Heartsick
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Review
Disturbingly good. --Marie Claire
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Review
"Heartsick has it all: a tortured cop, a fearless and quirky heroine, and what may be the creepiest serial killer ever created. This is an addictive read!"--Tess Gerritsen, author of "The Mephisto Club"
"Chelsea Cain's novel is completely entrancing and totally original--what a read. Between the humanity of Portland cop Archie Sheridan and the chilling and twisted design of his beautiful nemesis, Gretchen Lowell, Heartsick is utterly unforgettable. Cain is a wonderful--and terrifying--storyteller." --Dominick Dunne --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.
"Chelsea Cain's novel is completely entrancing and totally original--what a read. Between the humanity of Portland cop Archie Sheridan and the chilling and twisted design of his beautiful nemesis, Gretchen Lowell, Heartsick is utterly unforgettable. Cain is a wonderful--and terrifying--storyteller." --Dominick Dunne --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I read a lot of thrillers - in fact, I devour them with voracious regularity. I especially like ones featuring serial killers, and I also keep an eye out for new talents in the genre.
So, I snapped up a copy of Heartsick as soon as I could get my hands on one, as it's a debut, and it stars one of the most frightening serial killers I've ever come across - Gretchen Lowell. Yes, Gretchen is a female, which for a serial killer is a rare thing in thriller fiction (and in real life!).
I won't give away too much of the plot, save to say that the book is a dual-narrative, featuring a truly chilling back-story involving Gretchen, and a detective - Archie Sheridan - who she is holding captive. These scenes are not for the faint-hearted, but represent some of the most powerful I've read in a long time.
The second strand of the story takes place a year or two later, and involves the hunt for a new killer, who Detective Sheridan is chasing. In a twist very reminiscent of the wonderful Silence of the Lambs, he enlists Gretchen's help (from her prison cell) in tracking down this killer. However, it becomes clear that Archie and Gretchen's relationship is even more complex than you first realise.
Heartsick really is cracking stuff - if you like your thillers with a dash of gore and a huge dose of page-turning suspense, do not miss it.
So, I snapped up a copy of Heartsick as soon as I could get my hands on one, as it's a debut, and it stars one of the most frightening serial killers I've ever come across - Gretchen Lowell. Yes, Gretchen is a female, which for a serial killer is a rare thing in thriller fiction (and in real life!).
I won't give away too much of the plot, save to say that the book is a dual-narrative, featuring a truly chilling back-story involving Gretchen, and a detective - Archie Sheridan - who she is holding captive. These scenes are not for the faint-hearted, but represent some of the most powerful I've read in a long time.
The second strand of the story takes place a year or two later, and involves the hunt for a new killer, who Detective Sheridan is chasing. In a twist very reminiscent of the wonderful Silence of the Lambs, he enlists Gretchen's help (from her prison cell) in tracking down this killer. However, it becomes clear that Archie and Gretchen's relationship is even more complex than you first realise.
Heartsick really is cracking stuff - if you like your thillers with a dash of gore and a huge dose of page-turning suspense, do not miss it.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Having read the other reviews i really can see why they like this book so much - but for me there was something a little contrived about the setup. this is not to say it is not a great book - you could happily while away a few hours reading it, but its not a classic.
Gretchen Lowell is a great pyscho but needed to be fleshed out a lot better than she was - i am aware she was to be a bare bones type of pyscho - no rambling speeches of how daddy abused me and thats why i kill people blah blah blah and i liked that - but we need more characterisation. Maybe in the next book.
Same with the periphery characters - harry and anne a detective and pyschologist - the mini glimpses we saw into their lives were utterley pointless - either expand the character and let their life explain them or leave it alone.
one highlight in the book was its main character Archie - fabulous - well rounded a real pyschological treasure. she truly showed she could write, did Ms Cain with Archie, we needed to see more of that.
Regards contrived - isn't it nice how all the charcters were interwined? granted you had a reason how it had happened but please?
In the end this is a nice book - it won't stretch you intellectually or morally and if Ms Cain continues with this series i do not doubt that they will get better - but this is a rather good try. For an emotionally squirming novel - which this aims itself as - try the first half of Retribution by Jillian Hoffman ( only the first half mind you) or anything by John Connolly or Karin Slaughter. But all in all this isn't bad just not great.
Gretchen Lowell is a great pyscho but needed to be fleshed out a lot better than she was - i am aware she was to be a bare bones type of pyscho - no rambling speeches of how daddy abused me and thats why i kill people blah blah blah and i liked that - but we need more characterisation. Maybe in the next book.
Same with the periphery characters - harry and anne a detective and pyschologist - the mini glimpses we saw into their lives were utterley pointless - either expand the character and let their life explain them or leave it alone.
one highlight in the book was its main character Archie - fabulous - well rounded a real pyschological treasure. she truly showed she could write, did Ms Cain with Archie, we needed to see more of that.
Regards contrived - isn't it nice how all the charcters were interwined? granted you had a reason how it had happened but please?
In the end this is a nice book - it won't stretch you intellectually or morally and if Ms Cain continues with this series i do not doubt that they will get better - but this is a rather good try. For an emotionally squirming novel - which this aims itself as - try the first half of Retribution by Jillian Hoffman ( only the first half mind you) or anything by John Connolly or Karin Slaughter. But all in all this isn't bad just not great.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is almost like two books, one a fairly run-of-the-mill serial killer tale, and the other something far more enigmatic, both horrifying and yet fascinating. Others here have already outlined the plot so I won't repeat that. The present-day story of a middle-aged male serial killer preying on teenage girls has been done to death and I hate the inherent misogyny implicit in that kind of narrative. But the other story - and the reason I read this book - is something quite frighteningly different.
The relationship between Gretchen Lowell, the beautiful and terrifying psychopath, and Archie, the detective who trailed her and her final victim, is brilliantly drawn. Calling up theories of Stockholm syndrome and then pushing them to the max, this is an obsessive symbiotic relationship, dark and very disturbing. The relationships - both textual and psychological - between this book and the Silence of the Lambs are deliberately recalled when Gretchen calls a young journalist `Clarice', but the gender inversions (both authorial and in terms of character) turn this into something quite different, albeit with something of the same shadowy humour. The final encounter, in particular, between Archie and Gretchen really ramps up the emotional stakes and the issue of who is, ultimately, in control is left unresolved and open.
Make no mistake, this is a very violent book and the accusations of torture-porn are probably correct. And yet there's something so fascinating at the centre that I was drawn in completely. In many ways, Gretchen (and the book overall) exert the same ambiguous pull on the reader as the character Gretchen does on Archie: we know it's not good for us, we know we probably shouldn't carry on and yet we just can't help ourselves...
The relationship between Gretchen Lowell, the beautiful and terrifying psychopath, and Archie, the detective who trailed her and her final victim, is brilliantly drawn. Calling up theories of Stockholm syndrome and then pushing them to the max, this is an obsessive symbiotic relationship, dark and very disturbing. The relationships - both textual and psychological - between this book and the Silence of the Lambs are deliberately recalled when Gretchen calls a young journalist `Clarice', but the gender inversions (both authorial and in terms of character) turn this into something quite different, albeit with something of the same shadowy humour. The final encounter, in particular, between Archie and Gretchen really ramps up the emotional stakes and the issue of who is, ultimately, in control is left unresolved and open.
Make no mistake, this is a very violent book and the accusations of torture-porn are probably correct. And yet there's something so fascinating at the centre that I was drawn in completely. In many ways, Gretchen (and the book overall) exert the same ambiguous pull on the reader as the character Gretchen does on Archie: we know it's not good for us, we know we probably shouldn't carry on and yet we just can't help ourselves...
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Well done!
Chelsea Cain has an excellent way of developing her characters to the point the reader is thrust into the scenes becoming completely immersed. The plot is well thought out. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Paula Abdul
Shocking
As most reviewers here i read a lot of crime fiction and thought this was going to be another serial killer story but i was so wrong! Read more
Published 6 months ago by C. Pearce
Head Games
I enjoyed this book very much. There are parallels with Thomas Harris but I would say it is not as well written as a Thomas Harris novel but this is not exactly a criticism as... Read more
Published 13 months ago by misfit
FANTASTIC READ!!
I got this book awhile ago, but just put it away and that was that, until I was ill over christmas, and decided to read it, which i am so glad that i did. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Ashley Cardwell
Heart sick at Heart sick
pages missing at the end of this book so I did not get to finish it. Really disappointed but can't say the book is anything special
Published 18 months ago by linda
Shockingly brilliant!!!!!!
I picked this book up recently when I saw it in the bargain books. I had wanted to read it for a while just never got round to buying it. Read more
Published 19 months ago by A. Douglas
An Enjoyable Read - In a Sick Sort of Way!
I bought this book because my husband was stuck for something to read and came across it being sold at an incredibly low price as part of a multibuy. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Wild about Wilder
Derivative, clicheed, unnecessary
Chelsea Cain can write quite well, but what she writes is not good. She steals a plot device from Silence Of The Lambs and mucks it up. Read more
Published on 24 April 2010 by Matt Westwood
Better than Tess Gerritsen! ADDICTIVE READING ALERT!!
OK, so to be honest I thought I was never going to find another author as good as tess gerritsen but oh how wrong was i??? Read more
Published on 23 April 2010 by Ms. J. Raine
Great serial killer action
Well this was my first "crime" related read as i a normally a chick lit gir and i have to say i loved this book! Read more
Published on 18 Feb 2010 by Marie Judd
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