Kiss The Girls by James PattersonI got this book at The Salvation Army thrift store in Portsmouth, NH. Oh and by the way, that place is incredible. There is an entire media room filled with books. It's like heaven!!!
But because I got this second hand, I read this one first even though I was supposed to read Along Came a Spider (I think that is the name of the first). There is a detective, Alex Cross, who lives with his mother and two little girls in Washington, DC. He is a widower and his whole life and everything he does is overshadowed by the fact that he did lose his wife and he has to ensure he is around to raise those little girls who mean the world to him.
Suddenly his whole family is around because his own niece has been kidnapped from school in North Carolina. Someone is kidnapping beautiful, smart, talented women. Someone is collecting these women. There's another case going on in Los Angeles. Are the two cases related? Hmmmmm.
This book is well written. We know what the kidnapper is doing. We know that he will kill and has killed. We know what he is saying to these women. We are basically in the room with the two of them and witnessing the kidnap victims fear and horror at what they are being forced to succumb to. But we have no idea who it is...and I don't know about you, but when I was reading this book, I was suspicious of everyone that Alex Cross was in contact with. Everyone he talked to, everyone he visited, every one who crossed his path. THAT is the sign of a VERY well written suspense thriller.
Alex Cross is a very likable character. We feel for him...we want to marry him...and be the mother to his children...so therefore, we do not want anything to happen to him. That gives the novels a new twist. We actually feel a heart felt warm kind of attraction to this character. I think I even wanted Alex Cross to succeed in finding the kidnapper/murderer more than I wanted to save the women. I guess that is because we know Alex and didn't really get a lot of character building with the victims except for Kate, a special victim in the life of Alex, of course.
So I guess we know the characters we need to know...we actually feel for the main characters and want everything to be okay for them...so as far as character building...I give this book a 4. Storyline, susapense, thrill ride, it was a pretty good ride...so I give the book a 4.5. As far as the ending...well I like the fact that you know there's going to be another book. I did not like the ending as far as what happened between Alex and Kate. They both seemed to understand why they couldn't be together...but for some reason, I never understood...and still don't. So I was left feeling like I was missing something. For that little piece of discomfort/bad taste I was left with, I give it a 3. The book did translate well into a movie with Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman. I may have to watch that again now that I've read the book.
Overall the book is good, worth reading...it's an older book so most of us have seen the movie and know how it ends...but lucky me, I fill my head with so many books and movies, I typically do not retain the info for long so the thrill was not lost on me.
I give Kiss the Girls a four out of five star rating.
Happy Reading!!!
Best,
The Critical Librarian
No comments:
Post a Comment