The Doll's House

The Doll's House by M.J. Arlidge
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

M.J. Arlidge pulls it off again. Fast paced and exciting, The Doll’s House is book three in the Detective Inspector Helen Grace series. Eeny Meeny and Pop Goes The Weasel are the first two and you should read these first as there are threads that start in book one and continue through The Doll’s House. Short chapters add to the relentless pace - 434 pages contain no less than 142 of them and Arlidge uses this pacy rhythm to rack up the tension. The office politics and backstabbing continues and there is one very satisfactory conclusion that got a ‘hooray’ from me (no spoiler though). Helen Grace is a determined, tough but damaged character - events that hark back to her childhood. For all that it makes her plausible and human. Her antagonist is really scary, but then they all have been. As soon as the first body is found, fasten your seatbelt and be ready for a roller-coaster ride. I loved it.

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Pop Goes The Weasel

Pop Goes the Weasel (Helen Grace,#2). by M.J. Arlidge
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Another fast-paced thriller from M.J.Arlidge, Pop Goes The Weasel is the 2nd in the DI Helen Grace series, following on from Eeny Meeny. Arlidge uses short chapters to heighten the tension creating a roller-coaster ride through 425 pages that I finished in two days. Like Eeny Meeny, PGTW features a female serial killer, her victims being subjected to a particularly gruesome fate. Grace powers her way through the book on her Kawasaki motorbike. Grace is a strong and determined character but the one totally bizarre aspect of the story (as in the first book) is her propensity for clandestine visits to ‘Jake’ who whips here with a riding crop, to help her relax! It is the one aspect of these riveting thrillers that I find rather pointless. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed PGTW and recommend it to those who enjoy a good police procedural.

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