The Night Season: A Thriller

By Chelsea Cain

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
• Release date: Mar 1, 2011
• ISBN: 9781429965156

Chelsea Cain

Chelsea Cain is the author of the New York Times bestselling Archie Sheridan/Gretchen Lowell thrillers Heartsick, Sweetheart, Evil at Heart, The Night Season, Kill You Twice, and Let Me Go. Her Portland-based thrillers have been published in twenty-four languages, recommended on the Today show, appeared in episodes of HBO’s True Blood and ABC’s Castle, and included in NPR’s list of the top 100 thrillers ever written. According to Booklist, “Popular entertainment just doesn’t get much better than this.” Visit her online at ChelseaCain.com.

Book preview

PROLOGUE

Memorial Day, 1948

Floyd Wright came bursting into Williams’s office, red-faced and out of breath, his clothes dusty from the speeder.

It’s bad, Floyd said.

Williams stood up at his desk. He took the news in stride. You didn’t get to be president of the Portland Union Stockyards without having an iron stomach. He’d known this could happen. It’s why he’d sent Floyd out on patrol. He was already calculating their losses, rerouting cattle cars on alternate lines. If the tracks were down for a few days, they could still get the butchers their meat.

Williams’s secretary scrambled into the office after Floyd, but Williams didn’t want her interrupting. He motioned for her to wait, and she stopped a few steps inside the door.

What are we looking at? Williams asked Floyd.

Floyd held his hat in his hands. It’s the west side, he said. Complete collapse. Fifty feet, at least.

Fifty feet? They had expected that the dike might spring a few leaks. Those could be repaired. A fifty-foot breach was something else entirely. There weren’t contingencies for that.

Oh my lord, the secretary said.

She was staring out the window, her hand covering her mouth.

Williams had spent enough time at that window watching the cattle cars come in to know exactly what she was looking at.

He stepped around his desk and moved quickly to her side, motioning for Floyd to do the same. It was a clear sunny day, seventy-six degrees. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The office was on the top floor. Beyond a hundred acres of wooden pens that held cattle waiting for slaughter, they had a good view of the city of Vanport, and to the east, the railroad tracks that formed the city’s eastern boarder. Seventy-six two-story apartment buildings were arranged in groups of four around utility buildings. A movie theater. An elementary school.

The railroad bed functioned as a dike, holding back Smith Lake from the Vanport floodplain. The breach was visible even from the window. Brown water gushed from where the gravel and dirt had given way to the lake’s pressure, over the tracks and down toward the city.

Vanport was going to flood, and fast. Williams felt his stomach knot. The stockyards were above the floodplain. The cattle, the buildings, the water wouldn’t reach them. But those people in Vanport. All those people.

Call the Vanport city manager, Williams barked at his secretary. Tell them there’s a fifty-foot gap in the railroad fill near the northwest corner of the project.

The girl hesitated. Her eyes looked wild.

Now, he said.

Yes, sir, she said, turning and running to her desk outside the office.

Fifteen thousand people lived in Vanport. Working people. Families. Plenty less than lived there during the war. The apartments were cheap, but the walls were paper thin, and there wasn’t hot water or heat at night.

They don’t have telephones, Floyd said. Company decision.

As the minutes ticked by, the two men listened in silence for the emergency siren. Williams didn’t hear anything. He lifted the window. The smell of cattle and hay settled in the office. He could hear the moan of the cows, the tremble of their hooves on the bare beaten ground. But he still didn’t hear a siren.

It was 4:35 P.M.

His secretary returned.

Well? Williams said.

I told them, she said.

Several more minutes passed. Williams began to fume. He picked up the pair of binoculars that he kept on the windowsill and aimed them out the window. The breach had widened, and was now nearly a city block long. The water from Smith Lake spilled through the dike like a gleaming brown waterfall. It was coming with such force that Williams could see it moving, see it spreading on the west side of the dike, a new lake forming, widening by the second, the muddy water transforming as it advanced, reflecting the calm blue of the sky, deceptively tranquil. He followed the water west with the binoculars, toward Vanport. A boy riding his bike in the two feet of water that had already collected on North Portland Road. A car driving up Victory Avenue. A couple walking together across a park.

What’s taking them so long? Floyd asked.

It was a good goddamn question.

Williams put down the binoculars, picked up the phone on his desk, and fumbled with it, his palm slick with sweat. But he didn’t make calls. His girl did. He looked at her helplessly and she came around his desk and took the receiver and dialed, and then handed him the phone.

Hello? a man’s voice asked.

For God’s sake, Williams hollered into the phone, alert those people.

It was a few minutes after that that the sirens finally started.

Williams glanced at his watch. It was 4:47 P.M.

The entire railroad bed had given way now, and the lake flowed freely over it. The railroad tracks, snapped in half by the surging water, the ground washed away beneath them, now seemed to hang in midair.

The secretary began to cry quietly. Williams thought he should say something, but he didn’t know what. Floyd coughed. No one spoke. The three of them stood together at the window, wordless, as the water continued to swell. The binoculars sat on the sill. Williams didn’t want to look.

CHAPTER

1

Present day

Technically, the park was closed.

But Laura knew a place where the wire fence was split, and she had let the Aussies through and then climbed over behind them. It looked like a pond. There was, in fact, no place muddier in the winter in Portland, Oregon, than West Delta Dog Park, and that was saying something.

The dogs ran ahead of her in the standing water, splashing it behind them, already matted with wet dirt and dead grass. Occasionally they turned to look back at her, their warm breath condensing in the January air.

Laura wiped her nose with the back of her hand. It was a terrible day to be out. Her rain pants were slick with rain, her trail runners were soaked. She’d spent the early morning sandbagging downtown and her back ached. The stress fracture in her foot stung. Stay off it for six weeks, the doctors had said. As if.

The cloud cover hung so low that the tops of the trees seemed to brush it.

She loved this.

The worst weather, body aching. Nothing could keep her inside. Biking. Running. Walking the dogs. She was out there every day, no matter what. Not like all those poseurs who came out in the summer in their REI sun shirts and ran along the esplanade with their iPods and swinging elbows. Where were they in the dead of winter? At the gym, that’s where.

God, Laura hated those people.

Franklin glanced back at her, wagged his stubby tail, barked once, flattened his ears, and took off across the old road to the slough. It was their usual route. Penny, the puppy, stuck closer to Laura, zipping ahead ten feet and then circling back.

Laura heard it then. She had heard it all along, but it had faded to white noise, an ambient sound, like a jet passing overhead.

The Columbia Slough.

She knew it would be high. They’d had a ton of snow in December. Then it had warmed up and started to rain. That meant snowmelt from the mountains. Lots of it. The storm drains were backed up. The Willamette was near flood stage. The local news was live with it day and night; they were considering evacuating downtown. But that was the Willamette. Miles away.

As Laura rounded the corner, past the trees, where the old concrete pavilion sat sinking into the slough bank, she was aware of her mouth opening.

In the summer, the slough was still and flat, blanketed by algae so thick it looked solid enough to walk on. That slough was so stagnant that Laura was surprised anything could survive in it. That slough looked like a bucket of water that had been left on the back porch all summer.

This slough was alive. It moved like something angry and afraid, churning fast and high. Whitewater swept along the bank, pulling up debris and washing it downriver. Laura saw a branch get sucked into the water and lost sight of it in an instant as it was swallowed by the seething froth.

Franklin was up ahead, nosing along the old concrete pavilion at the slough’s bank. He whined and gave her a look.

She called his name and slapped her thigh. Let’s get out of here, she said.

He turned to come to her. He’d been a rescue dog. Her husband had found him on the Internet. He’d been kept in some barn in Idaho, given little food and no human comfort. It had taken them years to teach him to trust people. And it filled Laura with pride to know that he had turned into such a good dog.

Even with the noise of the slough, he’d heard her. He’d turned to come.

And that’s when it happened.

Did he slip? Did the slough rise up suddenly and take him? She didn’t know.

He was looking right at her, and in a second he was gone.

It took her a moment to move. And then she snapped into action.

Her dog was not going to die. Not like this. She ran. She didn’t think about the stress fracture. The sore back. The raging river. She ran to the edge of the bank, scanning the water for him, as Penny barked fiercely at her heels.

Her heart leapt. She saw him. A glimpse—a wet mound of fur struggling in froth. He was already moving down the river, but he was alive, his black nose just above water.

She had several options.

Maybe if Franklin hadn’t been looking her in the eye when it happened she would have considered more of them. She would have called for help, or run alongside the river, or tied a rope around her waist.

She knew what happened to people who went into water after pets.

They died.

But Laura had seen something in Franklin’s brown eyes. He’d looked right at her.

Stay, she said to Penny.

And she plunged into the cold water after him.

Laura’s first sensation, in the rushing dirty sludge, was of not being able to breathe. She’d been hit by a car once, on her bike. It was like that. Like having all the air forced out of you by an impact of steel and concrete. Laura forced herself to take a deep breath, filling her lungs, and she tried to orient herself. Her head was above water, her wet braid around her neck. She was already turned around, already ten feet away from Penny, fifteen, twenty. The roar of the slough was unrelenting. Twigs and branches snapped against Laura’s face in the current, stinging her skin. Penny stood barking at the shore, pawing at the ground. Until Laura couldn’t hear her anymore.

Where was Franklin?

Laura struggled to see him, but at water level all she could see was more water. She was fifty feet away from Penny now. Sixty. She couldn’t see. She couldn’t see the shore. Just the sky, dark clouds, above her.

Float.

Cold water survival. You lost heat swimming.

Just float.

She took a deep breath and lifted her hands, already numb, foreign, like they belonged to someone else, and she spread her arms and bobbed on her back, and let the current take her.

The current had taken Franklin.

It would take her to him.

Cold water filled her ears. They ached. Her teeth chattered, the sound lost in the roar of the slough. Her clothes felt heavy, filled with water, dragging her down.

And then she heard him.

Laura rolled over and used the last of her strength to fight her way through the current toward the whimper. He was there, caught against the roots of a fallen tree, the water trapping him. He saw her and his ears perked up, and his paws paddled in vain toward her.

She got to him.

She didn’t know how.

She got to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. He could have fought her. Animals did that. Panicked. But he didn’t. He went limp. He went limp into her arms, and she was able to use the tree as leverage and push her heels into the silt at the bottom of the slough, and she managed to somehow inch them both to the muddy riverbank.

She collapsed beside him in the mud, still holding on to him, still not letting him go. Her heart was pounding. They were soaked. Franklin whined and licked her face.

They’d made it.

She rolled onto her back, almost giddy. They were alive. She’d like to see one of those fair-weather esplanade runners survive something like this.

Franklin shook the water from his mangy coat and Laura turned away, lifting a hand over her face. Hey, boy, she said. Easy.

He growled, his upper lip tightening. He was looking at something behind her.

What? she said.

Franklin’s eyes narrowed, still focused over Laura’s shoulder.

She shivered. Whether it was from cold or fear, she didn’t know.

Laura turned around.

In the mud of the bank, partially exposed, was a human skeleton.

CHAPTER

2

Susan Ward was singing along to Smells Like Teen Spirit when she almost hit the seagull.

Portland, Oregon, was an hour from the ocean. But when it was windy at the coast, the seagulls were blown inland.

Since the storms started two weeks ago, the city had been infested with them. They got into open Dumpsters, and shat on decks, and stood around on the sidewalk arguing in small groups like first-grade girls at recess. They were angry, bossy birds. But Susan figured she’d be angry, too, if she’d just been blown fifty miles.

Susan laid on her horn, and the gull gave her an accusatory look and flapped off into the rain. He was a western gull—white with slate wings and a yellow bill. They were big birds, knee-high, and built like bouncers, not the scrawny gulls of the Atlantic. Susan didn’t know for sure he was male. It was just a theory. Something about the look he gave her.

She spotted Archie’s unmarked police car on the last dry patch of asphalt in the parking lot and managed to squeeze her old Saab in beside it, then put the hood of her slicker up and stepped outside into the rain.

It was early afternoon, but it looked like evening. That’s how it was in Portland in the winter. Permanent twilight.

The rain on her hood sounded like grease popping in a skillet. It made her crave bacon.

She looked down the hillside to where Oaks Park nestled up against the flood-swollen Willamette River.

Susan felt about parks the way she felt about nature in general. She liked knowing it existed, but didn’t feel the need to partake personally. This was not a popular point of view in Portland. Portlanders, in general, took great pride in their parks, and felt compelled to visit them regularly, even in the dead of winter when it was dark and the grass had gone to mud and no one bothered to pick up their dog poop. There were wilderness parks, rose gardens, rhododendron gardens, Japanese gardens, classical Chinese gardens, skate parks, public plazas, parks with fountains, public art, food carts, tennis courts, swimming pools, hiking trails, monuments, and amphitheaters. There was even the world’s smallest park, Mill Ends Park, which was roughly two feet by two feet. Susan had always found that last one sort of ridiculous.

Then there was Oaks Park. (Where the Fun Never Stops!) It had been around for as long as anyone could remember, which is to say about a hundred years. A couple dozen rides, a roller-skating rink, carnival games, picnic grounds. Wholesome good times for the whole family, punctuated by a few brief periods when it was the go-to place for drugs and a van quickie.

A dead body had been found on the carousel.

Susan smiled. Sometimes this stuff just wrote itself.

She finished slogging down the hill and made her way through the pretty white wooden archway to the fairway.

The cops standing around the carousel looked miserable. Hunched over, their black rain ponchos lifting in the wind, they reminded Susan of crows loitering around a carcass.

All but Detective Archie Sheridan.

He was standing away from the others, wearing one of those coats with fur-trimmed hoods that you get at army surplus stores before expeditions to the Arctic.

It was fifty degrees. Practically tropical for January, but he had his hood up. She only knew it was Archie because of how he was holding himself perfectly still, one hand in his pocket, the other around a huge paper cup of coffee, just watching. And because he was alone.

He looked over and saw her and held up the coffee cup in a sort of absentminded wave. His hangdog face was as creased as ever, crooked nose, heavy lids, but he had color to his skin again, and his eyes had more life. A green scarf covered up the horizontal scar on his neck. His brown curls poked in odd angles around his forehead.

Is it her? Susan asked him.

Looks like it, he said. Robbins will issue an official ID from the ME’s office.

Stephanie Towner had been reported missing two days before. The cops had found her car in the parking lot at the Bishop’s Close, an estate garden along thirteen acres of high river bluffs on the west side. Portlanders liked to take peaceful walks there when they weren’t crouching to take pictures of plants with their iPhones. The cops had found Towner’s purse at the top of a slick of mud where it appeared someone had taken a header down the riverbank. You could blame Darwinism. Or you could blame the bottle of wine her husband had reported that she’d had before she left. Maybe a little of both.

I thought she drowned, Susan said.

The corners of Archie’s mouth went up slightly. It had taken Susan a year to recognize the expression as a smile. I think she did, he said.

She followed his gaze to the carousel. It was housed in an octagonal-roofed pavilion that was open on all sides. Fifteen or twenty seagulls fought for space on the roof. They shifted their weight from one foot to another and squawked nervously. The iron fence that ringed the ride was open and Susan walked inside. One of the poncho-wearing cops put a hand out to stop her. Not on the platform, he said, jerking his head toward the muddy footprints on the carousel’s oak flooring.

She nodded and peered forward from the platform’s edge. The corpse was positioned on an ostrich. The ostrich was beautiful, carved out of wood, brown with a red and gold saddle. His yellow legs stretched apart, as if frozen in a joyful skip. Stephanie Towner was posed as if riding the thing. But it wasn’t convincing. She’d slumped down, her chin now pressed against the base of the ostrich’s neck, her arms dangling on either side of its belly. Thankfully, her hair covered her face. Susan couldn’t see well enough to make out many details. But it was clear that she’d been in the water. Or at least in mud.

Archie stepped up behind Susan. She could smell the coffee in his hand and the wet fur on his coat. The rain fell against the carousel roof. The seagulls squawked. She was moved, he said. There’s mud and grass. He turned to face behind them and motioned across the park to the picnic area at the river’s edge, where a chain-link fence lined the riverbank. We found hair on the fence. Looks like the current washed her downstream and she got tangled up there. Then someone found her, got her over the fence, and dragged her here. Rain washed away any good footprints, but you can make out the drag marks in the mud.

Susan got out her damp notebook and wrote all that down.

Archie was throwing her a bone and she knew it. He’d done that a few times over the last six months. It wasn’t his fault that she’d almost gotten herself killed a couple of times in his presence, but he didn’t seem to know that. So he gave her a heads-up on the weird stuff. Scoops. She was sure everyone at the newspaper thought they were sleeping together.

Who called it in? she asked.

Crew working on the rink, he said. I think they’re doing something to the floor.

Susan had grown up roller-skating at the Oaks Park Roller Rink. Everyone celebrated birthdays there. All the kids skated around under the disco ball until someone inevitably broke a bone and had to go to the emergency room. The rink was now the home of the Rose City Rollers roller derby team, a bunch of tattooed, big-thighed, badass girls in short-shorts. It floats, she said. The rink floor. It’s on pontoons. When the park floods they detach it from the foundation.

Archie shrugged and took a sip of coffee. That’s clever. I guess.

Susan craned her head toward the roller rink, which was at the other end of the park, and tried to catch sight of the workers. You think one of them…?

Doesn’t look like it, Archie said.

She turned back to the carousel. It was ringed by three rows of animals on ascending circular platforms. Jumping horses. Standing horses. A cat. A deer. A dragon. Zebras. Mules. Pigs.

Why the ostrich? she said. Whoever had put the body there had gone through a lot of trouble. It couldn’t be easy getting a corpse over a fence. "It’s on the inner circle. Why carry her all the way in

Reviews for The Night Season

[unkletom_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Confession time. Chelsea Cain has become one of my guilty pleasures. I recently read 'Heartsick', the first book in her Archie Sheridan/Susan Ward series, (mainly because it was on NPR's list of 100 all-time best thrillers) and was pleasantly surprised to find it a really engaging and exciting read. 'The Night Season', book four in the series is also an entertaining read. It is not quite the nail-biter that 'Heartsick' was but that's okay. Cain makes up for it by interlacing several mysteries, past and present, and her protagonists, homicide detective Sheridan and reporter Ward, struggle to resolve them while having to deal with torrential rainstorms that threaten to flood the city of Portland. Once again, a serial killer is at work in Portland, preying on those fighting to save the city. The weapon this killer uses is unique, to say the least. Okay, Chelsea Cain does tend to go over the top a bit with her killers, but so what? Where would Thomas Harris be without his Hannibal Lector? The author uses her intimate knowledge of Portland and environs by introducing a mystery based on an actual flood that wiped out Vanport City, Oregon, in 1848. Already a fascinating story, Cain introduces her own twists into the story making it even more intriguing. As mentioned previously, this book is part four in a series. I read the first book and now this one and do not get the sense that I missed anything by not reading the books in order. I do think it is important that readers start with 'Heartsick' as Archie's relationship with Gretchen Lowell, the psychopathic killer who captured and tortured him in that book, is an crucial element in defining his character. Narrator Christina Delaine does a really good job of bringing the characters to life in the audio version of the book. I haven't listened to her work before but I intend to make a point of it in the future.The review copy of this book was obtained from the publisher via the Amazon Vine Program.

[jjaylynny · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Cain is getting more surehanded with her narrative. I didn't miss Gretchen at all. The weather in Portland was a character of its own, and well done.

[sensitivemuse · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If you picked this book up to read more on Gretchen, you won’t find much about her. She is mentioned but not until literally, the last pages of the book. Anyhow, I thought this was a nice break away from Gretchen (you can only drag her out for how many books?) and focuses on a much different serial killer. I really enjoyed reading about this new mystery killer, but the setting and the floods add to an already dark and sinister setting. The floods themselves do add more action and suspense (especially towards the end) so I thought this was a nice addition to an already dark setting. The pace of this plot was really good, and the short chapters makes the reading go much faster than usual. I like how there are no lulls in the plot. Although the sub plot with Susan Ward is not as interesting, it’s still related to the main storyline and provides more background information that is important to understanding the plot. There are quite a few moments of total suspense and thrills. The ending and the revealing of the killer had a lot of action sequences, and as mentioned before, the floods add more to the action and suspense. There was one particular moment in the book where I feared for a character (not going to reveal, am trying to keep this spoiler free!).The only thing I didn’t like about this book is the way the killer killed his victims. It’s a little far fetched and perhaps to some readers, they might find it silly. It’s different, and I have not read anything like this. Although I found it a little unbelievable, it’s still interesting and still worth reading. I’m glad there’s a break from Gretchen. For a moment I thought this Gretchen thing might drag and just might make the series go downhill. It may disappoint some readers, but this plot was well done, the characters are consistent, and I think it’s worth the read. With a tiny cliffhanger ending, I am curious to find out what happens next to Archie and Susan.

[s9i9r9 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is the least favorite on the series. I love Chelsea Cain and this series but I felt it strayed from the others. Having said the above, I did enjoy it. It was a quick read and I love the way the killer kills his victims. Very ingenious. I will look at the world of octopi with a healthy new respect. The gangs all here and I refer to Archie, Henry and Susan. Gretchen is missing from this book though her presence still lingers.Susan is as entertaining as always and Henry proves his abilities. I'm looking forward to the next installment, actually I've already pre-ordered it. Chelsea Cain doesn't disappoint. Grab this one you'll enjoy it.

[thehistorychic · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Read from June 03 to 07, 2013Listened for Fun (Borrowed from the Library)/Read for Fun (Paperback)Overall Rating: 4.00Story Rating: 4.00Character Rating: 4.00Audio Rating: 4.50 (not part of the overall rating)First Thought when Finished: I missed Gretchen but I think this book proved Chelsea Cain can write a pretty good Archie book without her!Story Thoughts: Archie is a good detective! He sucks at pretty much everything else but as a detective he knows his stuff. This was an interesting case that kept me guessing for a very long time. I wasn't sure how I was going to handle Gretchen not being in the book (much) but it turns out that I was pretty compelled without her. Oh, I missed her but the case was solid, the action was intense, and the suspense about killed me for the last 1/3. The fact that the killer drug some of my favorite characters into the mix was enough to have me biting my nails.Character Thoughts: Here is what I love about Chelsea Cain's characters: they are all damaged! Each of them are scarred, good and bad, make questionable decisions, and yet you still root for them. I think her characters are as compelling as her story lines. That is not always the case in thrillers but in this case it is true. I find myself often times getting personally worried about them and their welfare. Heck, I was even glad when we got a Gretchen check in so we knew where she was during the flood.Audio Thoughts: Narrated By Christina Delaine / Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins I am usually not a fan of switching up narrators in a series but in this case it really worked. I think Christina is more suited to the characters that Chelsea Cain has created. Her pacing was brilliant and her voices were pretty spot on. I just checked and she does the next one so I am excited.Final Thoughts: I really enjoyed Night Season and can't wait to dig into the next one :)

[katebond-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Huh. Not as good as the rest of the series. The science-y stuff made absolutely no sense to me, characters were obviously set up just so we'd feel something when they were killed off, and NO GRETCHEN for nearly the entirety of the book.

I understand the need to expand on Archie and Susan's relationship, but it's a shame that in order for that to happen, Gretchen had to be left out completely.

[elmoelle · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I don't read a ton of thrillers, but compared to the ones I have read, this seems like a pretty standard thriller. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it though, I did enjoy it, the same way I enjoy parking myself on the couch watching hours and hours of Law & Order. I don't ever really take much away from those couch potato sessions, but they're fun.
The Night Season takes place in Portland during an epic rainy season in which a flood is a constant threat and a serial killer is on the loose. He is killing people in a really unusual way that brings a certain oddity to what would otherwise be a pretty mundane story. The one thing I did really enjoy about this book was the atmospherics of it. The very descriptive language made me feel like I was living in the soggy, cold world of these characters.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys thrillers and to anyone interested in natural disasters. I would also recommend it to aquarium enthusiasts.

[bluesgal79 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Gretchen Lowell takes a back seat in Cain's latest, and that's a good thing, at least to this reader's mind. Archie Sheridan is very much present and it was a joy to have him -- mostly -- all to ourselves this time. That the story has its genesis in a long ago flooding of the Willamette River which is threatening to do so again made it a particularly gripping read. There were a couple stretches of credulity here for me, but I enjoyed it and have no trouble recommending it to fans of Archie.

[flanneryac · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Uuuuuugh. Say every book was a jigsaw puzzle. Each piece would be a different part of the book--each character, the plot, the setting, the pacing, description, you get the point. At the end of the book, you should be able to sit back and enjoy the completed masterpiece and how the pieces all fit together perfectly. Oh man, this book is like that person that comes up to you when you are doing a puzzle and then just dumps all the pieces out. (THE EDGE PIECES FIRST, MORON! IT'S A SYSTEM!) I hate those people. The saddest part about this book is how it was a complete letdown in comparison to the other books in the series.

What's the name of the series? Oh, that's right, it's GRETCHEN LOWELL! It would be great if the most interesting and intriguing character was actually in each book. This one should be called The Night Season (Dying for some Gretchen Lowell, #4) or The Night Season (Where is Gretchen Lowell?, #4). Talk about a circus missing its ringmaster.

Let's talk for one second about the plot of this one. Actually, I can't do it without a spoiler. The murder instrument is an octopus! Added to that, Susan, the intrepid and mildly interesting reporter from earlier installments, makes a RIDICULOUSLY STUPID DECISION that I just wanted to stop reading afterward...and I would've if I wasn't less than 100 pages from the end. Portland is flooding in this one and it was just too much. Also, in a book about a flood, I find it hilarious that levee was spelled incorrectly TWICE. (Thanks for the smile, editor)

I will keep reading this series because, as my friend Bridget and I like to say, they are usually solid 3-starrers for us. I love me some crime fiction and I also love Gretchen Lowell. If she doesn't play a major part in the next one, you've lost a reader, Ms. Cain. This one was a major disappointment.

[y2ash · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Attack of the blue ringed octopuses!!

I can understand the complaints regarding Chelsea Cain's The Night Season. If you're a fan of the character Gretchen Lowell, then you're going to absolutely hate this novel. Gretchen doesn't appear until the end at it was very brief. As well as it should.

The Night Season is a very different novel from the previous three "heart" series as is evident due to the lack of the word heart anywhere in the title. That should have been the first clue right there.

Essentially, it was about a man using blue ringed octopuses to kill people. Once one of the octopuses bites you, the poison would cause cardiac arrest. Then this man would watch his victim die. Drowing on dry land. In the midst, Portland is being bombarded by massive flooding and cops die and Henry almost dies...yet Susan still survives.

I mean, she does drown at one point and does get fired from her job but still, it's not enough.

Archie was the healthiest, emotionally, than in the previous three. That was nice. It was very smart and prudent for Cain to switch it up like that because Gretchen is such a Mary Sue. It's nauseating.

[ridgewaygirl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the fourth book in Chelsea Cain's gory series about a beautiful serial killer and the cop she caught and tortured. The first three books concerned themselves with the twisted relationship between the two of them, but with Gretchen safely in prison, Archie's been given time to heal and begin rebuilding his life without her.Portland is flooding. Heavy rainfall and snowmelt have combined to put much of downtown in danger and thousands of people are working to block the rising water. The water has also unearthed a skeleton and reporter Susan Ward uses its discovery to write an article on the long forgotten flood of 1948, which wiped out the town of Vanport. She's also covering a new story of a serial killer who disguises his kills as drownings, a not unusual event in a city whose river is running wild.This is the best of Cain's series so far. The gore level is a little lower than before, but that's no bad thing when it leaves her room to let her writing shine. Cain has created a wonderful character in Susan Ward, a woman who will eat Jolly Ranchers that have been stuck to a coffee table for weeks and allow a goat into her house when it's raining. The plot is almost unbearably suspenseful in places, the murder weapon should be silly, but is instead deeply creepy.

[auntmarge64 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

WOW! This new thriller by the author of the Archie Sheridan/Gretchen Lowell series grabs the reader and never lets go. Lowell is mentioned only in passing, and here Archie shows his potential to carry a series on his own. Reminiscent of Lucas Davenport in several ways, Archie leads a team of detectives on the very worst of cases, even as he continues to struggle to overcome the damage done when Gretchen Lowell kidnapped and tortured him. During a massive flood in Portland, Oregon, a serial killer using tiny but extremely lethal octopuses is killing people and dumping their bodies in the floodwaters. As the water rises, the banks of the Willamette River become a very dangerous place to be, whether as a civilian or a cop.Don't start this if you have anything else to do.

[saramllr · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

What drew me to this fantastic series was the allure of a truly frightening female serial killer named Gretchen Lowell. Although I liked "The Night Season," I kept wishing for Gretchen to break out of prison because it's just not the same without her. Maybe next book?

[joannalongbourne · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This series is totally addicting; this book is way less gory and spends some time with the characters we have come to know over the series, Detective Archie Sheridan, intreprid girl reporter Susan Ward and pals. Gretchen Lowell is largely absent which was a nice change, although she is certainly a very compelling character.

[beckyjg · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Chelsea Cain is one smart cookie. She entered the thriller scene in 2007 with Heartsick, the delicious little story of a beautiful and brilliant lady serial killer--Gretchen Lowell, known as the Beauty Killer--and Archie Sheridan, the cop who pursues and is seduced by her. Cain followed up with Sweetheart in 2008 and Evil at Heart the following year, and both novels featured the twisted pas de deux of Gretchen Lowell and Archie Sheridan. She got better as a writer with each book, and, amazingly, managed to keep the relationship between her two antagonists fresh and inventive each time. But, though we readers might never get enough of Gretchen Lowell, Ms. Cain realized that it was time, at least for now, to put her on a back burner and give us something new.The Night Season opens with a brief prologue, a flashback to an historic flood in Portland, Oregon in 1948, in which an entire town was washed away. Cut to present day Portland, which is in the midst of its first truly bad storm of the century and is battening down all the hatches for the flooding to come. So of course, with everybody working so hard and getting so wet, it seems inevitable that bodies will start washing up around town. It's not long before Archie Sheridan realizes that the bodies being found are not simply victims of drowning, but rather, the work of a particularly inventive serial killer, whose weapon of choice is--but that would be telling.Throw in a couple of dramatic rescues of near-drownings by Archie (he does have a bit of a white knight complex); layer in richness of character with the increasingly important Susan Ward, girl reporter and potential love interest; tie in a missing kid; don't forget that historic flood at the beginning; then bring it all to a head with an incredibly tense climactic chase through downtown Portland at night when the river finally decides once and for all to overflow its banks: now you've got an entertainment that can't be beat.Oh, and I'm not giving any plot points away by telling you that The Night Season ends as Gretchen Lowell's sanity hearing begins...mwahaha.

[titania86_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Gretchen Lowell, the Beauty Killer, is finally safely locked up so Archie Sheridan can focus on other things. Their love-hate relationship is finally laid to rest and Archie has become much healthier. He no longer pops pills as if they were candy and religiously goes to his therapy sessions. There isn't long to relax because of the torrential, heavy rains causing the Willamette River to come to the cusp of flooding. As a result, drownings are becoming a more frequent occurence and the corpse of a man who died sixty years ago is found, which is possibly a link to a devastating flood that destroyed the city Vanport in 1968. The drownings, upon closer analysis, seem to be linked because of a strange mark found on the palm of each victim. Archie is on the case with quirky, nosy, indomitable Susan Ward. The increasingly bad weather and threatening flood make it harder for them to do their job and easier for the killer to disguise his actions. Can Susan and Archie catch the killer before they become victims themselves? When I found out that Gretchen Lowell wasn't going to be featured in The Night Season, I was a bit wary of being bored or having this one not measure up to the rest of the series. Her presence is so magnetic and her and Archie's relationship is as sick and twisted as they come. I found out that Chelsea Cain's writing speaks for itself and doesn't need Gretchen Lowell at all to be incredibly addictive. It still has the same fluidity and holds my interest until I'm staying up at all hours of the night just to find out what happens. Gretchen's absence also allowed Archie Sheridan and Susan Ward to develop without her corrupting influence. Archie stopped most of his self destructive behaviors and is as healthy as he can be with extensive liver damage, scars, and no spleen. Susan shows another side of herself when she puts the friends that she has made in the police force over her job getting the latest scoop to publish the paper. She also has a larger role in story than she has in the past. Together, they make an odd, yet strangely harmonious mystery-solving pair. The new killer is interesting enough with a very strange mode of murder, but the real star of The Night Season is the threatening flood. It makes simple, inane things very difficult and fills each scene with tension that builds until its climax at the end of the novel. It's almost as if the flood is a looming, silent character that is omnipresent and without human emotions. I really liked the prologue at the beginning of the novel that linked a horrific flood from the past to the current flood and unexpectedly tied the loose ends of the mystery together. It showed the mastery of Chelsea Cain's writing that the flood was not only a biproduct of the weather, but also created a tense ambience and was used as an integral part of the mystery.I enjoyed The Night Season immensely and I highly recommend it to fans of mysteries or books about serial killers. The story is a great mystery that has unexpected twists and turns. This book could be read as a stand alone, but it's better to read the rest of the series to better understand the relationships and motivations of the characters.

[floratina · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

READ IN DUTCH

This book is different from the other books in this series that I've read so far in that Gretchen doesn't really play a role in it! It's a relieve actually, now Chelsea Cain focusses on the solving of an actual crime instead of just the relationship between Gretchen and Archie.



Because, I did like to see the development in there (not for the better), but now I read a more 'normal' novel without it, it was actually a nice break, and a lot better for the plot. The writing style is still very fast, which helps to make this again a nice and quick read.

[mamashepp · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fast-paced, tense, and dark. Great character development, especially for a murder mystery.

[stahl2ricco · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Well, my issue with this book is - IT DOES NOT HAVE GRETCHEN LOWELL IN IT!!! The first three books are so good with her as the villain, and then poof - she's gone? What the??? I felt cheated more and more the further I read. This one has the rest of the characters, but without the Beauty Killer, I found I really couldn't care less. Portland is flooding and someone is killing folks with an octopus? Boo!!! Such a bummer...

[knittingmomof3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The previous books in the series, in my opinion, were better. However, I have high hopes for the next in the series, Kill You Twice. I recommend The Night Season to readers who enjoy psychological suspense.

[christineellei · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book is the fourth in the Archie Sheridan series and with Gretchen Lowell finally safely behind bars we move on to another serial killer; one with a penchant for aquatic life and, a strange weapon of choice. Set during a season of torrential rainstorms and an imminent flood the setting is as exciting as the crimes. Ms. Cain draws on some real life history of the Portland area by including the Vanport flood in the book as a concurrent story. Sounds confusing but it really works, especially when the two storylines come together in the last few pages.

Although “The Beauty Killer” does get a few mentions and makes a cameo appearance in this book, I enjoyed the book more because of her absence. She made for a good story in the first Archie Sheridan books, but for me, was getting a little tiresome and irritating by the end of the third. It was nice to see a fresh adventure for Archie, Susan and Henry

[ameise1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was an easygoing fast-paced reading. The plot was fascinating due to how the murders have been done. There were several stories linked to each other and everything started in the past but unfortunately with a lot of misapprehensions and ignorance. It was looking like time was running out and only at the very end it was clear how all links were related.It was very gripping and I liked it.

[kassilem · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It’s been a while since I read the first three books in the Archie and Gretchen books, but I do remember very well that I liked the characterization in Cain’s books. And it being a thriller always makes for a quick read. This one was. Gretchen was not present until the very last chapter but the story was a thrill anyways. I don’t know if I would have liked it as much as I did if this had been a standalone novel. It’s Archie that I read these books for. Archie who I made a connection with. And he was true to his character in this book. If you like thrillers, Cain’s books might be some you’d like to read.

[Karol Klakken May · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

While I enjoyed reading this book, it wasn't a page turner like the others in the "heart" series. I thought the poisonous octopus far-fetched. Also, the fact that Archie, Susan and the boy all nearly drowned but didn't defies the odds. I am looking forward to reading the next in the series!

[smithfieldjones · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Serial Killer, Gretchen Lowell, from "Evil at Heart' is behind bars, again, after nearly taking Portland Police Detective Archie Sheridan's life. Reporter Susan Ward is, as usual with unwavering determination, chasing the new potential serial killer threatening the lives of Portland, Oregon's population in the here and now; and, along with the ensuing Willamette River flooding under the torrent of heavy rains plaguing the area, comes the discovered bones of a potential victim of the infamous 1948 floods. Susan Ward has her hands full. Archie and Susan meet and eventually team-up, reluctantly on Archie's part, to find this new villain and bring him/her to justice. Great read for a summer day or a winter's eve--you'll have trouble putting it down. Well written, well plotted, and just a great read. You'll also learn a thing or two, about the beautiful city of Portland, Oregon, about nice people, about evil people, and about vulnerable children, and what all that can bring to our lives.

[adonisguilfoyle · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ah, now this is what I've been waiting for with this series - just Susan, Archie, and a straightforward murder mystery. No Gretchen bloody Lowell. I know she's the 'hook' for these books, but she isn't clever, she's just irritating. I notice that she makes a return in the next instalment, escaping yet again, yada yada, but for this one story, I was free!I really love stories based on historical fact, and the 1948 flood which led to the wartime city of Vanport being washed away certainly supplies enough old bones to tell a tale. The Willamette Valley flood of 1996 also creates an incredible atmosphere for Archie and Susan's investigation into drownings involving a deadly sea creature (I kid you not - but it works!) Everyone is wet through from beginning to end, sloshing around in wellies and plastic macs, to the point where I was grateful to be reading the story in the warmth and comfort of home!The case turns personal - again - for Archie, when poor Henry nearly becomes a victim of the river killer they are trying to trace (I'm not sure why he alone survives - hardly a spoiler! - apart from the Law of Main Characters). Susan, writing about a skeleton washed up in the flood, is also drawn into the investigation - again - when the killer leaves a memento in her purse. I don't even mind that these stories always seem to follow the same routine, usually climaxing in Susan walking straight into the killer's path and being taken hostage, because Susan and Archie are a great team (just don't mention the 'G' word). She's resourceful, he's dependable, and Chelsea Cain's storytelling is perfectly paced and very funny.Ah, well, back to the world's most boring serial killer in book five, darling.

[therinknite-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

[Cross-posted to Knite Writes]I’ve seen people complaining about Gretchen not being in this one, but I honestly think it was a breath of fresh air compared the weirdness of book three. Cain does a good job showing how Archie operates when Gretchen isn’t in the picture, which is something it’s been really hard to ascertain thus far given Gretchen’s overwhelming influence on him.I think it was interesting to see some Archie development that wasn’t directly related to his connection with Gretchen, especially concerning his feelings toward Susan, his team, Henry, and the kidnapped boy. We got to dig a lot deeper into Archie’s sacrificial hero complex and thoughts about himself as a leader. It’s a side of him that has long been overshadowed by his obsessiveness toward Gretchen and her mind games with him.Of course, the whole octopus thing still makes me laugh every time I think about it. Seriously? A unique murder weapon, sure, but it’s kind of ridiculous to think about using that thing to actually kill people. I kept trying to picture it. It was a little out there.And yet, I still found this one more plausible than book three. Take that as you will.

[bookappeal · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If you're hoping for a graphic murder spree committed by or connected to the utterly frightening, but hypnotic, Gretchen Lowell, you're going to be disappointed. The Night Season is still a good read -in fact, it's an easier read than previous Archie/Gretchen books - but Gretchen is safely ensconced in prison. Cain introduces a different kind of serial killer in a fast-paced, tense plot. She also gives the reader plenty of damaged, heroic Archie and provides more insight into Susan, too.