Little Boy Blue by M.J. Arlidge (Helen Grace #5)

Little Boy Blue is the latest offering by the author M.J. Arlidge in his popular Helen Grace British crime mystery series. I received the book from Netgalley a while ago and really wanted to review it earlier, however, what kept me from it was the fact that I can’t stand not reading all the books in order.

Since the last book I’ve read in the series was book #3, The Doll’s House, there was no way I would continue with book #5 without reading book #4 first, so I bought it from Amazon and read it quickly before catching up to Little Boy Blue.

While each case that Helen Grace tackles is different from book to book, there is an underlying main story involving her life and her relationships with those around Helen which is worth reading about without skipping books.

And let’s just say that this latest book is all about one of her relationships that was deeply explored in previous books, which you only truly feel the full impact of if you read all books in order from the start.

When a body is found at a famous bondage club, Helen Grace is called to the crime scene. And much to her surprise, she knows the victim all too well. But given her secret history (which you can learn about by reading the earlier books in the series), she can’t possibly reveal her knowledge of the victim and her connection to him, not when her career is on the line.

But when a second victim is found, and she realizes that she has ties to him as well, things get complicated and soon Helen knows that finding the killer is not the only thing she must do now. Revealing her dark secrets becomes part of the package deal, whether she wants it or not. She must confess if she really wants to find out who is doing the killings and why all victims are part of her own dark and so far secret history.

As with all previous Helen Grace books, the author did a wonderful job of keeping us in a constant state of worry and nail biting suspense. It broke my heart to read the very first chapter (and this is why you have to read the previous novels to fully appreciate the reason why), but my heart literally stopped when I read the last chapter. And now there’s noway around it, I have to read the next book once it comes out to see what happen next because this is one of the most explosive edge of your seat endings in a book ever.

I found this latest book darker than the previous ones. The case really hit home with Helen and her life changed forever for it. When the killer was revealed along with their motive, I’m not sure any of the readers expected this, even though in retrospect it kind of makes sense.

My favorite novels are written by American authors because the books are faster paced and full of chilling suspense. However there are a few British authors whose books I read on auto-pilot as soon as they are released. Peter James and as of recently M.J. Arlidge are two such authors.

Just please don’t let us hanging too long before book #6 in written. We want to know what happens with Helen next. Afterall the ending…gosh that ending…