Heartsick | Chelsea Cain | Very, very hard to put down

Heartsick | Chelsea Cain | Couldn't put it down

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Heartsick

	Heartsick Chelsea Cain St. Martin's Minotaur, 2007 - 336 pages average customer review:based on 146 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Very, very hard to put down

This is one of the most riveting books I've read in a long time. As a fan of Patricia Cornwell's early work, I missed reading novels that had the same gripping power (a quality lacking in Cornwell's later writing). But HeartSick provides this. It consists of short, intriguing chapters that develop the plot but still leave enough mystery to keep one reading. Furthermore, the characters are developed rather interestingly, especially the main detective. This book definitely made me want to read more from Chelsea Cain.

Couldn't put it down

I had heard an interview with the author on the radio driving home one evening. Her facination with the relationship between killer and cop intrigued me as well, it sounds morbid, but interesting. I purchased the book the moment I got home and it was well worth the decision. I found the suspense addicting, the story line compelling, and nearly felt the characters manipulating me to continue. I had ordered a UK paperback and the cover was quite a conversation starter (and ender as well), no words, just drops of blood and a bloody hand print picking the book up at the binding.

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Terrific mystery involving love between cop and serial killer

Gretchen Lowell is a beautiful serial killer that cons her victims into doing things for her or with her, followed by their demise in a slow. deliberate way. Archie Sheridan is an experienced cop who unknowingly falls under Gretchen's spell. Archie wakes up groggy with a body on the floor beside him in a place he did not recognize. How did he get here? Gretchen had placed her services as a psychiatrist to help Archie and the authorities find the many victims that were still missing. Gretchen "helped" Archie all right to the point of him being so drugged up that he could not think straight but he did recognize a beautiful woman that was controlling him and brutally attacking his body with various weapons including nails through his rib area.

Then when she got Archie to the edge of death, she changed her mind and decided to save him. She took him to the hospital and turned herself in to the authorities. She had a connection with Archie that she did not have with anyone else. Archie eventually recovers to the extent he could resume his detective duties but his body would always be wracked with pain thanks to Gretchen. While in prison, Gretchen would only talk to Archie during which time she would divulge the name or names of her victims and where they could be found. Archie was falling for Gretchen even though he was married and divorced from Debbie, who he still had feelings for, and he loved their children.

Susan Ward was a young, brash, and wild reporter for the Oregon Herald who wanted to go places fast but her young and wild appearance turned off many. But she did wrangle a chance to work with the task force that was working on finding Gretchen's victims. Archie did not really want this young whippersnapper working with him but when Susan showed some smarts he gave in and allowed her to work with him and the task force, sometimes sorry he made that decision.

This leads to a terrific story that I found hard to put down. Chelsea Cain is an author I never heard of before but I am very aware of her great work now. I was very fortunate to read her follow-up book, "Sweetheart" that picked up intensity right where "heartsick" ended. You will not be sorry you purchased this book but you will not be able to close your eyes and go to sleep!

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Manipulative, But in a Good Way

This is one of the most manipulative books I've read in a while, and I'm not talking about how the author got me to polish it off in a single three-day weekend.

Damaged Detective Archie Sheridan manipulates the news media into sending a message to the After School Strangler, punk reporter Susan Ward manipulates both the males she interviews and the male authority figures in her life, infamous serial killer Gretchen Lowell manipulates everyone she encounters, especially Archie Sheridan, and Archie Sheridan manipulates her.

The pages flew by as the story advanced, both the desperate search for the present day killer and the flashbacks to Archie's horrific captivity by Gretchen and Susan's increasingly relevant adolescent struggles. The attempt to tie it all together in one neat little bow at the end was only a partial success, perhaps because though the book ends well, the story continues: Sweetheart.

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Stockholm Syndrome comes to Portland

Archie Sheridan is a famous homicide detective. He tracked down Portland's most notorious serial killer (and, as Cain says repeatedly, it doesn't hurt that the serial killer was a beautiful woman). Of course, he only managed to catch her because she tricked him, kidnaped him, tortured him, and then called 911 on herself when it looked like he might die.

The oddly twisted bond between this kidnap/serial killer and her victim/pursuer is the foundation oh which the surface plot of Heartsick unfolds--what appears to be a brand new serial killer is now loose in Portland, and only Archie can catch him/her(?).

Layered on all of this is a newspaper feature writer (as she states many times, NOT a reporter--she has an MFA, not a journalism degree) who is assigned to do a feature on Archie in the middle of this new investigation.

Exactly who among this triangle (cop, killer, reporter) is using who, and to what end, is what gives this story tension, and the ending is superb.

My only qualm is that it took far too long before we figured out who was who, and what the story was all about. I found the first 50 or so pages hard going--but I'm REALLY glad I didn't give up!

In sum, Heartsick is a powerful read. Good, spunky characters; some interesting development of the Stockholm Syndrom theme; just enough to make us care about the people, so as the mystery unfolds we keep on going.

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