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Heartsick

By Chelsea Cain

(15)

| Mass Market Paperback | 9780312947156

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HEARTSICK by Chelsea Cain

“Gretchen Lowell killed a whole bunch of people,” Susan said. “The Beauty Killer Task Force spent ten years trying to catch her. Then she kidnapped the lead detective on the task force. That was over two years ago. Everyone thought he was dead. I was ... (read full critics)

mostlyfiction published on Thu, 30 Sep 2010

Debut Review: HeartSick by Chelsea Cain

Title: HeartSick Author: Chelsea Cain Publisher: Macmillan Published: 3 August 2007 Price: £10.00 Review Copy I said in a recent review that plotting takes practice and I want to know where Chelsea Cain took her lessons. Heart Sick is more than a cat ... (read full critics)

nextread published on Fri, 24 Sep 2010

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2 Reviews

Heartsick

The real brilliance of this book is the fascinating, bizarre, and dysfunctional relationship between an evilly sadistic serial killer and the detective that was her last victim. The second story line of the search for "the after-school strangler" isn't nearly as riveting, but the raw exploration o ... (continue)

The real brilliance of this book is the fascinating, bizarre, and dysfunctional relationship between an evilly sadistic serial killer and the detective that was her last victim. The second story line of the search for "the after-school strangler" isn't nearly as riveting, but the raw exploration of Archie's fragile and bruised psyche and Gretchen's extreme cruelty goes a long way to make up for this oversight.

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Readingrat said on Jul 3, 2008 | Add your feedback

I'll admit I was a little apprehensive before I read this book. Whilst I liked Silence Of The Lambs, I couldn't really see the serial killer inside, serial killer outside dynamic being fresh or original... but i was utterly wrong.
I'll go out on a limb and suggest this book is better than sil ... (continue)

I'll admit I was a little apprehensive before I read this book. Whilst I liked Silence Of The Lambs, I couldn't really see the serial killer inside, serial killer outside dynamic being fresh or original... but i was utterly wrong.
I'll go out on a limb and suggest this book is better than silence of the lambs - the sexual chemistry between Gretchen Lowell (the killer inside) and Archie (her surviving victim) twists things nicely, and their relationship is carefully built through a series of interleaving flashbacks that add to the story rather than contrive to "be different".
A tensely plotted novel, each chapter adds intrigue, carefully layering the story up until the stinging climax, with all characters in some kind of mental anguish - nobody is perfect, everybody is damaged goods. Realistically painted every character is believable and by the end of the book I actually cared what happened to them, which doesn't happen often.
The best testament to this novel is that the second has been finished and a third is in the works - these won't be cash ins, these will be continuations to an engrossing, disturbing and genuinely terrifying story.

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Kieran Delaney said on Mar 28, 2008 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback