Product Description

FIRST CAME CORNWELL. THEN CAME REICHS. NOW PREPARE FOR SLAUGHTER -

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #848 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09-10
• Binding: Paperback
• 480 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Kisscut is a reminder that Karin Slaughter has--with just one previous novel--built a reputation as one of the most powerful and astringent thriller writers at work today. In fact, Slaughter's work represents a development of the Southern Gothic strain, and like so many of her illustrious predecessors, she is adept at exploring the darker reaches of the human psyche. As her last book, Blindsighted, sold over 25,000 copies, it would seem that many of us have become Slaughter aficionados.

Kisscut begins with a particularly explosive opening. In the car park of a skating rink in the small southern town of Heartsdale, chief of police Jeffrey Tolliver witnesses a teenage girl pointing a gun at a man. But the detective, there for a date with his ex-wife Sara (the town's medical examiner and paediatrician), is obliged to shoot the girl to save the boy's life. The subsequent autopsy brings to light a gallery of horrors, and as Tolliver and Sara undertake a particularly difficult investigation, they are met with a wall of silence.

Slaughter is now routinely compared to Thomas Harris, and the comparisons are not far-fetched. We're used to unflinching forensic detail these days (courtesy of such writers as Kathy Reichs and Patricia Cornwell), but Slaughter is adept at unsettling the reader in a whole host of ways, not least through her recurrent suggestion that the patina of normality sustaining her characters is very thin indeed. Jeffrey and Sara's faltering relationship is richly drawn, though we find reduced attention given to their private problems as the novel progresses and the focus shifts more to the author's polished and consummate handling of the tortuous plot. --Barry Forshaw

John Connolly
'With Blindsighted, Karin Slaughter left a great many thriller writers looking anxiously over their shoulders. With Kisscut, she leaves most of them behind.'

Michael Connelly
'This is crime fiction at its finest.'

Customer Reviews

loved it
this book is very very good. It is interesting (no one else seems to have covered this subject) and keeps you guessing.

Kisscut
This was the first of this authors books I read. I will not be bothering to read anymore. The main character is one dimensional. The story lacks suspense throughout and the storyline itself is, in my opinion, ridiculous. This is just another poorly written and conceived crime novel by a very mediocre American crime writer. Do not waste your money and time on this book.

electric, pacey, captivating and thrilling
I could carry on like this but you would think I'm being paid to gush ;)

Nevertheless, I really enjoyed this book. Although one of the earlier novels from Karin Slaughter, I came to it after reading her others. No problem. Although the characters are beautifully detailed, with plenty of baggage and you learn more about them in each volume, nothing suffers in reading them out of sequence.

The writing is superb and detailed and the attention to characterisation really absorbing. Although there can be a fair sprinkling of medical terminology, it doesn't weigh the book down. The interplay between the two main characters is fun and adds an interesting, sometimes tense dimension to the plot.

I normally read for leisure in the evenings or at weekends, but I found myself constantly drawn to this, stealing quick reads throughout the day when I should have been working. This for me is the truest indicator of a great book and I heartily recommend it to you.

So... whats next? Indelible or Faithless?