I like this one but what on earth is Sistol., The drug that Kate was taking? and why would she be taking it in the first place? Those two question were left unanswered ( )

Decent plot hampered by super-heroic protagonists, thinly drawn villains, and frequently clunky writing like "crazy, psychotic reason" from the mouth of the psychologist character. I'm surprised that these books are so popular. ( )

Suspense

in true patterson fashion this was great. Quick suspenseful easy and fun. ( )

I vaguely remember seeing the movie with Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd, so even though I had a bit of an idea about the storyline I didn't really know anything substantive about the plot.

I sped through this book. Every chapter built suspense and tension. I rooted for Dr. Detective Alex Cross and Kate McTiernan both as protagonists and as a couple. The dynamic of these two characters helped move the story.

Mr Patterson writes complex and well developed characters that become flesh and blood on the page. I could feel the horror and terror while reading the crimes the victims are subjected to and law enforcement sees.

So many tangled lines of the story, so many twists, so many mysteries. A masterpiece of the genre. With some heartbreaking losses, and breathtaking rescues, this book is non stop action, mystery and suspense. You will be guessing until the end who Casanova is behind his mask.

With a strong female character, this book is a must read and gives hope to anyone who has been affected by crime of any mandatory magnitude.

Recommend?

I recommend to anyone who likes strong female characters and terror with your thrills.

This review appeared on my website.

Disclaimer
I received via the OverDrive/Libby app from the Harris County or Houston Public Library system. It was read as a Kindle Book. ( )

I like Alex Cross. Being the second book about him however I did find myself wanting a little more in the story about him. He's a cool character and I look forward to what comes next. ( )

just love this series of books and had read them all in order but missed this one. It was great to read an early Cross book. Loved it and him as usual.How can you not love Alex Cross? ( )

Liked this book better than the first one. Interesting to read a series and get to know the characters. ( )

Good read that keeps you interested & gripped ( )

Alex Cross is a skilled, and dedicated, detective from Washington, DC. When he discovers his niece is missing from her college in NC and might possibly have been kidnapped by a serial killer, he jumps into the case with NC authorities and the FBI. Women are disappearing. All beautiful, very intelligent women. Some are found murdered. And others are just gone, with no clues as to their whereabouts. When one victim escapes, Alex and the FBI find out that this case might be much more complex and dangerous. The NC kidnappings and murders might be related to similar crimes in California. Alex and the FBI race to solve the case and find the missing victims before more of them are killed.

I am really enjoying this series. I read the first book because it was listed as part of the Great American Read, and continued on because I like the characters, especially Alex Cross. Cross is a complex character. He is a ruthless investigator, but a kind and gentle father to his two kids. The plots are interesting and very suspenseful. Kiss the Girls is not for the feint of heart. It contains quite graphic depictions of torture, rape, kidnapping and abuse. There was one scene with an assault involving a snake that made me have to turn the audio book off for awhile and watch a Disney movie. It was.......intense and disturbing. The bad guy in this story is crazier than an S-house rat....and very, very dangerous. The point of view jumps around quite a bit ..... changing from victims, to killer, to Alex Cross. I'm not usually a fan of stories that jump around like that, but for this book, it worked perfectly. It just heightened the suspense, and developed the characters. The crimes were chilling and horrible. The story definitely kept me on the edge of my seat.

I usually listen to audio books outside while I do yard work. But this one was a bit too intense and graphic. It wasn't appropriate for listening to outside because our neighbors on one side have small children, and the neighborhood gossips are on the other side. I had visions of the gossips calling around telling people I was listening to dirty sex books in my front yard. ha ha. I chose to enjoy this suspenseful story in the privacy of my kitchen, saving me from any neighbor side eye. :) Very, very good book -- just a note of caution for those who have small kids at home or have qualms about books with rape/torture themes.

Narrated by Michael Kramer, the audio book version I listened to is just shy of 11 hours long. I would have preferred a black voice actor narrating, but Kramer did a good job. I have hearing loss, but was easily able to hear and understand the entire book.

I'm definitely going to read more of this series! Very enjoyable so far! The books are bestsellers for a reason. I wish I had started reading sooner! Not sure why I never read this series. Fixing my error now! ( )

Another great read! ( )

I've enjoyed a few Patterson books as light reads for the pool or on a long flight. This was anything but a light read. The story line was reasonably suspenseful. However, the villain's methods were so macabre as to make this book more uncomfortable than enjoyable. ( )

Kiss the Girls is the follow up book to the first book in the Alex Cross series, Along Came a Spider, however, whilst it does follow on from there and make a few small references to the former book Kiss the Girls is largely set up as a stand alone novel which could be read by itself with virtually no impact on the reading experience.

Kiss the Girls is the story of two serial killers, the Gentleman Caller and Casanova, which operate on the east & west coast of the United States. Law enforcement believes they may be two independent people, or perhaps two personas of the one person. It's not until Alex Cross's niece is abducted that he becomes involved in the case.

I thought it was a well paced novel and the author does an extremely good job of presenting the chilling aspects of the serial killer, serial rapist, serial kidnapper characters within. Some of the scenes are especially chilling such as when one of the characters has their abductee restrained and performs a milk enema on them, then nonchalantly coaxes a live snakes into their rectum referencing a text he has read on what this methodology is supposed to achieve.

The writing is typical Patterson - numerous chapter breaks, relatively simple language and easy to follow structures and sequences. All in all an entertaining crime/police procedural novel. ( )

After having read and really enjoyed Along Came a Spider I knew I had to read the second in the Alex Cross series. Kiss the Girls starts off where Along Came a Spider left off, but it is definitely a stand alone read. There are a few references to characters and occurrences from the first novel but nothing that would confuse a reader. The ending wraps up nicely while leaving room for the next installment.

At the start of Kiss the Girls there is a serial who calls himself “Casanova” and has been abducting and torturing beautiful and successful young women in their early twenties. Alex Cross is a Washington, D.C. homicide investigator and forensic psychologist who has been called to go to South Carolina with his partner to the scene of the latest murder by Casanova. This is the third victim. Cross has also just been notified that his niece Naomi Cross is missing. He fears Casanova has taken her.

As the story flows, the detectives realize there are two killers working together and that this spree has been going on for over a decade. Casanova has a partner, The Gentleman. What ensues is a thrilling cat and mouse chase with twists and turns as the detectives try to find the missing women and the case hits close to home for Cross as he tries to find his niece.

Okay, so how terrifying are the serial killers James Patterson creates? Yikes. I thought Soneji from book 1 was creepy, the killers here are stone cold terrifying. Kiss the Girls had me on the edge of my seat with my heart pounding during the abductions and chase scenes. I don’t know how I am going to get back to my other books, I can’t stop reading this series.

Casanova sent chills up my spine as did The Gentleman. What makes serial killers so terrifying is that they really exist and do things like this so reading about them is really scary. As I am finding is common with a Patterson novel there were twists and turns here, heart wrenching drama and a fast paced story-line. I enjoyed every page. I wish I hadn’t seen the movie first because I knew what was coming.

All throughout the book Cross is trying to catch the killers but hoping each victim he finds is not his niece. The author takes you right along side the detectives as they try to put the clues together. Cross is a well fleshed out character and has quickly become a favorite.

disclaimer: This review is my honest opinion. I did not receive any kind of compensation for reading and reviewing this book. I am under no obligation to write a positive review. I purchased my copy of Kiss the Girls by James Patterson.
https://bookwormnai.wordpress.com/2018/08/08/kiss-the-girls-alex-cross-2-by-jame... ( )

A coworker loaned Kiss the Girls to me several years ago & I flew through it. Patterson's writing style is very action oriented & he doesn't get bogged down in deep detail, so its pretty easy to just cruise through his books. I find that I enjoy his books the most when I read one right after I finish a long, heavily-detailed book. It makes for nice contrast. ( )

Great book

Loved it and can't wait to start the next one. Alex Cross is such an intriguing character and I'm so happy there are tons of Alex Cross novels to read. ( )

So why did I stop at Chapter 66? Well, there's approximately another 59 more chapters to go and I just couldn't take anymore of the cringe worthy dialogue or the obvious set up for the main character getting into a relationship with the victim. A victim who was kidnapped, tortured and raped. (Don't know if that happened but it just seems like that's where it was leading). I'm very open minded when it comes to reading but I felt very dirty reading this unnecessary depravity of story telling. I have to say I just felt so weird reading the words, the sentences, the dialogue, the scenes, the plots, the characters and just about everything. It's just so weird, I wondered how is this series so popular. I surprisingly made it through the first book and expected it to get better but instead it just took a thousand steps further down. And oh. my. god. the narrator with the constant use of the word -- baby was just too creepy. I guess that's it for me with this series. ( )

Great thriller. Cross is easy to like. The storyline kept me on edge. ( )

Great thriller. Cross is easy to like. The storyline kept me on edge. ( )

A server at a restaurant I frequented always saw me with a book, and she always recommended Patterson's Alex Cross series. So when I told her I would be leaving, she bought me this book as a good-bye present. I started reading it that night and I couldn't put it down.

The formula is one that starts with the killer, then we meet Alex Cross and his re-aligned family (this is Book 2 in the series), and Sampson, and then we get gripped into the action and it won't let go. And this time it is definitely personal.

Addictive series, so much so that I bought Book 3 before I had finished Book 2 so that I would have it ready to go. Note to self: the killers get in your head, the action messes with your brain, and a break in between books is highly recommended. ( )

This book gripped me from the very beginning and maintained my interest throughout. I like and buy into the main character Alex Cross, who we continue to learn about. This would have been 5 stars but I felt the tension and plot drifted towards the end. Second book in which a relationship has figured with one of the main characters. Good links set up to future books towards the end of the story. I look forward to picking up the next one in the series, Jack and Jill. If you like thrillers this is well worth a read, although can be a bit gory in places. Would suggest you read the first one in the series (Along Came a Spider) before this as mention is made of the characters in a few places. ( )

creepy @ 2 serial killers — savers of beautiful girls underneath the ground — old run away slave Houses

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.

The disgusting things described in this book were too much for me. I'm through with the Cross series and Patterson as well. I felt that much of what I found disturbing was really not necessary for a good story. I also didn't think the story was well told.

In the Michael Bennett series the relationship of Bennett with his kids offset the violence enough for me. The last two books in that series seemed to be of less caliber than the earlier ones. It could be that I'm just tired of Patterson's writing and this particular over-the-top gross book helped me decide to quit reading him.

( )

I don't often read crime fiction, however, I always make an exception for Alex Cross. ( )

Great book and very good follow up to the original Alex Cross series. One of my all time favorites. ( )