The Night Season (Gretchen Lowell Series #4)

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Overview

With the Beauty Killer Gretchen Lowell locked away behind bars once again, Archie Sheridan—a Portland police detective and nearly one of her victims—can finally rest a little easier. Meanwhile, the rest of the city of Portland is in crisis. Heavy rains have flooded the Willamette River, and several people have drowned in the quickly rising waters. Or at least that’s what they thought until the medical examiner discovers that the latest victim didn’t drown: She was poisoned before she went into the water. Soon after, three of those drownings are also proven to be murders. Portland has a new serial killer on its hands, and Archie and his task force have a new case.

Reporter Susan Ward is chasing this story of a new serial killer with gusto, but she’s also got another lead to follow for an entirely separate mystery: The flooding has unearthed a skeleton, a man who might have died more than sixty years ago, the last time Portland flooded this badly, when the water washed away an entire neighborhood and killed at least fifteen people.

With Archie following the bizarre trail of evidence and evil deeds to catch a killer and possibly regain his life, and Susan Ward close behind, Chelsea Cain—one of today’s most talented suspense writers—launches the next installment of her bestselling series with an electric thriller.

Editorial Reviews

From Barnes & Noble

Oregon detective Archie Sheridan and local journalist Susan Ward team up again in this extreme weather thriller. As heavy rains pound Portland, apparent drowning victims keep surfacing on the Willamette River. While others tremble before the steadily rising waters, the sleuth and reporter come to the harsh realization that a serial killer is loose and hiding behind nature's merciless torrents. Chelsea Cain's fourth Archie Sheridan mystery (Heartsick; Sweetheart; Evil at Heart) builds its intensity and suspense by rapid cuts between the ominous gathering flood and the dangerous manhunt. One of our most talented young mystery writers.

Library Journal

Portland, OR, is shutting down owing to torrential rains and rising floodwaters, but Det. Archie Sheridan can't come in because the dead body count is rising quickly, too. Conventional wisdom says these are drowning victims, but when colleague Henry Sobol is felled by a toxin, we realize a serial killer has devised yet another exotic means of death. Intrepid journalist Susan Ward thinks the victims are tied to the historic floods of 1948, and when the clues fall into place, Archie realizes she's right again. Fighting the weather and a crafty killer means they have to win this one the hard way—by swimming. The team continues to be haunted by their nemesis Gretchen Lowell, the so-called Beauty Killer, but her influence is minimal in Cain's fourth Archie Sheridan novel (Heartsick; Sweetheart; Evil at Heart), and this brings a certain freshness to the story line. VERDICT Perfect for readers who want to mix true crime history with their contemporary serial killers, as in Lisa Black's Trail of Blood or Michael Harvey's The Third Rail. The pace is as relentless as the floodwaters engulfing Portland. Buy heavily and enjoy recommending this to new Cain fans. [150,000-copy first printing; library marketing.]—Teresa L. Jacobsen, Solano Cty. Lib., Fairfield, CA

More Reviews (3) Fewer Reviews

Kirkus Reviews

Finally free, at least physically, of his former lover and crazed torturer, Gretchen Lowell, who's behind bars, Portland Detective Archie Sheridan vies with a slightly more mundane serial killer in Cain's latest installment in the series (Heartsick, 2007, etc.).

Where do you go as a mystery writer after your beautiful, smart, cruelly amusing main attraction has pulled out all psychotic stops in making your star detective's life an unrelieved hell? Inthis volume, Cain gives Gretchen a breather and replaces her with a largely unseen male menace. Accompanied by a nine-year-old boy who was stolen from his parents 18 months ago, this serial killer carries around small, blue-ringed octopuses in baggies, subjects his victims to their poisonous bites and tosses the corpses in the river. The killings begin after the discovery of a skeleton points back to the Vanport flood of 1948, which wiped out an entire public-housing project and claimed the lives of many residents who were tardily warned by authorities of the impending disaster. Sixty-two years later, with the overflowing Willamette River about to wreak havoc on Portland, two people close to the still-shaky Sheridan are touched by the octopus killer's evil: Henry Sobol, a fellow cop, and Susan Ward, a hungry crime columnist with wild hair. Compared to the Gretchen Lowell books, there's nothing else particularly wild aboutthis novel.But the story is deftly handled, the suspense is plentiful and Cain's evocation of the gloomy atmosphere and Portland setting is superb. Gretchen fans will be pleased when she shows up at the end and with a glance tells us we haven't seen the last of her, but this novel does an excellent job of killing time until then.

A strong and satisfying, if less extreme, outing from the new queen of serial-killer fiction.

Zoe Slutzky

…the world that Cain creates is as dark and ominous as ever. The novel's greatest menace is the weather, which transforms Portland's familiar topography into something less than welcoming. Flooded and obscured by rain, the city becomes wild, unknowable…When the storm nearly levels its downtown, the sudden shifts in perspective are vertiginous, and thrilling. This is the mood that Cain has mastered: the dread of knowing something is off, but not being able to see it clearly. It is what presses her readers onward, pulses rising along with the waterline.
—The New York Times

Publishers Weekly

If Cain's new crime novel is to be believed, you don't want to be in Portland, Ore., when the Willamette River rises over its banks. Spunky reporter Susan Ward and depressed police detective Archie Sheridan spend most of the book slogging through slush or swimming for their lives while on the track of a serial killer who uses incurable octopi toxin to dispatch his victims. Putting Archie's homicidal paramour Gretchen Lowell behind bars has allowed Cain to reinvigorate the series, which includes bringing the likable Susan to the fore. This not only makes for a snappier story, it takes advantage of Christina Delaine's inspired interpretation of the ditsy, self-effacing, surprisingly professional reporter and intuitive sleuth. Her sotto voce, monotone Archie is on the money, too. He sounds as if he's still a long way from recovering from the mental and physical damage caused by Lowell. Near the book's end, Susan is locked in the killer's basement with a dead policeman, up to her waist in river water stocked with the deadly mollusks. Author and narrator combine to make it a memorably chilling moment in one of the series' better entries. A Minotaur hardcover. (Mar.)

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780312619763
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication date: 3/1/2011
Edition description: First Edition
Edition number: 1
Pages: 336
Sales rank: 127,815
Series: Gretchen Lowell Series , #4
Product dimensions: 6.50 (w) x 9.40 (h) x 1.40 (d)

Meet the Author

Chelsea Cain is the New York Times bestselling author of Evil at Heart, Sweetheart, and Heartsick. Both Heartsick and Sweetheart were listed in Stephen King’s Top Ten Books of the Year in Entertainment Weekly. Chelsea lived the first few years of her life on an Iowa commune, then grew up in Bellingham, WA, where the infamous Green River killer was “the boogieman” of her youth. The true story of the Green River killer’s capture was the inspiration for the story of Gretchen and Archie. Cain lives in Portland with her husband and daughter.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One

Present day

Technically, the park was closed.

But Laura knew a place where the wire fence was split, and she had let the Aussies through and then climbed over behind them. It looked like a pond. There was, in fact, no place muddier in the winter in Portland, Oregon, than West Delta Dog Park, and that was saying something.

The dogs ran ahead of her in the standing water, splashing it behind them, already matted with wet dirt and dead grass. Occasionally they turned to look back at her, their warm breath condensing in the January air.

Laura wiped her nose with the back of her hand. It was a terrible day to be out. Her rain pants were slick with rain, her trail runners were soaked. She’d spent the early morning sandbagging downtown and her back ached. The stress fracture in her foot stung. Stay off it for six weeks, the doctors had said. As if.

The cloud cover hung so low that the tops of the trees seemed to brush it.

She loved this.

The worst weather, body aching. Nothing could keep her inside. Biking. Running. Walking the dogs. She was out there every day, no matter what. Not like all those poseurs who came out in the summer in their REI sun shirts and ran along the esplanade with their iPods and swinging elbows. Where were they in the dead of winter? At the gym, that’s where.

God, Laura hated those people.

Franklin glanced back at her, wagged his stubby tail, barked once, flattened his ears, and took off across the old road to the slough. It was their usual route. Penny, the puppy, stuck closer to Laura, zipping ahead ten feet and then circling back.

Laura heard it then. She had heard it all along, but it had faded to white noise, an ambient sound, like a jet passing overhead.

The Columbia Slough.

She knew it would be high. They’d had a ton of snow in December. Then it had warmed up and started to rain. That meant snowmelt from the mountains. Lots of it. The storm drains were backed up. The Willamette was near flood stage. The local news was live with it day and night; they were considering evacuating downtown. But that was the Willamette. Miles away.

As Laura rounded the corner, past the trees, where the old concrete pavilion sat sinking into the slough bank, she was aware of her mouth opening.

In the summer, the slough was still and flat, blanketed by algae so thick it looked solid enough to walk on. That slough was so stagnant that Laura was surprised anything could survive in it. That slough looked like a bucket of water that had been left on the back porch all summer.

This slough was alive. It moved like something angry and afraid, churning fast and high. Whitewater swept along the bank, pulling up debris and washing it downriver. Laura saw a branch get sucked into the water and lost sight of it in an instant as it was swallowed by the seething froth.

Franklin was up ahead, nosing along the old concrete pavilion at the slough’s bank. He whined and gave her a look.

She called his name and slapped her thigh. “Let’s get out of here,” she said.

He turned to come to her. He’d been a rescue dog. Her husband had found him on the Internet. He’d been kept in some barn in Idaho, given little food and no human comfort. It had taken them years to teach him to trust people. And it filled Laura with pride to know that he had turned into such a good dog.

Even with the noise of the slough, he’d heard her. He’d turned to come.

And that’s when it happened.

Did he slip? Did the slough rise up suddenly and take him? She didn’t know.

He was looking right at her, and in a second he was gone.

It took her a moment to move. And then she snapped into action.

Her dog was not going to die. Not like this. She ran. She didn’t think about the stress fracture. The sore back. The raging river. She ran to the edge of the bank, scanning the water for him, as Penny barked fiercely at her heels.

Her heart leapt. She saw him. A glimpse—a wet mound of fur struggling in froth. He was already moving down the river, but he was alive, his black nose just above water.

She had several options.

Maybe if Franklin hadn’t been looking her in the eye when it happened she would have considered more of them. She would have called for help, or run alongside the river, or tied a rope around her waist.

She knew what happened to people who went into water after pets.

They died.

But Laura had seen something in Franklin’s brown eyes. He’d looked right at her.

“Stay,” she said to Penny.

And she plunged into the cold water after him.

Laura’s first sensation, in the rushing dirty sludge, was of not being able to breathe. She’d been hit by a car once, on her bike. It was like that. Like having all the air forced out of you by an impact of steel and concrete. Laura forced herself to take a deep breath, filling her lungs, and she tried to orient herself. Her head was above water, her wet braid around her neck. She was already turned around, already ten feet away from Penny, fifteen, twenty. The roar of the slough was unrelenting. Twigs and branches snapped against Laura’s face in the current, stinging her skin. Penny stood barking at the shore, pawing at the ground. Until Laura couldn’t hear her anymore.

Where was Franklin?

Laura struggled to see him, but at water level all she could see was more water. She was fifty feet away from Penny now. Sixty. She couldn’t see. She couldn’t see the shore. Just the sky, dark clouds, above her.

Float.

Cold water survival. You lost heat swimming.

Just float.

She took a deep breath and lifted her hands, already numb, foreign, like they belonged to someone else, and she spread her arms and bobbed on her back, and let the current take her.

The current had taken Franklin.

It would take her to him.

Cold water filled her ears. They ached. Her teeth chattered, the sound lost in the roar of the slough. Her clothes felt heavy, filled with water, dragging her down.

And then she heard him.

Laura rolled over and used the last of her strength to fight her way through the current toward the whimper. He was there, caught against the roots of a fallen tree, the water trapping him. He saw her and his ears perked up, and his paws paddled in vain toward her.

She got to him.

She didn’t know how.

She got to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. He could have fought her. Animals did that. Panicked. But he didn’t. He went limp. He went limp into her arms, and she was able to use the tree as leverage and push her heels into the silt at the bottom of the slough, and she managed to somehow inch them both to the muddy riverbank.

She collapsed beside him in the mud, still holding on to him, still not letting him go. Her heart was pounding. They were soaked. Franklin whined and licked her face.

They’d made it.

She rolled onto her back, almost giddy. They were alive. She’d like to see one of those fair- weather esplanade runners survive something like this.

Franklin shook the water from his mangy coat and Laura turned away, lifting a hand over her face. “Hey, boy,” she said. “Easy.”

He growled, his upper lip tightening. He was looking at something behind her.

“What?” she said.

Franklin’s eyes narrowed, still focused over Laura’s shoulder.

She shivered. Whether it was from cold or fear, she didn’t know.

Laura turned around.

In the mud of the bank, partially exposed, was a human skeleton.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4

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Sean_From_OHIO

Posted April 1, 2011

more from this reviewer

Missing the usual bite!

Chelsea Cain has always been able to enrapture me with her characters. Their personalities, dialogue, and rationales. Here, it seems to lack a bunch of that. The lack of Gretchen Lowell in this is somewhat like Silence Of The Lambs without Hannibal Lecter. While there is a villain, it just doesn't compare. I felt there just wasn't enough to this book. Not enough Archie and Susan. While what was there I enjoyed, it just didn't live up to the previous books. The antagonist here was without any real charisma or interest. His motivation and especially his weapon of choice weren't interesting. I don't want it to seem that I didn't like this book, it just doesn't compare favorably to the previous three books. With all that I still have faith that the next time I read about Archie and Susan I will be pleased.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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5656147

Posted March 14, 2011

great book

I was a little worried that a book without Gretchen would be lacking but that is not the case. She is still there due to the fact that Archie carries her with him always. Susan may have a little too much access to the police world but she is fun as a character. Over all this book kept my attention and continues the story line.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous

Posted March 12, 2011

Would not recommend.

Seriously, this was a disappointment. All other books have been great reads.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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ShellTX

Posted February 17, 2012

more from this reviewer

The Excellence Continues!

I've read all of the previous Gretchen Lowell books, and this one did not disappoint. I am eagerly awaiting the next one.
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ThrillLover

Posted January 31, 2012

Disappointed!!!

Wrote the author because the first, second and third books were so engrossing that I couldnt put them down. They are DEFINITELY the kind of intense books that thrill lovers are looking for!!!!!! Was waiting for the same intensity with this one and was severly let down....:( I've been all around town touting how marvelous of a writer Chelsea Cain is and I will still do so, but can you please, please, please come out with another tortuous, intense, captivating book that we all crave?
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Reads_Alot_Reviews

Posted January 27, 2012

more from this reviewer

Great new begining-thank you!

Thank God the Beauty Killer is behind bars-I couldn't take a fourth book of Archie being ravaged.

This Chelsea Cain book takes a look at another serial killer and gives her hero Archie Sheridan another purpose in life. The same quirky characters are in this book and you develop feelings for each of them without feeling the pull from the past 3 storylines. It was easy for me to fall in love with Susan Ward, the reporter who tags along in every book. She just can't leave well enough alone and it always gets her in trouble. She's a smart cookie though and we pull for her the entire time.

Thank you Chelsea for not carving Archie up again. Good read. Fast paced with plenty of suspense.
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bobbewig

Posted January 20, 2012

more from this reviewer

3 1/2 Stars -- Enjoyable But Much Less Intense Than The Other Books In The Series!

The city of Portland, OR is in crisis, as heavy rains have flooded the Willamette River and several people have drowned in the rising waters. Or, at least that's what was thought until the medical examiner discovers that the latest victim didn't drown. She was poisoned before she went into the water. Soon after, three of those drownings are also proven to be murders. As a result, Portland has a new killer on its hands, and Detective Archie Sheridan, the protagonist from Cain's first three books, and his task force have a new case. The Night Season also brings back Reporter Susan Ward who is chasing the story of the new serial killer, as well as another lead for an entirely separate mystery.

Prior to reading the latest installment from Chelsea Cain, I was hoping she would be able to provide at least the same level of intense drama as in her earlier books. Unfortunately, while The Night Season is fast-paced, provides a good amount of excitement and (for the most part)interesting main characters, it, for me, lacked the fever pitch that made me unable to put down the earlier books. Despite its various scenes of excitement, the book's story line and characters never captivated me enough to put reading it above most other things I had to do. Mainly, this is due to my becoming increasingly annoyed with Reporter Susan Ward, who displays an unbelievable amount of stupidity -- okay, maybe I should say naivete -- for a person that is considered to be a respected and experienced crime reporter. This is also due to the motivations of the murderer not being made important enough for me to care a lot about, and of the method chosen for committing the murders being both over the top and somewhat gimmicky.

Overall, despite what I view as its flaws, The Night Season is fairly entertaining and enjoyable. It is not, however, a book that I'd recommend that you rush out to read. Maybe, get it from the library or wait for it to come out in paperback.
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6501146

Posted August 23, 2011

Great

I cannot wait until the new ones come out. I love this author. Especially the ones about gretchen lowell. Shes evil! Hurry please!
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Barbee5044

Posted April 19, 2011

WORST BOOK I'VE EVER READ

I recently started reading mrs cains books.over the past month. I've read all her books. needless to say that I felt her lastest book "The night season" was a hugh disappointment.what the hell a seven yearold could have done a better job,and probably has. really, a octopus? tiny keys? a kidnapping? only to bring gretchen lowell in at the end. Mrs. cain should thank all the people-total three pages- for even letting her write this piece of crap . I read anywere from twenty to thirty books a month. this HAS TO BE THE WORST BOOK I'VE EVER READ. IF POSSIBLE I WOULD GO BACK TO THE BOOKSTORE AND DEMAND MY MONEY BACK.
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Lynie

Posted April 16, 2011

more from this reviewer

Enjoyable mystery

Heavy rains have caused the Williamette River in Portland, Oregon to flood the city. Det. Archie Sheridan has just learned that one of the recent drowning victims actually died from poisoning before going into the rising water.

When the medical examiner discovers that more of the presumed drowning victims actually met the same fate, Sheridan finds himself in a search for a serial killer. The killer is using a very unusual way to harm his victims, a deadly toxin from an exotic octopus sting.

Sheridan heroically rescues a young boy from the floodwaters, only to have the boy disappear from the hospital. As Sheridan races against time to find the killer, he believes the child is tied into the case. Having lost her day job, reporter Susan Ward follows Archie throughout the investigation. It's obvious that there is an attraction between Sheridan and Ward, but since I haven't read any of Cain's other novels, it's hard to tell what the connection is.

The murder weapon in Ms. Cain's novel was just a little too far-fetched to be believable. However, THE NIGHT SEASON is a well written light mystery and I liked that Cain incorporated the true story of the Vanport Flood on Memorial Day in 1948. Lynn Kimmerle

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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bookhimdanno

Posted April 11, 2011

more from this reviewer

Fast Paced and interesting

Review: I really enjoyed this book. Wow, it grabbed me right from the start and just kept hold. It is a few books along in a series(4th) but I had no problem catching up to what was going on and the relationships between the characters.

The detective is recovering from a brutal beating and hostage situation from one of the previous books, the reporter is struggling with her feelings for him and with the book she is writing. She's also quite quirky and many on the police force and her own colleagues find her a bit over the top and pushy. I found her funny and a bit scary (eating the Jolly Ranch from the table, really?) The other characters add a level of believability, but still are secondary to the ongoing story. Even the long time detective friends and partners are just part of the scenery in this story.

This story moved fast, just like the flooding river. It started in 1949 and then ended in the present. I enjoyed the way the past introduced the problems in the future and the guilt of those who knew the truth. I've been to Portland several times and this was a fun reminder of the area. Of course I have only been there when it isn't flooding and icy cold (just in the sunny summer).

The book was dark with the theme and with the rain soaked streets and people. The murder weapon was unique and different. It really kept my attention and I didn't put it down. I would suggest this and her other titles to anyone who loves a good police procedural murder mystery.
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FrontPorchView

Posted March 23, 2011

Enjoyable

I love Archie, Susan and Gretchen. Susan made Night Season. I missed Gretchen in this novel. I wish she could have been more than just a comic book air bubble here.

Night Season is a good book not as much gore as in the other novels but was happy to see Archie getting stronger. Can't wait to see what Chelsea does with Archie and Susan. Looking forward to new hair colors by Susan in the next book, which I can't wait to read.

If your new to this series start at the beginning, Heartsick. You won't be sorry!
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Country_Boy9

Posted February 27, 2011

I Also Recommend:

Chelsea Cain delivers - again!

Chelsea Cain gives us her fourth Archie Sheridan novel, which is just as fast paced and exciting as the first three. The major difference between this book and her previous ones in the series is that serial killer Gretchen Lowell takes a back seat to the major story line. That isn't to say that she doesn't make an appearance or doesn't hang over Archie like a shadow. Cain leads us to believe at the end of the novel that Archie is going to have to go face to face with Gretchen again and soon. With that being said this book is just as good and possibly better than her previous efforts. The pacing is electric. The characters are just as interesting and likeable. With Gretchen out of the way for the time being we are able to focus on Archie and his relationships with his ex-wife, fellow officers and, of course, spunky reporter Susan Ward. Cain allows us to see sides of Archie we haven't been able to see before in greater depth and he is, to Cain's credit, more impressive than I originally thought. She has done a wonderful job bringing Archie back from the brink and at the same time reminds us how easy it would be for him to fall again, which he seems to realize as well. Archie and his supporting cast truly shine in this book, Susan especially. Cain has always done a great job, I think, in incorporating the city of Portland itself into her stories. This book is no exception. She makes it a very real presence in this book. It almost takes on a life of its own. Cain is fantastic. She's just done a great job with this series and makes it better each time out. There is less gore and shock value in this one, not that it's a bad thing. The story and characters and city drive this book. I can't wait to see what she has up her sleeve next.
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harstan

Posted January 25, 2011

more from this reviewer

The fourth Sheridan police procedural is a refreshing tale

Portland, Oregon police detective Archie Sheridan feels he can finally move on with his life as his nemesis serial killer Gretchen Lowell is incarcerated. However, he also knows she has been locked away before, but escaped like a magician.

As the Willamette overflows its banks, a body is found at an amusement park. Archie assumes it is another misfortune drowning victim until the coroner reports the cause of death being from a puncture wound. Other corpses turn up with the same trauma. At the same time reporter Susan Ward is writing an article on a skeleton found in the ghost-town Vanport, destroyed by the 1948 flood. Archie allows the journalist to join his team as they search for a serial killer using a strange toxin.

The fourth Sheridan police procedural (see Heartsick; Sweetheart; Evil at Heart) is a refreshing tale though the hero deals with another serial killer but this time Gretchen is limited to a few moments when Archie agonizes over his mixed feelings towards the black widow. The key to the superb whodunit is the real Vanport flood of over six decades ago that will remind the audience of Katrina as Chelsea Cain brings this disaster alive to readers. Fans will enjoy Sheridan's brisk investigation of a present day psychopath and the deep look at the Vanport Flood calamity.

Harriet Klausner
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Posted February 14, 2012

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Posted February 20, 2012

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The Night Season (Gretchen Lowell Series #4)

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Missing the usual bite!

great book

Would not recommend.

The Excellence Continues!

Disappointed!!!

Great new begining-thank you!

3 1/2 Stars -- Enjoyable But Much Less Intense Than The Other Books In The Series!

Great

WORST BOOK I'VE EVER READ

Enjoyable mystery

Fast Paced and interesting

Enjoyable

Chelsea Cain delivers - again!

The fourth Sheridan police procedural is a refreshing tale