>Evil at Heart by Chelsea Cain

fiction

by Caroline C | on May 18th, 2011 | 0 comments

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? (From Goodreads)

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.