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Tuesday, August 25, 2009

More Fun Online Stuff

Did you enter to win at Harlequin Teen yet? Play the memory game each day for a new chance.

And, Chelsea Cain's latest is about to hit shelves. I can't wait. I actually have to catch up because I just realized that I never read the second book. Agh! So I'll have to read them back to back.

If you've not read Cain, the books (in order) are:

Heart Sick
Sweetheart
Evil at Heart

I had the pleasure of reading Heartsick when it was released, and I've got to tell you there's a reason there was so much hype behind this one. Here's my review from the BB archives:

Detective Archie Sheridan worked the Beauty Killer case for ten years. In the end, the case almost killed him. Archie was kidnapped and tortured for ten days before Gretchen Lowell, the face behind nearly two hundred murders, inexplicably turned herself in. Today, Archie barely hangs on through an addiction to pain-killers, sleeping pills, and anything else that will help to drown out the pain and the memories of what happened. Oddly enough, Archie is declared finally fit to return to work when his superiors decide to reinstate the Beauty Killer Task Force. A new killer has targeted the Portland area and three teenage girls have already been found dead by his hand. This chilling mystery is essentially a story in two parts. One is the current investigation and the race to discover the identity of the After School Strangler before more girls are killed. The second story is that of those horrendous ten days and their aftermath (the ten days of torture Archie experienced at Gretchen's hand). This creepy debut has drawn comparison to the likes of Thomas Harris and his Hannibal Lecter thrillers. I can certainly see why. Cain has harnessed Harris’s muse - let’s just hope she writes a bit faster than he does.

And the Bookbitch herself read and enjoyed it as well. You can read her review at the site for another positive review and POV (honestly, I've not read any bad reviews of this book).

So you can now see why I'm totally miffed that I somehow managed to miss reading Sweetheart and why I am gearing up for a Chelsea Cain marathon to make up for it! I've heard some say that they find her work too gory or violent, so reader be warned. I would liken her to Cody McFadyen, another thriller author whose work I enjoy. I will say this, though, Cain has not hit the Mo Hayder brutality point. So there's room yet! But as I've always argued in regards to authors I enjoy who are known for brutal, no-holds-barred scenes, if it fits it works for me. Cain's scenes fits in the flow of the book and while some may make me cringe, she never makes me feel as though it's there for shock factor alone. Any time an author accomplishes that, I have to sing their praises.

If you're caught up on your Cain, you're in for a real treat. Minotaur has an excerpt of Evil at Heart up and you can take a look at it here.

And here's the trailer for Evil at Heart, for your viewing pleasure:

1 comment:

Cheryl said...

I just finished eading Evil at Heart and will be posting my review in the next day or so. I still like Heartsick