Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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32 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not all of the interwoven threads are strong enough to support the tapestry, September 6, 2007
Detective Archie Sheridan spent ten years on The Beauty Killer task force, only to be caught by the beautiful killer herself, Gretchen Lowell (one of the most foul serial killers we've seen in quite a while) and viciously, hideously tortured by her. Archie survived, but just barely, and more than his mind was broken while he was in Gretchen's claws. Gretchen called 9-1-1 to save him when she was no longer capable of sustaining his life for her vile purposes, turned herself in, and that brings us to the present day - two years later. Archie is retired on medical leave. He is addicted to, amongst others, *Gretchen*, Vicodin, and Xanax. Gretchen, striking a plea bargain, sits in prison for the rest of her life.
Another serial killer has arisen in Portland, and Archie comes off medical leave to head up the new task force.
There were essentially three threads running through this story. That of Archie Sheridan's search for the "new" serial killer, that of the young pink-haired bohemian Susan who worked at the newspaper and who was covering the "human angle" of Archie being back on a task force looking for a serial killer, and that of Archie's tortured relationship with Gretchen.
Whenever a story contains multiple threads, the story runs the risk of having one or two of the threads outshine the other(s), and instead of a cohesive flow, the reader is left feeling off balance. Unfortunately, that's what happened here.
The relationship between Archie and Gretchen is told in two parts. I'll speak only of one, as I feel the other lies in the purview of a spoiler. Every so often, a chapter is inserted that takes us back two years to the ten days that Gretchen held Archie in captivity. Those chapters are without question the strongest chapters in the book. Not because of Gretchen's unspeakable cruelty, or the even how well Ms. Cain writes both characters in their respective situations - the purring Gretchen, the collapsing Archie. They're the strongest chapters because the chapters that cover the other threads are rather weak.
Because of the way Cain wrote the book, a comparison to Thomas Harris's The Silence of the Lambs (and I'll speak only of the book for the purpose of this review) is unavoidable. Without question, the strongest scenes in the book involved Hannibal and Clarice. However, when Hannibal isn't around, the book didn't lose its sense of urgency. The other "thread" - hunting for "Buffalo Bill" - was riveting.
In comparison, neither Archie's pursuit of what they called "The After School Strangler", nor Susan's angle, held my attention. They simply weren't compelling. And if a serial killer is going to be anything, he/she HAS to be compelling. I found myself longing for Gretchen to come back into the picture. SHE was compelling, and I wanted to learn more about the twisted relationship that was at the core of this story.
The ending surprised me, and I was glad to see that Publisher's Weekly said that this is the first in a new series. Archie Sheridan's character *is* a fascinating one - with or without Gretchen. He just needs a better story to work with. Here's hoping that we have something more engrossing than "The After School Strangler" for Archie the next time around. Despite my concerns about this book, I would most certainly read the next book in the series.
3½ stars rounded up to four due to the unique presentation of a female serial killer. Gretchen's character was, *ahem*, bloody brilliant.
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19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Close but not quite, October 19, 2007
This is an interesting novel in that it features a female serial killer and a compelling, disturbing relationship between that killer and the detective who hunts her. Unfortunately, that story is told in flashbacks and the 'current' story (the search for another serial killer) is far less compelling. As the detective detects, a reporter reports, he searching for a killer, she for a story. The plot lines eventually come together and everything is tied into a tidy package.
Since the central concept (the female serial killer and her hunter/prey) is a good one, it should have been the focus of the novel. Unfortunately, it is not, though it might be utilized again in a future work. Thus, the problem is that while the b-story plot is reasonably tight it is not as engaging as most readers of suspense fiction will desire. Most will find the a-story plot far more interesting. Indeed, the novel comes alive whenever the female serial killer appears, but it pales when she is off stage.
The writing improves as the novel develops, but initially it is often crude with many non-sequiturs and strange variations in tone. Some sentences and paragraphs are outright amateurish though, as I said, the writing improves noticeably after the initial chapters.
The book is worth reading for the serial killer plot and there are elements here that suggest that the author could do something far more impressive the next time out.
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19 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Creepy...Chilling...Thrilling..., August 3, 2008
HEARTSICK, a dark, twisted, disturbing psychological thriller by Chelsea Cain, is of a genre that I do not normally read. I do not like blood, gore, or torture, but somehow, this novel got under my skin and really surprised me. I could not put it down. I HAD to know what happened next, and I read it cover to cover in almost one sitting.
The writing is outstanding. I was immediately grabbed and drawn into this vivid, perverse world. The atmosphere created by the mood, voice, and tone is truly amazing, dark, and creepy. I had to keep looking outside my window to reassure myself that it was still daylight. I have not been this affected by the atmosphere of a book since INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE by Anne Rice many years ago. The characters are mesmerizing in a distressing, twisted way. Our "hero," detective Archie Sheridan, was the final victim of a truly brutal psychopathic female serial killer, Gretchen Lowell, whom he tracked for nearly 10 years. He is also the only victim to "survive" her torture, if you can call Archie's current life and state of mind survival. Although Gretchen is in a maximum security prison for life, she still pushes Archie's buttons, and he is still dancing to her sick, terrifying tune. The chapters detailing Archie's prolonged captivity and the supreme agony and brain-washing inflicted upon him by Gretchen nearly two years ago are deftly interwoven between the chapters describing Archie's hunt for a new serial killer. This very unique and successful device lets us glimpse inside Archie's warped and troubled mind as he works to solve his current case.
HEARTSICK is gripping, sinister, page-turner of a thriller that keeps you riveted until the final page. While you may think you have it all figured out, believe me, you don't. The twists, turns, shocks, and surprises carry on to the last words of the final page.
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