Sweetheart

Cain's second Oregon-based thriller brings back the emotionally and physically wounded detective Archie Sheridan and the turquoise-haired investigative reporter Susan Ward. Susan is investigating a senator's impropriety with a 14-year-old babysitter while Archie, still obsessed with the beautiful serial killer who spared his life, is looking into unidentified corpses. When a young woman's body is found, Archie and Susan are brought together in a fast-paced adventure. Carolyn McCormick's precise articulation and bouncy tones seem at first to be better suited to juvenile or young adult narration. At times, the gravelly quality she gives to Archie's speech gets confused with the sultriness of the seductive serial killer. But as the story proceeds, McCormick's voice and Cain's story hit a rhythm like a single beating heart. S.E.S. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

Starred review from July 21, 2008
In Cain’s superb follow-up to Heartsick
, damaged detective Archie Sheridan is back home in Portland, Ore., trying to resume a normal life. Archie’s ties to serial killer Gretchen Lowell still run deep, even if he’s stopped their weekly visits in prison. Meanwhile, reporter Susan Ward is finishing an article accusing a beloved U.S. senator of seducing his children’s 14-year-old babysitter a decade earlier. When three bodies are discovered in a local park—where Archie’s team found Gretchen’s first victim 12 years earlier—Archie worries another serial killer is at large. After the senator’s unexpected death, Susan discovers links between the sex scandal and the bodies in the park. When Gretchen escapes from prison, Archie knows he’s the only one who can stop her from killing. In Cain’s capable hands, Gretchen is both a monster and the only person who truly understands Archie’s pain. With its brisk pacing, carefully metered violence and tortured hero, Cain’s sophomore effort will leave readers desperate for more. 200,000 first printing.

September 29, 2008
Cain's latest thriller returns to familiar territory as she revisits her Heartsick
characters, Portland, Ore., detective Archie Sheridan and menacing serial killer Gretchen Lowell. This time Lowell escapes prison and is up to her old murderous tricks, and the only one who can catch her is, of course, Sheridan. As stereotypical as the story sounds, narrator Carolyn McCormick gives the tale heft with her first-rate performance and holds listeners rapt attention throughout. She delves into each and every character, offering realistic interpretations and strong readings that display her commanding stage presence. As strong as McCormick's female characters are, it is her role as Sheridan that sets her apart from many of today's female narrators. A St. Martin's Press hardcover (Reviews, July 17).

December 15, 2008
Has any police officer, actual or fictional, been more obsessed and manipulated by a serial killer than Portland detective Archie Sheridan? Cain's second trilogy entry (following the "New York Times" and "Boston Globe" best seller "Heartsick") takes Archie, his partner, and a reporter on another wild ride in pursuit of Beauty Killer Gretchen Lowell. The calm of "Law & Order" actress Carolyn McCormick ("7th Heaven") prevails in this reading, though the musical cues for chapter and CD breaks are occasionally uneven. Gripping and intense despite some predictability; recommended. [With bonus author interview; audio clip available through us.macmillan.com; the Minotaur: St. Martin's hc was recommended "for all popular collections," "LJ" 8/08.Ed.]Joyce Kessel, Villa Maria Coll., Buffalo, NY

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