Heartsick (Archie Sheridan & Gretchen Lowell) Hardcover – September 4, 2007

Archie Sheridan & Gretchen Lowell are by far my most favourite serial killer, Detective duo and since reading all of the books in this series I have never found any that shine so bright. I was so excited when a book flashed up from Chelsea Cain for pre order that I felt like a kid at Christmas but I so was disappointed it wasn't the continuation of their story but a whole other series.I am pleading with Chelsea Cain to bring Archie and Gretchen back into our lives and hearts asap! Please :-)As serial killers go, Gretchen is just brilliant and I cant help but admire some of her torture methods and even though I raced through all these books a few years ago now I still can see in my minds eye the trials and tribulations these two pull as through and they are just as sharp now as they were when I first read them. I own them on in book form as well as kindle versions and they will never be deleted from the kindle as they are books I can read and re read without every loosing the magic.So Please Please Please Chelsea Cain - Bring back Archie and Gretchen.One Kick: A Kick Lannigan Novel was good but not a patch on your previous books. I have had long and in depth discussions with my friends regarding this and our local Book Club so Im by far not alone in this wish!

I am not into bloody, gory, serial killer novels, with the exception of Thomas Harris's Hannibal Lecter - a real favorite of mine, although I wouldn't want to have lunch with him! However, author Chelsea Cain has come up with a new take on the genre. Her psychopath is a woman, Gretchen Lowell, and an extremely beautiful, brilliant woman at that.We don't hear about many female serial killers, and that may be partly because women aren't as prone to commit this type of crime as men. Criminologist, Eric Hickey, has assembled the most extensive database on demography of serial murder. He states that, "88% of serial killers are male, 85% are Caucasian, and the average age when they claim their first victim is usually around 28.5. Women account for 15% of violent offenders (men are 6 times more likely to commit violent crimes)." Gretchen Lowell makes Ted Bundy look like a pussycat!Detective Archie Sheridan is a hero in Portland, Oregon. Sheridan headed the so-called "Beauty Killer Task Force," and solved the case two years before the novel begins. It was proved, in a court of law, that Gretchen Lowell was responsible for the deaths of 26 victims. She claims she has murdered over 200 people, brutally torturing each one first. She has no profile and is an equal opportunity killer - blacks, whites, Hispanics, young, old, men, women - it doesn't matter. However, she does not victimize children. She is called "The Beauty Killer," not because she is beautiful, but because when the medical examiner was asked to categorize the condition of the first of many corpses, he whistled and said, "It's a beauty!" Autopsies are usually boring, according to the ME - mostly drownings and suicides. He is positively "tickled" by Gretchen's original work. It is just a coincidence that she's a "looker."Archie was the lead detective on the case. He was also Gretchen's last victim. The FBI profiler was sure the killer was a man, an opinion which almost cost Sheridan his life. Ms. Lowell, posing as a psychiatrist, (she was an operating room nurse, in actuality), insinuated herself into the task force by claiming that she gave up her practice to write a book about the killings. She is clever enough to have created a portfolio of credible information which could be backed up when investigated. She told members of the team that she read about the gruesome murders and believed she could be of help. The case had been hell for the detectives, and Lowell "believed" she could talk with them - not counsel - just talk to ease their anxiety. They had been working on the case for ten years and their lack of success was really getting to all of them - all the dead, mutilated bodies, all the grieving, traumatized families waiting for closure, all the dead ends.One afternoon, two years before, Archie visited Lowell in her office. His supposed colleague gave him coffee with milk, sugar and drugs. When he awakened he was strapped to a gurney in a basement, outfitted like an operating room, with medical-looking machinery, and a drain on the cement floor. His captor cooed in his ear, "Whatever you think this is going to be like, it's going to be worse." Now, two years later, Archie remembers all too clearly what was done to him. His spleen was removed without the benefit of anesthetics, nails were hammered into his rib cage, he was given enough drugs, when he wasn't being physically tortured, to become addicted to an impressive cocktail of medication - uppers, downers, you name it. His tormentor doodled on his chest with a scalpel, including a drawing of her signature, a heart...need I go on??However, Gretchen did something different with Archie than she had done with other victims. She allowed him to live for 10 days, although he longed for death. She only gave her other victims 3 days before she mercifully killed them. When Archie began to die, she called 911, reported the situation and asked for immediate medical attention. Then she turned herself in to the police.Archie lives, but after an extensive stay in the hospital, he is placed on long-term medical leave. He is too damaged psychologically to maintain his marriage to his childhood sweetheart, although he loves her and adores their two sons. The couple finally decide to separate. However the worst after effect of his kidnapping and torture is his compulsion to visit Gretchen Lowell in jail every Sunday. His excuse for these weekly visits is that she occasionally divulges another victim's name and place of burial. Her only condition for these revelations is that Archie maintain these weekly visits - thus she continues to exert control over him. Worse still, he is drawn to her sexually. His problem is perhaps a version of the Stockholm Syndrome, "a psychological response sometimes seen in abducted hostages, in which the hostage shows signs of loyalty to the hostage-taker, regardless of the danger or risk in which they have been placed."I haven't included any spoilers, as this background information is divulged at the beginning of the novel. The plot of "Heartsick" involves a series of murders occurring in Portland, Oregon. Someone is killing and raping teenage girls. Gretchen Lowell does have a role here also, although she is in prison. The police reconvene the "Beauty Killer" task force and Archie is asked to come out of "temporary" retirement to be lead detective on the case. Although he maintains a professional demeanor, he is dysfunctional. To look at him, to work with him, no one would know. He is careful to keep his condition a secret, and, in fact, coming back to work helps keep him sane. He shovels drugs down his throat as if they were candy - just enough medication to relieve his physical and emotional pain, but not enough to really damage his kidneys and liver.Pink-haired Oregon Herald reporter Susan Ward is assigned to the case and is allowed complete access to the murders, crime scenes, and to Archie - she is to work alongside him. Her goal is not only to write a series of articles, but to write a book also. Why does Archie allow a reporter complete access to the case? Why did Gretchen allow him to live? You will have to read the novel to find out.This is a "can't put it down" read. The author writes well, the narrative clips along at a good pace, and Ms. Cain's characters are quite compelling. She really brings them to life on the page. The storyline is told in a series of flashbacks, from the present to the time when Archie was a captive. This book gives the term "psychological thriller" a new meaning."If you like thrillers, you will love this one. Even the gory details are not a real deterrent, given the exciting plot, the depth of the characters and what makes them tick. Highly recommended.JANA

It’s an interesting storyline with a diverse group of characters. I like the switching of POV throughout the story; however, I wish the flash backs were in past tense. As the entire story is written in present tense it can get messy reading something and then realizing “oh wait this is what did happen”. I personally found the “big reveal” interesting but it didn’t seem plausible tying the killer back to Gretchen. I think the story could’ve done without the flashbacks to Gretchen and without her character all together, it was interesting enough on its own.

I don’t often read crime thrillers, but I’m aware of many of the tropes. And Cain pulls a lot of the standard ones out of the box for this story. However, while I found the serial killer plot line rather weak, I also got the feeling that Cain was simply using it to gradually build up the story of Gretchen and Archie, which is by far the most interesting aspect of the book. Gretchen is a sufficiently creepy and perceptive psychopath, made even creepier by the fact that she is a very pretty woman who seems more suited to beauty pageants than ruthlessly torturing and murdering people.Basically, Cain takes a different approach to a well-worn story: instead of a crack detective furiously hunting down his arch-serial-killer-nemesis, you have the repercussions of the end of that hunt — a broken detective, a world still filled with other evils, and a crazy killer who seems to have the ability to keep pulling stings even after she’s been caught. She frames the classic cop-killer relationship from an interesting and fresh (and creepy) perspective.Despite the overall weakness of the crazy teacher plot, I get where Cain is coming from, and I appreciate her attempt to try something different. I think she just needs to work on the depth of the “killer of the week” plots while building up the beautifully frightening interactions between Gretchen and Archie. In other words, she needs to concentrate on making sure all her plots and sub-plots are the same quality. With Heartsick, I found myself quickly skimming through some of the crazy teacher guy chapters so I could back to the Archie-Gretchen parts — one plot was noticeably stronger than the other. Balance, Cain. Balance.Other than that, I found the story pretty enjoyable. The characters are well-characterized. Her settings are adequately described. Her style isn’t anything to write home about, but the pacing works well for a semi-standard crime novel.

This is one of those few times where I've come away from a book feeling a bit, well, unsure. I can't say I really loved the book but equally I can't say I hated it too. For me it was more of a compelling book. What I mean is that it was like witnessing a terrible event, e.g. a car crash, you know you shouldn't be looking but you can't help yourself. Two stories running parallel to each other. On the one hand you have a female serial killer who is now incarcerated still having a relationship of sorts with her Stockholm Syndrome victim, Archie Sheridan, the main protagonist here. On the other, another killer targeting school girls. A case Archie is trying to solve. Two story lines but neither one really fleshed out properly. The school girl plot line almost ran as a sub plot which I didn't really find that 'I'm dying to see who done it element,' disappointingly. I wasn't really that bothered, partly because tension was really lacking, it felt a bit lacklustre. There were a couple of other sub plots that really seemed superfluous, the senator one being one of them, though I've now realised this is picked up in the next book. Hhmmm, not holding my breath with excitement, but I could be wrong!!The Gretchen Lowell, Archie Sheridan relationship was more interesting. Yes, she's a dark, psychotic, clever, dangerous woman and the build up to how psychotic was good BUT it still felt really lacklustre. I just wasn't that excited. Relieved she wasn't another Hannibal Lecter, been done and all that, but this was just ....... *sigh*I suspect the relationship and back story is going to continue with these two central characters but at the moment I'm not chomping at the bit to see where it's all going. Maybe in time, but for me the excitement just isn't there, yet.A disappointing read.

One of the better dark-crime novels I have read. As an Author myself, I appreciate the very sick and ACCURATE descriptive writing regarding Gretchen. I like the detail of scenes and descriptions helping myself, as a reader, feel "there". But, it is a BIG BUT!, I just don't like novels written in the 3rd person. I read a book a month (when I am not writing and editing myself) so have a good viewpoint on styles I like. If you write in the 1st person, it just makes far far better books! I would have given 5 stars otherwise!! Gretchen in the 1st person would be SPECTACULAR!

I'm glad I've discovered a new series with more stories ahead! (This is book one.)I got this book on a whim, and although I like thrillers, they get a bit same-y and I was expecting the same from this.However, this book really stands out.It's a page turner for sure and I read it in one day, almost one sitting (if I hadn't been interrupted!)I liked the duality of an old serial killer (and a woman makes a nice change) and the current serial killer that is quite different in MO. There's no cliche going to the prison for an insight into these killings - in fact there is a nice "Clarice" reference to this.The characters are damaged and shaped by their past but it doesn't feel tiresome and predictable; the empathy isn't forced upon you, more that it feels natural.I was delighted to find that there is a series (like I said, I got this on a whim) and I already want more Gretchen Lowell.FYI - The picture on this (the beige one) is the paperback version and I received the hardback version which is a red more thriller looking cover. I didn't mind at all as the quality was still good.

I absolutely love Chelsea Cain - she doesn’t write quick enough in my opinion, because I literally cannot wait for her next book to come out. This series is brilliant. If you’re a fan of crime / serial killer novels you’ll love this. Not only does Chelsea write the hell out of the book which makes you not want to put it down, but she keeps the characters “alive” the entire time ensuring you never get bored of them! I personally couldn’t put this series down. I read each book in about a day / day and a half and excitedly waited for the next one!! Highly recommend! Huge fan x

This is very much 'Hannibal Lecter as a girl' in theme. Archie Sheridan was tortured by serial killer Gretchen Lowell, and now he is on another case, but still communicates with Gretchen.I like the idea of Gretchen but she is a bit one-dimensionally evil. There is no depth to her. Being beautiful isn't enough to keep me interested, I'm afraid. It would be nice to see her develop.Archie is a bit annoying, I just wanted him to snap out of it, but his relationship with Gretchen is quite interesting.Susan is annoying and annoying dense. She's supposed to be savvy but misses incredibly obvious stuff which leads to her being in danger.I also felt that the torture was overdone. It just seemed to plonked in there for shock value.Overall, not a whole lot happens for most of this book. I felt like more could've been done with it. However, I did enjoy it and will probably read more in the series.