All Fall Down (DI Helen Grace #9) by M.J. Arlidge
Genre: Crime fiction, Police Procedural, Mystery
Read: 11th January 2021
Published: 11th June 2020
★★★ 3.5 stars
DESCRIPTION:
"You have one hour to live."
Those are the only words on the phone call. Then they hang up. Surely, a prank? A mistake? A wrong number? Anything but the chilling truth... That someone is watching, waiting, working to take your life in one hour.
But why?
The job of finding out falls to DI Helen Grace: a woman with a track record in hunting killers. However, this is A case where the killer seems to always be one step ahead of the police and the victims.
With no motive, no leads, no clues - nothing but pure fear - an hour can last a lifetime...
MY REVIEW:
Imagine clocking off at work, you're the last one to leave, you step into the lift that will take you to the basement...and then it shudders to a stop midway. You're suspended between floors 3 and 4, the lights have gone out in the lift, you're in complete darkness. And then...your mobile rings. At last! Someone knows you are stuck and is calling to let you know that help is on its way. But then, how do they know you are there? You answer. There is silence at the other end. And then...a voice speaks...
"You have one hour to live."
And then they hang up. Surely it's a prank? Someone having a laugh? A mistake even? A wrong number? Anything but the chilling truth.
This is what happens to Justin Lanning as he leaves work at 6pm on the dot. He calls his partner Adam frantically alerting him to what just happened, wondering what is going on. Between them, the pair decide it must have been a prank and bid each other goodbye and that they will see each other at home. Justin continues on his way to the basement where his car service is waiting to drive him home. As the familiar landscape passes him by, Justin mulls over the events that took place in the lift. He knows every twist and turn on these country lanes back to the little village where he lives. So when the car makes an unexpected turn, Justin becomes alert and tells the driver he has missed the turn to the village. But he drives on. The time is 18.47 as a chill sweeps over Justin. It's almost an hour since he received that call.
DI Helen Grace receives a call the following morning thata body has been found on an industrial site. She is joined by her team as they are tasked with the investigation. As soon as the victim's identity is revealed, Helen knows exactly who he is. Justin Lanning was one of a group of teenage school children who had been abducted by Daniel King eight years earlier and escaped his clutches. Although King was prepared to kill them all by torching the farm and fleeing, all of them but one was able to escape and alert authorities. Is Lanning's death now somehow related to his escape from it 8 years ago?
And then there is the impending release of a memoir written by one of the survivors, Maxine Pryce, who has taken their story and made it her own...as seem by Lanning presumably. There is publicity surrounding the case as well as Pryce's memoir and Helen must fight against it as well as a dogged outspoken journalist looking for her next big scoop, who is nothing if not a thorn in her side. But then when a second of the remaining abduction victims is murdered, Helen cannot help but see a clear pattern. Is Daniel King still out there and come back to finish the job he started?
I've only read one other book in this series, that being "Eeny Meeny", and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I love Arlidge's grittiness and the realness he portrays in both the victims and those investigating. Helen Grace is battered female sleuth like no other. She gets knocked down time and time again, coming away with yet more scars to add to her collection, and yet she still gets right back up again and gets on with it. Sometimes I don't much like her and yet at others I admire her strength and tenacity. She always uncovers the truth and gets her man...or woman.
ALL FALL DOWN is another fast paced mystery, helped along by the short snappy chapters which keeps the reader engaged. There is plenty of action, plenty of twists and plenty of mystery to keep the reader guessing. This is another well plotted thriller from Arlidge and, although is the ninth in the series, it can safely be read as a standalone. But to appreciate the full background of Helen Grace and her team it is always best to start from the beginning of the series, but it does suffice on its own.
Perfect for fans of Angela Marsons, Stuart MacBride and Alex Gray.
I would like to thank #MJArlidge, #NetGalley and #OrionPublishing for an ARC of #AllFallDown in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Matthew Arlidge was born in London in 1974, the youngest of four siblings. He grew up in Hampstead, North London, attending University College School from 7–18 years of age. In between school and university, he travelled, teaching in a school in southern India, as well as visiting Singapore and Australia. On his return to the UK, he studied for an English Literature degree at St Johns College, Cambridge. During this period he won the Douglas Chivers prize for outstanding Shakespeare scholarship. He subsequently spent a year studying Film and Television Production at Bristol University.
His early career was in television production, starting at EastEnders, the BBC1 soap opera. He began as a story liner, later graduating to become a script editor. After 18 months there, he left to work for Ecosse Films, a British Film and TV production company, spending two years story-lining and editing the BBC1 series Monarch of the Glen. He then became a TV development producer with the same company, creating new shows for BBC, ITV, and C4 such as Mistresses and Cape Wrath. In 2007, Arlidge set up his own production company, TXTV Limited, with colleagues Jeremy Gwilt and Chris Lang. He executive-produced a number of British crime serials, including Torn, The Little House and Undeniable. Arlidge has also written for other crime series, including Silent Witness.
Arlidge's first novel was published in May 2014.Eeny Meeny introduced British police officer Detective Inspector Helen Grace. Other Helen Grace novels followed, including Pop Goes the Weasel and The Doll's House. Several more Helen Grace novels are scheduled for release in the UK and other international markets, including the US, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway and France.
Detective Inspector Helen Grace is the heroine of Arlidge's series of serial killer thrillers set in and around the English coastal city of Southampton. A tough, determined police officer who rides a motorbike and prefers to travel through life alone, she nevertheless is beset by personal demons. The legacy of a troubled childhood makes itself felt through her mood swings and tendency towards depression. She neither drinks nor takes drugs, so expiates her dark moods through the controlled use of pain, administered to her by her loyal dominator, Jake. She lives alone, takes occasional lovers and is deeply committed to her work. The criminals she pursues are sadistic, violent and determined, meaning Helen has to put her life on the line to bring them in. She is assisted by a number of colleagues at Southampton Central, most notably her loyal friend, DC Charlene "Charlie" Brooks.
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