Eeny Meeny (A Helen Grace Thriller) Paperback – June 2, 2015

This was a very strange book and it's taken me a little while to write the review because I needed time to process it all. Throughout the story, I found myself wondering what I would do in the character's situation.I enjoyed the author's style and voice. It wasn't a book that I just couldn't put down but I did it read it in two days. I "needed" to finish it and make sense of it all.There were lots of twists that I really didn't see coming and a couple of times that I wanted to yell at the author "NO! That's not how it's supposed to go!" There are a few things I'm still angry at him for but I bought Pop Goes the Weasel just as soon as I was able to breathe again.There were some scenes that had to do with sexual abuse of children and were pretty upsetting so if that bothers you, consider yourself warned. Those scenes were difficult for me but they were relevant to the story and they were handled well. I'm not really a crier but I will admit that I teared up a couple of times during this book. I know now and can brace myself a little better for the future books.And I will definitely be reading the future books...as soon as I recover from this one.

5 Stars.A Nail Biter. In more ways than one.“Eeny Meeny” is twisted and somewhat depraved. And for some crazy reason I absolutely loved it. DI Helen Grace is one tough copper. She has been through it all and she has seen the absolute worst of it, or so she thought.Amy and Sam hitchhike home one dark, cold night, when they are picked up by a woman in a van. They are thrilled at first, and then they wake up somewhere else. In an old dive pool out in the middle of nowhere. They find a phone and a gun. The phone rings. Amy picks up. The gun has one bullet in it - for Sam or herself. It is time to choose., who lives and who dies. And that is how the game is played. Who is it worse for? The one who chooses to kill or be killed? Now that is a loaded question, pun intended.DI Helen Grace and her team race against time to find the missing pair and then, it happens yet again. Is it random or are the individuals connected in someway and if so how?Helen Grace is a brilliant copper and she is also one heck of a woman. Tough and extremely discipline and fallible as well. Her outlets are not the norm, at least not as far as I am concerned. That being said, I liked her a lot. Helen is a survivor and she thrives in the face of adversity.For me, I couldn’t tear through this book fast enough. It was like I was eating a bag of potato chips, where I couldn’t eat just one chip. With “Eeny Meeny” I wanted to read this book as quickly as possible so I could start book two. M. J. Aldridge created a twisty turning crazy thriller here that had me grasping for breath waiting for its stunning conclusion. Kudos to M. J. Aldridge for this phenomenal psychological suspense.Published on Goodreads, Amazon, Twitter and Instagram on 12.17.17.

As a recent fan of Tough British Female Detective Fiction (or whatever this genre is called!), I was definitely caught up in the chase on this one. Non-stop action, a fair bit of gore, and a strong female lead character with whom you can (nearly) sympathize. I hope the series gives us a bit more character development, though. While Helen Grace is certainly interesting, she’s quite buttoned-up, both to her colleagues and on the page. I want to know more!

From my blog4 1/2 starsEeny Meeny miny moe, who will suffer, me or YOU. This is edge of your seat, cannot wait until you get to the end thriller. I actually wished I hadn't chose this to read during Book Bloggers Appreciation week, I wasn't able to give it the time it deserved.I really like mental games and the serial killer put the victims through the worst mental game, a survival game and really no one wins. The survivor sometimes suffering more than the victim. I realized it would really depend who I was imprisoned with. I thought the serial killer did a great job on choosing. I like to be in control so I think the choice would be to kill myself or the other but letting my guard and being killed, nope, isn't that terrible, but this is the torture they go through while starving.Short chapters are addictive, just one more continues until your eyes are closing. I can't believe how these chapters really pack a punch, whoooah. I had to stop for a few seconds at the end, take a breath and continue on, yes, I was holding my breath. I just couldn't wait to get to the end, it did end as I expected but it's a series so that is what I expect but I'm so excited the next two are out, MJ Alridge is releasing all 5 within 2 years, now that is exciting.I did figure out 2 main parts of the suspense, who the serial killer was, mainly from one early scene, so it was a little annoying that Detective Helen took that long to figure it out, definitely must have been denial. I lost respect for her due to this decision, she should have shared earlier on. It actually made me think she is a little hypocritical considering the person that was corrupting the case, which I also had figured out.I really look forward to this series, I thought 5 star start to a series and I really prefer stand alone"s but I look forward to more Detective Helen Grace, she is a great main character. Strong female, genuine, a loner due to dark past but a hard dedicated worker and oh so mysterious. If you enjoyed Chelsea Cain's series and or the movies Saw, you would love this one. I think the fact of knowing who the killer was and the way it was revealed was a major fault for me, it took away from the edge of your seat worthy thrill.I enjoyed the secret lifestyle chapters but hope this continues with a little more of why in the future books. Some will not enjoy this part in the book at all but I understood the connection to the story. I initially was going to give a 4 but when I really think about it, this was twisted, dark and bloody and the mental game, brilliant so a 4 1/2 stars it is. I thought one part was gruesome but oh so intense, intelligent like. If your looking for a thrilling suspense, this will keep you up at night to get through just a couple more chapters. I will be reading Pop Goes the Weasel soon.

I always enjoy coming across new authors, particularly those who write crime thrillers, my favourite genre. The books of MJ Arlidge were recommended to me by my fellow members of a book group on Facebook. Matthew Arlidge is an English author of crime novels starring DI Helen Grace. He has also worked in television for the last fifteen years specializing in high-end drama production and I could certainly visualise the action as I read the first in his D I Grace series, Eeny Meeny.Repeatedly, two people are abducted at the same time, then imprisoned together, and left with a gun. As hunger and thirst set in, only one walks away alive.Eeny Meeny introduces DI Helen Grace and the first case she is presented with is a cruel, strange, game more twisted than any Detective Helen Grace has ever seen. Helen is familiar with the dark sides of human nature, including her own, but this case, with its seemingly random victims, has her baffled.As more people go missing, nothing will be more terrifying than when it all starts making sense. This was one dark book. A couple who are hitchhiking are kidnapped and left for death - unless one of them kills the other. One is found and an investigation begins by DI Helen Grace, a hard-working woman who has her own issues.The cover and title for Eeny Meeny by M J Arlidge made this an easy reading choice for me. It gave me a feeling of danger and kept me reading to the end. It is this author's debut novel, and it’s a good one. I highly recommend Eeny Meeny and certainly intend to read more by this author.Val Penny

I chose this book because it is based in Southampton but there is no description of the city, the countryside, the people. There is no description at all other than that every single person in the book is broken in some way. Every character is thoroughly unlikable, the investigating staff completely unbelievable and the victims characterless. I didn't finish it. When the killer turned out to be somebody who hadn't even been introduced to the story up to that point I finally gave up. I regret every minute I've spent on it.

This book started off so promisingly and in the proscribed way with a detailing of a Serial Killer's capture and ultimate desecration of their victim. This killer is different though they have two people at once and only they can decide who can live or die. Traces of the Saw films in the premise of having two people held captive and they have to battle each other for life. Still, I can overlook that as at least these weren't strangers to each other so there is an added element of emotion to the crime. Indeed the first crime is handled well and the writing is claustrophobic and tense sucking you in the depraved web of the killer's psyche.Unfortunately, once you are past this bit the tale begins to wilt under a plethora of stale old tropes. We have the ambitious policewoman who has been fast tracked to Detective Inspector who hates herself and has no time for anything but her job. The "good copper" who is crippled by his broken marriage and subsequent turn to alcohol as an amelioration and crutch. Cue much mental eye-rolling when reading these sections.The abductions also become much less intriguing and even verge on the downright silly in places. Believability is not the key here, in fact a healthy suspension of belief is required to get more than halfway through this book.Some of the peripheral characters are just downright unlikeable and fall in to the pit of being completely unbelievable as people. The journalist and the psychotherapist are two such that have no redeeming characteristics whatsoever. Unfortunately, they are both supposed to be strong women, like our intrepid DI Grace, but just come across as bitter and callous.The sidestep in to police corruption and mishandling of evidence and interview tapes is tedious and seems to have been thrown in to pad the book to a decent length. Whilst I understand the need to undermine the head of the team to juxtapose the "old force" and it's mainly old boy's club feeling and the bright dawn of the "new force" which is inclusive it is handled clumsily. Certainly if this is what you want to read then you would be far better picking up a book from Lynda La Plante's Jane Tennyson series.Now you would think from the above that I would have only given this book 1 or 2 stars; yet I gave it 3. The simple reason for this is that there are sparks of brilliance in this book. You definitely don't know who could be possibly committing these atrocities and feel as clueless as the MIT investigating them. The information is drip fed in such a way that you are forced to jump to the same conclusions as the officers and the final reveal is a nasty little twist in the tale. It is the plot arc that makes the book, just a pity that the writing is very often not up to it.I'm not entirely sure I would read any more of the Helen Grace series but I certainly won't write them, or their author, off yet.

It has a pattern of crimes that I never have thought could be committed this way, extraordinary indeed. The story has a lot of twists. It is a very good read, but not gripping. It is not a page turner for me.I like the idea of having each chapter in just a few pages, some are just under five pages. Then leave it a cliffhanger. I'm left in a lurch as to the real feelings of the female protagonist, though. Good news is that I have a few more of this author's novels and I am sure she will appear more in the series and I'll get to know her better then.Another confusing area is that the same crime pattern happened a tad too often and too many times. So, it left a sour after taste. I feel as if the crimes are committed again and again to fill up the pages.I'm drawn to the words the author used, however. An immensely captivating and creative way of using a wide range of vocabulary. It made the scenes and emotional expressions of each character vividly engaging.A book that will definitely keep you occupied on your solo trip to anyway, especially on a long haul flight. I like it.

There is nothing I love more than to discover the identity of the perpetrator of a gruesome crime, particularly if the crime is murder. M J Arlidge has created such a brutal, cruel and tense game of murder and consequently, I was hooked, hence why I finished it in two days.Although I could not relate to DI Helen Grace in any way, I loved her because she was an enigma; I still don't know a great deal about her so I will definitely be reading the next books in this series to learn about her past. The plot was fast-paced, tense and I was shocked at all revelations because I did not see them coming - a sensation I love when reading a book. Gruesome details were wonderful to read because of the images they evoked in my mind.If you are looking for a clever, action-packed crime thriller, then Eeny Meeny is a must-read and I would not hesitate to recommend this novel.