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Sweetheart Archie Sheridan Gretchen Lowell Chelsea Cain Books

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Sweetheart Archie Sheridan Gretchen Lowell Chelsea Cain Books

_Sweetheart_ is the sequel to Cain's Heartsick, tying up some loose ends from the first book and connecting the story newspaper writer Susan Ward was pursuing (remember Molly Parker) with a double-suicide and murder investigation headed by Archie Sheridan and loosely connected to incarcerated serial-killer / femme fatale Gretchen Lowell. Sure, its not high literature, but it is a guilty pleasure - all the more so for the way Cain writes about Portland and the thinly veiled scandals and public personalities she includes in the story.

The characters are deeply flawed (Ward apparently has unresolved issues that attracts her to older men, Sheridan has issues that attract him to the serial killer that literally skinned and carved him up alive, and Lowell is a sociopath), almost to the point of caricature - but like a bad car-wreck you can't turn away from, I was almost compelled to see how these damaged people interacted with a series of seemingly unrelated murders. That many of the details of the story (a former popular congressman had an affair with ahis children's 14 year-old babysitter, an ambitious mayor who was once the chief of police with national political ambitions) are based on real events in the Northwest made it all the more tantalizing. That Cain - herself a long-time reporter for the state's largest newspaper - can write "Portland" so well was an added incentive.

Clearly my biases kept me interested in the book. For readers not familiar with names like "Neil Goldschmidt," "Tom Potter," or "Bud Clark," or for those who don't relish and welcome the rain, don't know or love the bridges of my city or aren't aware of the odd amalgam of hippie sentiment wedded to western individualism, much of the nuance that gave me such a thrill will be lost. For that I deducted a star. I deducted another star for the story itself: Cain straddles genres here, _Sweetheart_ (like _Heartsick_) is part thriller, part mystery; it hasn't quite worked out which one it is, and as a result it has medicore elements of both. It is an entertaining read, some of the scenes almost cringe-worthy in detail, the mystery almost enough to grab you - but not quite. Oregonians will recognize all sorts of minutae (geographically, politically and socially) that make it a fun read - others probably not so much.


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Sweetheart Archie Sheridan Gretchen Lowell Chelsea Cain Books Reviews

The first Gretchen-Archie book, HEARTSICK, had a certain verve to it that is missing in this follow-up. The appeal of Gretchen, a serial killer, was her beautiful, mysterious allure and Archie's was because of the psychological and physical wounds suffered at her hands. Now bodies have been found in the same park where Gretchen placed her first victim over a decade earlier, but she is in a high-security prison.

Unfortunately, the plot, because it is merely a continuation of the first book, does not hold one's interest. Gretchen executes a highly intricate plan to escape from prison and manages to pull controlling strings at every turn that stretch believability. Archie is so dependent on meds and on Gretchen, one wonders how he functions. The presence and edginess of Susan Ward, a punky reporter, are barely in evidence this second time around.

Going to the Gretchen-Archie well would work if their appeal was enhanced. If anything, the author diminishes them. Hopefully, she will realize that next time around.
I think this book took the series up a reasonable notch. Like usual, there were a few places where my ability to suspend disbelief wavered a bit — the fact that so many elements that fit perfectly together just happen to coincidentally occur at the same time, for example. It is a bit contrived at times. Watch out for that.

I’m on the fence about Gretchen and Archie’s relationship in this one, especially with a few of the revelations we get. I’m not entirely sure why their relationship progressed the way it did, and Cain doesn’t do a very good job helping the reader figure out Archie’s underlying motivations and feelings. Most of this book focuses on his addiction and depression, which result in his determination to finally end his life while stopping Gretchen one last time.

I appreciate Cain’s attempt to continually expand on the Archie-Gretchen relationship though. She doesn’t simply leave us with the foundation she built in Heartsick. While some dimensions of their relationship confuses me, I do think it was a good idea overall to continue weaving the development of past events and the ramifications of those events around the current storyline. Cain just needs to make sure that everything she’s expanding on makes sense. Right now, I’m finding some aspects of the backstory hard to believe.

Also, I think Cain does a great job incorporating the other characters around Archie and Gretchen’s relationship. Thought it’s slightly implausible for Archie and Susan’s lives to keep intersecting like they do in this installment, I think her interactions with Archie are pretty well thought-out. And Henry’s guardian-like behavior toward Archie versus Gretchen’s attempts to further drag Archie down are played out well, especially as she reveals just how manipulative she can be.

So, not bad. But not great either.
_Sweetheart_ is the sequel to Cain's Heartsick, tying up some loose ends from the first book and connecting the story newspaper writer Susan Ward was pursuing (remember Molly Parker) with a double-suicide and murder investigation headed by Archie Sheridan and loosely connected to incarcerated serial-killer / femme fatale Gretchen Lowell. Sure, its not high literature, but it is a guilty pleasure - all the more so for the way Cain writes about Portland and the thinly veiled scandals and public personalities she includes in the story.

The characters are deeply flawed (Ward apparently has unresolved issues that attracts her to older men, Sheridan has issues that attract him to the serial killer that literally skinned and carved him up alive, and Lowell is a sociopath), almost to the point of caricature - but like a bad car-wreck you can't turn away from, I was almost compelled to see how these damaged people interacted with a series of seemingly unrelated murders. That many of the details of the story (a former popular congressman had an affair with ahis children's 14 year-old babysitter, an ambitious mayor who was once the chief of police with national political ambitions) are based on real events in the Northwest made it all the more tantalizing. That Cain - herself a long-time reporter for the state's largest newspaper - can write "Portland" so well was an added incentive.

Clearly my biases kept me interested in the book. For readers not familiar with names like "Neil Goldschmidt," "Tom Potter," or "Bud Clark," or for those who don't relish and welcome the rain, don't know or love the bridges of my city or aren't aware of the odd amalgam of hippie sentiment wedded to western individualism, much of the nuance that gave me such a thrill will be lost. For that I deducted a star. I deducted another star for the story itself Cain straddles genres here, _Sweetheart_ (like _Heartsick_) is part thriller, part mystery; it hasn't quite worked out which one it is, and as a result it has medicore elements of both. It is an entertaining read, some of the scenes almost cringe-worthy in detail, the mystery almost enough to grab you - but not quite. Oregonians will recognize all sorts of minutae (geographically, politically and socially) that make it a fun read - others probably not so much.