Even Patterson Virgins Kiss The Girls
Kiss The Girls by James Patterson
Until last week, I was a James Patterson virgin.I knew about the prolific author's track record in suspense novels, understood that he had created a hit character in Alex Cross and movie adaptations of his work had gone on to box office success. I even knew that Patterson is an incredibly successful advertising executive.
What I did not know was if his books were any good. After racing through Kiss The Girls in a brisk two days, I found that Patterson does not write literature - just really good stories. I am happy to settle down with a good storyteller's yarn over someone hellbent on symbolism and other frou-frou devices. When you boil things down to their essence, that Geoffy Chaucer and Bill Shakespeare were pretty darn good storytellers too.
You may be certain that I have no intention of elevating Patterson to literary lionhood. After only one story, I still do not know if his body of work ranks with the best American writers, much less the best English language writers of all time. But he is entertaining.
Speaking With A Common Voice
James Patterson's choice of vocation, writing advertising copy before he actually started running the whole shooting match, is evident throughout Kiss The Girls. Switching voices from narrator to protagonist with the frequency of a manic Stephen King, Patterson's story is imbued with lovely sentence fragments, catchphrases and rapt attention to setting. Readers familiar with any of the locales in which Patterson writes will find the familiar faithfully recreated. In an interview with The Book Reporter.com, Patterson admitted that he visits virtually all of the settings.The location familiarity and dialogue tics breathe life into the story, pushing an average but pleasing plot to a careening journey through the story. The magic here lies in Patterson's use of the familiar, in simple language and repetition, which allows the reader to care about the characters. Once that very lofty goal is reached, an author is free to introduce almost any plot. Simple repetition will bring an author to that point - witness the success of most serial genre fiction, but capturing that lightning in a bottle in one novel is an impressive feat.
Remember that common voice. The same voice sold you Kodak and Burger King. Selling you Alex Cross is easy after that.
The Plot In Exactly One Hundred Words
Doctor Detective Alex Cross is a widowed Washington police officer whose brilliant niece is kidnapped by a sexual predator who murders women who don't obey him. Cross barters his reputation and police networking at high levels to solve the crime in North Carolina's Research Triangle Park only to discover a similar set of crimes in California are simultaneously occurring. With faithful partner John Sampson and a new love interest, Cross uses a mix of forensic techniques, psychological profiling, detective work from the Spillane era and the occasional roundhouse punch to solve the crime wave despite FBI and local police interference.What Works Well
Alex Cross is a likable character who suffers from the overly enriched set of skills most writers give their serial heroes. Still, Cross is a well rounded character who has his share of failings and doubt.Patterson's web site advises readers to go through the Cross series in order (no doubt in hardcover), but the author brings enough of Cross' past adventures to light to make the story pleasant without forcing faithful readers to slog through repeated history. Within several short chapters, I had a decent feel for Cross' character and his past.
Make no mistake. Alex Cross is Kiss The Girls, and the story is secondary. Once the reader begins rooting for Cross, Patterson deftly introduces another likeable character, Dr. Kate Tiernan, who like Cross, manages to be human while being beautiful, a second degree karate black belt and a medical doctor.
Finally, Patterson's work on his settings is simply wonderful. Readers familiar with southern California, the universities in North Carolina's Research Triangle Park or Washington, D.C. will applaud the author's eye for detail and sparse but accurate depictions of those areas. Perhaps Robert Ludlum had difficulty writing about a city without name-checking eleven attractions per chapter, but Patterson lets his characters rather than his narrator do the work in describing the locations.
What Doesn't Work As Well
The family interactions seem a bit stale, but may have been more fully developed in earlier works. Patterson's Cross is clearly a family man who adores his children and relatives, but their interaction is a mere step away from an updated Father Knows Best. Likewise, Cross' interaction with partner John Sampson is reminiscent of too many buddy movies to be very entertaining. A mix of Robert B. Parker's Hawk and Danny Glover's character from the Lethal Weapon movie series, Sampson is simply underdeveloped as a character. Those are minor nits and don't seriously distract the reader.The Bottom Line, Dog Earred Pages and All
Ignore the publisher's advice and start wherever you would like in the series. Kiss The Girls is a fun and fast read that does a fine job of introducing Cross to new readers and most likely a good job in furthering the character's development in the series as a whole.Five Things To Remember From This Review
1. It is not literature, but it is fun
2. A very fast read with a genuinely interesting character.
3. There are two popcorn action sequences and some brutal kidnapping/torture
scenes that Patterson discretely handles.
4. The settings are superb.
5. You can pick up the series at any point - including this story, the
sixth in the series.
