Sweetheart

Sweetheart
by Chelsea Cain

Sweetheart
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Book Summary Information

Author: Chelsea Cain
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-09-02
ISBN: 031236847X
Number of pages: 336
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Product features:

Book Reviews of Sweetheart

Book Review: Alternates between unbelievable and suspenseful
Summary: 3 Stars

Chelsea Cain's second novel, more of a continuation than a sequel to HeartSick, has a fatal flaw: the central figure and her reach are highly unbelievable. Archie, now recovered physically from his near-death experience with serial killer Gretchen Lowell, has moved back with his family. He thinks constantly and fondly of Gretchen, addicted to her, even as he claims to love his wife. When two people drive off a bridge and bodies are found in the park, Archie finds himself linked with reporter Susan, now turquoise-haired, who wants the scoop. The trouble is, as always, Gretchen Lowell.

Gretchen is portrayed as a sort a female Hannibel Lechter with Jedi Knight-like mind control powers. Supposedly, her charm is so incredible that men kill and maim for her, and everyone under her gaze will do whatever she wants, even if it endangers their or others' lives. The problem is that when she appears on the page, she is two-dimensional and uninteresting, with no believable psychological tricks that make people like Archie lust after her even after she has made him drink drain cleaner and scarred his body, as she did in the first novel. There's nothing cunning about her. Archie is obsessed with her anyway and cannot wait to get a phone call from her, but why? Because she's hot in bed? The whole confession angle seems tacked on as an afterthought, even for Archie. Because the main suspense in the novel involves Gretchen, it leaves a yawning hole in the middle. The other murders are secondary, even at the end, when that subplot is neatly wrapped up.

The best part of Sweetheart is in the final seventy-five or so pages when Cain ratchets up the suspense. This novel is easy to read, with competent writing and recurring characters that are likely to please those who loved HeartSick. You don't have to read the first to understand this one, although it helps; Cain supplies enough of the background material to ease new readers into the story.

I love a good thriller, but it must be both intelligent and gut-wrenching. Sweetheart is neither. Two stars for most of the book, with an extra star added for the suspense near the end.

Summary of Sweetheart

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.

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