrators. 275,000 first printing. $250,000 ad/promo. BOMC Main.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #267808 in Books
• Published on: 1995-01-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 464 pages

Customer Reviews

Diabolical Characters, Ingenious Plot
I never saw the movie. Never read a book by Patterson. Never really wanted to. So when I idly picked up "Kiss the Girls" while browsing a local bookstore, I didn't expect much; it was on a table of "fun beach reads" or some such thing.

I read the first page or two. I bought the book. And I can't remember much after that, except that, heart pounding, palms sweating, I entered the obscenely diabolical world of two serial killers: The Gentleman Caller, and Casanova, terrorizing both Coasts at once. With skill and his own brand of genius, Patterson takes the reader into the crazed yet terrifyingly logical minds of each killer. We are there while they stalk their victims: young women who are smart, educated, self-assured, and perfectly beautiful. At least in the eyes of their killers. We are there during some of the most gruesome and terrifying murders. We are there as Casanova sexually tortures his live victims in his House of Horrors, in which one infraction of the "house rules" results in horrible death.

What is the connection between these two killers? What is their sick purpose? It falls to police detective/psychologist Alex Cross to solve the mystery. But Alex has more than a professional interest in the case. His beloved niece Naomi is one of the missing women.

I challenge anyone to put this book down once begun. I was absolutely amazed at the hold it had on me--and still does. I immediately ordered the next in Patterson's Alex Cross series, "Jack and Jill." And I have recommended "Kiss the Girls" to every book-loving friend I have.

This is the one!
Of all of Patterson's "Cross" novels, this still remains my favorite. The premise was (at the time of writing) original and amazing. You could practically feel yourself there among the women trapped in Casanova's collection at times, and it was all in all a great book. The movie tried to be faithful to it, but 60-year-old Morgan Freeman as a thirtysomething Alex Cross just didn't cut it. Don't base your opinion of the book on that movie...trust me. This book is one you'll finish quickly and enjoy tremendously.

Sadly Disappointing...
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.