Heartsick

Starred review from July 16, 2007
In this outstanding thriller, the first in a new series, Cain (Confessions of a Teen Sleuth
) puts a fresh spin on a scenario familiar to fans of Thomas Harris’s The Silence of the Lambs
. When someone starts dumping the bodies of teenage girls around Portland, Ore., after soaking them in tubs of bleach, Archie Sheridan, a police detective addicted to pain killers, turns for help to Gretchen Lowell, an imprisoned serial killer who once tortured him (the big scar on his chest “was shaped like a heart”). Covering the crimes is reporter Susan Ward, a smart-alecky punk with pink hair and authority issues. The suspense builds as the narrative shifts between Sheridan’s new case and his ordeal with Lowell, who in her own way is as memorable a villain as Hannibal Lecter. The damp Portland locale calls to mind the kind of Pacific Northwest darkness associated with Ted Bundy and Kurt Cobain. A vivid literary style lifts this well above the usual run of suspense novels. 200,000 first printing; author tour.

August 1, 2007
Adult/High School-The shocking opening chapter of this thriller lets readers know they're in for a rough ride through the minds of damaged people, including a drug-addicted police detective and an ambitious newspaper reporter. Two years earlier, a sadistic female serial killer captured and tortured Archie Sheridan, the lead detective on the Beauty Killer Task Force, leaving an indelible impression on his psyche and numerous physical scars. Now a new serial killer is stalking Portland, OR, and Archie is called back to duty to head a new task force. Susan Ward, a bright, offbeat reporter, is surprised to get the inside track on the investigation from him. It seems that he is finally willing to expose his feelings about Gretchen Lowell, the Beauty Killer, but Susan will have to reveal her secrets as well. Vaguely reminiscent of Thomas Harris's "The Silence of the Lambs" (St. Martin's, 1988), with the setup of the serial-killer psychiatrist trading information while working her own angle, the novel has plenty of gruesome details, building suspense, false leads, and startling imagery in a setting so realistic that readers will feel damp and chilled. This one is for teens who like their stories gritty, grim, and gory."Charli Osborne, Oxford Public Library, MI"

Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from August 1, 2007
Portland, OR, never felt drearier than it does in this thriller debut. Without a doubt, psychopathic Gretchen Lowell, a convicted serial killer, pulls all the strings from her prison cell. Just consider her current exploitation list: Archie Sheridan, the Vicodin-addicted detective whom she kidnapped and almost killed two years earlier; Susan Ward, the spunky, young newspaper features writer who's attempting to profile Sheridan; and, finally, the current serial killer, who is targeting high school girls and putting the entire city in lockdown mode. Using flashbacks and psychological tension, Cain ("Confessions of a Teen Sleuth") has crafted a gory suspense piece that is absolutely impossible to put down. Sheridan's current case, a hurried analysis of local high school suspects, is almost secondary to the horror of Lowell's personality. Sheridan's suffering makes him an empathetic hero, and Susan's foolish mistakes give the novel its requisite twists. Readers may figure out the "new" killer's identity early on, but Cain never lets up on the pace. Stylistically, this is great stuff for true-crime readers and for those who enjoy Jan Burke's Irene Kelly series. Recommended for all popular collections; expect a series. [See Prepub Mystery, "LJ" 5/1/07; a 200,000 first printing.]Teresa L. Jacobsen, Solano Cty. Lib., Fairfield, CA

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from June 1, 2007
Its a long way from a Nancy Drew parody (Confessions of a Teen Sleuth, 2005) to one of the most originalserial-killer thrillers to appear in several years, but Cain makes the leap unscathed. Throw out all your assumptions aboutthe sameness of serial-killer novels; this onebreaks the mold.Yes, the notorious Gretchen Lowell is behind bars throughout the novel (a la Hannibal Lecter), and, yes, she counselsthePortland, Oregon, cop who is chasing a new sociopath, but unlike in Silence of the Lambs, Archie Sheridan, Cains detective hero, was one of Lowells victims. (After kidnapping and killing more than 200 people, Lowell captured and tortured Sheridan, then inexplicably let him live.) So two plotlines unfold alternately, each feeding the other: the grisly backstory of what Lowell did to Sheridan (Whatever you think this is going to be like, she whispers, its going to be worse), and the real-time account of Sheridans search for a new serial killer who is preying on teenage girls from Portlands high schools. The plots are thickened by costar Susan Ward, a pink-haired, punky reporter, and by Sheridansaddiction to prescription drugsand his unbreakableemotional attachment to Lowell, his torturer and savior. Cain never misses a beat here, turning the psychological screwsever tighter for both Sheridan and Ward while drawing us deep intothe nightmare that lives inside Gretchen Lowells head. Sheridan will remind thriller fans of Ridley Pearsons Lou Boldt, and Cains use of Portland as a settingcontrasting the charm of the city against the horror of the crimesechoes Pearsons similar use of Seattle. But Heartsick is in no way deriviative. This could well be the thriller of the year.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)