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* CreepyCleanliness: The After School Strangler submerges his victims bodies in bleach before dumping them. [[spoilers: Turns out Susan bleached her hair with Clorox in her sophomore year as a way of acting out after her father's death]]. This then become the clue that [[spoiler: Reston is not to be trusted, when Susan gets in his car and notices just how clean it is--and the smell.]]
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* CreepyCleanliness: The After School Strangler submerges his victims bodies in bleach before dumping them. [[spoilers: [[spoiler: Turns out Susan bleached her hair with Clorox in her sophomore year as a way of acting out after her father's death]]. This then become the clue that [[spoiler: Reston is not to be trusted, when Susan gets in his car and notices just how clean it is--and the smell.]]
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* AdultFear: Kidnapped high school girls being strangled to death and then raped, in ''Heartsick''.
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* ILoveTheDead: Kidnapped high school girls being strangled to death and then raped, in ''Heartsick''.
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Badass Mustache and Badass Beard are being merged into Manly Facial Hair. Examples that don't fit or are zero-context are removed. To qualify for Manly Facial Hair, the facial hair must be associated with masculinity in some way. Please read the trope description before readding to make sure the example qualifies.
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* BadassMustache: Henry, along with BaldOfAwesome and being TheBigGuy.
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The Archie Sheridan series follows the titular detective as he hunts serial killers in the Portland area. Particularly, he is known for hunting beautiful serial killer Gretchen Lowell for years until she kidnapped him, tortured him, and then let him go--and turned herself in. That would be the end of things, except that Gretchen is also TheChessmaster, and she knows just how to manipulate her way out of tough situations...
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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/archie_sheridan.jpg]]
The Archie Sheridan series follows thetitular eponymous detective as he hunts serial killers in the Portland area. Particularly, he is known for hunting beautiful serial killer Gretchen Lowell for years until she kidnapped him, tortured him, and then let him go--and turned herself in. That would be the end of things, except that Gretchen is also TheChessmaster, and she knows just how to manipulate her way out of tough situations...
The Archie Sheridan series follows the
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* AcheyScars / PhysicalScarsPsychologicalScars: Archie, thanks to Gretchen.
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* AcheyScars / PhysicalScarsPsychologicalScars: AcheyScars: Archie, thanks to Gretchen.
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* DatingCatwoman / FatalAttraction: There is absolutely a romantic/sexual relationship between Archie and Gretchen. He may struggle with the fact that she's a psychopathic serial murderer, but they do still care for each other.
to:
* DatingCatwoman / FatalAttraction: DatingCatwoman: There is absolutely a romantic/sexual relationship between Archie and Gretchen. He may struggle with the fact that she's a psychopathic serial murderer, but they do still care for each other.
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* DelinquentHair / KaleidoscopeHair: Susan wears her hair in a short bob, that goes from pink (''Heartsick'') to aqua (''Sweetheart'') to purple (''Evil at Heart'') to raspberry (''The Night Season'') to neon orange (''Kill You Twice'') and finally to black with a white stripe (''Let Me Go'').
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* EverythingsSquishierWithCephalopods: The murder weapon in ''The Night Season'' is a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue-ringed_octopus blue ringed octopus]].
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* FamedInStory / HumbleHero: Everywhere he goes, Archie will be recognized, yet amusingly he is always surprised by it. ''Finally'' he recognizes his fame when he attends a MasqueradeBall in ''Let Me Go'' and is grateful for the anonymity a mask provides.
* FemalesAreMoreInnocent / MenActWomenAre: Subverting these with Gretchen is one of the points of the series.
* FemalesAreMoreInnocent / MenActWomenAre: Subverting these with Gretchen is one of the points of the series.
to:
* FamedInStory / HumbleHero: FamedInStory: Everywhere he goes, Archie will be recognized, yet amusingly he is always surprised by it. ''Finally'' he recognizes his fame when he attends a MasqueradeBall in ''Let Me Go'' and is grateful for the anonymity a mask provides.
*FemalesAreMoreInnocent / MenActWomenAre: FemalesAreMoreInnocent: Subverting these with Gretchen is one of the points of the series.
*
* KaleidoscopeHair: Susan wears her hair in a short bob, that goes from pink (''Heartsick'') to aqua (''Sweetheart'') to purple (''Evil at Heart'') to raspberry (''The Night Season'') to neon orange (''Kill You Twice'') and finally to black with a white stripe (''Let Me Go'').
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* {{UsefulNotes/Portland}}: Where shit gets... weird.
* ShamuFu: The murder weapon in ''The Night Season'' is a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue-ringed_octopus blue ringed octopus]].
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* StalkerWithACrush / {{Yandere}}: The After School Strangler, aka [[spoiler: Reston, for Susan. Turns out all those girls were supposed to evoke her high-school likeness]].
* StockholmSyndrome / MoreThanMindControl: Archie, particularly in the first three novels.
* StockholmSyndrome / MoreThanMindControl: Archie, particularly in the first three novels.
to:
* StalkerWithACrush / {{Yandere}}: StalkerWithACrush: The After School Strangler, aka [[spoiler: Reston, for Susan. Turns out all those girls were supposed to evoke her high-school likeness]].
*StockholmSyndrome / MoreThanMindControl: StockholmSyndrome: Archie, particularly in the first three novels.
*
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* TheVamp: '''Gretchen'''. Her beauty paired with her evil is why she is infamous. She is also known to take on unstable men and manipulate them into killing in exchange for sex.
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* TheVamp: '''Gretchen'''.Gretchen. Her beauty paired with her evil is why she is infamous. She is also known to take on unstable men and manipulate them into killing in exchange for sex.
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* ReplacementLoveInterest: Rachel again, for [[{{Yandere}} Gretchen]] or [[SleuthDatesCop Susan]], depending on who you prefer.
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* BlondesAreEvil: Gretchen, notable as she is the only blonde depicted in the series.
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* The Vamp: '''Gretchen'''. Her beauty paired with her evil is why she is infamous. She is also known to take on unstable men and manipulate them into killing in exchange for sex.
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* The Vamp: TheVamp: '''Gretchen'''. Her beauty paired with her evil is why she is infamous. She is also known to take on unstable men and manipulate them into killing in exchange for sex.
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* AdultFear: Kidnapped high school girls being strangled to death and then raped, in Heartsick.
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* AdultFear: Kidnapped high school girls being strangled to death and then raped, in Heartsick.''Heartsick''.
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* Dating Catwoman / Fatal Attraction: There is absolutely a romantic/sexual relationship between Archie and Gretchen. He may struggle with the fact that she's a psychopathic serial murderer, but they do still care for each other.
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* Dating Catwoman DatingCatwoman / Fatal Attraction: FatalAttraction: There is absolutely a romantic/sexual relationship between Archie and Gretchen. He may struggle with the fact that she's a psychopathic serial murderer, but they do still care for each other.
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* EyeScream: One of the defining characteristics of the murders in ''Evil at Heart''. Happens to [[Jeremy at the climax of the book, even]].
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* EyeScream: One of the defining characteristics of the murders in ''Evil at Heart''. Happens to [[Jeremy [[spoiler: Jeremy at the climax of the book, even]].
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* GenderFlip: Of the genius-serial killer mold that Hannibal Lecter arguably began. Gretchen is not as perfect or learned as Lecter, but she is insanely devious, incredibly sadistic, and TheChessmaster. Her establishing book also features ConsultingAConvictedKiller, which most people associate with ''Film/TheSIlenceOfTheLambs''.
to:
* GenderFlip: Of the genius-serial killer mold that Hannibal Lecter arguably began. Gretchen is not as perfect or learned as Lecter, but she is insanely devious, incredibly sadistic, and TheChessmaster. Her establishing book also features ConsultingAConvictedKiller, which most people associate with ''Film/TheSIlenceOfTheLambs''.''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs''.
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* BigStormEpisode: ''The Night Season''.
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* BigStormEpisode: Not an episode, but one book in a series: ''The Night Season''.Season'' revolves around serial murders taking place while Portland is both storming and flooding. Bonus points because the murder weapon is a cephalopod (though the flood is fresh water).
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* Dating Catwoman / Fatal Attraction: There is absolutely a romantic/sexual relationship between Archie and Gretchen. He may struggle with the fact that she's a psychopathic serial murderer, but they do still care for each other.
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* EvilIsSexy: '''Gretchen'''. Her beauty paired with her evil is why she is infamous.
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* FoeYay
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* MindGameShip
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* The Vamp: '''Gretchen'''. Her beauty paired with her evil is why she is infamous. She is also known to take on unstable men and manipulate them into killing in exchange for sex.
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* ShoutOut: To ''Film/TheSIlenceOfTheLambs'' in ''Heartsick''.
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* ShoutOut: To ''Film/TheSIlenceOfTheLambs'' ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'' in ''Heartsick''.''Heartsick''.
-->'''Susan:''' The After School Strangler. Any ideas of what kind of person we're looking for?
-->'''Gretchen:''' ''[laughs]'' Want me to get inside his head for you? Sorry, Clarice. Can't help you.
-->'''Susan:''' The After School Strangler. Any ideas of what kind of person we're looking for?
-->'''Gretchen:''' ''[laughs]'' Want me to get inside his head for you? Sorry, Clarice. Can't help you.
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* ReplacementLoveInterest: Rachel again, for {{Yandere Gretchen}} or [[SleuthDatesCop Susan]], depending on who you prefer.
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* ReplacementLoveInterest: Rachel again, for {{Yandere Gretchen}} [[{{Yandere}} Gretchen]] or [[SleuthDatesCop Susan]], depending on who you prefer.
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* ReplacementLoveInterest: Rachel again, for [[Yandere Gretchen]] or [[SleuthDatesCop Susan]], depending on who you prefer.
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* ReplacementLoveInterest: Rachel again, for [[Yandere Gretchen]] {{Yandere Gretchen}} or [[SleuthDatesCop Susan]], depending on who you prefer.
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* ReplacementLoveInterest: Rachel again.
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* ReplacementLoveInterest: Rachel again.again, for [[Yandere Gretchen]] or [[SleuthDatesCop Susan]], depending on who you prefer.
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* UsefulNotes/Portland: Where better for a neonoir thriller series.
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* UsefulNotes/Portland: {{UsefulNotes/Portland}}: Where better for a neonoir thriller series.shit gets... weird.
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* Deuteragonist: Susan.
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* Deuteragonist: Susan.{{Deuteragonist}}: Susan, as the secondary viewpoint character.
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** The last three novels actually go a long way in making Archie well-adjusted again. Whether that's a good thing or not is up for debate.
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** The last three novels actually go a long way in making Archie well-adjusted again. [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks Whether that's a good thing or not is up for debate.]]
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* AloneWithThePsycho: Susan with the After School Strangler in ''Heartsick'',
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* AloneWithThePsycho: Susan with the After School Strangler in ''Heartsick'', Archie with Gretchen in the flashbacks in ''Heartsick'', [[spoiler: Archie with Jeremy Reynolds in ''Evil at Heart'']].
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The Archie Sheridan series follows the titular detective as he hunts serial killers in the Portland area. Particularly, he is known for hunting beautiful serial killer Gretchen Lowell for years until she kidnapped him, tortured him, and then let him go--and turned herself in. That would be the end of things, except that Gretchen is also TheChessmaster, and she knows just how to manipulate her way out of tough situations...
The series consists of six books written by Chelsea Cain, a Portland novelist. Most of the books follow at least two characters' perspectives, usually Archie and his punk rock reporter friend Susan. Often they include frequent flashback chapters, mostly regarding Archie's experiences with Gretchen. The series is also sometimes referred to as the Gretchen Lowell series (though Gretchen actually doesn't appear in ''The Night Season'').
The series includes the following novels:
* ''Heartsick'' (2007)
* ''Sweetheart'' (2008)
* ''Evil at Heart'' (2009)
* ''The Night Season'' (2011)
* ''Kill You Twice'' (2012)
* ''Let Me Go'' (2013)
----
!!The series provides examples of the following tropes:
* AcheyScars / PhysicalScarsPsychologicalScars: Archie, thanks to Gretchen.
* AdultFear: Kidnapped high school girls being strangled to death and then raped, in Heartsick.
* AloneWithThePsycho: Susan with the After School Strangler in ''Heartsick'',
* AnachronicOrder: ''Heartsick'' and ''Sweetheart'' had about a third of their content be flashback chapters interspersed with the present day chapters. The former to Archie's ten days of torture with Gretchen, and the latter to [[spoiler: his affair with her before she revealed herself.]]
* BadassInDistress: Archie spends an inordinate amount of time tied up or tortured by the bad guys.
* BadassMustache: Henry, along with BaldOfAwesome and being TheBigGuy.
* TheBadGuyWins: ''Sweetheart'' ends with [[spoiler: Gretchen escaping from both prison and Archie's TakingYouWithMe gambit, courtesy of Susan]]. Something similar happens in ''Kill You Twice'', which was [[spoiler: Gretchen's elaborate BatmanGambit to escape the mental institution]].
* BeautyEqualsGoodness: Inverted with Gretchen. Beauty, in fact, equals serious badness.
* BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil: [[spoiler: Jeremy Reynolds]] in ''Evil at Heart''. [[spoiler: It ends up being subverted in the end, as it was Gretchen all along]].
* BigBadEnsemble: Gretchen with others in the first and third novels. With [[spoiler: obsessive ephebophile teacher Paul Reston]] in ''Heartsick'' and [[spoiler: broken self-mutilating prior victim Jeremy Reynolds]] in ''Evil at Heart''.
* BigStormEpisode: ''The Night Season''.
* BlackComedy: Everyone has their quippy moments, even in dire circumstances, though Archie is the main offender. This tended to be more prominent in the first three novels.
* BlondesAreEvil: Gretchen, notable as she is the only blonde depicted in the series.
* BodyOfTheWeek
* BreakThemByTalking: Something Gretchen is ''extremely'' adept at.
* TheChessmaster: Gretchen, exemplified by ''Sweetheart'': [[spoiler: Everyone on the BK Task Force thinks she's manipulating Archie, and she is... But first she needed to escape, and to do that she needed to manipulate ''Henry'' into getting her transferred. In the end she manages to manipulate Susan into freeing her from Archie's own gambit, allowing Gretchen to escape unscathed, exactly as she wanted.]]
* CigaretteOfAnxiety: Susan, constantly. Eventually she stops telling herself that she only smokes in social situations. Although she'd probably stop smoking if she stopped chasing dead bodies...
* ColdBloodedTorture: Gretchen, Gretchen, ''Gretchen''. In fact, if there's no sign of torture, specifically bladework, it's a safe bet Gretchen's not involved.
* ConsultingAConvictedKiller: Gretchen in ''Heartsick''.
* TheCorrupter: Gretchen can convince lonely male narcissists to kill for her, and she relishes it.
* CreepyCleanliness: The After School Strangler submerges his victims bodies in bleach before dumping them. [[spoilers: Turns out Susan bleached her hair with Clorox in her sophomore year as a way of acting out after her father's death]]. This then become the clue that [[spoiler: Reston is not to be trusted, when Susan gets in his car and notices just how clean it is--and the smell.]]
* CruelMercy: After torturing Archie for days to the point that he is happy to finally die, Gretchen administers poison to stop his heart. Then, [[ForTheEvulz just to see what would happen to his life]] she resuscitates him and turns herself in after calling 911 to get him proper medical treatment.
* DeadpanSnarker: Archie. If he's not in deadpan snark mode, there's trouble.
* DefectiveDetective: Let us count the ways: 1) Tortured physically and psychologically for ten days, is killed out of mercy only to be revived by his killer; 2) returns home, alive, now with an addiction to painkillers; 3) within six months he is separated from his wife and children because he can't even bear to touch them; 4) goes back to work catching serial killers, spending his free time consulting with his torturer to discover her other victims; 5) [[spoiler: and it turns out they still have a sexual relationship]]. Guy's a little fucked up.
** The last three novels actually go a long way in making Archie well-adjusted again. Whether that's a good thing or not is up for debate.
* DelinquentHair / KaleidoscopeHair: Susan wears her hair in a short bob, that goes from pink (''Heartsick'') to aqua (''Sweetheart'') to purple (''Evil at Heart'') to raspberry (''The Night Season'') to neon orange (''Kill You Twice'') and finally to black with a white stripe (''Let Me Go'').
* Deuteragonist: Susan.
* DysfunctionJunction: While not everyone has issues, the vast majority have something.
* EverythingsSquishierWithCephalopods: The murder weapon in ''The Night Season'' is a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue-ringed_octopus blue ringed octopus]].
* ExpansionPackPast: Henry's been married five times and lived all over the US.
* EvilIsSexy: '''Gretchen'''. Her beauty paired with her evil is why she is infamous.
* EyeScream: One of the defining characteristics of the murders in ''Evil at Heart''. Happens to [[Jeremy at the climax of the book, even]].
* FamedInStory / HumbleHero: Everywhere he goes, Archie will be recognized, yet amusingly he is always surprised by it. ''Finally'' he recognizes his fame when he attends a MasqueradeBall in ''Let Me Go'' and is grateful for the anonymity a mask provides.
* FemalesAreMoreInnocent / MenActWomenAre: Subverting these with Gretchen is one of the points of the series.
* FilmNoir: Given the number of serial killers in Portland in a single year, the amount of rain and/or cloud cover it gets, and our protagonists' issues, this series gets pretty noir.
* FoeYay
* FunctionalAddict: Archie is addicted to Vicodin, so much so that [[spoiler: in ''Sweetheart'', his liver begins to shut down. After trying to kill himself via overdose, he is admitted to rehab and forced to quit cold turkey. The shadow of addiction looms over the remaining books.]]
* GenderFlip: Of the genius-serial killer mold that Hannibal Lecter arguably began. Gretchen is not as perfect or learned as Lecter, but she is insanely devious, incredibly sadistic, and TheChessmaster. Her establishing book also features ConsultingAConvictedKiller, which most people associate with ''Film/TheSIlenceOfTheLambs''.
* GrayRainOfDepression: It is Portland, after all. Comes to a head in ''The Night Season''.
* HeartSymbol: A gruesome variation: Gretchen signs all of her work by carving a heart into the victim's torso; it's literally her SignatureMove.
* HotterAndSexier: ''Kill You Twice'' and ''Let Me Go'' have noticeably more sexual content than the first four books. Originally, sex scenes would cut away as a chapter ending or skip over being descriptive; not so in these two. It doesn't reach PurpleProse levels, but it's somewhat distracting in a series that was previously more about violence than sex.
* HugeGuyTinyGirl: Henry, with Claire.
* IntrepidReporter: Susan, even after [[spoiler: being fired from the ''Herald'' she still freelances]].
* KnightInSourArmor: Archie used to be able to handle the death he sees daily and still be level. After his time with Gretchen, though, things are noticeably more sour.
* LiterallyLovingThyNeighbor: Rachel, Archie's new neighbor, in ''Kill You Twice''. Downplayed since he actually appreciates the ''lack'' of emotional needs their relationship has.
* ManipulativeBastard: Gretchen is always playing someone. Often it's Archie, except when it's [[spoiler: Henry]]. [[spoiler: One of the most depressing things about ''Kill You Twice'' is that Gretchen is so pumped full of medication that she's stopped ''being able'' to manipulate people.]]
* MartyrWithoutACause: Archie, ''so much''.
* MindGameShip
* MostWritersAreWriters: Susan. Chelsea Cain used to write newspaper columns before moving on to novels.
* NeverOneMurder
* UsefulNotes/Portland: Where better for a neonoir thriller series.
* PsychologicalThriller
* PsychoSupporter: Gretchen has a masterful ability to manipulate self-absorbed men with a low sanity threshold into becoming her serial killer "apprentices". In ''Evil at Heart'', it appears that this is what happened with [[spoiler: Jeremy Reynolds]]. [[spoiler: Or not.]]
* RecoveredAddict: Hinted at with ''Evil at Heart'', confirmed in ''The Night Season''.
* ReplacementLoveInterest: Rachel again.
* RoomFullOfCrazy: One of the first clues in ''Evil at Heart''.
* SerialKiller: Gretchen is a Sexual Sadist type.
* ShoutOut: To ''Film/TheSIlenceOfTheLambs'' in ''Heartsick''.
* StalkerWithACrush / {{Yandere}}: The After School Strangler, aka [[spoiler: Reston, for Susan. Turns out all those girls were supposed to evoke her high-school likeness]].
* StockholmSyndrome / MoreThanMindControl: Archie, particularly in the first three novels.
* TakingYouWithMe: Archie's final plan in ''Sweetheart'' is [[spoiler: to kill himself with pills and leave Gretchen for either the police or the wildfire, whichever comes first. It doesn't exactly go as planned.]]
* TalkingTheMonsterToDeath: Archie's signature. Appropriately, it's the good counterpart of Gretchen's second signature move, BreakThemByTalking. There's a reason they're a MindGameShip.
* ThemeNaming: For a while it seemed like each book would contain the word "heart" in the title, until ''The Night Season'' subverted the trend. It seems to be permanently stalled now that ''Kill You Twice'' and ''Let Me Go'' are out.
* TheWatson: Susan.
* {{Workaholic}}: Archie. Ends up in MarriedToTheJob territory, and destroys his relationship with his wife after he is captured and tortured by Gretchen. Well, aside from the StockholmSyndrome and [[spoiler: cheating on his wife with a serial killer]].
----
The series consists of six books written by Chelsea Cain, a Portland novelist. Most of the books follow at least two characters' perspectives, usually Archie and his punk rock reporter friend Susan. Often they include frequent flashback chapters, mostly regarding Archie's experiences with Gretchen. The series is also sometimes referred to as the Gretchen Lowell series (though Gretchen actually doesn't appear in ''The Night Season'').
The series includes the following novels:
* ''Heartsick'' (2007)
* ''Sweetheart'' (2008)
* ''Evil at Heart'' (2009)
* ''The Night Season'' (2011)
* ''Kill You Twice'' (2012)
* ''Let Me Go'' (2013)
----
!!The series provides examples of the following tropes:
* AcheyScars / PhysicalScarsPsychologicalScars: Archie, thanks to Gretchen.
* AdultFear: Kidnapped high school girls being strangled to death and then raped, in Heartsick.
* AloneWithThePsycho: Susan with the After School Strangler in ''Heartsick'',
* AnachronicOrder: ''Heartsick'' and ''Sweetheart'' had about a third of their content be flashback chapters interspersed with the present day chapters. The former to Archie's ten days of torture with Gretchen, and the latter to [[spoiler: his affair with her before she revealed herself.]]
* BadassInDistress: Archie spends an inordinate amount of time tied up or tortured by the bad guys.
* BadassMustache: Henry, along with BaldOfAwesome and being TheBigGuy.
* TheBadGuyWins: ''Sweetheart'' ends with [[spoiler: Gretchen escaping from both prison and Archie's TakingYouWithMe gambit, courtesy of Susan]]. Something similar happens in ''Kill You Twice'', which was [[spoiler: Gretchen's elaborate BatmanGambit to escape the mental institution]].
* BeautyEqualsGoodness: Inverted with Gretchen. Beauty, in fact, equals serious badness.
* BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil: [[spoiler: Jeremy Reynolds]] in ''Evil at Heart''. [[spoiler: It ends up being subverted in the end, as it was Gretchen all along]].
* BigBadEnsemble: Gretchen with others in the first and third novels. With [[spoiler: obsessive ephebophile teacher Paul Reston]] in ''Heartsick'' and [[spoiler: broken self-mutilating prior victim Jeremy Reynolds]] in ''Evil at Heart''.
* BigStormEpisode: ''The Night Season''.
* BlackComedy: Everyone has their quippy moments, even in dire circumstances, though Archie is the main offender. This tended to be more prominent in the first three novels.
* BlondesAreEvil: Gretchen, notable as she is the only blonde depicted in the series.
* BodyOfTheWeek
* BreakThemByTalking: Something Gretchen is ''extremely'' adept at.
* TheChessmaster: Gretchen, exemplified by ''Sweetheart'': [[spoiler: Everyone on the BK Task Force thinks she's manipulating Archie, and she is... But first she needed to escape, and to do that she needed to manipulate ''Henry'' into getting her transferred. In the end she manages to manipulate Susan into freeing her from Archie's own gambit, allowing Gretchen to escape unscathed, exactly as she wanted.]]
* CigaretteOfAnxiety: Susan, constantly. Eventually she stops telling herself that she only smokes in social situations. Although she'd probably stop smoking if she stopped chasing dead bodies...
* ColdBloodedTorture: Gretchen, Gretchen, ''Gretchen''. In fact, if there's no sign of torture, specifically bladework, it's a safe bet Gretchen's not involved.
* ConsultingAConvictedKiller: Gretchen in ''Heartsick''.
* TheCorrupter: Gretchen can convince lonely male narcissists to kill for her, and she relishes it.
* CreepyCleanliness: The After School Strangler submerges his victims bodies in bleach before dumping them. [[spoilers: Turns out Susan bleached her hair with Clorox in her sophomore year as a way of acting out after her father's death]]. This then become the clue that [[spoiler: Reston is not to be trusted, when Susan gets in his car and notices just how clean it is--and the smell.]]
* CruelMercy: After torturing Archie for days to the point that he is happy to finally die, Gretchen administers poison to stop his heart. Then, [[ForTheEvulz just to see what would happen to his life]] she resuscitates him and turns herself in after calling 911 to get him proper medical treatment.
* DeadpanSnarker: Archie. If he's not in deadpan snark mode, there's trouble.
* DefectiveDetective: Let us count the ways: 1) Tortured physically and psychologically for ten days, is killed out of mercy only to be revived by his killer; 2) returns home, alive, now with an addiction to painkillers; 3) within six months he is separated from his wife and children because he can't even bear to touch them; 4) goes back to work catching serial killers, spending his free time consulting with his torturer to discover her other victims; 5) [[spoiler: and it turns out they still have a sexual relationship]]. Guy's a little fucked up.
** The last three novels actually go a long way in making Archie well-adjusted again. Whether that's a good thing or not is up for debate.
* DelinquentHair / KaleidoscopeHair: Susan wears her hair in a short bob, that goes from pink (''Heartsick'') to aqua (''Sweetheart'') to purple (''Evil at Heart'') to raspberry (''The Night Season'') to neon orange (''Kill You Twice'') and finally to black with a white stripe (''Let Me Go'').
* Deuteragonist: Susan.
* DysfunctionJunction: While not everyone has issues, the vast majority have something.
* EverythingsSquishierWithCephalopods: The murder weapon in ''The Night Season'' is a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue-ringed_octopus blue ringed octopus]].
* ExpansionPackPast: Henry's been married five times and lived all over the US.
* EvilIsSexy: '''Gretchen'''. Her beauty paired with her evil is why she is infamous.
* EyeScream: One of the defining characteristics of the murders in ''Evil at Heart''. Happens to [[Jeremy at the climax of the book, even]].
* FamedInStory / HumbleHero: Everywhere he goes, Archie will be recognized, yet amusingly he is always surprised by it. ''Finally'' he recognizes his fame when he attends a MasqueradeBall in ''Let Me Go'' and is grateful for the anonymity a mask provides.
* FemalesAreMoreInnocent / MenActWomenAre: Subverting these with Gretchen is one of the points of the series.
* FilmNoir: Given the number of serial killers in Portland in a single year, the amount of rain and/or cloud cover it gets, and our protagonists' issues, this series gets pretty noir.
* FoeYay
* FunctionalAddict: Archie is addicted to Vicodin, so much so that [[spoiler: in ''Sweetheart'', his liver begins to shut down. After trying to kill himself via overdose, he is admitted to rehab and forced to quit cold turkey. The shadow of addiction looms over the remaining books.]]
* GenderFlip: Of the genius-serial killer mold that Hannibal Lecter arguably began. Gretchen is not as perfect or learned as Lecter, but she is insanely devious, incredibly sadistic, and TheChessmaster. Her establishing book also features ConsultingAConvictedKiller, which most people associate with ''Film/TheSIlenceOfTheLambs''.
* GrayRainOfDepression: It is Portland, after all. Comes to a head in ''The Night Season''.
* HeartSymbol: A gruesome variation: Gretchen signs all of her work by carving a heart into the victim's torso; it's literally her SignatureMove.
* HotterAndSexier: ''Kill You Twice'' and ''Let Me Go'' have noticeably more sexual content than the first four books. Originally, sex scenes would cut away as a chapter ending or skip over being descriptive; not so in these two. It doesn't reach PurpleProse levels, but it's somewhat distracting in a series that was previously more about violence than sex.
* HugeGuyTinyGirl: Henry, with Claire.
* IntrepidReporter: Susan, even after [[spoiler: being fired from the ''Herald'' she still freelances]].
* KnightInSourArmor: Archie used to be able to handle the death he sees daily and still be level. After his time with Gretchen, though, things are noticeably more sour.
* LiterallyLovingThyNeighbor: Rachel, Archie's new neighbor, in ''Kill You Twice''. Downplayed since he actually appreciates the ''lack'' of emotional needs their relationship has.
* ManipulativeBastard: Gretchen is always playing someone. Often it's Archie, except when it's [[spoiler: Henry]]. [[spoiler: One of the most depressing things about ''Kill You Twice'' is that Gretchen is so pumped full of medication that she's stopped ''being able'' to manipulate people.]]
* MartyrWithoutACause: Archie, ''so much''.
* MindGameShip
* MostWritersAreWriters: Susan. Chelsea Cain used to write newspaper columns before moving on to novels.
* NeverOneMurder
* UsefulNotes/Portland: Where better for a neonoir thriller series.
* PsychologicalThriller
* PsychoSupporter: Gretchen has a masterful ability to manipulate self-absorbed men with a low sanity threshold into becoming her serial killer "apprentices". In ''Evil at Heart'', it appears that this is what happened with [[spoiler: Jeremy Reynolds]]. [[spoiler: Or not.]]
* RecoveredAddict: Hinted at with ''Evil at Heart'', confirmed in ''The Night Season''.
* ReplacementLoveInterest: Rachel again.
* RoomFullOfCrazy: One of the first clues in ''Evil at Heart''.
* SerialKiller: Gretchen is a Sexual Sadist type.
* ShoutOut: To ''Film/TheSIlenceOfTheLambs'' in ''Heartsick''.
* StalkerWithACrush / {{Yandere}}: The After School Strangler, aka [[spoiler: Reston, for Susan. Turns out all those girls were supposed to evoke her high-school likeness]].
* StockholmSyndrome / MoreThanMindControl: Archie, particularly in the first three novels.
* TakingYouWithMe: Archie's final plan in ''Sweetheart'' is [[spoiler: to kill himself with pills and leave Gretchen for either the police or the wildfire, whichever comes first. It doesn't exactly go as planned.]]
* TalkingTheMonsterToDeath: Archie's signature. Appropriately, it's the good counterpart of Gretchen's second signature move, BreakThemByTalking. There's a reason they're a MindGameShip.
* ThemeNaming: For a while it seemed like each book would contain the word "heart" in the title, until ''The Night Season'' subverted the trend. It seems to be permanently stalled now that ''Kill You Twice'' and ''Let Me Go'' are out.
* TheWatson: Susan.
* {{Workaholic}}: Archie. Ends up in MarriedToTheJob territory, and destroys his relationship with his wife after he is captured and tortured by Gretchen. Well, aside from the StockholmSyndrome and [[spoiler: cheating on his wife with a serial killer]].
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