Tag Archives: novels set in Southampton

#BookReview ‘Down to the Woods’ by MJ Arlidge @mjarlidge #crimefiction

7 Replies

One thing you know to expect from a DI Helen Grace book; the first theory and suspect she comes up with will not be the killer, usually the second one isn’t either. And you believe her each time. So just when you are wondering who the killer can possibly be, the book races to its conclusion and you never guessed it though the clues are there. Down to the Woods is the eighth in the Grace series by MJ Arlidge. He is expert at twisting, turning, somersaulting the plot and part of the fun as a reader is figuring out the puzzle he has set. MJ ArlidgeIn the New Forest, campers are disappearing from their tents and being chased through the isolated woods before being killed. I didn’t dwell on the gruesome bits; I prefer the puzzle part of crime novels, the answers are always with the people. Apart from PD James and Susan Hill, this is the series of crime novels I keep on reading. Why? Because Helen Grace is an unusual heroine; she is strong but vulnerable, confident yet quaking inside, spiky but desperate for companionship. For the moment that support comes from her team. The secondary story of her DS, Charlie Brooks, continues. Charlie’s daughter Jessie is having nightmares and the household is short on sleep, while Charlie’s husband Steve wants another baby. And there is a new DS, tall, dark, motorbike riding DS Hudson. Local reporter Emilia Garanita is pushing for the big story, overstepping the line, being a nuisance, endangering herself, as usual.
Just when I was beginning to think Helen was less of a livewire, running into danger without thinking first, when she does exactly that. Down to the Woods is perhaps a little less explosive than the earlier books, but this is now a mature crime series and Helen is 45. The challenge for Arlidge is to come up with stories that keep us guessing right until the end without relying totally on Helen. Female characters – Helen, Charlie and Emilia – are undoubtedly Arlidge’s strength and it will be interesting to see if DS Joseph Hudson joins the team on a permanent basis.
One thing disappointed me. More than any previous book, there seemed to be a lot of repetition of stuff the reader can work out for herself; of the ‘if this happens then that might be next’ sort of question. No need for the summarising.

Read my reviews other books in this series:-
EENY MEENY #1HELENGRACE
POP GOES THE WEASEL #2HELENGRACE
THE DOLL’S HOUSE #3HELENGRACE
LIAR LIAR #4HELENGRACE
LITTLE BOY BLUE #5HELENGRACE
HIDE AND SEEK #6HELENGRACE
LOVE ME NOT #7 HELENGRACE

If you like this, try:-
‘Wolf’ by Mo Hayder
‘Nightfall’ by Stephen Leather #1JACK NIGHTINGALE
‘Hiding the Past’ by Nathan Dylan Goodwin #1MORTONFARRIER

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview DOWN TO THE WOODS by MJ Arlidge @mjarlidge https://wp.me/p5gEM4-3z6 via @SandraDanby

#BookReview ‘Hide and Seek’ by MJ Arlidge @mjarlidge #crimefiction

7 Replies

Different from the preceding five books in the series and even faster-paced, Hide and Seek by MJ Arlidge is a relentless page-turner. DI Helen Grace is in prison, awaiting trial. Unsurprisingly, as a copper she receives brute treatment from her fellow inmates. And then one of them is killed and the prisoners don’t know who to fear – Grace, who is accused of murder; a fellow prisoner; or a prison guard. MJ ArlidgeThe action switches viewpoint as Helen tries to identify the killer and prevent him killing again. Her friend DC Charlie Brooks is on the outside, trying to prove Helen’s innocence and find the real murderer, the prison governor can’t cope, and the killer is planning the next attack. Meanwhile the aggressive journalist Emilia Garanita is somehow getting photos from within the prison. While Helen is struggling to survive from one day to the next, the prison guards are under-staffed and under-pressure.
Helen uses a few old prisoner tricks to unlock her cell door and move around the prison, I don’t know how realistic this is but it certainly moved the story along. How often do murders happen in a prison wing at night when the prisoners are locked in their cells?
This is a series to read from the beginning if you are to get the most out of Helen Grace’s ongoing story.

Read my reviews other books in this series:-
EENY MEENY #1HELENGRACE
POP GOES THE WEASEL #2HELENGRACE
THE DOLL’S HOUSE #3HELENGRACE
LIAR LIAR #4HELENGRACE
LITTLE BOY BLUE #5HELENGRACE
LOVE ME NOT #7HELENGRACE
DOWN TO THE WOODS #8 HELENGRACE

If you like this, try:-
‘The Nationalist’ by Campbell Hart #2ARBOGAST
‘The Pure in Heart’ by Susan Hill #2SIMONSERRAILLER
‘The Black Tower’ by PD James #5ADAMDALGLIESH

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview HIDE AND SEEK by MJ Arlidge @mjarlidge via @SandraDanby http://wp.me/p5gEM4-2mH

#BookReview ‘Liar Liar’ by MJ Arlidge @mjarlidge #crimefiction

8 Replies

I loved the ending… a tasty titbit to make me anticipate the fifth book in the series by MJ Arlidge about Southampton detective Helen Grace. Don’t start reading an MJ Arlidge novel, unless you have nothing to do but read. Because the story moves so fast you won’t want to put it down. Liar Liar is the fourth in Arlidge’s Helen Grace series set in Southampton, UK. MJ ArlidgeArlidge is an expert storyteller, he has created two likeable female detectives – DI Helen Grace and DC Charlie Brooks – and put them in a real, gritty, believable setting.
The writing is graphic. The theme of this book is fire – there’s an arsonist on the loose in Southampton, setting serial fires – so the description of fire in all its stages and its after effects is at times graphic. Is someone trying to cover up a crime? Could it be a revenge attack on one person disguised by multiple fires? Or is it an insider with a grudge?
It is a quick read, 448 pages. Arlidge writes TV drama and his skill at keeping the tension going is clear on every page.

Read my reviews other books in this series:-
EENY MEENY #1HELENGRACE
POP GOES THE WEASEL #2HELENGRACE
THE DOLL’S HOUSE #3HELENGRACE
LITTLE BOY BLUE #5HELENGRACE
HIDE AND SEEK #6HELENGRACE
LOVE ME NOT #7HELENGRACE
DOWN TO THE WOODS #8 HELENGRACE

If you like this, try:-
‘Big Sky’ by Kate Atkinson #5JACKSONBRODIE
‘Wolf’ by Mo Hayder
‘Due Diligence’ by DJ Harrison #1JENNYPARKER

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview LIAR LIAR by MJ Arlidge @mjarlidge http://wp.me/p5gEM4-1PW via @SandraDanby

#BookReview ‘The Doll’s House’ by MJ Arlidge @mjarlidge #crimefiction

8 Replies

Vulnerable women are disappearing and Detective Inspector Helen Grace suspects another serial killer. If so, it will be her third, and her success is causing tensions amongst her team in Southampton. In The Doll’s House, MJ Arlidge tells a taut story about girls, captured and confined in dark, dismal places. MJ ArlidgeIn the first chapter, a woman wakes in a dark cellar, and a young family on a day trip to the beach finds a body buried in the sand. This ticks so many boxes for me: the real Southampton setting, the believable Helen Grace, the police politics, Helen’s continuing relationship with fellow officer Charlie.
This is a convincing portrayal of Ruby, a troubled young woman with family issues, who wants to put things right. She was adopted and had a happy childhood, but a reunion with her birth mother sours her life and she disappears. Her mother receives only brief texts and tweets, saying she is trying to sort out her life.
This is a clever killer who keeps his victims alive beyond their grave.

Read my reviews other books in this series:-
EENY MEENY #1HELENGRACE
POP GOES THE WEASEL #2HELENGRACE
LIAR LIAR #4HELENGRACE
LITTLE BOY BLUE #5HELENGRACE
HIDE AND SEEK #6HELENGRACE
LOVE ME NOT #7HELENGRACE
DOWN TO THE WOODS #8HELENGRACE

If you like this, try:-
‘Cover her Face’ by PD James #1ADAMDALGLIESH
‘No Other Darkness’ by Sarah Hilary #2MARNIEROME
‘The Various Haunts of Men’ by Susan Hill #1SIMONSERRAILLER

And if you’d like to share a link:
#BookReview THE DOLL’S HOUSE by MJ Arlidge @mjarlidge http://wp.me/p5gEM4-1B8 via @SandraDanby

#Bookreview ‘Eeny Meeny’ by MJ Arlidge @mjarlidge #crimefiction

20 Replies

MJ Arlidge has worked in television, most recently producing crime serials for ITV, and so it is no surprise that Eeny Meeny is an accomplished debut crime novel. I found it disturbing from chapter one which takes you straight into the head of one person, looking at another person sleeping, wondering how to kill him. For one to escape their prison, the other must die. They have been imprisoned with a loaded gun and a message on a mobile phone: ‘when one of you kills the other, the survivor will walk free’. MJ ArlidgeFor Detective Inspector Helen Grace, this first case of murder is quickly followed by another kidnapping/murder, and another. Hiding her own demons beneath a veneer of efficiency and emotional self-sufficiency, Grace is out-stepped again and again by a killer who seems a master of disguise as well as being that most rare of things: a female serial killer. Grace fits the profile of a modern literary detective: a loner, with a troubled past and full of guilt. The investigation seems to twist and turn in on itself, turning attention on the police, and on Grace herself. I found myself rooting for her, until finally at the end we understand her guilt. I look forward to reading another novel about DI Helen Grace.

Read my reviews of the following books in this series:-
POP GOES THE WEASEL #2HELENGRACE
THE DOLL’S HOUSE #3HELENGRACE
LIAR LIAR #4HELENGRACE
LITTLE BOY BLUE #5HELENGRACE
HIDE AND SEEK #6HELENGRACE
LOVE ME NOT #7HELENGRACE
DOWN TO THE WOODS #8HELENGRACE

If you like this, try:-
‘One False Move’ by Harlan Coben #5MYRONBOLITAR
‘Due Diligence’ by DJ Harrison #1JENNYPARKER
‘Wilderness’ by Campbell Hart #1ARBOGAST

And if you’d like to share a link, try:
#BookReview EENY MEENY by MJ Arlidge @mjarlidge http://wp.me/p5gEM4-Ot via @SandraDanby