Kiss the Girls (Alex Cross) [Paperback]

James Patterson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2000

The second book in the #1 bestselling Alex Cross series!

In Los Angeles, a reporter investigating a series of murders is killed. In Chapel Hill, North Carolina, a beautiful medical intern suddenly disappears. In Washington D.C. Alex Cross is back to solve the most baffling and terrifying murder case ever. Two clever pattern killers are collaborating, cooperating, competing--and they are working coast to coast.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

"Casanova" works the East Coast, "The Gentleman Caller" works the West Coast, and these two serial killers might just be working together. Washed-up Washington, D.C., police detective Alex Cross gets involved when his niece is abducted. Since this is a new work by the author of the best-selling Along Came a Spider (LJ 12/92), don't be surprised that Paramount has bought the film rights and that BOMC has made it a main selection.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Kirkus Reviews

Advertising executive Patterson doubles neither our pleasure nor our fun by giving us two intense, Hannibal Lecter-type murderers for the price of one in an improbable and hopelessly derivative mess of a thriller. Feds and local authorities on both coasts are baffled by a pair of serial killers targeting beautiful young women: The Gentleman Caller works the scene in sunny L.A., where he brutally murders and dismembers his prey; his counterpart back East, who calls himself Casanova, trolls the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area for sexy coeds to victimize. Their MOs provide plenty of fodder for an author trying to cook up a work of psychological terror: Both are powerful, handsome, brilliant (natch), commit perfect crimes, and, despite their busy schedules, manage to keep in touch with each other. To catch them, you obviously need a perfect crime fighter. Enter Alex Cross, the Washington, D.C., detective/psychologist hero of bestselling Along Came A Spider (1993), who gets dragged into all this after his niece Naomi, a student at Duke University, vanishes. Working with the authorities and a medical student named Kate McTiernan, who was lucky enough to escape Casanova's clutches, Cross begins to understand how the two dueling psychos operate. Just in the nick of time, too, because the Gentleman Caller, on the run from the law out West, decides that nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina with his old buddy Casanova. So, what does Cross, whose favorite niece is now in the clutches of two sickos, do? Fall in love with Kate McTiernan, of course, in an ill-placed romantic subplot intended to raise the stakes in the deadly cat-and-mouse game. Does Cross save Naomi? Are the two killers brought to justice or, at the very least, consigned to gory demises? Who cares? As a storyteller, Patterson is a great ad copywriter. (First priting of 275,000; film rights to Paramount; Book-of-the-Month Club main selection) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 481 pages
• Publisher: Warner Books; 1st edition (July 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446677388
• ISBN-13: 978-0446677387
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1.2 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (527 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,255 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

It is no surprise that in January, 2010, The New York Times Magazine featured James Patterson on its cover and hailed him as having "transformed book publishing," and that Time magazine hailed him as "The Man Who Can't Miss." Recently, NBC's Rock Center with Brian Williams profiled Patterson's prolific career, AARP named him one of the "50 Most Influential People Who Make Our Days a Little Brighter," and Variety featured him in a cover story highlighting his adventures in Hollywood.

In 2011, it was estimated that one-in-four of all hardcover suspense/thriller novels sold was written by James Patterson, he is the first author to achieve five million ebook sales (and is expected to hit ten million in early 2013), and he holds the Guinness record for the most #1 New York Times bestsellers of any author. And his success isn't based solely on thrillers like the perennially popular Alex Cross, Women's Murder Club and Michael Bennett series. Patterson is now also the current bestselling author in the young adult and middle grade categories.

He's been called the busiest man in publishing, and that's not just because of his own books. For the past decade, James has been devoting more and more of his time to championing books and reading. From the James Patterson Pageturner Awards, to his website ReadKiddoRead.com, to his College Book Bucks scholarships and his regular donations of hundreds of thousands of books to schools here in the states and troops overseas (see interviews on Fox & Friends, The Dennis Miller Radio Show and CNN.com), Patterson has passed on his passion of books and reading and supported those who do the same. Jim personally funded a major ad campaign re-printing a recent opinion piece on CNN.com about how it is our responsibility to get our kids reading. The ad has run in the New York Times, The New Yorker, and USA Today. Those ads are a call to action to parents to make their kids reading a top priority; and were featured by USA Today here. Patterson believes that we cannot rely on schools, teachers or the government to get our kids reading; only parents can make this crucial change in the reading habits of our kids. Here are links to some interviews on his first-ever dual lay down (two books, one for parents and one for kids, in one day): AOL's You've Got, NBC's "Today Show" with Hoda and Kathie Lee, USA Today and Family Circle, NBC's "Today Show" with Al Roker, as well as an interview with AARP.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#2 Overall (See top 100 authors)

#1 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Police Procedurals

#2 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers

#2 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Mystery

#2 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Mystery

#2 in Books > Literature & Fiction

#1 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Police Procedurals

#2 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers

#2 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Mystery

#2 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Mystery

#2 in Books > Literature & Fiction

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 62 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Diabolical Characters, Ingenious Plot September 12, 2002

By Wendy Kaplan

Format:Mass Market Paperback

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.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Not a bad read..... December 27, 2000

By A Customer

Format:Mass Market Paperback

If you didn't like the movie, which I didn't, then you'll like the book, as I also did.

Here is a quick review of the book. Casanova is a collector of something rare and beautiful....women. When he sees one he thinks is both beautiful and rare, he takes them and keeps them in his personal collection. The problem comes when he takes a family member of Alex Cross, a dectieve. Alex is soon on the case to get back the one he loves. There are also murders across the coast on the opposite side of the states. Could there be two serial killers wanting to out do each other? Or are they working together? If so, how can Alex Cross stop them both? I suggest that you read the book if you want to find out.

Alex Cross is an interesting character. I liked how he had an instant bond with Kate. It seems that Kate and Alex we're almost a mirror image of each other.

When it comes to fiction, it's important to have "good" good guys, but I feel it's more important to have better bad guys. Patterson accomplishes this. Cassanova and The Gentleman are *incredible* some of the things that Casanova does is out right creepy.

The style that Patterson writes in take a little getting used to. It's in both first and third person. When you get used to that, it's a sinch to read. The chapters are 2 and 1/2 pages tops.

The book goes into way more detail that the movie. As I said, if you didn't like the movie, you'll like the book.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Over the top August 8, 2007

By Roger Long

Format:Paperback

As is the case in nearly all James Patterson's novels, the villains are over the top here--geniuses, handsome devils, phi beta kappas--and the crimes they commit over years are well beyond belief. There are no crimes in real life to compare with those in this book or in other Alex Cross novels. Not even Jeffrey Dahmer or Jack the Ripper could compete with Casanova and his sidekick, The Gentleman Caller.

And Alex Cross, the psychologist police detective, is perhaps just a little too good in places and a bit naive, even blind, in others. Coupled with his character flaws are more serious plot flaws. Casanova has captured a good many women and is holding them in a cellar at a remote rural area. He parks his car some distance away and visits regularly to have his way with them. But when Cross goes looking there, he finds no path, and there surely must have been one with all the foot traffic in and out. Another flaw: Casanova gets some nasty karate kicks when he captures one victim, bone crushing kicks to the face, as they are characterized. Would there not have been clear signs of his injuries next day when he resumes his public persona? Didn't anyone notice that his nose was purple and bent sideways? It seems to me that the laws of physics apply in fiction, the same as in real life. There are other flaws as well, but two will suffice here. Certainly there are many readers who like crime fiction that goes far beyond reality, but for me it just gets funny, rather than scary, when the laws of nature are abrogated.

I have to add one observation with respect to this book and other Alex Cross novels: it is very dangerous for any woman to become closely involved with our hero. Such women get shot, raped, cut, traumatized for life, kidnapped, tortured, electrocuted, etc. Cross's love affairs are not to be envied, despite the fact that he keeps meeting gorgeous and willing females. Perhaps he should consider celibacy for the sake of society.