Heartsick

Chelsea Cain — 2007

Damaged Portland detective Archie Sheridan spent ten years tracking Gretchen Lowell, a beautiful serial killer, but in the end she was the one who caught him. Two years ago, Gretchen kidnapped Archie and tortured him for ten days, but instead of killing him, she mysteriously decided to let him go. She turned herself in, and now Gretchen has been locked away for the rest of her life, while Archie is in a prison of another kind---addicted to pain pills, unable to return to his old life, powerless to get those ten horrific days off his mind. Archie's a different person, his estranged wife says, and he knows she's right. He continues to visit Gretchen in prison once a week, saying that only he can get her to confess as to the whereabouts of more of her victims, but even he knows the truth---he can't stay away. When another killer begins snatching teenage girls off the streets of Portland, Archie has to pull himself together enough to lead the new task force investigating the murders. A hungry young newspaper reporter, Susan Ward, begins profiling Archie and the investigation, which sparks a deadly game between Archie, Susan, the new killer, and even Gretchen. They need to catch a killer, and maybe somehow then Archie can free himself from Gretchen, once and for all. Either way, Heartsick makes for one of the most extraordinary suspense debuts in recent memory.

Reviews

arwen@corienrielle

May 5, 2024

give me another one of those crazy blonde bitches

Denaiir@denaiir

Oct 3, 2023

4.5 stars This was such a good thriller, exactly what I am looking for: sick, twisted, full of serial-killers and damaged cops. My favorite style! The audiobook was not very good so it dampened my enjoyment a little bit, which is why I didn't give it 5 stars, but it was still riveting and I can't wait to get more of Gretchen Lowell!

Jasmine@lovelyximperfect

Jan 21, 2023

4.5 Stars Such an amazing psychological crime thriller! The dynamic between Archie, Gretchen, and Susan was endlessly fascinating, I just wanted to read more and more. There is a lot of really great character development way more than I've come across in other thrillers and it made Heartsick standout in the best way possible. Also, there is this great sarcastic sense of humor in Chelsea Cain's writing which I enjoyed immensely. This book pulled me in from the page 1 because oh wow that beginning was pretty shocking but after reading how could you not be curious enough to read on. Everything that I look for when picking out a thriller/ murder mystery was in here. I mean you've got multiple serial killers and complex main characters making questionable choices, what's not love? Honestly, this book can be pretty gruesome I'm not a fan of gore but it shows what Archie went through and understand how messed up Gretchen is. She is quite the twisted puppet master the mind game she is playing on Archie is quite something. Already reading Sweetheart the second book in the series and I have to say I'm enjoying it immensely so far. I've never read a psychological thriller where the plot takes place over multiple books but I'm so ready for more!

Amy Medeiros@bookworm4tea

Oct 18, 2021

The detective and the serial killer This mystery is very different from what I’m used it and I love it. We have our serial killer Gretchen who owns being crazy and is not afraid to show it and Archie, the detective who became her victim when she caught him while he was chasing her. For some reason, after torturing him for 10 days she calls in an ambulance for him and ends up turning herself in and is now in a maximum security prison. They have a very interesting relationship where he visits her every Sunday and they have this crazy attraction to each other. This was an extremely entertaining story and I can’t wait to read all the other books in the series.