Nicholas Ruskin



Det. Nick Ruskin is the main antagonist of the novel Kiss the Girls and the 1997 film of the same name. He was a serial killer who kidnapped beautiful women under the name Cassanova.

He was portrayed by Cary Elwes who also played Edgar.

Backstory
Not much is known about his past or how he he came to be what he was. What is known is that when he was a teenage boy, he snuck into Coty Pierce's, a girl he went to highschool with, home where he spent his time in the attic, watching her and her family through the vents. One night, he finally decided to sneak out of the vents to commit "the perfect crime", and raped and killed Coty, her sister, and her mother.

Some time later, he met Will Rudolph in college. It's not explained how, but he found out that he had killed a young couple and convinced him he could trust him. The two then began on their own murder sprees together.

He eventually became a detective for the Los Angeles Police Department, which not only deceived the cops as he gained their trust, but also gave him the chance to change the dates of the kidnappings, so he would have alibis.

It's also stated in the novel that he was in fact married, but had somehow managed to go on his killing spree without her knowing.

Methods
Unlike his accomplice, Will (aka The Gentleman Caller), who was very brutal and cold blooded in his nature, Nick was more calculating and reserved, selecting women based on both physical beauty and their personality. In his mind, they loved him as well. After he kidnapped them and took them to his lair, he would rape them and make sure they didn't brake any of his rules, which meant trying to escape. He wore a mask depending the mood he was in. It's unclear if this was due to having multiple personality or something else. If they broke his rules, he would take them to the woods, tie them to a tree, cut their hair off as his own way of punishment, and leave them to die. What makes him unique among psychopaths is that he "empathizes" with his victims.

Defeat
Nick would eventually meet his demise when he kidnapped Alex Cross' daughter, Naomi, as well as Kate McTiernan. After Kate escaped, she encouraged Alex to track him down even further after she informed him that she spoke with Naomi. Time passed on as they discovered more clues leading to their discovery of The Gentleman Caller. As they got closer, both Nick and Will  broke into Kate's house and put beat Kate into a coma for a while. Eventually, Alex discovered where Nick was hiding the women, and while Nick escaped, Will was shot to death by Alex. This resulting in him going into a breakdown after he lost his "twin". Once Kate was out of her coma, Alex visited her,  went  jogging and found a dead FBI agent. He ran back to the house where Detective Nick Ruskin, hit him with a stun gun. With Cross down, he headed for Kate, but Kate fought him and took him down. He took out his gun to shoot her, but Cross got up in time to shoot and kill him in self-defense.