Sweetheart (Gretchen Lowell Series #2) [NOOK Book]

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Overview


With Heartsick, Chelsea Cain took the crime world by storm, introducing two of the most compelling characters in decades: serial killer Gretchen Lowell and her obsessed pursuer Portland Detective Archie Sheridan. The book spent four weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and garnered rave reviews around the world. But the riveting story of Archie and Gretchen was left unfinished, and now Chelsea Cain picks up the tale again.

When the body of a young woman is discovered in Portland’s Forest Park, Archie is reminded of the last time they found a body there, more than a decade ago:...

See more details below

Overview


With Heartsick, Chelsea Cain took the crime world by storm, introducing two of the most compelling characters in decades: serial killer Gretchen Lowell and her obsessed pursuer Portland Detective Archie Sheridan. The book spent four weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and garnered rave reviews around the world. But the riveting story of Archie and Gretchen was left unfinished, and now Chelsea Cain picks up the tale again.

When the body of a young woman is discovered in Portland’s Forest Park, Archie is reminded of the last time they found a body there, more than a decade ago: it turned out to be the Beauty Killer’s first victim, and Archie’s first case. This body can't be one of Gretchen's—she’s in prison—but after help from reporter Susan Ward uncovers the dead woman's identity, it turns into another big case. Trouble is, Archie can't focus on the new investigation because the Beauty Killer case has exploded: Gretchen Lowell has escaped from prison.

Archie hadn't seen her in two months; he'd moved back in with his family and sworn off visiting her. Though it should feel like progress, he actually feels worse. The news of her escape spreads like wildfire, but secretly, he's relieved. He knows he's the only one who can catch her, and in fact, he has a plan to get out from under her thumb once and for all.

Chelsea Cain has topped her own bestselling debut thriller with this unputdownable, unpredictable, edge-of-your-seat read.

Editorial Reviews

From Barnes & Noble
Chelsea Cain's Heartsick introduced us to one of the most perverse relationships in recent fiction: the weird tie between femme fatale serial killer Gretchen Lowell and her obsessed pursuer, Detective Archie Sheridan. As Sweetheart begins, Archie deludes himself to thinking that is cured of his Gretchen obsession: He's stopped making his daily visits to her in prison, and he's focusing on his family and his job -- but then, just as another big case breaks, Gretchen escapes. When he gets the inevitable "Hello, darling. Have you missed me?" call, he knows that another roller-coaster ride has begun, but this time he vows that he will be the one in control.
Amy Finnerty
Fortunately, most of us have never encountered a real serial killer, so we are all too pleased to give the author license as she invents Gretchen in wanton, wide-screen glory. Sweetheart is not a nuanced psychological thriller in the tradition of P. D. James or Margaret Atwood. The violence is too predictable and graphic to be terrifying. But the novel is sensual and engulfing. We feel Archie's every aching rib and taste the bitter narcotics he downs five pills at a time to banish his agony. We smell Gretchen's lilac perfume and the entrails she likes to leave as calling cards. But it is the marital drama entwined with the carnage—Archie's conflict, his wife's protective rage and the menace posed by the ultimate home-wrecker—that keeps us turning the pages.
—The New York Times
From The Critics

Cain's latest thriller returns to familiar territory as she revisits her Heartsick characters, Portland, Ore., detective Archie Sheridan and menacing serial killer Gretchen Lowell. This time Lowell escapes prison and is up to her old murderous tricks, and the only one who can catch her is, of course, Sheridan. As stereotypical as the story sounds, narrator Carolyn McCormick gives the tale heft with her first-rate performance and holds listeners rapt attention throughout. She delves into each and every character, offering realistic interpretations and strong readings that display her commanding stage presence. As strong as McCormick's female characters are, it is her role as Sheridan that sets her apart from many of today's female narrators. A St. Martin's Press hardcover (Reviews, July 17).(Aug.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781429932660
  • Publisher: St. Martin's Press
  • Publication date: 9/2/2008
  • Sold by: ST MARTINS / MPS
  • Format: eBook
  • Edition description: First Edition
  • Edition number: 1
  • Pages: 336
  • Sales rank: 19,789
  • Series: Gretchen Lowell Series, #2
  • File size: 340 KB
  • Items ship to U.S, APO/FPO and U.S. Protectorate addresses.

Meet the Author


Chelsea Cain lived the first few years of her life on an Iowa commune, then grew up in Bellingham, Washington, where the infamous Green River killer was "the boogeyman" of her youth. Her first novel featuring Detective Archie Sheridan and killer Gretchen Lowell, Heartsick, was a New York Times bestseller. Also the author of Confessions of a Teenage Sleuth, a parody based on the life of Nancy Drew, several nonfiction titles, and a weekly column in The Oregonian, Chelsea Cain lives in Portland with her family. Visit her online at chelseacain.com.

Read an Excerpt


Chapter One

Forest Park was pretty in the summer. Portland’s ash sky was barely visible behind a canopy of aspens, hemlock, cedars, and maples that filtered the light to a shimmering pale green. A light breeze tickled the leaves. Morning glories and ivy crept up the mossy tree trunks and strangled the blackberry bushes and ferns, a mass of crawling vines that piled up waist-high on either side of the packed dirt path. The creek hummed and churned, birds chirped. It was all very lovely, very Walden, except for the corpse.

The woman had been dead awhile. Her skull was exposed; her scalp had been pulled back, a tangle of red hair separated from the hairline by several inches. Animals had eaten her face, exposing her eyes and brain to the forces of putrefaction. Her nose was gone, revealing the triangular bony notch beneath it; her eye sockets were concave bowls of greasy, soaplike fat. The flesh of her neck and ears was blistered and curdled, peeled back in strips to frame that horrible skull face, mouth open like a Halloween skeleton.

"Are you there?"

Archie turned his attention back to the cell phone he held against his ear. "Yeah."

"Want me to wait on dinner?"

He glanced down at the dead woman, his mind already working the case. Could be an OD. Could be murder. Could be she fell from the wheel well of a 747. Archie had seen that last one on an episode of Law & Order. "I’m thinking no," he said into the phone.

He could hear the familiar concern in Debbie’s voice. He’d been doing well. He’d cut back on the pain pills, gained a little weight. But he and Debbie both knew it was all too tenuous. Mostly, he pretended. He pretended to live, to breathe, to work; he pretended he was going to be okay. It seemed to help the people he loved. And that was something. He could do that, at least, for them. "Be sure you eat something," she said with a sigh.

"I’ll grab something with Henry." Archie flipped the phone shut and dropped it into his coat pocket. His fingers touched the brass pillbox that was also in his pocket, and lingered there for a moment. It had been more than two and a half years since his ordeal. He’d only been off medical leave a few months. Long enough to catch his second serial killer. He was thinking of getting some business cards made up: SERIAL KILLER APPREHENSION SPECIALIST. Maybe something embossed. His head hurt and he reflexively moved to open the lid of the pillbox, then let his fingers drop and lifted his hand from his pocket and ran it through his hair. No. Not now.

He squatted next to Lorenzo Robbins, who sat on his heels inches from the body, his dreadlocks hidden under the hood of his white Tyvek suit. The smooth stones of the creek bed were slick with moss.

"That your wife?" Robbins asked.

Archie pulled a small notebook and a pen out of his other pocket. A flashbulb went off as a crime photographer took a picture behind them. "My ex-wife."

"You guys still close?"

Archie drew an outline of the woman in his notebook. Marked where the surrounding trees were, the creek below. "We live together."

"Oh."

The flashbulb went off again. "It’s a long story," Archie said, rubbing his eyes with one hand.

Robbins used a pair of forceps to lift the woman’s loose scalp, so he could peer under it. When he did, dozens of black ants scurried out over her skull and into the decomposing tissue inside her nasal aperture. "Dogs have been here."

"Wild?" Archie asked, twisting around to look up at the thick surrounding forest. Forest Park was five thousand acres, the largest urban wilderness park in the country. Parts of it were remote; parts of it were crowded. The area where the body had been found was in the lower part of the park, which was frequented by a steady stream of joggers, hikers, and mountain bikers. Several houses were even visible up the hillside.

"Domestic probably," Robbins said. He turned and jabbed a latex-gloved thumb up the hillside. "Way the body’s down here behind the scrub, can’t see it from the path. People come running through with their dogs off leash. Sparky scrambles down here, tears a hunk of cheek off the corpse." He looked down at the corpse and shrugged. "They think he’s found a dead bird or whatever. Owner lets him sniff around a little. Then they run on."

"You’re saying she was eaten by pugs?"

"Over time. A few weeks."

Archie shook his head. "Nice."

Robbins raised an eyebrow as he glanced back up at the path. "Funny no one smelled anything."

"There was a sewer leak," Archie said. "One of the houses at the top of the hill."

The eyebrow shot up another few millimeters. "For two weeks?" Archie drew the hiking path across the page of his notebook. It was maybe forty feet above, at its closest point. Then it curved and headed farther up the hillside, deeper into the woods. "People rationalize."

"You thinking she was a prostitute?"

"Based on the shoes?" She was still wearing one—an amber Lucite pump. The other they had found nestled in moss underneath a fern a few yards away. "Maybe. Maybe she was a stylish thirteen year-old. Hard to tell." Archie looked at the grinning mouth, the teeth straight and white against all the surrounding blood and gristle. "She’s got nice teeth."

"Yeah," Robbins agreed softly. "She’s got nice teeth."

Archie watched as his partner, Henry Sobol, came slowly, tentatively, down the hillside. He was wearing black jeans, a black T-shirt, and a black leather jacket, despite the heat. Henry kept his eyes down, lips pursed in concentration, arms outstretched for balance. With his arms extended and his shaved head, he looked like a circus strongman. He walked sideways, trying to step in Archie’s footprints, but his feet were bigger than Archie’s and each step sent a spit of dirt and small rocks rattling down the embankment. Above them, on the hillside, Archie could see that everyone had stopped to watch, their faces anxious. A homeless man looking for a place to set up camp had found the body and called the police from a convenience store a few blocks outside the park. He had met the first officer to respond and taken him to the site, where the officer had promptly lost his footing in the loose dirt and slid down the hillside into the creek, polluting the crime scene and nearly breaking his leg. They would have to wait for the autopsy results to even know if they had a homicide.

Henry reached the bottom, winked at Archie, and then turned and waved merrily up above. The cops at the top of the hill all turned back to their work taping the crime scene off, and keeping the growing group of sportily dressed hikers and joggers at bay.

Henry smoothed his salt-and-pepper mustache thoughtfully with a thumb and forefinger and rocked forward to examine the body, allowing himself a reflexive grimace. Then business. "What killed her?" he asked.

Robbins placed a bag over one of her bloated, mottled hands and secured it with a twist-tie. He did it gingerly, as if she had nodded off and he didn’t want to wake her. The fingers curled, blistered and swollen, and the nail beds were black, but the hand was still recognizable, though probably not printable. The other, which lay half buried in the earth and moss, was crawling with beetles. "Search me," Robbins said.

"She die here?" Henry asked.

"Hard to say until we know what killed her," Robbins answered. He gazed up at Henry. "Do you wax your head or is it naturally that shiny?"

Archie smiled. Henry had called Robbins out at the police softball game that spring. It had been like this ever since.

"I was just asking," Henry said to Robbins.

"Ask me after the autopsy," Robbins muttered. He produced another bag and gave it a snap in the air, and then gently lifted her other hand so he could slide it into the bag. The beetles scattered, and Henry took a small step back.

Archie wrote something in his notebook. It had been thirteen years since they had stood over another dead girl in that park. That had set them on the trail of the Beauty Killer. They didn’t know back then it would become a career. Or that Archie would become one of her victims.

A voice from up the hillside hollered, "Hey."

Henry looked up at the path, where Claire Masland was waving for them to come back up the hill. He put his hands on his hips. "You’ve got to be kidding me," he said to Archie.

Claire motioned again. This time she put her whole arm into it.

"I’ll go first," Archie said. He glanced back at Henry and added, "So when you fall you won’t take us both down."

"Ha, ha," said Henry.

"What do you have?" Archie asked Claire when they reached the path. Claire was small and angular with a very short haircut. She was wearing a striped T-shirt and jeans. Her gold shield was clipped to her waistband, along with a phone, a gun in a leather holster, and a pair of red plastic sunglasses jauntily hooked through a belt loop. She tilted her head at a young uniformed cop who was covered in dirt.

"This is Officer Bennett," she said. "The first responder."

Bennett looked like a kid, tall with a baby face and a slight double chin that pressed fretfully against a skinny neck. He hunched his shoulders miserably. "I’m so sorry," he said.

"Show them," Claire told Bennett. He sighed glumly and turned around. He had taken a header down the ravine and his uniform was stained with muck, and tiny bits of vegetation still clung to his shirt.

Both Henry and Archie leaned forward to get a better look. Clinging to Bennett’s shoulder blade, among the fern seeds, the moss particulate, and the dirt, was, unmistakably, a clue.

Henry looked at Archie. "That would be a human hair," he said.

"When you, uh, fell," Archie asked Bennett. "Did you actually make contact with the body?"

Bennett’s spine stiffened. "Jesus no, sir. I swear."

"Must have picked it up on the way down," said Henry.

Archie pulled a slim black flashlight out of his pocket and shone it along the length of the red hair. He held it for Henry to look. There was a tiny clump of tissue at the base of the hair. "It’s got a scalp fragment on it," Archie said.

Bennett whipped his head around, eyes wide. "Get it off me," he pleaded. "Get it off me, okay?"

"Easy, son," Henry said.

Claire, who was a good foot shorter than Bennett, reached up and plucked the hair off and dropped it in an evidence bag.

Archie called a crime scene tech over. "Bag all his clothes. Socks, everything."

"But what will I wear?" Bennett asked as the crime scene tech led him off.

Claire turned to Archie and Henry. The path they were on was about three feet wide, carved worryingly out of the hillside. The back foot of it had been taped off to let the fifty-year-old women by, so they didn’t have to backtrack a mile into the woods and miss afternoon spa appointments. A chocolate Lab bounded through the foliage on the hillside as its owner, in cargo shorts, hiking books, and reflective sunglasses, walked past without even a second glance at the activity at the bottom of the glen. "So?" Claire said.

"Head injury," said Archie.

"Yep," said Henry.

"Maybe she fell," Claire theorized. "Like T. J. Hooker, there. Hit her head on a rock."

"Or maybe the rock hit her," Henry said.

"Or," Archie said, "maybe Sparky scrambled down there and stuck his snout in our corpse, and the hair dropped off his tongue on his way back up the embankment."

Claire and Henry both looked at Archie.

"Sparky?" Henry said.

"That is so gross," said Claire.

Excerpted from Sweetheart by Chelsea Cain

Copyright © 2008 by Verite

Published in 2008 by St. Martin’s Minotaur

All rights reserved. This work is protected under copyright laws and reproduction is strictly prohibited. Permission to reproduce the material in any manner or medium must be secured from the Publisher

Customer Reviews
Average Rating 4.5
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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 19, 2008

    Sweetheart not so sweet

    I have to say Chelsea Cain can write a story that brings you back for more, but reading this latest book left me feeling disturbed. I felt like the character of Archie just forgot everything important in his life it was like he no longer loved anyone. When Gretchen goes to the school where his children are at he wasn't willing to kill her to protect them even though he remembers a case where Gretchen killed a little boy and skinned him, he seemed not worried enough to protect them. Also finding out more of his relationship with Gretchen I couldn't help feeling that his wife was getting the short end of everything, maybe if the story didn't let us know so much about her and the fact that they didn't seem to have an unhappy marriage. Even though I felt this book left you with an ungood feeling I probably will still read her follow up just to see what happens.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted November 17, 2008

    more from this reviewer

    Jennifer Wardrip - Personal Read

    When I finished reading HEARTSICK, the first novel of this series, I touted it as the best thriller ever. I still stand by that sentiment. And even though SWEETHEART doesn't quite live up to the greatness of that first book, it's still a really good read.

    All of the characters from the first book are back, and they find themselves in circumstances that are, in a lot of ways, similar to those in the first book.

    Archie is still obsessed with Gretchen. Gretchen is still obsessed with killing -- and with Archie.

    Archie's family, friends, and co-workers are trying to help him end his addiction to both painkillers and Gretchen, but it doesn't seem to be working. He's living with his ex-wife and children, and he loves them and wants to keep them safe, and yet he still wants -- no, needs -- to be with Gretchen in some way.

    The plot is added to (and sometimes complicated by) the story that Susan Ward began working on in HEARTSICK -- that of the affair between the beloved Senator and the underage babysitter. This story becomes intertwined with the present when Susan's friend/mentor is killed, and the case falls into Archie's lap.

    SWEETHEART is a fairly quick read, and I stayed up late to finish it. I really did like it, even though I wasn't as impressed with it as I was HEARTSICK.

    There's no doubt that Archie and Gretchen will be back. I'm anxious to see more of them, and to find out who will be the death of who.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted September 15, 2008

    Irritating!

    There have been many, many books...esp. mysteries...that involve police officers who have annoying 'issues', and one wonders how such characters would ever pass psych evals. I've never read anything else by Chelsea Cain (and will probably avoid any other offerings by this author), and only read this book through 'til the end in the hope that the stupid, sex-driven detective and the serial killer would both die horrible deaths!

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 26, 2012

    Terrific series!!!!

    This is an edge of your seat thriller!!! I couldn't put it down.

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  • Posted July 31, 2011

    Guaranteed Great Read

    A very interesting sequel that would make perfect sense even for those who have not read the first book. Chelsea Cain is a wonderful author with a unique and mesmerizing story to tell. The ending will have you jumping to get the third in the series. I could not put this down, I read it in under two days. This is definately a great read for thrill seekers, and it is very interesting from many different perspectives. I highly recommend this.

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  • Posted March 3, 2011

    more from this reviewer

    LOVED IT!

    I absoulutely just love this series!! Its a must read suspense!!

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  • Posted February 5, 2011

    MOVE ON. IT'S REALLY SICK

    When I first read this Author I thought weird a Female Serial, but then she just kept getting uglier as the book went on. I have little respect for law enforcement and I have to say this book didn't give them any brownie points. Really you fall in love with a Serial and really can you express that she means more to you than your children. I was hoping that they both would die, but like most authors it has to continue to the last drop. I purchase these books on clearence and I'm glad I did ,as I would not pay full price for these. I have her last one and will read it as I am an avid reader, but I will not keep these in my house, as I don't want my children thinking this is proper behavior. She seems like a great writer but a little twisted. I loved Henry as he seem to be the only one with a brain. When the office said what should we do if we encounter her, his reply was to SHOOT her, but then needy ass Archie would rather save her at the cost of his children. Me I would have added and if he gets in your way shoot him as well. I know that this is fiction, but hell, let's kill them off already.

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  • Posted December 17, 2010

    more from this reviewer

    A disturbingly gripping look into obsession!!

    Chelsea Cain comes back to the characters from her first novel, Heart Sick, almost directly after it ended. This book seems less like a sequel and more like the next chapter, and I love that. Here we glean more insight into the relationships of the main characters and sink with them. The end of this seems a little more open ended than the first book but it was still fun reader every page. Great stuff!

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  • Posted September 2, 2010

    great read

    loved this book read it in a day

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  • Posted May 11, 2010

    more from this reviewer

    I Also Recommend:

    Sweetheart made me heartsick

    What a read! Chelsea Cain is my new favorite author. Didn't want to stop reading. Resented my husband for trying to talk to me while I had the nook in my hand.....almost the birth of another victim for Gretchen.

    Chelsea, I hope that you have finished the 3rd installment and that it is at the printers. Waiting, but not patiently.amr

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  • Anonymous

    Posted May 5, 2010

    I found this book annoying

    The first book in this series was intriguing, but I found this one to be pretty off-putting. It's very derivative of the Hannibal Lecter series, but the author tries too hard to be shocking and repellant -- and instead reaches well into the realm of the ridiculous. And when the key "hero" characters are so annoying and stupid that you find yourself almost rooting against them ... enough said, right? It is a very quick read and well-written enough that it moves along and I did not abandon it, but overall, I was not very impressed. I had already bought part three in the series because I liked the first one, but it has moved to the bottom of my "to read" list based on this second one.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 27, 2010

    On the edge of my seat!

    This book, like the first in the series was hot. I couldn't put it down...a one day read. I can't wait to read the next. RUN GRETCHEN RUN! Am I crazy to aid in the escape of an insane serial killer? NOT!!!! (LOL enjoy)

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 11, 2010

    Awesome, but I'm having some deja vu.

    This book series overall is very good. Chelsea keeps the suspense going in Sweetheart by having Gretchen escape. She also gives the readers a glimpse of what Archie is feeling when he sees Gretchen when she's out. These books kind of remind me of the Hannibal series. Gretchen and Archie's relationship is kind of like that of Hannibal and Clarice. I think that's why I like this series. It gives the reader a good storyline of a killer and her obsession with Archie. I haven't read a book series in a while that had the serial killer be a woman. Gretchen just is so creepy, but at the same time interesting.

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  • Posted March 8, 2010

    more from this reviewer

    Does not live up to Heartsick

    Well, I thought the book had really great parts, where it was thrilling and parts where there were quite a few surprises uncovered, but the book just didn't really live up to the first one. I thought the first one was much more engaging and had a very complete, full plot. Sweetheart though, I'm not sure what to say about it. The plot just seemed to stagnate and it seemed to pick up a little towards the end but it just didn't have the same fast thrilling ride like the other one.

    Gretchen still hasn't changed, she's still the same psychotic "Hannibal Lecter" we all have come to know since Heartsick. Although, there's just something about her that I can't seem quite to understand and grasp. True, she's a villain but I've read other ones that would easily take the "Crown of Evil" away in a heartbeat. Perhaps it's because there's not much information about her yet, I'm not sure. She just feels so "wooden" but it's as if the author has tried a little too hard to make her a villain and instead the result is a stagnant villain with a dysfunctional relationship with Archie and it's puzzling. There's no feeling from her, no "flesh" to her I guess, she seems entirely two dimensional. I don't know what to say about Archie. I don't understand what he's trying to do with Gretchen. On the other hand, it seems he wants to be with her but knows it's wrong but does it anyway yet somehow "covers" it up by trying to recapture her (at least, in my opinion it sure looks that way). It's this rather strange chemistry between these two that I don't quite get and it seems to put a bit of a damper on the book.

    The case with the Senator and the underage teen was interesting, but it just seemed so out of place with the main Gretchen/Archie plot that it looked like it was meant as a page filler for the novel. Thankfully though, the chapters were short so it felt as if you could read through the book quickly and easily.

    Don't get me wrong, the book wasn't so bad. However I thought it could be so much better. The thrilling action bits were good and nearly redeemed the book but it just wasn't enough. I'm really hoping the third one after this will do the job and not be a giant snowball going downhill. The ending was really good and was left in a cliffhanger, but I really hope this relationship/obsession between Archie and Gretchen does somewhat come to a closure, it's just too dysfunctional for me.

    overall, I'm not sure what to say. It was good, yet in so many ways it could have been better. It's a fast read with short chapters so it can be easily breezed through. It's a "must read" though, if you want to get through the Gretchen Lowell series.

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  • Posted February 20, 2010

    more from this reviewer

    Sweetheart by Chelsea Cain

    A few months ago I reviewed Chelsea Cain's Heartsick. I just finished the next book in the series, Sweetheart. This novel continues the story of Archie Sheridan and Gretchen Lowell but it is so much more.....

    It is more intense. All the characters are back and plots that began in the first book are continued and/or finished in this one. But just like Moby Dick was not about whale fishing, Sweetheart is not about the obvious plot. It is about obsession.

    It is more gripping. Susan Ward, her mom and Archie's family are in danger when Gretchen escapes. Or are they? This one is about obsession.

    It is more graphic. There are scenes in this book that would make Pamela Anderson blush. Well probably not, but still it is not for kids or the immature. It is so about obsession.

    In order for the reader to care about the hero of a story, the character can not be perfect. He has to have some problems in order to seem real, to connect with us. Well Archie has surely got his problems. Some of them are explained in this second book. Obsession is the worst of them.

    Gretchen Lowell is a serial killer but killing is not her problem. It plays a role in this book but her real problem is obsession.

    This book is kind of like one of those spooky horror movies where you want to scream at the lady not to take that shower while Norman watches through the peephole! When Archie Sheridan behaved stupidly I was thinking: "I can't believe he is doing that!"
    But he does do that and I believe he would because after all he is obsessed.

    Books like these make me wonder about the author. Is she an obsessive type person? Did she sit down to write these stories and develop the characters in an attempt to find peace in her own life? Or are these stories just inventive and imaginative wonderings from a creative mind?

    The third book has been published. Can I wait to read it? Sure. Will I wait to read it? Well that is another story. Stand by.........

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 3, 2010

    Just OK.

    After reading and thoroughly enjoying Heartsick, I was thrilled when Sweetheart was in the Bargain Bin. After finishing Sweetheart, thank goodness it was bargain priced. The story started out good, but there were just too many implausible events that I kept thinking "Aw, come on." (Enough with Archie, die already,or slap some sense into him). --K--

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  • Posted February 2, 2010

    more from this reviewer

    The "Evil Dead" of thrillers, just keeps coming back and smacking you in the face

    To me this was Cain's best book to date, I have just finished book three and can safely say that the second part is intense, amazing and irresistible, definitely her best effort yet. After surviving his capture by a serial killer, one who also happened to be his object of wanton desires and fantasies, Archie is determined to solve all the open cases with Gretchen's help. The only problem is his secret desire and hunger for being near her. His marriage is in shambles and his psyche is just as shattered, but Archie can't stop taking his painkillers and visiting Gretchen, in this book his life gets worse and worse by each page, I sat reading in bed with my mouth open, saying things out loud, and living through the story. The stress of being stuck between Gretchen and his wife felt like infinite number of tons of pressure on top of Archie's head, and once pushed too far he was ready to spiral in any direction, one not necessarily good. He begins to realize that his plea bargain to keep Gretchen alive is turning back on him, it's no longer about getting the info about missing victims, but about his addiction to the pain pills and the haunting dangerous blonde that has captured his mind, soul and even his libido.

    The reader gets a shaking one in a while, Gretchen is so alluring and mysterious that one forgets what she had done in between these pages, the pops and burst of insane cruelty break the pages and stain them red, we see that Archie is getting lured into a spider trap one that he seems to be entering of his own free will. They way she messed with is mind is pure genius, only a cold sadist could have manipulated a living breathing creature into an entranced shell of a man who used to be a great upholder of the law. Torn between lust and his morals Archie enters deepest corners of human mind and discovers that some things about our ability to choose aren't directed by pretty desires, but primal hunger for something not always decent and not always going in our favor, one moment of ecstasy is worth a gamble of one's life when entranced by a beautiful killer like Gretchen. This was an amazing story, one that I read in bed most of the day and even took it with me into the bath, I couldn't part with it until it was over, and I loved every page. Out of the whole trilogy this was the best effort and one that I will remember the best. For fans of intriguing thrillers that keep one on the edge this is a real beauty.

    - Kasia S.

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  • Posted January 25, 2010

    more from this reviewer

    Not as good as Heartsick

    Heartsick was incredible. Chelsea Cain's sophomore novel, Sweetheart just wasn't as good. The characters get dull, the story is predictable, and the ending was disappointing.

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  • Posted December 21, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    Hooked!

    Chelsea has done it again. I can't believe I am so addicted that I read this in one day! Ready to get the next one.

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  • Posted December 12, 2009

    I Also Recommend:

    Memerizing!

    After I read the first Gretchen Lowell Book, I could hardly wait for #2- I have to say I became emotionally entwined with the characters and was in suspence until the very last page - on to number 3. Chelsa Cain is superb at creating unforgettable realistic characters with whom the reader becomes attached!

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