#BlogTour ‘All Fall Down’ by MJ Arlidge

About the book…

“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…

Huge thanks to Tracy Fenton of Compulsive Readers and Orion for inviting me on the blogtour for ‘All Fall Down’ by MJ Arlidge, book 9 in his Helen Grace series of mysteries.

I have to confess to still working my way through the Helen Grace novels, they can be read as standalones, whereas I have been picking them up as and where I can. There are characters in the ‘All Fall Down’ which relate to an earlier case of Helen’s, so readers more familiar than I am might recognise names from other books, but it does not detract in any way from this story. This is what I love about MJ’s books-he makes you want to read his other ones by giving small, teaser-y details of other cases without being overly expositional. He draws quick pencil sketches of the principle characters such as Helen, Charlie(fellow police officer about to go on maternity leave)and Emma(trouble making reporter) which leave you wanting to know more .

This case, as previously mentioned, harks back to an earlier one where 5 teens were kidnapped, held hostage and only 4 escaped. The killer, who had previously attempted to abduct 2 young girls, managed to avoid capture, and his belongings were found at the seaside, some miles away, giving the impression he had committed suicide.

So there is a potential bogeyman who has haunted the police, intrepid journalist Emma who is fascinated by the case and one of the survivors, Martyna, who wrote a book about the experience. Another, Justin, has managed to put this behind him and nearly a decade later has a successful business and relationship. Until he gets stuck in a life at work, and in the middle of the panic, receives a phone call telling him he has an hour to live.

The suspense filled, short chapters leap back and forth between Helen, Charlie, Justin(in the beginning) and extracts of Martyna’s book. M is fab at leaving cliffhanger endings which urge you to read on, you are convinced Justin is going to die in the lift over the next hour and then BAM! You are riding alongside Helen and her co-worker/friend with benefits Joseph on her Kawasaki motorbike. Breathe. And then back to Justin and you think, phew, he got out of the lift, must have been a practical joke. But then, he never actually gets home…

As Helen goes about tracking down the other survivors of the kidnapping, with a killer lurking in the background, there is a neat counterpoint to her ‘not sure whether to commit to Joseph’ storyline in Charlie’s impending second baby. As the third part of the triangle, Emma, ace reporter is one of those characters whose tenacity and doggedness is either going to endear you to her or make her annoying(depending on if she is interviewing you or not!)

The constantly changing narrators make the pace snappy, other readers may find that they aren’t left alone with them enough to get to know them, but personally I found it drove the plot forward and made it an easy read-this is hopefully coming across as a compliment as I find some crime novels tend to over fill short chapters and somehow slow down the pace.

Helen is hunting a killer who is working to a schedule-she has to stop them before they take all of the survivors and finish a job started 8 years previously.

A cracking thriller which will please fans of Helen Grace and have been eagerly waiting for her to return,I can recommend picking up a copy of this at your nearest bookshop or downloading it to your Kindle.

About the author…

M.J. Arlidge has worked in television for the last 15 years, specialising in high end drama production. Arlidge has produced a number of prime-time crime serials for ITV In the last five years.

He is the author of the bestselling DI Helen Grace mysteries, as well as standalone thriller, ‘A Gift For The Dying’

Twitter @mjarlidge @Tr4cyF3nt0n 

Links-https://www.compulsivereaders.com/