Evil at Heart (Gretchen Lowell Series #3) by Chelsea Cain

From Barnes & Noble

This unconventional thriller brings together Archie Sheridan and Gretchen Lowell, certainly one of the oddest couples in crime fiction history. Homicide detective Sheridan has somehow survived the ordeals recounted in Heartsick and Sweetheart and is resting not so comfortably in an Oregon hospital, attempting to cure his addiction to Vicodin and his obsession with serial killer Lowell. Meanwhile, "Beauty Killer" Gretchen is still on the run and rapidly becoming an improbable folk hero, complete with fan websites and slay site fan tours. As if all that is not tasteless enough, new murders begin to surface that raise an ominous question: Are these tribute killings by a copycat or is Gretchen back on the prowl? Taut plots; characters with captivating dysfunctions; an author to watch.

From the Publisher

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.

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.)

Library Journal

Just two months after serial killer Gretchen Lowell, aka the "Beauty Killer," escapes from police custody (see Sweetheart), body parts begin showing up in random Portland, OR, locales. Meanwhile, devastated Det. Archie Sheridan continues to languish in a mental hospital, while irrepressible journalist Susan Hunt longs to save him and her story. Her story—and the essence of this thriller—goes beyond Gretchen's certifiable status as a psychopathic killer and instead examines society's morbid glorification of gruesome, ritualistic killings. Have Gretchen's despicable acts spawned more evil? Archie reemerges, determined to kill Gretchen this time, but then puzzling inconsistencies suggest that a copycat killer is at work. Archie and Susan match their wits against the opposition, meeting people who defy all the rules and experiencing horrors beyond comprehension. VERDICT This sequel can't top the jaw-dropping horror of Cain's Heartsick, but her snappy pace and sustained creepiness keep the pages turning at a steady clip. Not for the faint of heart, this addictive thriller will be quickly devoured by serial killer addicts. Gretchen Lowell has taken on a persona not unlike Hannibal Lector. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 5/15/09; library marketing campaign and 200,000-copy first printing.]—Teresa L. Jacobsen, Solano Cty. Lib., Fairfield, CA

Kirkus Reviews

Detective Archie Sheridan (Sweetheart, 2008, etc.) continues his danse macabre with serial killer Gretchen Lowell in what might well be the year's most repellent novel. She's extracted his spleen, hammered nails into his chest, broken his ribs, whittled away at him with an X-Acto knife, but these and an array of other scarifications, emotional as well as physical, have not dampened Archie's ardor. He remains crazy about Gretchen Lowell, aka the Beauty Killer. And crazy, too, in the sense that as the result of her ministrations, he currently resides in Portland, Ore.'s Providence Medical Center, termed by Archie "the loony bin." As for Gretchen, until recently she's been residing in the slammer, where Archie helped put her. Having busted out, however, she's up to her old tricks-murdering with undiminished enthusiasm, leaving her signature heart carved into the torsos of her victims, usually before they're dead. Seldom indeed, when in the hands of Gretchen the grotesque, does anyone die in a hurry. And now, perversely, she's become a media darling. Her glam photographs seem omnipresent. She sells newspapers, she boosts ratings, she has fan clubs: global constituencies, gleefully marking the days their hero has been able to elude slew-footed police forces-76 and counting. So suddenly the question takes on an unsettling nuance. Is it Gretchen and Gretchen alone who's been dismembering and disemboweling? Or has she been joined by copycats? It's enough to get Archie into his clothes, out of the hospital and back into bossing his catch-Gretchen task force, the trauma of it all having driven him sane. Archie wallows in victimhood and Gretchen is a mindless, robotic monster. Is loathsomeness asgood a sales driver as sex? Clearly, Cain's publisher has decided to bet it is.

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