Kisser

A Stone Barrington Novel

By: Stuart Woods

Narrated by: Tony Roberts

Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's Summary

Stone Barrington is back in this thrilling new page-turner from the perennially entertaining New York Times best-selling author.  

Stone Barrington is back in New York, and after a rather harrowing sojourn in Key West, he's looking to stay closer to home and work on some simple divorce and custody cases for Woodman & Weld. But when he crosses paths with a fetching Broadway actress - and sometime lip model - Stone gets a little more deeply involved with business than he'd expected. When his new lady love turns out to be a lady with a shady past, Stone and downtown cop Dino Bacchetti realize that her beauty may have an unusually high price.

More mayhem? Listen to all of our Stone Barrington mysteries.

©2009 Stuart Woods (P)2009 Penguin

Critic Reviews

“POW!!! He’s back with more twists and trysts.” (The Mystery Reader)

“Entertaining...Woods devises plenty of snarls to provoke laughs and keep the action interesting in a series that excels at playing out male fantasies.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

“A fun, breezy page-turner.” (Booklist)   

No more....

I GIVE UP! I've been a fan of Mr. Woods since White Cargo, Palindrome and early Stone novels but his last 4 or 5 books have been ridiculous. Stone Barrington's character has become completely unrealistic and absurd. Who talks like that? And, don't get me going on the narrator - he has to be the worst in my library collection of over 400 titles. No more wasted credits on Stuart Woods - even Holly Barker from his other books has gone over the top.

Stone Barrington at the top of his game!

Stuart Woods is one of my favorite authors. I have read most of his books. My favorite character is Stone Barrington. Occasionally Stone and Dino go to Florida, but mostly they can be found drinking bourbon at Elaine's in NYC.

Here, Woods has brought Stone and Dino back to NY and I couldn't be happier. The book is tighly written with lots of wit and an excellent plot. Of course, snagging Tony Roberts as the narrator is an extra treat. Obviously, Mr. Roberts' stage experience brings listening to this audio book to another level entirely. He can even do the women's voices well-something I do not find nearly convincing even among my most treasured narrators at audible!

I was waiting to see if Mr. Woods would remember to use Stone's catch phrase, "You, Betcha!", and he did-just once to my knowledge. I was laughing and smirking my way thru the entire book.

Just when I think I might not go back for more, Stuart Woods pulls another winner out of his hat. For heavens sakes Mr. Woods please try and stick with Stone. And make New York the main attraction. Without Elaine's there is no Stone or Dino.

Thanks for going back to my favorite character. And for bringing the story to life through the narration of such a talented actor!

A waste of time and money

I've been working my way through the entire series. The early books were good. The last few struggled to be okay. This one was simply bad. No plot. Stone has become a joke of a character. Entirely unbelievable. Unfortunately, I didn't check the other reviews first. I wish I had.

Lightweight even for Stone

I am a big fan of the Stone Barrington series but I felt this one did not have much of a story..Stone seemed to be going in 10 directions at once snf not feeling anything. He seemed to be out of control of his life...I still enjoyed it but not as much as the others.

MB

A little too sexually graphic for my taste.

Oops, I Did It Again

I now have the dubious distinction of having "read" all of Stuart Woods audiobooks, first to last, in order. Chiefs was exceptional and implanted in me the hope that at least one of the subsequent books would measure up. They never did and this is no exception. The characters' voices (their language not the tone of the narrator) were still more akin to my grandmothers era.

Of course, every character is still rich, super hot, overwhelmingly lucky, and engage in close, intense sexual relationships without much preamble... Let's go to Elaine's, have steak and Knob Creek, then shag like bunnies.. Oh and what was your name again? Fine, once. Twice, OK. But multiple times per book across a very long series, no friggin way. Wilt Chamberlain didn't shag that often.

Oh wait, also everyone has their own private plane. Everyone has a direct line to the President and the head of the CIA. Everyone drives a Mercedes, even as a rental car. Really, which Hertz is this again? Anyway, my plan (mostly because it seems like Stuart Woods approach too) is to copy and paste this review across several books. I read them all. They are all the same. So they deserve the same review.

Why did I read them all, you might ask. Chiefs was fantastic. There were glimmers of hope here and there in the early going with series protagonists Stone, Eddie, Holly, Will, etc. They were as entertaining as reruns of later Love Boat episodes. You always know exactly what you're going to get. You don't have to worry about nuance or complexity or even real adversity. Perfect as a beach or road trip read, because it won't matter if you lose your place or fall asleep (not recommended for the driver in the road trip scenario).

If you want better, try Lee Child or Harlan Coben series. Both are much more believable. Early David Baldacci too. For non-series works, try Linwood Barclay. If anyone else agrees with my assessments and thinks I'm missing out on other alternatives, please post them.

Kakihaka

Great read if you know what you got. Way to go Stuart Woods, you got me! I thought I was listening to a Mystery Thriller. What I got was a Mystery Thriller Comedy. It took me a few chapters but I got it! Thanks, Great Listen. Tony Roberts did a great job as the sexy southern belle.

OMG!

I REALLY wished I had paid attention to reviews before I jumped into this one. I have been a member of audible.com for years and I am lucky I have only had a hand full of books that I disliked. This has to be on the top of my list. I realize this is just a story but come on.. it is HORRIBLE! The narrator does not really help this book either. And I totally agree with Nancy in Tampa. I quit listening because I kept finding myself screaming "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME". Don't waste your money or a credit!

comments

i have liked this author in the past. this book, however, is a shark jumper. the sex dialogue is absurd, the rank stupidity of the female characters is abominable, and the stereotyping is plain ugly - e.g., his nasty profiling of the irish characters as well as the italian characters. i think that the author should take a sabbatical.

Good

Lots of twists and turns. Stone Barrington continues to be one of my favorite characters.