I just finished "reading" (it was an audiobook this time) Sweetheart by Chelsea Cain. Sweetheart is the second book in a series about a female serial killer (Gretchen Lowell) and cop (Archie Sheridan). It is a twist on the Hannibal Lecter story that deals in the twisted realtionship between Gretchen and Archie since Archie was one of Gretchen's victims but she let him go. His fate might be worse than death. These books are far more about the hunter and the hunted than the actual killings that Gretchen committed. I found them both (the books that is!) memerizing and horrifying.

I am getting hooked on my audiobooks since it allows me to do other things while reading. I am finding them addicting as well. Last night everyone was out and I crawled into bed with the lights out to "read" some more of this book and I found it more intense as I became enveloped in this other world. I was really disappointed that folks came home as soon as they did!

Great reads both of them. Again, click the title of the post to be taken to Chelsea Cain's website!

Synopsis:
HeartSick

Portland detective Archie Sheridan spent years tracking Gretchen Lowell, a beautiful and brutal serial killer. In the end, she was the one who caught him…and tortured him…and then let him go. Why did Gretchen spare Archie’s life and then turn herself in? This is the question that keeps him up all night—and the reason why he has visited Gretchen in prison every week since.

Meanwhile, another series of murders is tearing up the Portland streets. Archie seems to be getting closer to solving this high-profile case…until he finds himself in a fatal collision course with the killer—one that inevitably leads him back to his former captor. Gretchen may be the only one who can help do justice. The only thing she can’t do, this time, is save Archie’s life.

Sweetheart:

With Heartsick, Chelsea Cain took the crime world by storm, introducing two of the most compelling characters in decades: serial killer Gretchen Lowell and her obsessed pursuer Portland Detective Archie Sheridan. The book spent four weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and garnered rave reviews around the world. But the riveting story of Archie and Gretchen was left unfinished, and now Chelsea Cain picks up the tale again.

When the body of a young woman is discovered in Portland’s Forest Park, Archie is reminded of the last time they found a body there, more than a decade ago: it turned out to be the Beauty Killer’s first victim, and Archie’s first case. This body can't be one of Gretchen's—she’s in prison—but after help from reporter Susan Ward uncovers the dead woman's identity, it turns into another big case. Trouble is, Archie can't focus on the new investigation because the Beauty Killer case has exploded: Gretchen Lowell has escaped from prison.

Archie hadn't seen her in two months; he'd moved back in with his family and sworn off visiting her. Though it should feel like progress, he actually feels worse. The news of her escape spreads like wildfire, but secretly, he's relieved. He knows he's the only one who can catch her, and in fact, he has a plan to get out from under her thumb once and for all.

The next book in the series Evil at Heart is due out September 1, 2009