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    Evil at Heart: A Thriller
    Evil at Heart: A Thriller
    Evil at Heart: A Thriller
    Ebook323 pages4 hours

    Evil at Heart: A Thriller

    By Chelsea Cain

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateSep 1, 2009
    ISBN9781429989824
    Author

    Chelsea Cain

    Chelsea Cain is the author of the New York Times bestselling Archie Sheridan/Gretchen Lowell thrillers Heartsick, Sweetheart, Evil at Heart, The Night Season, Kill You Twice, and Let Me Go. Her Portland-based thrillers have been published in twenty-four languages, recommended on the Today show, appeared in episodes of HBO’s True Blood and ABC’s Castle, and included in NPR’s list of the top 100 thrillers ever written. According to Booklist, “Popular entertainment just doesn’t get much better than this.” Visit her online at ChelseaCain.com.

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    Reviews for Evil at Heart

    4/5

    414 ratings73 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Gretchen Lowell continues to haunt and torment the people of Portland, Oregon, so Archie Sheridan checks himself out of rehab to join in the hunt.I was able to share the experience of listening to this book with my husband on a road-trip. We both have had very similar thoughts with the first two in this series, and we were no different with this one. Thankfully, it turned out to be better than the second, but I hope Cain is done with the Gretchen Lowell saga. I've had enough of her.There was so much that I didn't care for in this book - the varied forms of bathroom talk, the ridiculous fan club idea, and some other minor plot glitches, that I'm surprised I ended up thinking it was an okay read. Needless to say, I did. Can't think of anything good to highlight, but I did.Originally posted on: Thoughts of Joy
    • 2/5
      [Cross-posted to Knite Writes]Okay, the storyline of this book was weird. I don’t even really want to talk about it because I’m not sure what to say. It was just…odd. I finished this book unsure of what I had read and spent a significant amount of time contemplating it before I gave up trying to figure out what on Earth inspired Cain to write this. I mean, it fit with the disturbing serial killer theme. But other than that…yeah, I don’t know.It also felt like this one was just a setup to catch Gretchen again as opposed having a lot of substance on its own. It does set up some new recurring characters that are fairly important for the subsequent books, but of course, I didn’t know that when I actually reading this. I was left very lost and confused.It was nice to see that Archie has somewhat reasonably recovered from his suicidal breakdown in the previous book, and I did find his developing paranoia over Gretchen’s influence in his life to be pretty believable. His development is well handled in this installment.Gretchen is in the periphery of this book a lot, which I found a very interesting tactic. Instead of being in the spotlight literally, the idea of her is in the spotlight. Society has used Gretchen’s infamy to integrate her into pop culture, which is a disturbing enough concept by itself, but it’s made even more disturbing by the fact that she’s almost idolized. She’s a beautiful killer, and that’s rare, so people are fascinated by her. Cain presents a reasonably fair critique of society using Gretchen as a mode of interest and intrigue.However, I will say she took it over the top at times. Like in the previous book, there were several things I had a hard time buying into. Moderation and balance, like I mentioned last time, are key.
    • 4/5
      Evil at Heart is Chelsea Cain’s third novel featuring the beautiful serial killer Gretchen Lowell, and the detective she kidnapped and tortured, Archie Sheridan.

      In a review of Heartsick, the first novel in this series, I commented: “HeartSick introduces one of the most diabolical, psychopathic, frightening serial killers in fiction – the beautiful Gretchen Lowell. Gretchen Lowell makes Hannibal Lecter look like a boy scout. Not only has she killed hundreds of victims, she likes to torture them for days before finally putting them out of their misery. She is one nasty piece of work.”

      Archie Sheridan was the detective tasked to hunt her down, but Gretchen lured him in and kidnapped and tortured him. In Sweetheart, the second novel in this series, we see just how twisted Archie Sheridan really is, with his love, hate, love relationship with Gretchen that has erotic, violent overtones.

      Evil at Heart finds Archie Sheridan voluntarily convalescing in a mental home getting over his addiction to painkillers. Meanwhile a “womanhunt” for Gretchen goes on, as she escaped in the last novel. But don’t think Archie is far from her mind or her heart.

      As Gretchen is on the loose, a series of murders take place that appear to be copycat killers or Gretchen playing games. Archie is lured out of the hospital and onto the path of either finding Gretchen or the killer mimicking her. What he discovers is a weird cult following of the Beauty Killer and to stop the murders he has to figure out if it really is Gretchen or one of her fans.

      Archie’s partner Henry and the reporter Susan Ward once again play a large role in the novel, both trying to help and protect Archie, but in their own ways.

      This novel, like the previous two, is fast paced and the characters are well drawn. It was a fun and entertaining read but it does have a few minor flaws. First, even though a mystery exists to be solved, in many respects this novel is more about the cat and mouse game between Archie and Gretchen than anything else. And while I really like the characters, the novelty of Gretchen and Archie and their twisted relationship has worn off a bit. By the end of the novel I had a “been there, done that” feeling. While I still greatly enjoyed this novel, it does have a slight staleness to it as it feels a bit repetitive of the previous two. I am not sure how long these characters can be sustained placed in the same settings with the same general interactions between them.

      Thus, while I definitely recommend this novel, I hope to see the author take the characters in a new, fresh direction, or move on to something new.


    • 4/5
      I think this horribly addictive series has finally found a balance - Archie has pulled his head out of Gretchen's backside, the bitch is back (in jail), and Susan goes from strength to strength. The copycat storyline was also well played and fast paced. Onto book four!
    • 4/5
      *Mild Spoilers if you haven’t read the previous books in the series*Third book in the Beauty Killer series by Chelsea Cain. Gretchen, the serial killer, is still missing and Archie has been checked into the psych ward for quite some time. Gretchen had been keeping to her promise not to kill anymore if Archie did not commit suicide, but once Archie start regaining his balance, gruesome murders occur with Gretchen’s signature all over them. Archie makes the decision to leave his asylum and track her down, but the others on the police force worry that he’s not ready. The reporter, Susan, is still trying to make her name by getting the ‘big story’ and so she’s still trying to cling to Archie’s coattails to make her fame and fortune.I quite enjoy this series and was glad to see the author write another strong entry within a year of releasing [Sweetheart]. I never know how Chelsea Cain is going to advance Archie and Gretchen’s twisted relationship, and this book was no exception. This is probably the strongest aspect of Cain’s writing… that she is able to build up tension and anticipation of when Gretchen and Archie would finally meet again, and the conclusion wasn’t one the reader is able to foresee. However, my main gripe is that I always think Susan’s story is the weakest – she’s just not interesting enough, or strong enough of a character, to compete with Archie and Gretchen for equal space in the novel. She’s your archetypal dogged young journalist, but there’s nothing different about her… not even her multi-coloured hair.Otherwise, another gripping book by Chelsea Cain. Recommended.
    • 5/5
      An excellent third book in the Archie Sheridan/Gretchen Lowell series, which I strongly suggest be read from the beginning. The twisted relationship between the detective and the serial killer he is both searching for and victim of, is explored more fully, as Archie desperately tries to free himself of her emotional grip on him. His friends Henry, a cop, and Susan, a young reporter, are in it up to their eyeballs, to the reader's delight. Crackling and witty dialogue, unexpected twists and turns, and well-drawn characters add to the pleasure. I doubt any sequel will ever realize the shock potential of the original, but this is as good as a sequel gets, better even than the second in the series.
    • 4/5
      Murders have started again in Portland with the signature of the Beauty Killer. Detective Archie Sheridan has been hunting her for a decade paying very high personal prices; his wife, almost his career, maybe even his very soul. You see, while he was hunting her she was posing as the psychiatrist consulting on the case…the psychiatrist he began an affair with…the one who took him hostage and tortured him. She promised not to kill again but she got away and now the murders have started again. The media has made her it’s darling. People love to hear about Gretchen Lowell the Beauty Killer. There are fan clubs and she’s everywhere you look. Detective Sheridan has spent the past two months in a psychiatric ward taking care of his addiction to Vicodin and getting his mind straight. Trying to get his addiction to Gretchen taken care of also. Can he do it? Will it affect his work on the case? What he has to figure out along with everything else is that this may not be her. This could be a copycat. Then he would not only have to find her but another killer or killers. Bodies are piling up at the Beauty Killer’s previous crime scene’s and Portland is under siege. Susan Ward, reporter for the Herald, wants to write a book about the Beauty Killer and needs Archie’s help. She has hung out at the hospital waiting to talk to him. Now he may need her help. The two team up to find out more. Evil at Heart is grabs you right from the first scene and doesn’t let go. Even though I haven’t read the first two books it didn’t matter. I gleaned enough information from this book to understand and found this a thoroughly entertaining read. Chelsea Cain gives us a flawed but plausible character in Archie Sheridan. You want to root for his character to succeed with catching Gretchen once and for all.The way the media is portrayed is completely real, fascinating and thoroughly scary! To think of people idolizing a serial killer sends chills down my bones…but then I love to read these books so what does that say about me??? I don’t want to think too much about that. Evil at Heart is fantastic and I can’t wait to read the other two books. Have already bought HeartSick.
    • 4/5
      This was the first book in the series that I read and I was immediately drawn into the story of Archie and Gretchen. I knew right before I was halfway through that I would be going back and reading the first two, which is not to say that this story didn't standalone, but there was a lot of backstory I had to know. This book was very fast-paced, and at times I had a little trouble with the writing (was I just reading too fast? or was it akward?) but it was a great weekend fun read - assuming your idea of fun includes lots of murders, serial killers, blood and gore.
    • 4/5
      Read in June, 2013Listened for Fun (Library Copy)Overall Rating: 4.00Story Rating: 3.50Character Rating: 4.60Audio Rating: 3.50 (not part of the overall rating)First Thought when Finished:Evil at Heart got really good the last 1/2! I couldn't put it down (or turn it off).Story Thoughts: Chelsea Cain is brilliant at writing totally off-their-rocker characters. Her serial killer Gretchen is one of my favorites. Evil at Heart gave us another twist in the Gretchen/Archie storyline! It was full of twists,turns, and action. The only problem was the first part was a little slow but I think it was necessary for this story. Let's just say if you are a fan of Gretchen, you will love every single moment her in this story.Character Thoughts: Chelsea Cain writes kick ass characters. They are all twisted, bruised, battered, and a little off-kilter. There is something to like about all of them though and that to me is awesome character building. Serial Killers are some of my favorite fictional characters but honestly there are few out there that are better than Gretchen. I always get so drawn in by her even when she is only somewhat there. You can feel her in every little moment!Audio Thoughts: Narrated by Carolyn McCormick/ Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins I usually really enjoy Carolyn's narration but I thought her voice for Archie was off. He sounded more like a teenager than a seasoned police officer. I think she did a great job with all the other voices though and her pacing was fantastic! There is another narrator for the next book so I am going to give it a whirl and see if it is closer to how I imagined these people.Final Thoughts: This is a fantastic series! The only thing is "DON'T READ OUT OF ORDER" :)
    • 4/5
      Evil at Heart is Chelsea Cain's third installment in her Lowell/Sheridan series. The book, however, is my first time reading Cain's work. Her series follows Detective Archie Sheridan in his struggle to capture Gretchen Lowell, a prolific serial killer who has been dubbed "the Beauty Killer". He is ten years into the chase and recuperating in a psychiatric ward following his last run-in with Gretchen as this episode opens. The media and misguided public have turned Gretchen into a pop hero and her face and fans appear to be everywhere and bodies have started to turn up with Gretchen's signature style. The question that troubles the Beauty Killer Task Force is whether it is really her or a copycat from her legion of fans.Evil at Heart is my first introduction to Chelsea Cain's writing. I found her style to be very easy to read and I was quickly drawn into the story. In several parts, the graphic descriptions of Gretchen's torture left me wincing. There are some scenes of pretty extreme violence in the book. Overall, I thought it was a fast, suspenseful read. It reminded me of a James Patterson novel in that regard. I will probably be picking up the first two installments in the series, Heartsick and Sweetheart in order to catch up with the storyline and be ready for installment number four whenever it is released.
    • 4/5
      This was the third in a series involving Gretchen Lowell a female serial killer and Archie Sheridan one of her victims and the only survivor. Much of the story invloves their strange and disturbing relationship. This book is not for the faint of heart as it can be disturbing but for me was something I couldn't put down!Cain does a great job of developing the characters and their very strange relationship! A very good story that will appeal to even those readers who haven't read the first two books. Highly recommended!
    • 5/5
      Cain is a credit to all mystery writers. Just when I think she's slipping, she blindsides you with another complex and perversely enjoyable thriller. The Gretchen Lowell books haven't jumped the shark yet and my hopes are high for the next installment.
    • 4/5
      This is a VAST improvement from the second book. It had the same amount of suspense and thrills like Heartsick and it went up one more notch. It felt a little strange though, since Archie was out of the picture for a while, until he’s forced back in. The process in forcing him back was insanely creepy. The phone calls, the text messages, even the staff and inmates where Archie was staying at for treatment made a hair raising experience. You just couldn’t trust anyone and any new character introduced into the scene, you had to wonder if they were under Gretchen’s influence or not. I really loved the text messaging and phone calling moments. Those really creeped me out. I thought this part of the story was very well written and gave you enough chills yet not so much that it’s overdone and cheesy. The mind games played between Gretchen and Archie are really good and that also keeps you reading through the book.The underlying main plot of the book was good and only makes sense that a possibility of a copycat killer would come into the picture. The outcome of this mystery is really good and was also pretty thrilling as well. The pace of the plot was also well done and the sudden revelations with the twists and turns are also really good. Gretchen is still, an evil manipulating witch that you can’t ignore. There are still unanswered questions to Gretchen, and I’m wondering how long this is going to be. You can only stretch this storyline with Gretchen so far without making it look silly. That being said though, I’ve picked up Night Season already and am hoping it’s just as good. Thrilling, with a “can’t put down” feeling, fans of Archie and Gretchen will definitely be satisfied with this one. Those that are new to this should read this series in order. Be advised, there is quite a bit of gore in the book those that aren’t into that should stay away.
    • 2/5
      There are very interesting characters in this series, but I've had more than enough of the Beauty Killer horror.
    • 4/5
      Gretchen Lowell is the queen bee of psychopaths - a killer who makes a sadistic art of torture - and she's on the loose again. Are a recent spate of killings her handiwork, or the product of some over-zealous copycat fans? Archie Sheridan checks himself out of the psychiatric hospital to find out. Susan Ward is the perfect partner for Sheridan - their dialogue and Susan's thoughts lend some humour to the chills and horror. Couldn't put this one down.
    • 3/5
      As much as I want to like this series, I don't think I'll be reading any further books. I don't get the hold that Gretchen (the serial killer) has over Archie (the detective). Without that connection wtih the main characters, I can't get deeply enough into the books to get past the graphic violence.
    • 4/5
      Another great story in this series! This one takes place about 2 months after the last. Serial killer Gretchen is still on the loose, Archie is in detox, and a Beauty Killer fan club is causing a whole lotta trouble! Lots of eyeballs in this one - not for the squeamish! I can't wait for book #4! I only have one question... what color will Susan's hair be in the next one? :-)
    • 5/5
      I devoured Evil at Heart by Chelsea Cain. I relished every moment I got to spend immersed in The Beauty Killer’s sinister world. Let me be frank, I somehow managed to miss Heartsick and Sweetheart, so I can’t speak to how Cain measures up in this latest installment, but now I will be acquiring both. Recalling favored thriller writers Stephen King and Christopher Pike, Evil at Heart is in a league of its own.Gretchen “The Beauty Killer” is loose, and presumably killing. As the body count rises, Gretchen finds ways to continue to torment a victim who was able to escape her murderous wrath; her former lover, Archie, who has since sequestered himself in a hospital. Soon Archie has no choice but to return to Gretchen’s pursuit with the help of series regulars: Henry, the cop, Claire, the ME, and Susan Ward, the reporter/journalist. It’s a familiar chase, but Gretchen and sensational media coverage has inspired something even more evil then herself—legions of obsessed fans who celebrate her. Cain successfully manages to tell the story from the point of view of Henry, Susan and Archie (and open with the perspective of a mom with an unfortunate case of timing). She doesn’t skip a beat dosing out a sufficient amount of back story without detracting from the installment she’s delivering now. The high-speed pacing, complexly human relationships and equal measured macabre mystery and absolute terror combine to create a superb thriller that surpasses the genre. Evil at Heart is simply as good as suspense novels get.
    • 5/5
      This one is not for the squeamish. I received Evil At Heart as an advanced reader's review copy. It's the sequel to Heartsick but can be read and understood without reading the prior novels. (Although I would highly recommend starting at the beginning, simply because Chelsea Cain is a brilliant writer.) This book grabbed me from the very beginning. I didn't skim over one single word. It's one of those books that will keep you up late at night reading, then keep you up later because it's so disturbing!Evil At Heart is fast-paced and can leave you breathless. The plot follows a female serial killer whose depraved actions have earned her her very own cult following. If you like suspense and aren't horrified by gory details, then Evil At Heart is a must read.
    • 5/5
      Evil at Heart by Chelsea Cain is the 3rd book in a thrilling series about a female serial killer and her sick and twisted relationship with the former lead detective investigating her killings. In this book, Gretchen is still on the loose and she has turned into a celebrity of sorts. Magazines and newspapers write about her and show her picture every day. The city provides tours of the locations where her murder victims have been found, Gretchen Lowell souvenirs (and manicure) are sold, and fan clubs of the serial killer have sprouted up. Archie, in the meantime, is residing voluntarily in an inpatient psychiatric hospital partially due to the mental health issues he’s suffered at the hands of Gretchen’s torture and masochism and partially to remain safe. Then more murder victims are found that point to Gretchen, the Beauty Killer, as a possibility, and the craziness and sickness that is the Archie/Gretchen series continues!I loved this book and have to say it was the best one yet! It was seriously a thriller in that I almost didn’t turn off the lights for bed the first night I read this, and books don’t usually scare me! The action is non-stop and of course, with short chapters it’s so easy to read just one more chapter, and just one more, and on and on until you’ve read half the book. The convoluted dynamics between the characters is what makes this book and series so interesting. Gretchen reminds me in so many ways of Hannibal Lector (and I thought this BEFORE I read anything online about others thinking this) and I think that this series would actually make a great movie. This book is not for the squeamish as there are parts that are gory and parts that are just gross. There are also some sexual parts that might be offensive to some people. But Gretchen is a sick and twisted character. I will say I wonder how much more can happen in the series at this point, but if there is a plan for more I will gladly keep reading!
    • 4/5
      Highly enjoyable, though increasingly improbable. I like Cain's premise of the Gretchen Lowell fan clubs - sick but realistic. Archie takes a hell of a beating in this one. Given his reactions to Gretchen in this book, it'd be nice to see Archie & crew take on someone different in the next book, if there is one. Definitely not a standalone - reading the others is a necessity, but a fun one.
    • 3/5
      READ IN DUTCH

      Evil at Heart is the third novel by Chelsea Cain about Gretchen Lowell, a female serialkiller. I've read the first two books as well, and just like the others, this one was nice to read. The writing style ant the story are very fast and there is a lot of suspense in the story. For me, these are books I read between bigger/better books, but it is still nice to read.
    • 5/5
      Evil at Heart, the third in the Archie and Gretchen series, picks up two months after Gretchen Lowell escaped in last year’s installment, Heartsick. Archie Sheridan has taken a leave of absence from the task force and voluntarily checked himself into a psych ward to help with his vicodin addiction and suicidal tendencies. He is lingering in the mental hospital when a series of bodies are found that point to Gretchen Lowell as the murder, violating her and Archie’s agreement that she would stop killing in return for him not to commit suicide. Gretchen has reached cult status, with fan groups, crime scene tours, t-shirts, and memorabilia. Some even celebrate the number of days she has been free. Susan Ward, journalist for the Herald, wants to write a book about society’s fascination with a serial killer. When an anonymous tip leads her to one of the bodies, she is drawn back into the hunt for Gretchen along with Henry, Archie’s partner.Chelsea Cain’s novels are quick page turners. The latest is filled with same intensity and suspense. At times, the gory details made me flinch. The character’s relationships are intriguing and I can’t wait til the next to find out how they evolve. Susan’s death facts were morbidly funny. Archie’s problems make my heart ache in sympathy. I was glad to see that he is making improvements. I would recommend this books series. It reminds of Hannibal Lector-you know the person is a killer, but you can’t help but like them a little.
    • 5/5
      Chelsea Cain writes such very, very disturbed and disturbing characters. What kind of mind thinks of a story about a cop in love with the serial killer he is trying to find and arrest - and who has attacked and almost killed him? She's so delightfully twisted on paper and in person. I've heard Chelsea speak three times now and she is simply hilarious and irreverant.
    • 4/5
      According to those who study the subject, female serial killers are very rare compared to their male counterparts and overwhelmingly kill for personal gain of some kind. They are generally close to their victims–spouses, children, lovers-cultivating relationships with them before committing murder, often using low-profile methods such as poison over a period of time. Naturally, exceptions have always existed, the bloody Countess Báthory in history and Aileen Wuornos in modern times being two notable examples.In HEART SICK, Chelsea Cain introduced the world to Gretchen Lowell, strikingly beautiful, charismatic, and sadistically deadly, with hundreds of butchered victims to her credit. Her prize, however, was Detective Archie Sheridan, head of the task force charged with her capture, and her torture-and-sex relationship with him drives the story through HEART SICK and SWEETHEART, the second book in the series.Now comes EVIL AT HEART, opening with Gretchen still at large and Archie a patient in a hospital psych ward, having admitted himself two months prior. With Gretchen on the loose bodies can be expected, and they begin to turn up in sites associated with Gretchen’s former crimes, all marked by her characteristic brutality. Even Archie appears to be at risk in the nominally safe-guarded mental ward. He faces the question of remaining, or of checking out of the hospital and back into his life in order to stop Gretchen–or surrender to her.Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Cain’s sultry murderess is the fast grip she has on the emotions of her victims, and the apparent ease with which she can shape others into tools. Archie both hates her and desperately longs to be possessed by her, and this inner struggle informs most of his actions in the book, some of which would cause a rational being to pause and scratch his or her head. But Archie is merely emblematic of Portland society, whose infatuation with the blonde serial killer expresses itself in Gretchen tours, Gretchen billboards, Gretchen tee-shirts and Gretchen fan clubs. At first look, a reader might question the plausibility of such goings-on in a modern city, but then one remembers the Charles Manson sites and groups that have existed ever since that horrific night in 1969, and wonders if, in fact, expecting otherwise is the real implausibility.The primary characters from the preceding books are present, and some growth can be seen, particularly in Susan Ward, reporter and hair-color experimentalist. She may be the most interesting figure in this episode of the story. Certainly she seems to grow more.While serial killer books are a bit wearisome to some, owing to the vast number that make it to the bookstores, one that’s well-done is still worth your while. In EVIL AT HEART Ms. Cain has offered, and I think delivered, an entertaining read.
    • 3/5
      I think I read these three books in the series too close together, and just got a little tired of it all. The very realistic characterization of trauma and its effects is fascinating, but I've just grown a bit weary of the people in these particular books, especially the uber-serial killer, Gretchen Lowell. I understand what the author is doing by having her there, but it conflicts with the much more human portrayals of the other characters. I'll pick up future books in the series, but I need a break now.
    • 4/5
      I haven't read the series as this was given to me as a gift. My first read by Cain and I found it hard to put down. Full of suspense and unpredictable, twisted surprises.
    • 4/5
      I've seen from other reviewers that Evil at Heart was not the favorite. I agree with ome of the arguments made: it did seem a bit all over the place with no real and clear storyline. The gist of it is that someone is leaving body parts, mainly eyes, in areas where the victims of the Beauty Killer, aka Gretchen Lowell, were found.

      It isn't a shock when the police and the media think that Lowell is killing again. She has been free for 67 days or so. However, things get murky when an I Love Gretchen Lowell cult and a former victim are involved.

      The Archie Sheridan/ Gretchen Lowell series is something I really wanted to like but I haven't really felt the love over the past two books. Archie was tortured by a serial killer who infiltrated his investigation in guise of a psychiatrist. I get it; Gretchen broke him but sometimes, it was enough already.

      I finally felt Archie became a cop. Now I can see that he could be a formidable force to be reckoned with as soon as we past the self-pitying nonsense. I believe I can read all the books in this series and still will never like Gretchen. She tries way to be hard to be evil. I sense a bit of an Mary Sue. Susan was tolerable but barely. I could see her dead and not bat an eyelash.

      Chelsea Cain impressed me with her message of the media transforming serial killers into these tragic antiheroes. The victims of these brutal crimes should be remembered but sadly, they're not. It's their killers who live forever in infamy.

      Out of the three books so far, I've liked this one the best.
    • 5/5
      Eyeballs bobbing in the toilet tank, a head found on a hillside , eyeless sockets. Is the famous Beauty Killer out again? Archie knows all to well about Gretchen Lowell, known as the Beauty Killer and he must find her before she kills again. But how will he do that from a bed at a mental institution? Susan, the journalist for the Herald wants Archie's story but soon enough, Susan and Archie find themselves on a dangerous hunt .Yep this one has plenty of gory details but the story keeps moving and its hard to put it down.A great scary novel with plenty of action. I highly recommend it!Synopsis:Gretchen Lowell is on the loose. A sensationalist media has turned her into a star. Her face graces magazine covers...women get "beauty killer" manicure.. there are sightings of her worldwide... even kids wear t-shirts that read "Run, Gretchen." Most shocking of all, a fan club has formed - counting the number of days Gretchen Lowell has been free.Archie Sheridan has hunted her for a decade. He lived and breathed her crime scenes, only for her to be right there in front of him, all along. He's suffered long and hard.. and been left near death. After his last attempt to capture her went spectacularly wrong, he's been hospitalized for months.When a dead body is found with Gretchen's signature heart, Archie is forced into action. Has the Beauty Killer returned to her ways - or has the cult surrounding her created a whole new evil?
    • 5/5
      I loved this book from the first few pages. An incredible start, and you don't need to read the first two books to catch up to the full story. This is the best yet in the series in my opinion. The author just gets better and better. The Dexter series has finally gotten some serious competition!

    Book preview

    Evil at Heart - Chelsea Cain

    C H A P T E R

    1

    The rest stop off I-84 on the Oregon side of the Columbia River was vile, even by rest-stop standards. Graffiti covered the white subway-tile walls; the paper-towel and toilet-paper dispensers had been emptied, their contents now strewn on the concrete floor. Two of the metal stall doors were pulled off their top hinges and hung at odd angles. It smelled like a parking-garage stairwell, that peculiar marriage of urine and cement.

    Eighteen miles from the nearest bathroom, and they end up at a rest stop trashed by hooligans. There was no alternative. Amy put her hands on her hips and stared at her eleven-year-old daughter.

    Come on, Dakota, she said.

    Dakota’s blue eyes widened. I’m not going in there, she said.

    This is what the whole road trip had been like. They had been making the annual drive up from Bakersfield to see Erik’s family in Hood River every summer since Dakota had been a toddler. She had always loved it. This year she had spent the whole trip texting friends and listening to her iPod. Maybe if Dakota hadn’t been such a little jackass for the last two days, Amy would have been more sympathetic.

    Just squat over the bowl, Amy said.

    Dakota bit her lip, leaving a glob of pink lip gloss on her front tooth. It’s gross, she said.

    Want me to see if the men’s room is any better? Amy asked.

    Dakota’s cheeks flushed. No way, she said.

    You said you had to go, Amy said. In fact, after not going in the restaurant they had stopped at for dinner, Dakota had quickly begun insisting that her bladder was going to burst and that if it did she was going to use it to seek emancipated minor status under California law. Amy didn’t even know what the fuck that was, but it seemed serious. So here they were, at a rest stop in the middle of nowhere.

    There was a banging at the door. What are you guys doing in there? Erik called. They were twenty minutes from his sister’s house. If they didn’t get there soon, Amy knew that Erik was going to lose it. He had already been white-knuckling the wheel for the past ten miles. Who was she kidding? She was the one who was going to lose it.

    She doesn’t want to use any of the toilets, Amy called to her husband.

    Then come outside and go behind a tree, Erik called back.

    Dad! Dakota said.

    Amy pushed open the door to the last stall. It was cleaner than the rest, or at least less filthy. Toilet paper in the dispenser. No visible human waste. That was a start. What about this one? Amy asked her daughter.

    Dakota took a few tentative steps up behind her and peered into the toilet bowl. There’s something in there, she said, pointing limply to the pale pink water in the bowl.

    Amy didn’t have time to explain to her daughter the effect of beets on pee. Just flush it, Amy said. She turned and walked over to the row of white sinks and waited. She heard the toilet flush and felt a little bit of the tension bleed from her shoulders. They would be on the road soon. Erik’s sister would have wine waiting. Erik’s sister always had wine waiting.

    Mom? Amy heard her daughter ask.

    What now?

    Amy turned and saw her daughter standing in the stall, the metal door swung open. Dakota’s face was white, blank, her hands balled into fists. The toilet was overflowing, water spilling over the lid onto the floor, forming a puddle that seemed to almost have a tide. Only there was something in the water. It swirled with veins of red. It looked almost menstrual. And for a second Amy thought, Did Dakota get her period?

    The bloody water streaked down along the outside of the white toilet bowl, onto the floor, under Dakota’s sneakers, and toward where Amy stood frozen. There was something in the toilet, something that had bobbed to the surface and now sat at rim level. A piece of something raw. Flesh. Like some maniac had skinned and drowned a rat. It sat on the edge of the bowl for a moment and then slopped onto the floor and slid forward, skimming Dakota’s sneaker and disappearing under the next stall.

    Dakota shrieked and scrambled forward out of the stall into Amy’s arms, not even looking back when her iPod slipped from her hands and landed at the base of the toilet with a deadening splash.

    Amy forced herself to swallow the warm saliva that rose in her throat, marshaling her will not to gag. It wasn’t a rat. It was definitely not a rat.

    Mom? Dakota said.

    Yes? Amy whispered. The iPod was still playing. Amy could hear some tinny pop song coming out of the half-submerged white earbuds. Then, just like that, it stopped.

    I don’t have to go to the bathroom anymore, Dakota said.

    C H A P T E R

    2

    Detective Henry Sobol lifted the evidence bag out of the rest-stop bathroom sink. The contents, four fistfuls of severed flesh, three of which had been plunged from the toilet, glistened under the clear plastic. It was heavier than it looked—dark, almost purple—and the large medallions of flesh were frayed, like they had been cut with a serrated blade. Blood and toilet water formed a triangle of pink juice at the corner of the bag. It didn’t have the sanitized look of the clean, plump, pink meat under Saran Wrap at the supermarket; something had been killed for this. Or someone had tried to make a kebab out of roadkill.

    Tell me again where you found this? Henry said.

    The state cop who’d called him stood next to Henry with his Smokey Bear hat in his hands. The bathroom’s fluorescent lights gave his skin a pale green sheen. The john, the state trooper said, tilting his head toward an open stall. Got a nine-one-one call. Family reported some blood in the bathroom. I responded. He shrugged. Plunged it. That came up. Maybe it wasn’t the lighting, Henry thought. Maybe the trooper was green because he was sick to his stomach. The trooper swallowed hard. Medical Examiner thinks it’s a spleen.

    The Hood River County medical examiner stared at Henry, nodding slightly. He was wearing a DaKine T-shirt and cargo shorts, and had the weathered skin that everyone in Hood River seemed to have, thick from snowboarding and windsurfing and whatever the hell else they did out here.

    Henry scratched the top of his shaved head with his free hand.

    It doesn’t look like a spleen to me, Henry said.

    Claire Masland appeared next to him, her gold badge on a lanyard around her neck. Two hours ago they had been at his apartment. She’d had fewer clothes on then.

    The ME lifted his hands to his hips. I’m sorry, he said. Let me clarify. He made a chopping motion with one hand. It’s a spleen that’s been cut up. And jammed in a toilet.

    Henry laid the gory package back into the sink.

    This is what it had been like over the past two months, since the Beauty Killer, Gretchen Lowell, had escaped. The Beauty Killer Task Force worked around the clock, tracking down tips. It had taken them ten years to catch her the first time. This time they knew what she looked like. The task force had doubled. And still Henry wasn’t sure they’d ever catch her. They wasted too much time following false leads. A suicide in the river. A drive-by in North Portland. It didn’t matter what it was, people thought that Gretchen Lowell was behind it.

    Henry knew it was hysteria. Gretchen didn’t have a victim profile. She’d claimed to have killed two hundred people. They’d convicted her of killing twenty-six, adding another twenty to the list once she was in jail. Men, women, black, white, it didn’t matter. Gretchen was an equal-opportunity serial killer. But she was also a megalomaniac, and she always left a signature.

    Claire wandered away. Henry was already thinking about getting home. Co-ed Confidential was on Cinemax at eleven and Claire had said she’d watch it with him. He cleared his throat. Some kids probably bought an organ at a butcher shop, he said. Thought they’d scare the crap out of someone.

    Maybe, the ME said. Can’t tell until I get it back to the lab. But the size looks right to be human.

    The state cop gripped his hat a little tighter. We figured we should call you guys, he said.

    Gretchen had removed some of her victims’ spleens. Both pre-and postmortem. But she left bodies in her wake, not organs. It’s not Gretchen Lowell, Henry said. It wasn’t right. No body. No signature. It’s not her style.

    Henry, Claire said. Look at this.

    Henry turned toward Claire. She was facing the opposite wall, past the stalls. There was seepage where the toilet had flooded onto the concrete floor and Henry had to navigate around it, his attention shifting between his new black cowboy boots and the reflection of his large frame in the puddle. When he got to Claire, he looked up.

    The graffiti was recent. Other penciled and scratched musings had been marked over by the thick, neat red lines. The same shape, rendered over and over again. The hairs on the back of Henry’s neck stood up, his shoulders tightened. Fuck, he said.

    We need to tell Archie, Claire said softly.

    Archie Sheridan? the state cop asked. He stepped forward, his black boots slapping through the puddle.

    Archie had run the task force that had hunted Gretchen. It had made him the most famous cop in the state. For better or worse.

    I heard he was getting inpatient treatment, the ME said from the sink.

    Inpatient treatment, Henry thought. That was a nice euphemism for it. Officially he’s a citizen until he gets his psych clearance, Henry said.

    You have to call him, Claire said again.

    Henry looked back up at the wall. Hundreds of tiny hearts, executed perfectly with what looked to be a red Sharpie. They covered everything, obliterated everything. The heart was Gretchen’s signature. She carved it on all of her victims. She’d carved it on Archie.

    And now she was back.

    C H A P T E R

    3

    It was long past visiting hours at the Providence Medical Center psych ward. Henry rode the back elevator up to a small waiting room with a locked door, a telephone, two chairs, and a table with a sign-in sheet and a stack of Al-Anon brochures. Henry didn’t sign the sign-in sheet. No one ever did.

    He picked up the phone. It automatically connected to the nurse’s station inside and in a moment a female voice picked up.

    Can I help you? the voice said. She didn’t sound like she meant it.

    I need to see Archie Sheridan, Henry said. He didn’t recognize her voice. He didn’t know the night-shift nurses. My name’s Henry Sobol. It’s police business.

    There was an extended pause. Hold on, the voice said.

    After a few minutes the door buzzed and then popped open, revealing a tired-looking woman in scrubs and a Peruvian cardigan. I’m only letting you in because he said he’d see you, she said with a tight-lipped smile.

    I know the way, Henry said. I’m here three times a week.

    I’ll walk you anyway, the nurse said.

    There were no TVs in the rooms, but Henry could hear Animal Planet blasting from the break room. Animal Planet was always on in the break room. Henry didn’t know why.

    The place had been shocking at first. Fluorescent lights, tile linoleum floors, patients in green scrubs. Everywhere you looked were reminders of suicide—the patients wore socks so they couldn’t hang themselves with their shoelaces, the garbage bags were paper so patients couldn’t pull the plastic ones over their heads, the utensils were plastic so patients couldn’t stab themselves in their jugulars, the mirrors in the rooms were metal sheets so patients couldn’t use the shards to fillet their wrists; there were no outlets in the rooms that could be used for electrocution, no electrical cords that could be used for nooses.

    Archie had now had two run-ins with Gretchen Lowell, each of which had left him near death. He was addicted to painkillers. She’d done a number on his psyche. Henry, more than anyone, knew he needed rehab, knew he needed a mountain of analysis. But what he hadn’t expected was that once Archie got in, he wouldn’t want to get out.

    The night nurse followed Henry into Archie’s room.

    Archie’s roommate was asleep, snoring loudly, that particular kind of wet, choking apnea that was a product of being overweight and heavily sedated. It was the kind of thing that would drive you crazy, if you weren’t already crazy to begin with.

    The caged sconce over Archie’s bed was on and he was sitting up, on top of the white sheets, the wafer-thin pillow folded behind his curly brown hair, a thick biography open on his lap. He had graduated from scrubs the month before, and now got to wear his own clothes, a sweatshirt and corduroys, slippers instead of socks. He’d lost weight and from a distance he looked like the man Henry had met fifteen years before, good-looking, healthy. Whole.

    Up close, the furrows on Archie’s forehead and worry lines around his eyes told a different story.

    Archie’s dark eyes fixed on Henry, and Henry felt a strange unease. Archie’s affect had changed. Henry didn’t know if it was the meds they had him on, or the fact that he’d been high on painkillers for two years and now he wasn’t. It was like he had gotten older, stiller. Sometimes Henry couldn’t believe he was only forty.

    What’s happened? Archie asked.

    Henry shot a look up at the camera mounted in the top corner of the room. It still made him feel strange, being monitored like a prisoner. He pulled up the guest chair on Archie’s side of the room—light plastic, so you couldn’t hurt someone if you threw it—and sat.

    Can I have a minute? Henry asked the nurse.

    Don’t wake Frank, she said, and stepped out of the room. Henry looked at Frank. A sheen of saliva collected at the corner of Frank’s mouth.

    Henry swung his head back to Archie.

    There’s a crime scene, Henry said. He reached into the front pocket of his black jeans and pulled out a pack of gum. They found a spleen at a rest stop east on eighty-four. There are hearts drawn on the wall. I need you to come take a look.

    Archie didn’t react at all; he just sat looking at Henry, not moving, not blinking, not saying anything. Frank made a gurgling sound like a dying chicken. A tiny light blinked red on the surveillance camera. Henry slid a piece of gum from the pack and unwrapped it and put it in his mouth. It was licorice flavored, warm and soft from being in his pocket. He held out the pack to Archie.

    Archie said, It’s not her.

    Henry folded the gum back in his hand and repocketed it. He would never understand Gretchen’s pull on Archie. He knew about Stockholm syndrome. He’d read half a dozen books on it since Archie’s captivity. He understood his friend’s obsession. They’d hunted her for a decade, living and breathing her, working her crime scenes. Only to discover that she was right under their noses posing as a psychiatrist consulting on the case. It had been hard on all of them—hardest on Archie. What if it is? Henry said.

    She said she would stop killing, Archie said. The corner of his mouth twisted. She promised me.

    Maybe she had her fingers crossed, Henry said.

    Archie’s eyes fell back to his book, and then he slowly closed it and set it on the table next to his bed. He lifted his chin. You still there? he said in a loud voice.

    There was a split-second pause and then the night nurse appeared in the doorway.

    They never go far, Archie told Henry with a faint smile. His eyes flicked to the nurse. I’ll need to get a day pass, he said. And then, almost as an afterthought, And shoes.

    He’s needed at a crime scene, Henry said.

    You don’t have to convince her, Archie said. I’ve been here two months. They want me out of here. Thing is, they can’t make me leave the ward until I tell them I won’t kill myself. And I’ve got excellent health insurance.

    A pass shouldn’t be a problem, Mr. Sheridan, the night nurse said.

    "Detective Sheridan, Henry said. The night nurse looked at him, an eyebrow raised. It’s ‘Detective,’ Henry said. Not ‘Mister.’ "

    C H A P T E R

    4

    Archie had been to that rest stop before. He remembered the brown picnic tables out front, where he and Debbie had sat, slowly getting soaked in the drizzle, while the kids ran in circles on the grass. They had been on their way up to Timberline Lodge, to take the kids up to see snow. Eighty-four was not the fastest route, but it was the most scenic. They had made it as far as Hood River when Archie got a call about another victim. A sixty-two-year-old black man had been found in a Target parking lot, filleted from sternum to pelvis, his small intestine stuffed in his open mouth. It was like Gretchen had known that Archie was going out of town and wanted to teach him a lesson.

    Well, Debbie had said as they pulled around to head home. It was a pretty drive.

    There were nice rest stops along the Gorge, WPA projects that looked like stone cottages plucked from an enchanted forest. This wasn’t one of them. This rest stop was a cinder-block rectangle, painted Forest Service brown, an entrance for men on one side, women on the other. No free coffee here. There were two patrol cars out front, but they didn’t have their lights on. They had closed the women’s entrance off to the public, but the men’s room was still open. Archie counted four more cars in the parking lot. A man in a baseball cap headed into the men’s room. A woman threw a ball for her dog. A second woman, a blonde, got into a dark Ford Explorer. Archie felt his body stiffen. He was careful not to look back, not to let Henry notice him react.

    Sometimes a blonde was just a blonde.

    Beyond the boundaries of the blurry yellow light thrown by the rest stop’s floodlights was vast darkness: no cloud cover, no light from the city. The Gorge sky was filled with stars. An unyielding dry breeze moved through the trees, and the brown grass crunched under Archie’s feet. You never had to mow your lawn in August in Portland, unless you watered it. Two months ago, the grass had still been green.

    Everything’s dead, Archie said to Henry. Henry was wearing black jeans, a black T-shirt, cowboy boots, and a black leather jacket. But Henry was a step ahead and didn’t hear him. Archie ducked under the tape and followed Henry into the rest-stop bathroom.

    A flash went off. Archie blinked, momentarily blinded. As his eyes refocused he saw a state trooper with a big digital camera. The trooper was in his late twenties, Archie guessed, his dark hair receding prematurely above each temple, his face a little doughy. But he had even features and straight teeth and the build of an ex-jock, and the silver, five-point badge pinned to his chest was polished to a high sheen. The state-trooper uniform was ridiculous—the big hat, the epaulets, the blue pants with light-blue stripes down the sides; they looked like park rangers who’d lost a fight with a blueberry. But this guy wore it well. He almost looked like a real cop. The trooper looked up and lifted his thick eyebrows at Archie. Hey, the trooper said. Hey, it’s you.

    Archie tried to force his mouth into a friendly smile. It had been like that since Gretchen had taken him captive, this sort of morbid celebrity. There had been a paperback bestseller, The Last Victim, about his kidnapping, and a TV movie. Gretchen’s escape from prison and their subsequent second run-in had only made it worse.

    Let him look around, Henry told the trooper.

    A leathery-skinned man dressed for a day hike stood by the sink.

    Can I go now? he asked Henry.

    A few more minutes, Henry said.

    Archie reached into his pocket looking for the brass pillbox of Vicodin he usually had. It was reflex. He knew it wasn’t there. They had taken it at the hospital, along with his cell phone and the belt Debbie had given him on their last Christmas together. He hadn’t known what to do with his hands since. He settled on putting both of them in his pants pockets and focused on taking in the scene. The bathroom was familiar. The scratched sheet-metal mirror. The too-bright white walls. The fluorescent lights. It was not unlike his room at the psych ward. With at least one noticeable difference. The bathroom had been trashed. Malicious mischief, they called it, a term that Archie had always liked. Of the six stalls, five had been deliberately clogged with toilet paper and feces, a stew of brown sludge and disintegrating paper. The metal stall doors hung off their hinges. Someone had urinated on the floor. The porous concrete had absorbed most of it, but there were still a few standing puddles, reflecting the jumpy white fluorescents above. Pipe noise echoed in the room, water rushing, footsteps, everything louder, distorted. Archie leaned across the overflow to peer into the last stall, the one where they’d found the body parts. It was the cleanest of the stalls, the toilet seat still attached, the hinges intact. They had wanted someone to use that stall, to flush, to find the bloody surprise. They had wanted the drama.

    An iPod in a yellow jelly case lay facedown on the floor at Archie’s

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