I’m the kind of person who is willing to read just about anything. As I continue my journey through the Alex Cross series, I’ve decided that erotic fiction is not my jam. Not that I was interested in erotic fiction in the first place. But getting slapped in the face with it in a suspense/thriller novel left me feeling a bit… uncomfortable…
Kiss the Girls (Alex Cross #2)
Author: James Patterson
Format: Audiobook
Length: 11 hours (approx)
Read by: Michael Kramer
Originally Published: January 11, 1995
Original Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
View on Goodreads
Date Completed: May 29, 2024
My rating: 
Thoughts
This book is the second in the Alex Cross series, following on from Along Came a Spider. This is another that I read way back when. Probably in college. So I really didn’t remember much going into this one.
Alex Cross is back and this time it’s personal! (If that wasn’t used in promotional materials for either the book or the film, I’d be disappointed.)
When his niece is kidnapped by a man calling himself Casanova, Alex Cross, hot-shot psychologist and Washington DC detective, heads out of his jurisdiction to North Carolina to help track down the sick freak. To make matters worse, it seems as if Casanova is putting together his own little harem, since several young girls (mostly college age, but borderline illegal in some cases I’m thinking) have been kidnapped in much the same way.
To make matters even more worse, it seems there’s another sicko out there, calling himself The Gentleman Caller. No, he does not call gentlemen. In fact, he’s a serial killer in Los Angeles that appears to be competing or collaborating with Casanova.
The chase is very much on when one abductee, Dr. Kate McTiernan escapes from the evil clutches of Casanova. She is very well written and is a good, strong female character who teams up with Cross to help stop the kidnappings and murders.
Let’s just say that what these two men do to their victims would probably require a trigger warning on the cover today. It was pretty unnerving reading those scenes and it really only would have taken one to prove how bad these antagonists were. But we were treated to multiple scenes and I just wasn’t here for it. I’m not a complete prude, and I’m not squeamish in those kinds of scenes. But the author seemed to relish in describing things in bitter detail… ick…
The suspense of the story was right on point with what you would expect from James Patterson after Along Came a Spider. The two villains, the setting, the pacing. All top notch. I feel like the revelation of Casanova’s identity came out of nowhere (similar to a similar revelation in Along Came a Spider). Maybe it was just me, but I had to knock my rating down a little for this again.
The audiobook was great and Michael Kramer as usual does a good job on his readings.
I couldn’t really give this book any more than 2 out of 5 stars. And honestly it just comes down to the gratuitous, non-consensual sexy time. It’s fine once or twice to show a bad guy in all his glory. After that, we get it. Otherwise, it was pretty riveting.
