Kill You Twice: Archie Sheridan & Gretchen Lowell, Book 5

If like me, you've enjoyed this series but felt a profound lack of Gretchen in 'The Night Season' the 4th & last book, you'll be happy to find her central to the plot of this latest installment. The tidbits we learn about her past help fill in how the beauty killer came to be, and Archie is as complex & brilliantly troubled as always.

Classic Cain! Colorful characters, gory serial murders, and a little sexy stuff. Archie is one of my favorite protagonist. I want so badly to save him from his torment but he just keeps jumping right back in! Still, ya gotta love him

I bought Cain's initial Gretchen & Archie offerings because the author is a Portland resident and stages her novels in our fair city. I'd hoped for improvement in the first few but found them average at best.

"Kill You Twice" is a huge step above Cain's first writing. I don't know if it's a new editor or just experience but I found the drama and excitement of this book far superior to her first novels.

This is a series that relies heavily on the previous novels-it doesn't stand alone well. I hate to say that I'd suggest reading the first average police serial killer stories just to get to this one but it's almost necessary.

Christina Delaine is a new narrator and does a good job. I liked the original narrators take on mad-woman Gretchen a bit better than Delaine's but all in all, this is a good match of author and reader.

The story is tense and not nearly as predictable as the original couple of books and though Gretchen is a part of the plot, she's not the main focus as she was previously. The story arc is tight, the dialogue well written and all of the Portland names are pronounced correctly..something that is important to those of us who live here.

I look forward to Cain's next offering and consider this book a credit well spent.

I think so. I've become accustomed to letting someone else ready these stories to me so the performance is very important. If the performance is bad it lessens the effectiveness of the story. I think Christina Delaine did a good job.

Gretchen, of course. She's scary.

Gretchen

not sure

can't wait for the next one

The fifth installment in the series held my attention nearly as well as the first, with tight plotting and lots of plausible but unseen twists, dangerous trips into the dark corners of the human psyche and wonderfully flawed but lovable characters. Narration was crisp with little "voice" confusion. Kept my attention. Left me wanting more.

Mostly.

Not sure.

Both, a little.

Some of the plot explanations were distractingly repetitious, but the "unpacking" of scenes, and of what has gone before were delicious. Strong characters and accessible prose. Great escape read.

awesome. excellent writing and characters. don't let the cheesy title fool you. this ride is worth twice the price of admission.

I truly loved this series. It was a fast pace series but never left you questioning. It was a great read.

It is impossible to put down.
It's nice that we meet old characters again, at the same time as we get to know new characters as well.

I cannot finish this book, the narrator seems to be whispering to herself. It's irritating. Why, oh why did they not get McCormick to narrate? I have to get the print version because I enjoy the series.

Wish I had checked who was the narrator and read the reviews for book 4. I jumped to book 5; sounded more interesting than book 4.

Gave the story a 3 because I did not finish.

Since I don't have the print version, I can't say. But since I joined Audible, it is hard to "read" a book, I love having them read to me. I like how the narrators try to have different voices for the characters.

Susan and Archie are my favs. Susan because she is just plain awesome. She is smarter than the average bear. I like Archie because is just a normal guy. No super powers to get the job, he has faults (some that cost him dearly), and he is just one of those likeable guys.

Not sure, she does pretty good with all of them. Altough I really liked the way Caroline McCormick would have Gretchen say "Archie" and "Darling" and "Sweetheart". Kinda breathy Marilyn Monroe-ish.

Parts or it were funny and parts were can't stop reading because I gotta find out what happened

You really have to listen to these in order, they do follow a story line and characters from the other books make appearances. I really liked this series and can't wait for the next.