EVIL AT HEART, The Oregonian

The publisher's pitch for Portland writer Chelsea Cain's "Evil at Heart" goes like this: "To truly understand EVIL, you must become it ..."

This line illustrates perfectly the difference between publishing books and writing them, a discrepancy that might have overwhelmed a lesser writer than Cain. But not to worry -- no harm, no foul. The fact that the pitch is nonsense when you think about it (Cain clearly understands evil just fine, so she's evil herself?) will do nothing to keep Cain's many fans away from this book. Come to think of it, she's a lot like her alter ego in that regard -- nothing ultimately gets in the way of either the writer or homicidal psychopath Gretchen Lowell, the world's most beautiful serial killer and one of the principals in quite possibly the creepiest love story ever told.

People try to get in Gretchen's way, of course, even though they generally get sliced or diced (or both) for their trouble -- especially Archie Sheridan, the cop Cain created to chase her dark angel around Oregon until he gets caught. Although he is easily the most tortured hero in thriller history, Archie may be an even more compelling character than Gretchen. Together -- and Cain puts them together in ways you'll never forget -- they perform a dance you can't stop staring at no matter how much it horrifies you.

Gretchen, Archie, a wonderfully drawn supporting cast and Cain's adroit manipulation of multiple story lines are among the crackerjack elements that have moved from book to book in this series ("Heartsick" in 2007 and "Sweetheart" in 2008). And it turns out that these blessings are absolutely essential, because so far they adequately mask a problem generic to this genre that is becoming more prominent the further Cain goes.

Readers all over the world seem to be crazy for serial killers these days -- the ones in books, anyway -- but these stories require a substantial leap of faith. Minnesota doesn't really have a new serial killer popping up every year, but fans of John Sandford's Lucas Davenport go along with that conceit because Sandford always makes it worth our while. Cain definitely has comparable writing chops and is similarly getting away with -- well -- murder.

But this is harder to continue in Cain's case than in Sandford's. The unique relationship between the same hunter and hunted in every installment is the core of Cain's appeal, but that (dare I say) cuts both ways. How many more times can Gretchen kill Archie and bring him back to life again, or how many more times can he lock her behind bars without diminishing even slightly her superhuman powers of life and death?

That's the bad news. The good news is Cain drives the ball farther every time at bat. She gives a lot of credit to writing-group buddy Chuck Palahniuk for helping her push the envelope in "Heartsick," but "Evil at Heart" suggests she needs no help in that regard now, if indeed she ever did. While the story lines are already over the top and destined to continue in that direction, the prose itself is as sharp as Gretchen's scalpel and as deftly wielded.

Now that I think about it, maybe Cain really is evil incarnate and the publisher was on the right track all along. Remember the old debate about which is mightier, the pen or the scalpel? In "Evil at Heart," both are in the same hands, and both cut all the way to the bone.

by GREG ADAMS