Gimme a Kiss [Paperback]

Christopher Pike (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1989

Recording her most private secrets in her diary, Jane Retton hides the diary from everyone until it is discovered at her school, revealing in a final entry that a killing spree is about to take place. Reissue.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 152 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Books (April 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671688073
• ISBN-13: 978-0671688073
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 3.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,309,307 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Christopher Pike is the author of over forty teen thrillers, including series REMEMBER ME, FINAL FRIENDS and CHAIN LETTER.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Some secrets are worth dying for....", March 27, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Gimme a Kiss (Paperback)

Set in Santa Barbara, California, "Gimme a Kiss" switches point of views between Alice Palmer (during the police interrogation) and her friend, 17-year-old Jane Retton (during the events leading up to the present storyline), though Jane is more of the main character, or at least the one I was rooting for from the beginning. Distinctly, Jane hasn't been on good terms with the promiscuous head cheerleader (Patty Brane--middle name "No"?) at Wilcox High--and especially of late, when Patty gets a hold of Jane's diary and Xeroxes a juicy page from it, then distributes those copies around school. Jane's boyfriend (Kirk Donner) is of no help either, instigating the rumors and ruining her reputation.

So, as a way to get even with Patty and Kirk, Jane uses Alice's weekend yacht party as the perfect place to enact her plans for revenge, which involves her faking her own death and placing the blame on Patty and Kirk. As a few reviewers mentioned before me, this has a clear "Fall into Darkness" ring to it: staging one's own murder. I also noticed some similarities to "Bury Me Deep," mainly because of the scuba diving, though this book doesn't go quite into as much depth about the sport as "Bury Me Deep" did (thank goodness). This book is also a bit quicker to read than either one (I read it one sitting), being only 152 pages, which comes up a little short in Pike's standards.

One thing I didn't quite understand about this book was the title, until I got a dozen or so pages into it. "Gimme a kiss" is a quote from Jane's fictitious diary, as well as a humorous reference to a "scandalous" secret at the end about cold sores. And speaking of the end, I think Pike may have inhaled a little nitrous oxide himself when he wrote it. It's deliriously funny, or maybe I was just punch-drunk tired from staying up half the night finishing it.

However, I did notice something that may or may not have been a blunder on Pike's part. In the closing scene, some type of gas is released, but there's no mention of what type it is; and since one of the characters had mentioned storing laughing gas in the tanks, I'd have to assume that's what was in them. Yet nitrous oxide is nonflammable. Oopsie.

As usual, Pike's wonderful wit, clever plotting, and black humor is rife in this book, creating some rather humorous scenes, like the one I mentioned above about the cold sores. "Gimme a Kiss" will certainly entertain Pike fans, young and old.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good book, March 22, 2000

By 

Cassi - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gimme a Kiss (Paperback)

I liked this book a lot. it was one of the first books i ever read by Christopher Pike, and it is the one that got me interested in him. I love Mr. Pike because he is not afraid to be graphic, and he stretches to the limits in his young adult books. He doesn't treat teens as people who can be influenced by the books they read, and he is excellent at describing all of his scenes. (especially the bloody ones. my fav!) I reccomend that you read this book, even if you don't usually read Mr. Pike's books. I guarentee you will start!

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book!, June 22, 2000

By 

[e-mail] (Sunny Florida!) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gimme a Kiss (Paperback)

This book is about a girl named Jane who leaves her diary unattended at her dresser. Filled with wild secrets that aren't even true, the diary page somehow gets around school. Jane is so embarresed and mad. Her boyfriend is confirming the lie when it never happened and a girl she hates is making tons of copies. She plans a revenge that will get back at all of them. Jane plans her murder. She makes it look like her boyfriend and the girl who copied her diary page pushed her off a boat and she drowned when she's really alive the whole time. But Jane makes the mistake of telling her two closest friends and this time a death occurs that is painfully real. The ending is sure a surprise and I think the book was an original. Though it does resemble Fall Into Darkness, I can still tell the major difference between the two.