The Night Season by Chelsea Cain

The Night Season by Chelsea Cain
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time Taken To Read - 1 day

Publisher - Pan Books

Blurb From Goodreads

With the Beauty Killer Gretchen Lowell locked away behind bars once again, Archie Sheridan—a Portland police detective and nearly one of her victims—can finally rest a little easier. Meanwhile, the rest of the city of Portland is in crisis. Heavy rains have flooded the Willamette River, and several people have drowned in the quickly rising waters. Or at least that’s what they thought until the medical examiner discovers that the latest victim didn’t drown: She was poisoned before she went into the water. Soon after, three of those drownings are also proven to be murders. Portland has a new serial killer on its hands, and Archie and his task force have a new case.

Reporter Susan Ward is chasing this story of a new serial killer with gusto, but she’s also got another lead to follow for an entirely separate mystery: The flooding has unearthed a skeleton, a man who might have died more than sixty years ago, the last time Portland flooded this badly, when the water washed away an entire neighborhood and killed at least fifteen people.

With Archie following the bizarre trail of evidence and evil deeds to catch a killer and possibly regain his life, and Susan Ward close behind, Chelsea Cain—one of today’s most talented suspense writers—launches the next installment of her bestselling series with an electric thriller.


My Review

Firstly I have to say although this is written as #4 Gretchen Lowell she features in it very little. The story is based around heavy rains flooding the Willamette River, as a result several people have drowned. All is not as it first seems and the drowned victims are actually murder victims and Archie is on the case. Reporter Susan Ward is on the story although the flooding unearths an old skeleton which may be from the first flooding. The evidence is puzzling and the victims don't seem to have anything in common, when the next victim is selected Archie finds himself personally involved.

As much as I like this authors writing I was a little disappointed by the lack or Gretchen in it, I know some people found this refreshing though. The story is fairly quick to start and the killer is very cunning, the method they use in killing the victims is one I have never heard of before. I must admit though to feeling left rather high and dry as there was a few wee twists and turns but the overall explanation of everything, for me, was lacking. I like to have answers to everything in my books so this definitely impacted my reading enjoyment, along with the lack of Gretchen.

The chapters are very short, which if your a regular reader of my reviews, you know I love these. Perfect for dipping in and out of or, the negative side, just one more chapter leads to 3 in the morning! Still an enjoyable read but not as good as I was expecting so 3/5 for me.

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