Come into Gretchen Lowell’s Parlor!

Heartsick by Chelsea Cain

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Heartsick is one of those books you won’t want to put down as long as you don’t get put off by several of the flashbacks in which Detective Archie suffers through the psychotic tortures inflicted by the fiendish psychological killer, Gretchen.

What truly amazed me were author Chelsea Cain’s character descriptions, traits nuances of character and tiny human flaws that can lead any of us down the road towards insanity, murder, manipulation or victimization. Cain is a master of this psycho-suspense genre, placing her characters in seemly normal Portland, Oregon where one would least expect to find murder, dissection, and mayhem in the basement of one of those classy old houses up near the rose gardens.

Do we love or hate Gretchen Lowell for her serial killings which she will only reveal to former victim, Archie Sheridan? She is like a sweet smelling flower within which lies a predatory spider. We, like the unwitting flies and bees, approach, settle down into apparent tranquility, only to be sucked into the web of her schemes to control and kill. You’ll love the intrigue as Archie tries to pull his own life together with Sunday visits with Gretchen in prison, while trying to chase down another Portland serial killer.

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