Heartsick
by Chelsea Cain
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Book Reviews of Heartsick
Book Review: With Some Strong Faults, Still Worth Reading
Summary: 3 Stars
When I started reading Chelsea Cain's Heartsick I didn't really expect to enjoy it. Cain isn't a fantastic writer, she gets very caught up in over describing her characters, her environment and everything in between. I'm in great agreement with Stephen King who wrote in his book "On Writing" that the building of a scene in a book is collaborative and that if an author describes every detail in that scene they take away from the reader and their role in the collaboration. Cain uses description as a crutch and Heartsick is a poorer book because of it.
But while Cain isn't a fantastic writer, she does have some really strong core skills. In Heartsick there is a relationship between a cop and a serial killer that is simply fantastic. The essential connection of these two characters is a strong foundation on which the book is built on. Cain interweaves flashbacks into a story about the hunt for a serial killer and the reporter who is trying to cover it. This overused device actually works here and the stronger story, told in flashback, really does help to bolster the weaker main story. The back story is so strong that I often wondered while reading this book if it shouldn't have been the main story.
While the twists and turns in the book aren't exactly surprising, the book moves along at a near page turner pace due to the peppering of the back story. I found myself more interested in what would happen between the cop and the serial killer than who was the actual killer in the main story. Faults aside, I do think this is a descent debut novel, it gives a peek into the possibilities that Cain has as a writer and so I'll be interested to see where she goes in the sequel to this book Sweetheart.
Book Review: Creepy...Chilling...Thrilling...
Summary: 5 Stars
HEARTSICK, a dark, twisted, disturbing psychological thriller by Chelsea Cain, is of a genre that I do not normally read. I do not like blood, gore, or torture, but somehow, this novel got under my skin and really surprised me. I could not put it down. I HAD to know what happened next, and I read it cover to cover in almost one sitting.
The writing is outstanding. I was immediately grabbed and drawn into this vivid, perverse world. The atmosphere created by the mood, voice, and tone is truly amazing, dark, and creepy. I had to keep looking outside my window to reassure myself that it was still daylight. I have not been this affected by the atmosphere of a book since INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE by Anne Rice many years ago. The characters are mesmerizing in a distressing, twisted way. Our "hero," detective Archie Sheridan, was the final victim of a truly brutal psychopathic female serial killer, Gretchen Lowell, whom he tracked for nearly 10 years. He is also the only victim to "survive" her torture, if you can call Archie's current life and state of mind survival. Although Gretchen is in a maximum security prison for life, she still pushes Archie's buttons, and he is still dancing to her sick, terrifying tune. The chapters detailing Archie's prolonged captivity and the supreme agony and brain-washing inflicted upon him by Gretchen nearly two years ago are deftly interwoven between the chapters describing Archie's hunt for a new serial killer. This very unique and successful device lets us glimpse inside Archie's warped and troubled mind as he works to solve his current case.
HEARTSICK is gripping, sinister, page-turner of a thriller that keeps you riveted until the final page. While you may think you have it all figured out, believe me, you don't. The twists, turns, shocks, and surprises carry on to the last words of the final page.
Book Review: Fascinating look at torturer and her victim
Summary: 4 Stars
When I was describing a dramatic scene from "Heartsick," someone suddenly said, "Don't you see that was lifted straight from 'Silence of the Lambs'"? No, it's not, I said. Heartsick is not a Hannibal Lecter wannabe book. It's a complex and sometimes quite sickening exploration of how a detective, tortured until nearly dead, develops a needy relatonship with the serial killer who abducted him. In creating Gretchen Lowell, author Chelsea Cain has created an ingenious and persevering agent of evil who is unforgettable. Beautiful and alluring, she uses her charms to draw victims to her, then tosses their bodies away after reveling in hours or even days of eliciting pain.
Detective Archie Sheridan is drawn into her web unwillingly, but after suffering as one of her victims (in scenes that are almost unreadable in their brutality), develops Stockholm syndrome. He's joined to her, even when she's in the penitentiary. Watching how he goes about his ruined life, just waiting for the days he's allowed to visit her, is fascinating.
Watching it all, is reporter Susan Ward, who ostensibly is following a new set or serial killings, but is following Archie around as an interview subject. She provides the balanced, unsympathetic eye that allows the reader to stand back and see what's really going on.
All in all, this is a good thriller and there's little to criticize, except perhaps the sheer horror of the torture scenes. This book is not for squeamish readers. Even the average reader might want to skip through some of the flashbacks where Gretchen holds Archie hostage. But if you can take it, it's well worth the read.
Book Review: Just Awful
Summary: 1 Stars
I fi could give this book less then a star I would. I started with such high hopes and expectations. I had read several magazine reviews and was very excited to read a book with a female serial killer for a change.
Needless to say, Heartsick was a terrible let down. The characters are flat and unlikable, the plot starts quick but doesn't keep the momentum going and the writing just isn't good. Also, the writer got a few prescription facts wrong. I started to have a feeling I wouldn't be finishing this book as soon as the Susan Ward character was introduced and it was all downhill from there. I'm no prude but it irks me a when a character seems to be crude for the sake of just being so and that was the impression I got from Susan's thoughts and speech. Plus, I didn't get why she was so hostile towards her coworker Derek, maybe I just didn't read far enough in to find out if there was a reason, but that just shows you how quick the book lost interest for me.
Gretchen was a total letdown. When I read that a character is "the most original psychopath since Hannibal Lecter" as it says on the cover of the book, I don't expect to be given a Hannibal made female. Thats not original, its a bad copy.
The other killer is such an after thought its barely worth mentioning.
And even though I didn't finish the book, I flipped to the end cause, well, I had a long drive and no other book with me. The visitation scene is almost laughable and unrealistic.
Book Review: What else can you ask for in a thriller?
Summary: 5 Stars
Other reviewers here have been a little hard on this budding author, as this was her first attempt in this genre and in my opinion she did an excellent job. I don't usually read this type of book anymore, but it gripped me from the get-go and didn't let go. It is not for the squeamish, so if you are the type to cover your eyes during some of those CSI scenes (and I have) this may not be for you. It is graphic!...especially in the description of the torture scenes. I, however, couldn't stop reading it and finished it within a few hours.
I found the writing very good, and I did not mind her describing what the characters were wearing (as other reviewers complained about) or her descriptions of various scenes. It gives the reader a good feel for the character and the setting. It did not drag, it moved a long at a very good pace.
The villainess is the scariest I have ever come across, makes Charlize Theron in Monster look like the girl next door, I find it hard to believe that any female could actually do what she does in this novel. We don't get to know her too well in this first novel, but the next one in this series "Sweetheart" gives us a little more insight into what makes her tick - it debuts in Sept. 2008. I've had a chance to read the pre-release and can say I am hooked and can't wait for Book 3.
Great writing, engaging characters, excellent setting (Portland), intruiging plot line, thumbs up!