Heartsick by Chelsea Cain

Heartsick is the first thriller from Chelsea Cain. She used to work at a local paper in Portland, Oregon, and since publishing Heartsick, she's written several sequels, won major awards, been on the NYT bestsellers list, and Heartsick was optioned for a movie. With all the hype, I was not disappointed.

Her great flawed hero, Detective Archie Sheridan, left the force after working on a serial killer case. He was very involved and ended up being trapped and tortured by the creepy sociopathic killer Gretchen Lowell.

By the way, when I mention torture, I mean squirm in your seat, hold the book away from you, do I really want to read this, sick torture. I've read a lot, but this was at the limit of disgusting, especially as you envisage it, your mind goes right there - maybe not strapped immobile to the table, but standing beside them in the white basement watching medical torture with an X-acto knife, which is almost as bad. Oh, and rotting bodies on the floor.

But the thing is, it's a terrific thriller! By this time, I was so into the story and the characters, I had to read all the disgusting bits as well.

Archie lives through it, and has the help of a young newspaper reporter, Susan Ward. She is a quirky, pink-haired rebel type who has lots of tricks up her sleeve to help him expose the true story of this case.

Gretchen has been kept alive in prison, slowly feeding the police details about her killing spree, gradually giving names of victims and where they can be found. It's a long list.

And every Sunday, Archie visits her for the information, and...something more.

After she was caught, Archie returned a broken man to a broken home. Like the Stockholm Syndrome, Gretchen is his closest relationship and he can't sever the tie. It's a new twist for a thriller, weird and fascinating. It starts off with a bang and keeps going, alternating between what happened when Archie was strapped to the table and the current day.

Great set up, and well written. I liked all the characters, they all had a back story and if the novel veered off and followed any one of them, it would still be interesting. I thought I could guess where the plot was going, but the twist caught me by surprise! When I think back on it, there was just enough story to get you involved, nothing wasted, and lots of threads for you to speculate on.

If you are into thrillers, and haven't read Heartsick, I highly recommend it!

2007 / Hardcover / 336 pages