Cat And Mouse: The Addictive and Gripping Crime Thriller of 2024

...I get genuinely excited about when they release a new book.Helen Grace feels like an old friend now. She is such a complex character, with flaws we are happy to forgive and amazing traits, like her bravery, grit and determination, that we celebrate.Cat and Mouse is the next exciting, edge of your seat instalment that lives up to it's name. I loved every heart racing and heart stopping moment!Come and see us again soon, Helen!

I do love me a Helen Grace novel. Always dark, always packed with tension, stories that keep you absolutely gripped to the final page, and with a fictional detective who, in spite of her direct and sometimes prickly exterior, you cannot help but root for, what more can you ask for in a book? And believe me, you get all of that and more in Cat and Mouse, with a story that pushes Helen right to the edge, with a truly unexpected turn of events that could well threaten her career.Now it's not unusual for Mr Arlidge to treat us to a killer whose method of dispatch is particularly torturous and unpleasant and this book is no exception. Home invasions and brutal murders, with victims who have no obvious links other than how they have been killed. We are present from the very start, voyeurs of a murder that is enough to make the skin crawl, and to have you checking all your door and window locks twice before heading to bed. Not that this would necessarily be enough to deter this particular felon, but it's certainly a situation to make you think. The opening is so tense, certain scenes playing out that made me hold my breath in nervous anticipation, wondering if the author could really do that dark ... Whether he did or not, you'll have to read to find out, but it was a nail-biting, pulse pounding few moments that's for sure.As always, the pacing in the book is top notch, playing out in fast, high impact chapters that really compel you on as a reader. It has that visual styling, the quick cut throughs that give us just enough action to keep up gripped and that kind fo oh lordy, cliffhanger ending that ensures you want to go straight onto the next chapter. That's one of the things I love about this series. It feels like a fast read. Not in a blink and you'll miss it, what happened to the book kind of way, but in a way that means your attention doesn't have time to wander, a real sign of the authors screen writing credentials coming to bear in the narrative. I always find I have a keen sense of place and of character, but never too much detail that it makes the story hang. Every part of the action is carefully chosen and use to full effect. That is critical in this particular book as not only are we faced with a set of almost impossible to solve crimes, there is a real shadow cast over Helen Grace too.Now if you haven't read the preceding book in the series, Truth or Dare, then I would urge you to do so. Two very important threads of this novel link back to what happened before it, both of which put Helen Grace in significant danger and also put her off her stride. It's not often we see our intrepid Detective put a foot wrong, but it's fair to say that her attention is not fully on the job and the impact of that could prove deadly. She's no longer the strong and infalible woman we know, and that jumpiness, that fear and constant sense of threat that seeps from the page, also breaks through into her professional life.The tension surrounding Helen is high, the impacts of her fear and her reactions potentially devastating, and with conflict coming at her from all angles, it's the first time in a very long time we have seen any sign of weakness. I really like Helen Grace, and her DS Charlie Brooks, but seeing her here, catching that frailty, does make her seem more human and more relatable. Don't fear - she's not all trembling hands and lily-livered in nature - there are some true Helen style scenes to thrill the ardent action fans, but we get to witness the insecure side of her too, and I kind of liked it. For a one off, moment in time kind of deal obviously. She's at her best when she is sharp as a tack, and there is plenty of evidence the old Helen is still right there, her true grit rising to the surface when it matters most.With scenes of pulse-thumping action, a killer with dark and twisted notices, and a storyline so packed with tension and threat that you won't want to turn away this is another classic Helen Grace thriller and a fine example of why I love this series so much. Definitely recommended.

Thoroughly enjoy this series and the book didn’t disappoint

The book was delivered at 6.05 p.m. two days ago and read yesterday.I was drawn into the complicated plot. The characters were agreeably psychiatric but the author's vocabulary sometimes lacks variety: too often, he uses 'clocked' (instead of saw/noticed/beheld/observed).Both perpetrators and investigators live at a distance from the real world (whatever that might be).Perhaps the writer will provide Helen Grace with a change of occupation in later books, e.g. the custodian of animals in a circus.

This is a bit of strange one, it felt a lot like some of the previous Helen Grace novels.Murderer on the loose ✔Fall out with superior ✔Underhand local journalist ✔The only real difference us that Southampton water finally gets a mention ! Not a bad read, but a bit generic in my opinion.

I have loved reading All eleven books with D.I Helen GracePlease please write another M J ArlidgeAs the stories are based in Southampton where I live, It would be lovely to read a storywith Braeside Road where I live mentioned in your next Helen Grace thriller

A great read kept you on the edge of who did it and why.

I hadn’t read any books by this author before. I bought this one because it was on a kindle limited time deal and was set in an area of the UK, I’m very familiar with, but rarely features in crime novels. Because it’s the eleventh in the series focussing on DI Helen Grace, there are inevitably references to characters and incidents from earlier books. This, however, didn’t detract too much. The story moves at a pace and each chapter is fairly short, so it makes for an easy read. That’s not to say though, that this is any more than a run-of-the-mill crime novel. DI Grace is depicted as almost super-human and worshipped by all members of her team, except for her ‘boo-hiss villain’ of a Chief Superintendent, who of course is out to undermine her at every opportunity and has the intelligence and foresight of a flea. All of which made me wonder why someone like that had got to his position and how Grace was still a humble DI and hadn’t been head-hunted as a potential Chief Constable. There is also a very annoying and interfering crime reporter, to add to the clichés, who must get her scoop, whatever the cost. The murders are written with a little too much relish for me and in the main inflicted once again on helpless females. The murderer and their motivation, when revealed, also stretches plausibility. Maybe I’ll read the next in the series, but only if on offer at 99p again.