ARE YOU LISTENING? KILL YOU TWICE: AN AUDIO BOOK GUEST REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

WELCOME TO BOOKIN' WITH BINGO'S"
ARE YOU LISTENING? DAY"
I AM EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE TODAY'S
AUDIO BOOK CHOICE....

 GIVEAWAY ENDED
KILL YOU TWICE

BY CHELSEA CAIN

READ BY CHRISTINA DeLAINE

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Nothing makes Portland detective Archie Sheridan happier than knowing that Gretchen Lowell—the serial killer whose stunning beauty is belied by the gruesome murders she’s committed—is locked away in a psych ward. Archie can finally heal from the near-fatal physical and emotional wounds she’s inflicted on him and start moving on with his life.

To this end, Archie throws himself into the latest case to come across his desk: A cyclist has discovered a corpse in Mount Tabor Park on the eastern side of Portland. The man was gagged, skinned, and found hanging by his wrists from a tree. It’s the work of a killer bold and clever enough to torture his victim for hours on a sunny summer morning in a big public park and yet leave no trace.

And then Archie gets a message he can’t ignore—Gretchen claims to have inside knowledge about this grisly murder. Archie finally agrees to visit Gretchen, because he can’t risk losing his only lead in the case. At least, that’s what he tells himself . . . but the ties between Archie and Gretchen have always been stronger, deeper, and more complex than he’s willing to admit, even to himself. What game is she playing this time? And even more frightening, what long-hidden secrets from Gretchen’s past have been dredged up that someone would kill to protect?

At once terrifying and magnetic, “Beauty Killer” Gretchen Lowell returns with a vengeance in Kill You Twice, Chelsea Cain’s latest razor-sharp psychological thriller.
AN EXCERPT FROM KILL YOU TWICE:

CHAPTER 1
Archie Sheridan slept with the light on. The pills on his bedside table were Ambien. A year before they would have been pain pills. Vicodin. Oxycodone. A cheerful skyline of amber plastic bottles. Even now the table looked empty without the clutter. Just the Ambien, a cell phone, a week-old glass of tap water, and a red gooseneck lamp from IKEA.

His kept his gun in the drawer. On the nights the kids weren’t there, he slept with it loaded.

The Ambien prescription was untouched. Archie just liked to know it was there. Sleeping pills made Archie groggy, and groggy wasn’t a luxury he could afford. If the phone rang, if someone died, he needed to go to work.Besides, it wasn’t getting to sleep that was the problem. It was staying asleep. He woke up every morning at three A.M., and was awake for an hour. That was how it had gone since the flood. Now he just figured it in. Went to bed an hour earlier. Compensated. He didn’t mind it. As long as he controlled his thoughts, kept his mind from wandering to bad places, he was fine. Focus on the present. Avoid the dark.

To finish reading this excerpt, visit the Macmillan Audio Book website HERE. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Chelsea Cain is the New York Times bestselling author of The Night Season, Evil at Heart, Sweetheart, and Heartsick. Both Heartsick and Sweetheart were listed in Stephen King’s Top Ten Books of the Year in Entertainment Weekly. Chelsea lived the first few years of her life on an Iowa commune, then grew up in Bellingham, WA, where the infamous Green River killer was “the boogieman” of her youth. The true story of the Green River killer’s capture was the inspiration for the story of Gretchen and Archie. Cain lives in Portland with her husband and daughter.

ABOUT THE NARRATOR:

Christina Delaine is an accomplished stage and voicover actress. Onstage, she has performed atThe Public Theater, Trinity Repertory Company, Actors Theater of Louisville, Ensemble Studio Theater and Peterborough Players. Notably, she has also acted in JEWTOPIA, the longest running comedy in off-Broadway history and the title role in ANTIGONE at both Portland Center Stage and Kentucky Repertory Theater. A voice over artist and audio book narrator, Christina has voiced scores of commercials as well as the works of several New York Times Best Sellers, including Chelsea Cain and Erica Spindler, and is an AudioFile Earphones Award winner.   She recently completed work on the film "WHO KILLED CHANDRA LEVY?"

PRAISE FOR KILL YOU TWICE:

“Utterly fresh and compelling. . .Cain hits the narrative throttle with all cylinders firing. Like the best thriller writers, though, she knows how to ease off the throttle, too, making room for subtle and satisfying character interplay but at the same time building tension as we wait for the narrative to burst into overdrive once again. Masterful on every level.”—Booklist (starred review)

"Utter engrossing. . .Cain [creates] riveting character drama between two damaged souls."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

GUEST REVIEW FOR KILL YOU TWICE:
With great pride, I am able to have a wonderful, amazing reviewer today who will be my last Guest Reviewer of the Summer. Steve Capell has become a friend through blogging and reviewing over these last 3+ years. I have never met him in person but still feel so lucky to have a friend like this in my life. Steve and his wife have been suffering along with so many Americans through this awful drought this summer. Yet, he is always there to cheer me up and give me positive thoughts when I need them. He is a remarkable person as well as a top notch reviewer. Please enjoy Steve Capell's review of KILL YOU TWICE.

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The protagonist Archie Sheridan is a homicide detective that works for the Portland, Oregon police department. Archie pays a visit to Gretchen Lowell who is serving time at a psychiatric hospital for her previous unnerving, horrific, and painful murders that she committed in her past. Archie describes Gretchen as a woman with such stunning beauty and eyes that are passionately blue. Archie knows the type of torture that Gretchen can wield as he was a recipient of one of her bloody rampages. During his visit with Gretchen he is told of a man that he needs to find in order to put an end to some of latest slayings that have occurred to the innocent people of Portland. Archie is not sure what to make of Gretchen's statements ... could she really know who is behind these slayings or is this just another way to further satisfy her mentally deranged mind. The one thing Archie knows for sure he is that Portland is  much safer now that Gretchen is locked away in a psychiatric hospital and he now has the time to bring justice to whoever is behind the latest slayings.

My thoughts.

I will say up front that this audio book by Macmillan Audio really brought the character's to life. Christina Delaine, Macmillan's Audio Book narrator, was able to narrate the dialog of these characters in way that I felt sometimes they were breathing on my neck ... that was a bone chilling experience. Her tone of voice is one that really allowed me to experience the overall end product of this novel. I saw the following excerpt on Macmillan's web page concerning her bio:

Christina Delaine is an accomplished stage and voiceover actress. Onstage, she has performed at The Public Theater, Trinity Repertory Company, Actors Theater of Louisville, Ensemble Studio Theater and Peterborough Players. Notably, she has also acted in JEWTOPIA, the longest running comedy in off-Broadway history and the title role in ANTIGONE at both Portland Center Stage and Kentucky Repertory Theater. A voice over artist and audio book narrator, Christina has voiced scores of commercials as well as the works of several New York Times Best Sellers, including Chelsea Cain and Erica Spindler, and is an AudioFile Earphones Award winner.   She recently completed work on the film "WHO KILLED CHANDRA LEVY?"

The plot of Chelsea Cain's novel flows sequentially forward at a very effective and brisk pace. There were times that I felt I couldn't turn the audio off because the ongoing plot was so alluring and captivating.

The characters are complex, fully developed, and as mentioned earlier I swear some were breathing on my neck.

So what could of been done better or differently about this audio book? I always try to find something that could of been done differently or better; however, it is very difficult to name anything major that I would like to change. I like the fact the ending wasn't predictable and also the ending came when I wasn't expecting it. The ending tied up all the lose ends of the plot in a very satisfying conclusion, but  Chelsea Cain leaves enough wiggle room in the ending of this novel for another novel to be written. The one caution that I will give all readers and listeners of this novel is listener beware -- this novel is full of some very detailed horrific torture and death descriptions. There is also a fair amount of sexual activities that are also detailed in this novel. Most thriller type novels that are written today delve into at least one of these areas if not both areas. I am only bringing this up in my review because a reader and or listener needs to be informed that this material is for adults only and not written for the faint of heart. My personal opinion is that this writing could have been as compelling with maybe not as much of the details of some of crime scenes and the sexual encounters. I am not lowering my rating of this novel because the writer added this a fair amount of adult material to the novel, but I did feel it was more than I was expecting.

Who should read this novel or listen to this novel?

Anyone that likes fast paced thrillers with well developed characters will want to pick this one up. I understand that Chelsea Cain has several novels in this series and if you are a follower of her novels this one will be a must read. One final note that I will plug again is the narrator of this novel ... if you haven't listened to any narrations done by Christina Delaine then this would be the perfect time to witness a superb narration ... you will love the way she brings breathable life from the text of this superbly written novel.

Anyway a good novel and well worth the  4.5 rating out of 5 that I am giving this one.

---Reviewed by Steve Capell 

GIVEAWAY

THANKS TO ESTHER AND MY FRIENDS AT

MACMILLAN AUDIO, I HAVE ONE COPY OF 

KILL YOU TWICE BY CHELSEA CAIN,

TO GIVE AWAY TO ONE LUCKY READER

 

--U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY
--NO P. O. BOXES, PLEASE
--INCLUDE EMAIL ADDRESS IN COMMENT
--ALL ENTRIES/COMMENTS MUST BE
SEPARATE IN ORDER TO COUNT
AS MORE THAN ONE ENTRY

HOW TO ENTER:

+1 ENTRY: READ ABOUT THE AUDIO BOOK ABOVE AND COMMENT ON SOMETHING YOU FOUND INTERESTING ABOUT KILL YOU TWICE THAT WOULD MAKE YOU WANT TO WIN THIS AUDIO BOOK

+1 MORE ENTRY: BLOG OR TWEET ABOUT THIS GIVEAWAY AND LEAVE A LINK I CAN FOLLOW IN THE ENTRY

+1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT ON SOMETHING YOU FIND INTERESTING AT CHELSEA CAIN'S WEBSITE HERE

+1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT ON ONE CURRENT GIVEAWAY OF MINE YOU HAVE ENTERED. IF YOU ENTERED MORE THAN ONE, COMMENT SEPARATELY FOR EACH AND YOU WILL GET AN ENTRY FOR EACH ONE

+1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT ON ONE WAY YOU FOLLOW MY BLOG. IF YOU FOLLOW MORE THAN ONE WAY, YOU CAN COMMENT SEPARATELY AND EACH WILL COUNT AS AN ENTRY

 

GIVEAWAY ENDS AT

6 PM, EST, AUGUST 31

GOOD LUCK!