Books I've read this week - Evil at Heart

Evil at Heart © 2009 by Chelsea Cain

About the book: Gretchen Lowell is on the loose. A sensationalist media has turned her into a star. Her face graces magazine covers…women get “beauty killer” manicures…there are sightings of her worldwide….even kids wear t-shirts that read, “Run, Gretchen.” Most shocking of all, a fan club has formed – counting the number of days Gretchen Lowell has been free.

Archie Sheridan has hunted her for a decade. He lived and breathed her crime scences, only for her to be right there in front of him, all along. He’s suffered long and hard…and been left near death. After his last attempt to capture her went spectacularly wrong, he’s been hospitalized for months.  When a dead body is found with Gretchen’s signature heart, Archie is forced into action. Has the Beauty Killer returned to her ways…or has the cult surrounding her created a whole new evil?

I won this book from goodreads.com way back on August 1 and had been waiting for it. It arrived this past Tuesday but I didn’t get a chance to read it until Thursday. Once I started, it was hard not to finish it in one sitting. I didn’t realize when I started reading this book that it was #3 in a series. (The others being Heartsick and Sweetheart.) While I wish I had read the others first, there was enough flashback information in this one to fill in the story and it was good enough to stand on its own.

Detective Archie Sheridan is obsessed by the beautiful serial killer Gretchen Lowell even though she almost killed him, too. The book opens with Archie in a psychiatric hospital being treated for vicodin addiction and attempted suicidal. When bodies start showing up with signs pointing once again to Gretchen, he can’t resist getting involved in the case. Helping him in his search are fellow cop, Henry Sobol, and a journalist looking for a scoop, Susan Ward. Is Gretchen the killer or are there copycats? Is Archie still obsessed with her or can he stand up to her this time? This book was gory, gross, and fascinating. I couldn’t put it down.

This book was an ARC from goodreads.com and Minotaur Books