All Fall Down: The Gripping D.I. Helen Grace Thriller (Di Helen Grace)

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I found myself reading through the night in the hope of finishing it in one sitting, but by 5 am I still had another 100 pages to read, I put it down and picked it up again as soon as I could. The writing flows well, is addictive and Arlidge does a stellar job of maintaining a sense of tension throughout the duration of the compelling story. It explores the difficult choices that young adults are faced with as they start to realise their own individual identities and discover what love, family relationships and even romance might mean in their lives.

This case, as previously mentioned, harks back to an earlier one where 5 teens were kidnapped, held hostage and only 4 escaped. Whilst looking for the Scarred Man on her computer, Megan and Noah discover several scarred men, all of whom Grace has accused of killing her mother. Grace Blakely is a sixteen-year-old American who grew up between her native country and the fictional Mediterranean nation of Adria, located in the Balkan Peninsula, which she has roots in. You guys are such a force for good and I am a passionate supporter of Indie booksellers, so I'm so happy this worked out well (I'd love to know how many books were sold if you have it to hand - it felt like quite a lot!This is one of the more interesting plots I've read in the young adult genre, lots of modern day politics and espionage are afoot. Lack of food was not a problem for medieval peasants – in fact, many peasants had enough to eat for the first time in their lives. DI Grace also has trouble in her private life and although she mostly gets it spot on in her professional life, she sometimes gets it wrong in other avenues of her life. But, after being lured in by the sinister premise I was easily able to pick up All Fall Down, I wasn’t disappointed with Arlidge delivering a twisted delight, a darkly gripping tale and I thoroughly enjoy it. Not because there is any chance the book is going to give me the warm and fuzzies – far from it – but because I can pretty well guarantee I am going to get a book that is entertaining, gripping, infused with great characters, edginess and a mystery that is going to keep you on edge and guessing right to the end.

And that is the author’s skill – keeping the suspense building to the point you think you can relax before bringing those moments designed to shock. She also meets her brother Jamie's old friend, Alexei Volkov, who is the son of a senior Russian embassy worker. Grace remembers the face of a man with a large scar who was on the scene of Caroline's death, and believes he was responsible for the murder. You know, this felt like a sort of introduction, like the author is just preparing us for more to come. When you add the Hundred Years’ War and the Great Famine of 1315-17 to the mix, it’s no surprise that the population of Europe halved in the fourteenth century.At the G20 summit, which is due to be held in Adria, she believes that someone is going to assassinate the Prime Minister, but learns instead that Dominic was actually a friend of her mother's. The character of Joseph Hudson who joined Helen's team in the last book is further developed and many truths about him are revealed.