a review of "Evil At Heart"

Evil At Heart- A Thriller by Chelsea Cain
(Minotaur Books, ISBN 978-0-312-36848-7)

In this, the third installment in Cain's serial killer series, all our favorite characters from the first two books, Heartsick and Sweetheart, are back. The terribly scarred, both physically and emotionally, Detective Archie Sheridan, his friend and police co-worker Henry Sobol, the slightly flaky, purple haired journalist Susan Ward and of course, the beautiful, glamorous and extremely twisted serial killer Gretchen Lowell, again terrorizing the city of Portland, Oregon.

At the end of the second book, Gretchen had escaped from police custody and six months have now passed. Archie, our troubled hero, has spent the time voluntary signed into a mental hospital...for reasons you really need to read the first two books to begin to understand. I don't guarantee you will really totally understand Archie when you read them, but that is part of the appeal of these books. The relationship between our cop and our serial killer is unusual and quite troubling, to say the least.

When the last book ended, Archie and Gretchen had made a promise to each other. She would stop killing and he would stop trying to kill himself. But now, after six months, some things have surfaced that lead police to believe that she may be back in town and up to her old ways. Or is something else going on? Because since her escape from police, a strange media obsession has grown up around the beautiful, if horrible, Gretchen and it seems the internet is full of serial killer fan clubs, consumed with ever aspect of her crimes. Is she back or is this the work of a copy cat? It seems Archie will have to pull himself together, check himself out of the hospital and get back to work, because no one knows Gretchen better then he does or has a better chance of finally figuring out what is really going on.

This is a worthy sequel to the previous book, even if I am not sure it is quite as good as those two. The first two were truly excellent in my opinion while this is very good. Part of the reason, I think, is that the character of Gretchen and her relationship with Archie is just so unusual, so shocking when it is first presented in the first book but by now, if you have read the other books, you are a bit more prepared for that aspect. Secondly, she does not play quite as large a role in this book as in the others and her presence is missed. On the plus side, this book highlights the character of Susan much more, and her growing friendship with Archie and she is a great addition to the team. Also, for the more queazy, this book is not quite as gruesome as the other two. Yes, I will warn you they are pretty gruesome, this one just not quite as much.

For fans of Cain's previous books in the series, this is a must read.
For those new to her work, if you are looking for a really exciting murder thriller, I strongly suggest you start with the first book, Heartsick and work your way through the series.

(Another great book from my local library..)

---