Evil at Heart (Archie Sheridan & Gretchen Lowell, #3)

by Chelsea Cain

Since serial killer Gretchen Lowell went on the run, following Detective Archie Sheridan's latest near-fatal encounter with her, the city of Portland has descended into Beauty Killer hysteria. Even fan sites have sprung up online, where admirers of Gretchen can congregate to discuss their heroine.

When a spleen is discovered at a local rest stop, Detective Henry Sobol is at first sceptical it is Gretchen's work. It is only when he sees the rest stop's wall -covered in hundreds of tiny red hearts that Henry realises its time to contact Archie . . .

Archie Sheridan has spent the last few month's in the city's psychiatric hospital, battling with his addiction to painkillers and his strange obsession with the woman who tortured him.

But soon he, along with the Beauty Killer taskforce and journalist Susan Ward, find themselves investigating a new spate of killings -when bodies start to turn up at local beauty spots, their eye-balls removed. Could this be the work of a copy-cat? Or has Gretchen really returned? One thing is certain, whoever is behind these brutal murders, they will do whatever it takes to get to Archie . . .

• ISBN10: 0312572638
• ISBN13: 9780312572631
• Publish Date: 4 October 2011 (first published 14 August 2009)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: St Martin's Press
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 341
• Language: English

Reviews

[ibeforem]

Cain really keeps up the pace in this third book in her Archie & Gretchen series. Gretchen is on the loose, Archie is enjoying a little "R & R" in a local psychiatric ward, and Susan (who I have to admit is my favorite character) is trying to write a book about the obsession with the Beauty Killer, if Archie would only talk to her.

I thought this book moved the story ahead nicely, leaving enough questions at the end to make you wonder what is going to happen next. Archie has it a little more together in this book, but you can still see Gretchen’s effect on him. The only flaw here for me is that I thought the book could actually have used a little more Gretchen. She is the star in this saga, and her position in the background stole a little of the book’s "oomph".

I sat down and read this in a day. Do you need more evidence than that?