I’m a big fan of the Helen Grace books, but goodness Mathew Arlidge doesn’t half put her through some tough stuff. This book is no exception. Just when you begin to think that D.I. Grace might be in danger of getting a life, Arlidge puts a halt to that in no uncertain terms.
The case this time dates back some years ago to when a group of five teenage schoolchildren were outward bounding for their Duke of Edinburgh Award. Out on the moors, the mists fell and unaccompanied and trying to find their way back over rough terrain, they were forced to take shelter in a run-down farmhouse where their worst nightmares were enacted.
Not all of them would make it out alive.
Years later, that night still haunts them and now one of that group has written a book about the events of that night, while the others prefer to stay out of the limelight.
Then one receives a call telling them that they have one hour to live and sure enough, our killer is true to their word. Some, it seems, is picking off the members of that group. With precious little to go on and finding that Emily Garanita, Helen’s least favourite journalist, always seems to be in the know if not one step ahead, Helen and her team are faced with a race against time to save the last members of the group.
As ever, Arlidge creates a fast moving, gruesome story with a terrific villain and a lot of grief for Helen. Helen has swapped other forms of stress relief for speed and now she de-stresses by taking her leather clad body out on her motor bike and going hell for leather until she can’t go any further.
Charlie, her colleague, friend and confidante is heavily pregnant and a new bloke seems to be shaping up well, but there is something about him that makes Helen wonder. Helen’s boss Simmons still has her back, but she, too, is coming under pressure from above to make sure this case is solved as Garanita contrives to make the investigation look pretty bad.
With so much pressure, the tension really is taut all the way through and the adrenaline ride is intense as we go with Helen on her racing trip to find the killer before it is too late. The narrative is all-consuming and I was lost in this book from the first five minutes right through to the end.
Verdict: All Fall Down is everything we have come to expect from M.J. Arlidge and this series. It is a fabulous, exciting and riveting read.

Another brilliant book in this series. I read this story in one sitting. It is a fast paced and compelling read. The plot was really well written and kept me guessing. I hope there are more books to come.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

"You have one hour to live."

Receiving a phone call and hearing that one sentence is enough to freak anyone out, is it a joke, a prank call or do you take it seriously?

But why?

Some years earlier, five teenagers were abducted whilst on a D of E course, four of them managed to escape and have gone on to live pretty normal lives, until now, when two of them receive that call and are subsequently found dead, the police fear their abductor has returned and are determined to save the other two.

With no motive, no leads, no clues - nothing but pure fear - an hour can last a lifetime... 

All Fall Down is the ninth book in the Helen Grace series, once again Arlidge draws the reader in from the start, creating just enough tension to get the tastebuds tickled and the heart racing. Helen Grace and her team are a formidable combination and you know that they will stop at nothing and leave no stone unturned in the quest to find their killer, whatever the consequences. The story consists of short choppy chapters and doesn't stay still long enough for the reader to lose interest. It's a fast paced, tense read with more twists than a helter skelter. This book works perfectly as a standalone, but it's always better to be read in order of the series to understand the background of Helen and her team.

I'd like to thank Orion and Netgalley for the auto approval, I will post my review on Goodreads and Amazon.

Once again Mr Arlidge you have written a great book, with lots of twists and turns and, even though I kind of worked out what was coming, I applaud your disguise! This is the 9th book in the DI Helen Grace series and although you could read this as a stand-alone I would highly recommend starting from the beginning if you can. I have absolutely loved this series and can’t wait for the next one. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Orion for letting me read and review this book.

This is one of the most heart-pounding thrillers I’ve read!

This book can easily be read as a standalone. I hadn’t read any Helen Grace books before this one, but I certainly want to go back and read them all now. She’s a fascinating and complex character, and I’d love to know more about her.

While certainly a chilling read, with a great build-up, the pace of this superbly plotted book is rollercoaster fast. It’s truly edge of the seat stuff, and almost movie-like in the quality of the drama.

There’s a bit of a dual storyline going on, with elements of the victims’ past being brought in. There’s also an interesting twist to the police procedural timeline, with a particularly tenacious journalist who is sometimes one step ahead of the police. There’s real depth to this plot.

Be warned! As it gets near the end of this book, you will be absolutely unable to put it down, so cancel everything. This is not a book to dip in and out of, it’s completely addictive and engrossing.

One of the best thrillers I’ve read, absolutely cannot recommend it highly enough for anyone who likes a fast-paced and gripping read.

I love the hook in this thriller - the ‘dreaded’ phone call telling the victim “You have one hour to live” and then the obvious confusion that follows. DI Helen Grace leads the investigation to find the serial killer whilst battling some personal issues, an officer determined to make a name for himself and senior figures in the force making things yet more difficult. Nonetheless, the investigation team has to piece together the events and the evidence to discover and catch the serial killer.

There are quite a few characters in this story, all solid and believable; the plot was cleverly constructed and worked out very neatly in the end. Fantastically enjoyable book!

This is the ninth book in the Helen Grace series, and the first one I have read. I wanted to start this review off by saying that you can read and enjoy this book without having read the others in the series, I am proof of this. I will say I felt like it impacted my experience of the book slightly though, in that I wasn't already familiar with the police characters and their backstories. If this is something that may bother you, then you may want to work through the series in order, which is something I plan to do myself at this point, as soon as I possibly can.

This is a crime thriller that gave me chills! I honestly can't remember the last time a fictional book left me feeling so on edge. The story follows DI Helen Grace as she tries to hunt down a ruthless serial killer before they can ruin even more lives. This serial killer calls people an hour before they are going to be murdered telling them they have only an hour to live. The places the killer managed to get into left me with chills. Their apparent talent for getting away and leaving no trace of themselves was terrifying. This is a page turner that had me hooked!

I will say, I did consider one person as the killer at one point, and that guess was correct. It wasn't a guess I considered for very long though, so I can't really say I saw the killer coming, and so therefore this wasn't predictable on the mystery front.

I didn't enjoy the ending too much, it felt unrealistic. Without being more familiar with the characters, I found Helen to be quite unlikeable as a lead detective character. Maybe if I'd got to know her better through the rest of the books first I would have found myself feeling differently. I just didn't enjoy the whole end chase, or the extremes in which she went to, which I found highly unbelievable!

This all said, I had a fantastic time reading this book, and I now intend to rush onto reading the rest of the series as soon as I possibly can.

I am a huge fan of DI Helen Grace series and the newest addition is another fantastic book from the author.

Helen and her team is set to catch a killer who rings the victims telling them they have one hour to live. The murders seems to be linked to the previous abduction of the teenagers and the clock is ticking for the police to find a killer.

All Fall Down has everything I love and expect from a good crime fiction novel: fast pace, full of action and suspense, a brilliant police procedures and well crafted characters. M. J. Arlidge again did not disappoint and delivered a fantastic and gruesome story.

If you read and liked any previous books by the author you will love this one too.

The suspense starts immediately in All Fall Down, and ramps up all the way to the end. It’s gripping, action-packed, heart-stopping stuff and I loved it.
As MJ Arlidge himself says, this book pitches DI Helen Grace into her most complex investigation yet. The first victim is Justin, who receives an unnerving phone message and is later found dead at a shabby building site. It turns out that Justin had had a close scrape with death once before. As a teen, he and three others had managed to escape the clutches of a crazed loner, Daniel King, who abducted and tortured them in a remote farmhouse. One of the group, however, had not been so lucky and didn’t get away. Was King, previously thought to have killed himself, really still alive – and seeking to kill the rest of them now? As the inimitable Helen and her team start to collect evidence, it seems more and more likely that he’s at large and active again.
One of the teen group, Maxine, has now published a book about their awful experience. Is this the trigger for King’s return? Or is one of the group on a murder spree, jealous or angry about the publication? Or was Justin killed by his boyfriend, with whom things hadn’t exactly been plain sailing recently? Thus is the scene set for this humdinger of a novel.
Throw in an ambitious, integrity-challenged journalist, a host of fascinating characters and the gradual revelation, though excerpts from Maxine’s book, of what really happened to the teens all those years ago, and you have an explosive, compulsive read that certainly ticked all the boxes for me.
Helen is gutsy, unafraid and sometimes plain stupid, constantly putting her life on the line. Her exploits on her bike are quite mind-blowing as she takes to her Kawasaki and speed whenever she needs an outlet for her anxiety. Or when she needs to break through a reinforced door. In All Fall Down, Helen is having an affair with DS Joseph Hudson, “a relatively new addition to Southampton Central’s Major Incident Team – and an even newer addition to Helen’s bed.”
While Helen tries to get to grips with murder, she’s also gravely concerned about her boss and mentor, and to top it all, her relationship with Joseph becomes exceedingly rocky. The pressure on her and her team ratchets up as the murder victims mount. People are being killed off one by one with a kind of unstoppable inevitability. The murderer seems to be focused, devious and desperately cruel, playing evil mind games with the intended victims.
A great read, and a worthy addition to the series.

Now, I have to admit I am embarrassed to say – this is the first book by MJ Arlidge I have read and I have clearly missed out here, this is the ninth book in the DI Helen Grace series and it’s obvious I need to read the rest of them. You could, as I have read All Fall Down as a standalone – but now knowing there’s more, I want to read those too.

Justin Lanning is on his way home when he gets stuck in the lift at work and has the weirdest phone call, telling him he had ‘one hour to live’ he is scared and calls his partner to say what’s happened and he’s heading home. Only he doesn’t make it.

DI Helen Grace is put on the case, with a heavily pregnant DC Charlie Bentham and newly transferred DS Joseph Hudson – who also happens to be her new love interest. Based a Southampton Central, Major Incident Team have a strong leader in DI Grace and follow her every word, well, all except Hudson who is striving to prove his worth.

There’s a great back story to this, and it’s reinforced by the characters’ current lives. As a group of teenagers, Justine Lanning led them off hiking for a Duke of Edinburgh award and they got abducted, one died at the hands of their assailant, they eventually escaped, but not without being tortured and held captive first. Daniel King, assumed dead in the blaze that followed at his remote farmhouse, and no one has seen him since. Some witnesses said they have but how true are these sightings?

The deaths don’t stop there. Is this all down to Maxine Pryce, another of the group who’s released a book, is Daniel King alive and seeking to finish off the rest of them who survived? Only Grace can answer these questions. MJ Arlidge has created a great character, with Grace. As I said, I will get the rest of the series, and undoubtedly enjoy.

Helen Grace #99

Justin Lanning recieves a call telling him he will die in an hour and that's exactly what happens. DI Helen Grace and her team soon learn that Justin was the first in a spate of killings. Grace also has her private life to deal with.

Once again I did not know that this book was part of a series when I requested it. Then sory moves along quickly enough. Imdid see the end twist coming. The book does read well as a standalone but I do prefer to read a series from the beginning. This is a well written and twist filled read. When I get the chance, I will read this series from the start.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Orion Publishing Group and the author M. J. Arlidge for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

M. J. Arlidge is one of my favourite writers and I have read his entire back catalogue.

The last book I read of his was his standalone A Gift For Dying, which was a standalone, but I was desperate to read more from DI Helen Grace and it was brilliant!

I love the author's style of writing and his use of short chapters means that I tend to read the books very quickly, as I am desperate to find out what happens next!

Another 5* book from M.J. Arlidge for me!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC! I am new to the Helen Grace series and Arlidge as a whole so was extremely intrigued to jump in despite not starting at the beginning. I will say All Fall Down works perfectly fine as a standalone book: there are some clear references to past occurrences but they in no way alienate the reader should these not be known. This was an easy read for me with an interesting concept backing it, but that is about where the good parts stop for me. The book opens in its first few chapters with the death of a gay man which is never a great sign for me: representation is not quite as good when playing into disposable tropes and this was no different. I also found it really hard to invest in any of the characters: the secondary ones were annoying to me and Helen herself I struggled to connect with. It felt like the only prominent arc I got from her was about her love life (same issue with Charlie and her pregnancy) and missed any real personality. The plot twists were predictable and fell into 'typical' crime thriller tropes and I thought the ending anti-climactic. I am hoping this is a one-off dislike for me and am still interested to read other books in the series.

This is another great addition to this series of books starring DI Helen Grace and another that keeps you on your toes, guessing to the end and reading way into the night. Although this is the ninth in the series, it does work well as a standalone however, you do lose a bit of the history of the characters which helps to flesh them out and explain their motivations but not enough to detract from what is a great book.

The premise of the story is like nothing I have read before ... the killer lets the victim know they are going to die within the hour! What would you think? What would you do?

From the very beginning, the action starts and the pace doesn't let up throughout culminating in a heart-stopping, breath-holding finale.

There are twists, turns, trials and tribulations aplenty which made for an exciting read and I most definitely look forward to number 10.

Many thanks to Orion Publishing Group via NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest and unbiased review.

Five huge stars from me for the latest in the Helen Grace series.
This is just as gripping as all the others and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The book starts with someone getting a phone call telling them they have one hour to live. They think it’s a prank at first then start to panic and phones their partner asking what to do. He decides to go home and things will be ok but little does he know, the threat was real, and soon he’s dead.
A few days later someone else gets the call and again it doesn’t end well so Helen and the team have a challenge on their hands to find the killer.
The two men who are dead are survivors of an abduction back when they were teenagers so Helen and the team track down the others that were with them to try and get to the bottom of this.
Charlie is heavily pregnant but still wants to be part of the investigation so gets stuck in as usual.
Helen’s personal life is not great but she tries to push it aside and concentrate on the investigation.
I loved the way MJ Arlidge really makes the reader feel involved in the investigation and whilst I try my best, I never work out who the killer is but I like trying!
This is a great addition to the series that I highly recommend.
Thanks to Orion Publishing Group and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

This fast paced book is the 9th in the Helen Grace series by MJ. Arlidge but it can be read as a stand alone.
I have to confess that this is my first book by the author and I really can’t wait to read more!

Although it did take me a couple of chapters to really get into it, the plot is packed with action, it is fast paced and the characters are really well thought and with strong personalties.


Packed with lots of twists, it was a rollercoaster of a read and I just can’t wait to see what the other books have in store for me!

The end took me by surprise as well and although I’ve played loads of scenarios in my head, none of them were close to what the author had in store for me!

I would also like to thank NetGalley and Orion Publishing Group for and advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and author for the ARC that I received in exchange for an honest review.
This is an excellent series and I have previously enjoyed the well written and well characterised books prior to this. I must add that this would also be a good stand alone, however I would definitely recommend all of them.
Fast moving with great pace DI Helen Grace is again at the helm as a group of friends are being murdered that were the subject of a violent incident some years before, while on a Duke if Edinburgh hike.
The plot introduces us to the group and makes you wonder what has happened to them in the intervening years and is it now that one of them has chosen to write a book about their ordeal that the deaths have started.
Excellent end and good twist with the final pages, even with the crime solves, leading to the next ordeal to face DI Grace.

You know what happens when you pick at a scab, it unleashes things and sometimes that is more than you expect. Well this book is just like that. Absolutely no spoilers here but the intricacies of the plot where there are webs of secrets and lies all add up to make a very satisfying read.

As with all of M J Arlidge's novels we are swept along by the story right from the end of the first chapter and to say I know how long the final 100 pages took to read would be a lie as it felt like 5 minutes. I finished reading them and it was like the world started to tune in around me, I had been lost in the narrative and was totally engaged. This story continues that of D I Helen Grace who is a complicated but likeable character and the end leaves us with a little teaser that there is more to be said. The cast of characters are believable and each is rounded so there are no cardboard cutouts.

Would I recommend this book? It would be an unreserved yes!

#AllFallDown #NetGalley

What a great discovery and what an excellent read.
This story kept me on the edge till the end, it's well plotted, entertaining and gripping.
I liked the solid mystery that kept me guessing, the fleshed out cast of characters and couldn't put it down.
Can't wait to read the other books in this series.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Wowsers, we are now at book nine in this series, and with no signs of flagging. Helen Grace is a bit of a complex character so, and you really should be doing this for series anyway, please do go back and meet her in book one and follow her development through the series in order.
So, you get a phone call. A voice on the other end says "You Have One Hour To Live". Spooky huh. And, as it turn out, quite prophetic too. How to fill that hour, run and hide, accept the inevitable, shelter at home, try and work out who and why? All fruitless as within the hour, it's happened. Your life is over. But why and who? Enter Helen Grace and her team to figure it out.
It's tense and twisty and all things you'd expect from this author. It's tightly plotted and, as well as the old friends we have already met in previous books, contains a great cast of episode extras to flesh things out. It's fast paced but it does deliver the odd moment of respite, mostly in the form of Helen's personal life and those of her team too. Not enough to distract mind, just as an accompaniment. As we all should know by now, Helen is nothing but interesting with respect to her personal life.
And the ending when it all came out was shocking and at the same time wholly satisfying. Really can't wait for book 10. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.