Liar Liar (Helen Grace #4) by M.J. Arlidge

Detective Helen Grace has never seen such destruction. Six fires in twenty-four hours. Two people dead. Several more injured. It’s as if someone wants to burn the city to the ground…

With the whole town on high alert, Helen and her team must sift through the rubble to find the arsonist, someone whose thirst for fire—and control—is reducing entire lives to ashes.

One misstep could mean Helen’s career—and more lives lost. And as the pressure mounts and more buildings burn, Helen’s own dark impulses threaten to consume her…

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I don’t think I have ever read a book where fires were the main focus point and the cause of death in so many cases. It was a bit terrifying since I have a fear of fires and my house burning down! I was getting a bit emotional reading about the families being trapped in their burning homes.

Since this is the 4th novel in the series, I was pretty familiar with the characters and the structure of the novel. I’m torn on the ending though. I liked how the fire starter was revealed and the reasons behind why they did it. However, I wasn’t too satisfied with the final ending. Of course, it’s hard to say why I didn’t like it without spoiling anything!

3 calculators out of a potential 5. I’m really enjoying this series and I’m going with the lower rating just because this novel wasn’t as good as the previous novels. It was a still a great mystery!

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The Doll’s House (Helen Grace #3) by M.J. Arlidge

A young woman wakes up in a cold, dark cellar, with no idea how she got there or who her kidnapper is. So begins her terrible nightmare.

Nearby, the body of another young woman is discovered buried on a remote beach. But the dead girl was never reported missing – her estranged family having received regular texts from her over the years. Someone has been keeping her alive from beyond the grave.

For Detective Inspector Helen Grace it’s chilling evidence that she’s searching for a monster who is not just twisted but also clever and resourceful – a predator who’s killed before.

And as Helen struggles to understand the killer’s motivation, she begins to realize that she’s in a desperate race against time…

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The Doll’s House is the third novel in the Helen Grace series. I loved the first book in the series (Eeny Meeny) and liked, but didn’t love the second book (Pop Goes the Weasel). With the third novel, I’m more in love with the series and have already reserved the fourth novel from the library!

I liked the different twist that the author put on the missing person cases, which is keeping the victim “alive” by sending out texts and tweets from their cell phones to their loved ones. How can someone be dead if they are still tweeting?!

The focus of this novel has also shifted to show more detectives within Helen’s team, instead of just having the focus being on Helen. I liked how we get to know the other team members and it demonstrates that it takes a team, not just one person, to solve a crime.

The mystery was also really well done. You learn along with Helen and her team who is responsible for the murders and it was really well paced. I kept wanting to read more and more to find out who was the killer.

4 calculators out of a potential 5. If you love mysteries that are a little darker, pick up the Helen Grace series!

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Pop Goes the Weasel (Helen Grace, #2) by M.J. Arlidge

The body of a middle-aged man is discovered in Southampton’s red-light district – horrifically mutilated, with his heart removed. Hours later – and barely cold – the heart arrives with his wife and children by courier.

A pattern emerges when another male victim is found dead and eviscerated, his heart delivered soon afterwards. The media call it Jack the Ripper in reverse; revenge against the men who lead sordid double lives visiting prostitutes. For Grace, only one thing is certain: there’s a vicious serial-killer at large who must be halted at all costs…

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This is the second novel in the Helen Grace series and for those that can remember, I raved about the first novel in the series a few weeks ago (Eeny Meeny (Helen Grace #1) by M.J. Arlidge).

Pop Goes the Weasel was still pretty good, but I didn’t like it as much as the first book in the series (hence the lower rating). It’s best to start the series from the start, since there is a lot of spoilers in the second novel, including the name of the killer from the first novel.

There was a lot of different character angles in this novel and I got pretty confused early on. It was hard to tell which person was who and how they connected with each other. It got a bit easier when the novel continued (and when some characters got killed off).

I find myself comparing the series to Angela Marson’s Kim Stone series and found that there are a ton of similarities between the two. I really like the Kim Stone series and like that series a little bit more than the Helen Grace series.

3 calculators out of a potential 5. A great mystery that may be a bit disturbing to some. I’m liking the series and excited to read more.

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Eeny Meeny (Helen Grace #1) by M.J. Arlidge

Two people are abducted, imprisoned, and left with a gun. As hunger and thirst set in, only one walks away alive.

It’s a game more twisted than any Detective Helen Grace has ever seen. If she hadn’t spoken with the shattered survivors herself, she almost wouldn’t believe them.

Helen is familiar with the dark sides of human nature, including her own, but this case—with its seemingly random victims—has her baffled. But as more people go missing, nothing will be more terrifying than when it all starts making sense…

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Kill or be killed. Die or live with your choice for the rest of your life. Wow, what a crazy thriller! This is a novel that you don’t want to miss!

Two people are kidnapped and are forced to make an impossible decision. There is a gun and only one bullet. The one that survives is let go.

We are introduced to Detective Helen Grace and she is pretty kick ass. She doesn’t care what others think about her and is fully dedicated to her job. To those that have read the Kim Stone series by Angela Marsons and the Erika Foster series by Robert Bryndza, I found that there are many similarities between Helen, Kim and Erika.

I really enjoyed the mystery and found that it was very well done. I was surprised by the decisions made by the couples and the way that the mystery ended up. I also liked how we got to see what happened to the survivors after they escaped. Arlidge did a great job showing that even though the traumatic event is over, the efforts on the victims is never over.

Only small negatives were that there was too much going on and a ton of different views. It was hard to keep track of who was who. I also wasn’t a fan of the “Jake” scenes and found that they weren’t really needed.

This novel won’t be for everyone. There are some graphic scenes that some could find disturbing.

4 calculators out of a potential 5. I already reserved the second book in the series and I would highly recommend this novel!

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