Book details

Chelsea Cain’s novels featuring Portland detective Archie Sheridan and serial killer Gretchen Lowell have captivated fans through two nail-biting entries, Heartsick and Sweetheart, both of them multiweek bestsellers in The New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly.

Gretchen Lowell is still on the loose. These days, she’s more of a cause célèbre than a feared killer, thanks to sensationalist news coverage that has made her a star. Her face graces magazine covers weekly and there have been sightings of her around the world. Most shocking of all, Portland Herald reporter Susan Ward has uncovered a bizarre kind of fan club, which celebrates the number of days she’s been free.

Archie Sheridan hunted her for a decade, and after his last ploy to catch her went spectacularly wrong, remains hospitalized months later. When they last spoke, they entered a détente of sorts---Archie agreed not to kill himself if she agreed not to kill anyone else. But when a new body is found accompanied by Gretchen’s trademark heart, all bets are off and Archie is forced back into action. Has the Beauty Killer returned to her gruesome ways, or has the cult surrounding her created a whole new evil?

Chelsea Cain continues to deliver heart-stopping thrills and chills in the latest entry in this dynamic bestselling series.

From Publishers Weekly

Gretchen Lowell strikes again—or does she?—in bestseller Cain's grisly third thriller to feature the female serial killer who takes sadistic pleasure in taunting Portland, Ore., detective Archie Sheridan (after Sweetheart and Heartsick). A violent attack that leaves body parts in a rest stop bathroom, along with Lowell's signature heart design, persuades Sheridan, a recovering Vicodin addict, to leave rehab and rejoin the hunt for Lowell. As he and newspaper reporter Susan Ward dig deeper, they discover that while the corpses cropping up around town are reminiscent of Lowell's nasty handiwork, they might also point to one of the myriad fan clubs dedicated to the killer, who has become a media sensation since she escaped from prison in Heartsick. Even though readers may wonder how much longer this extended game can play out, Cain delivers her usual blend of organ-ripping, blood-soaked gore and compelling flawed heroes—and antiheroes. (Sept.)
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Review

Praise for Chelsea Cain

Sweetheart

“Cain’s debut Heartsick had even the most jaded thriller fans sleeping with the lights on. She tells an equally frightening story in Sweetheart. . . . This is one of the best series in the contemporary thriller genre. Only downside: waiting for Cain’s next novel.”
---USA Today

“Cain skillfully recruits us as moral caretakers as Archie struggles to overcome his sexual Stockholm Syndrome. . . . She invents Gretchen in wanton, wide-screen glory. . . . The novel is sensual and engulfing.”
---The New York Times Book Review

“The forces that conspired to make Cain’s Heartsick a bestselling page-turner last year have reunited in its sequel. . . . With her preternatural grasp of pacing and ability to create vivid characters with astonishing economy, Cain expertly drives her narrative.”
---Los Angeles Times

“We’ve been down Hannibal Lecter Avenue many times, and these two books shouldn’t work . . . but they do. Chalk it up to excellent writing and Cain’s ferocious sense of humor. The Portland (Ore.) setting is refreshing too.”
---Stephen King, Entertainment Weekly

Heartsick

“Heartsick is worth all the hype . . . brilliant.”
---New York Post

“In her dynamite first thriller, Cain introduces one of the most seductive and original psychopaths since Hannibal Lecter.”
---Entertainment Weekly

“Steamy and perverse.”
---The New York Times

See all Editorial Reviews