Sweetheart

Chelsea Cain's debut Heartsick created quite a stir, with its heady mix of familiar serial killer motifs and some striking innovations (notably the fact that her utterly ruthless murderer was a woman: the beautiful Gretchen Lowell). Cain is very much a member of the cadre of female crime writers who match their male counterparts in extreme, unsparing violence: in other words (as her new book, Sweetheart comprehensively proves), this is a young American writer in the bloody tradition of Tess Gerritsen and Karin Slaughter - and there's nothing wrong with that.

In fact, Sweetheart is not so much a sequel to Heartsick as a direct continuation of the events of that novel. Some weeks after the events of the first book, Cain's battered cop protagonist Archie is at the site of the new murder scene at Forest Park. Simultaneously, Susan Ward is reporting on a political case involving statutory rape and making herself very unpopular with her paper -- notably because the senator involved is an intimate of the newspaper's owners. But then a colleague of Susan's is killed in what appears to be a car accident, and the lethal Gretchen Lowell, the seductive serial killer of Heartsick, is raped by a guard at the prison where she is incarcerated. He subsequently kills himself, and while Gretchen is being transferred to another prison, she persuades an attendant to commit murder in order to help her escape. And Archie, to his dismay, soon becomes the recipient of the heart of the female prison guard killed in escape.

As all of the above suggests, the plotting here is even more delirious than in the first book -- and this synopsis only hints at the truly bizarre events that Chelsea Cain orchestrates. Even though a moment's consideration might make the narrative seem absurd (and there is some dodgy science incorporated into the plotting), the outrageous panache with which Cain dispatches her material sweeps all reservations aside. For those who care about such things, this is slightly less grisly than its predecessor, but it's just as entertaining a ride. --Barry Forshaw

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Very disappointing - Rated
A thoroughly disappointing book. Its almost a clone of the first book - the way it starts, the storylines are practically identical. I cannot believe that no-one (agents, publishers, critics) told her this before she brought the book out.
Ok, the first book Heart scare, created the kind of serial killer Gretchen Lowell, that made Hannibal lectre seem tame. The problem with the first book was, Gretchen was by far the bes part of it, and in only a few chapters. The sick chemistry between her and Archie was sharp and absorbing and all too brief. The first book was only just a good read b/c of the Gretchen-Archie dynamic; the murder case was plain and boring.
This book usese the same formula (exactly the same) as the first. What we needed / wanted was Gretchen. She is a fantastic creation, beautiful, intelligent and oh-so-deadly. I actually think that Cain should have gone back and explored the whole initial Beauty killer thing - go right back to the start with Gretchen, give us her story, her murders, her complex tale and mix that with Archie trying to get her - that would have been a major best seller b/c all the elements are fascinating.
How this book came about is almost beyond me. Susan, the politician, Archie's family life, the pill popping, the scars with Archie, the interactions with Gretchen have all been done in the first book - even the title borrows a word from the first book!!
Where as a lot of crime writers (Hayder, Slaughter, Gerritsen to soem extent) concentrate on detailed pathology and shocking details, Cain doesnt do this and relies on story only to grab you. But, if the story is poor, the whole book falls apart.
If there is a third book (And im sure there is) then please - give us Gretchen lowell - like Hannibal she is fascinating, brilliantly evil and the chemistry between her and Archie alone made the first book worth reading. This is simply a rip off of the first book and its very disappointing. There is the potential for a rip-roaring, edge of your seat thriller with Gretchen, but sadly the first two book have not deliivered.

FOLLOW ON TO HEART SICK - Rated
Follow on to Heartsick, mainly detailing the 'relationship between lead detective Archie and serial killer Gretchen, with a couple of other murders thrown in (why?). I think it would have been better had the author just concentrated on the Gretchen/Archie storyline and forgot about the rest of the story, she could have perhaps given us more insight into Gretchen, her upbringing, previous relationships etc.

Whilst i enjoyed the book, i found myself getting annoyed with Archie and his obvious disturbed feelings towards Gretchen, (his ex wife is a living saint!) The way Susan solved clues left for her was too simpilistic and i thought the ending very weak.

However i still found myself hooked to the storyline and look forward to the follow up.

not as good as the first - Rated
I enjoyed the first book and was really looking forward to the next in the series. I was really disappointed, I found most of it was a re-hash of the first and to be honest I wish Gretchen would hurry up and get rid of him to put us out of his misery!!.. For me there was no tension, no pace and it just fell flat.
Unfortunately, it looks like the third could just be a repeat and that would be a real shame - some characters I feel are not meant to be a series - a one off is enough and I felt that Ms Cain had done herself an injustice by rushing out a poor sequel to an excellent first book.

Disappointing second novel - Rated
I was very disappointed by this second novel from Chelsea Cain. The first book, Heartsick, focused on the hunt for the 'After-School Killer', with Archie's relationship with Gretchen sitting behind this, providing context. Sweetheart starts off in the same vein, but then almost dismisses the mystery behind the Senator's death and the bodies in the woods to go down a highly improbable storyline involving Archie and Gretchen. The Senator/bodies in the woods mystery is then miraculously solved at the end, based on a few guesses by Susan which the police seem to accept as fact without making any checks, and this flimsy 'evidence' is sufficient to make a highly influential politician commit suicide.

There are so many very good detective novels these days and they are all highly realistic with regard to police procedures, forensics etc - it is the many improbabilities in this book that mark it out as second rate. The fact that Archie is still on the police force given his obvious obsession with Gretchen (and the way that develops in this book) and addiction to painkillers requires a large stretch of the imagination. The plot of this book takes the improbabilities a step too far into the ridiculous.

I won't be rushing to read a third book in the series unless the focus has moved away from the Archie/Gretchen storyline - but this seems unlikely given the second book ends with Gretchen still at large...

Chelsea Cain - Sweetheart - Rated
The first few chapters draw you in - the discovery of a body in the woods, the reporter, Susan Ward, about to tell all on Senator Castle and then his sudden accidental death and Detective Archie Sheridan re-building his life after the serial killer, Gretchen Lowell.
After that the plot falters with the story line focusing on the Gretchen-Archie relationship form the first book, Heart Sick. This relationship between killer-victim is disturbing but it is not deep enough to be an edge of the seat psychological thriller.
The main characters are not sufficiently developed, it's more of the same and the murders added in this novel are solved as an aside. There is a mysterious child who appears twice but this doesn't go any where.
I also found the style of writing simplistic to the point that it disturbs the flow both in dialogue and prose.
This is so disappointing after the first novel which was a promising debut.