Kiss Me, Judas

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Kiss Me, Judas
Author Will Christopher Baer
Cover artist Jacket design by Dorothy Carico Smith
Country United States
Language English
Genre(s) Novel
Publisher Viking Press
Publication date October 1, 1998
Media type Print (Hardcover, Paperback)
Pages 240 pp
ISBN ISBN 0670881759 (first edition, hardcover)
Followed by Penny Dreadful (novel)

Kiss Me, Judas (1998) is the first published novel by American author Will Christopher Baer. The plot uses an urban legend, with protagonist Phineas Poe waking up in a hotel bathtub full of ice to discover that somebody has removed one of his kidneys. It is considered to be squarely in the genre of neo-noir.

Will Christopher Baer finished Kiss Me, Judas in two weeks while staying in a borrowed artist's studio in East Bay that "had a coffeemaker, cheap stereo, and toilet. And disturbing paintings on the wall."[1]

After publication, it was selected as one of Barnes and Noble's Best New Voices for Fall of 1998. [2]

Contents

[edit] Plot summary

During his first night out of a mental institution after suffering a nervous breakdown, Phineas Poe is picked up by a prostitute named Jude. She drugs him and removes his kidney and leaves him in a hotel bathtub full of ice with a note on the counter that reads, "If you want to live, call 9-1-1." Phineas, an ex-police officer that had recently been searching for information against the Denver Police Department's Internal Affairs Unit, later finds out that his kidney was actually replaced by a baggie of heroin. While searching for his missing kidney, Phineas actually finds love in his attacker, while he evades the angry police of Denver and tries to unlock the secrets behind his wife's recent death.

[edit] Characters in Kiss Me, Judas

Phineas Poe 
Jude 
Detective Walter Moon 
Eve 
Crumb 
The Blister 
Henry 
Rose White 
Isabel 
Luscious Gore 

[edit] Major themes


[edit] Awards and nominations

The novel won the following awards: B&N Best New Voice: Fall of 1998

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Baer, Will Christopher. Baer's Bio. [willchristopherbaer.com]. Nick Cave's Murder Ballads album was all he listened to during the drafting of this novel.
  2. ^ B&N Best New Voice [barnesandnoble.com]

[edit] References

[edit] External links


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