Sweetheart

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).

August 15, 2008
Strung-out police detective Archie Sheridan, still haunted by serial killer Gretchen Lowell, returns in Cain's high-octane follow-up to "Heartsick". This time the first murder victim shows up in a park, followed by spare parts in a nearby doghouse. But trouble truly explodes when Hannibal Lector-like imprisoned killer Gretchen is beaten, her guard hangs himself, andwe saw this comingshe escapes. When Gretchen threatens Archie's children at school, he goes off the deep end and concocts his own plan to bring her in. More interesting is the subplot involving intrepid newspaper journalist Susan Ward, who loses her mentor in a suspicious car crash that also kills the popular senator whose sexual escapades she was planning to expose. Trouble is, her source shows up dead, too. Straddling both cases, Susan convinces Archie's partner, Henry, to drive straight into a major forest fire because she has figured out Archie's location. "Sweetheart" struggles under the weight of our expectations; it doesn't work well unless you've read the astonishing "Heartsick". Nonetheless, expect high demand and a large marketing campaign. Recommended for all popular collections. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 5/15/08.]Teresa L. Jacobsen, Solano Cty. Lib., Fairfield, CA

Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from July 1, 2008
It was apparent at the end of Cains masterful Heartsick (2007) that we hadnt heard the last from either Gretchen Lowell, the most mesmerizing serial killer since a fellow named Hannibal, or Archie Sheridan, the Portland cop whom Gretchen tortured and then freed, locking the two of them into a creepy symbiotic relationship somewhere between Romeo and Juliet and Holmes and Moriarity. Cain picks up the story with Sheridan trying to overcome his addictions to pain pills and Gretchen, respectively, and not doing very well with either. A new casebodies found in a Portland park, near where Gretchens first victim was discoveredprovides distraction as well as bringing punky, turquoise-hairedreporter Susan Ward back into his life, but neither is enough to get Gretchen out of his mind. Then she escapes from prison, determined to draw Archie away from his family, away from his job, and into her arms for a deadly pas de deux. There is a little less gut-wrenching tension this time than there was in Heartsickand less gut-wrenching gore, toobut there is considerably more psychological complexity, as the knot binding Archie to Gretchen tightens further. The psychosexual interplay between the two is endlessly fascinating and, amazingly, thoroughly believable. In addition, Cain gives more space to her supporting castespecially reporter Ward, who seems ready for a starring role herself.Its hard to say how long Cain can play out this lovers duel between Archie and Gretchen before they tumble into their own Reichenbach Falls, but its a sure thing we wont be leaving our seats before the final curtain.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)