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Book Review | Eeny Meeny (Helen Grace #1), by M.J. Arlidge

10/7/2015

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Hey bookish friends,

I'm back with a review for you, it's technically an audiobook/paperback combo. I'd listen during the day and read the paperback at home in the evening, so I got the best of both worlds.  Read on to find out what I thought of Eeny Meeny.
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Publisher: NAL | Penguin Audio
Release Date: June 2, 2015  (first published 2014)
Format: Paperback & Audio MP3
Pages: Paperback: 420 pages | Audio Length: Approx 9 hours
Narrators: Annie Aldington, Elizabeth Bower, Lucy Gaskell,
Nigel Pilkington
Source: Paperback courtesy of the Publisher & Scribd audiobook 
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Review Date: October 7, 2015
Rating: 4 bookmarks

Synopsis:  
Two people are abducted, imprisoned, and left with a gun. As hunger and thirst set in, only one walks away alive.

It’s a game more twisted than any Detective Helen Grace has ever seen. If she hadn’t spoken with the shattered survivors herself, she almost wouldn’t believe them.

Helen is familiar with the dark sides of human nature, including her own, but this case—with its seemingly random victims—has her baffled. But as more people go missing, nothing will be more terrifying than when it all starts making sense.... 

Disclaimer: This US paperback edition of this book was given to me courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review.


This is the beginning of the Helen Grace series. Helen is a Detective Inspector in England and she's got the worst luck when it comes to cases.  Her life hasn't been easy and Eeny Meeny tells all. It picks apart Helen's character and shows us what kind of person she really is.  One minute she's got the world on her shoulders and in the next minute she's visiting her dominator to help her relax after a hard week. Helen is one of the most complex characters that I've read in a while, and I like that.

Eeny Meeny has some very creepy and crazy things going on. With that said, this read is 100% for adults. No cross over here.  It feels like it's been a long time since I've ready a book written by a man, and it occurred to me that men seem to have a very different writing style in general. This book includes very abrasive characters and horrible things happening to all parties involved.  ​Even the romance that could be unfolding in this book isn't romantic at all, it's actually unemotional. 

Speaking of emotions, The first few pages of this story really reminded me of the horror movie Saw and it clearly evoked one emotion from me, shock.  Initially anyway.  Do you remember that movie?  Here's the excerpt from the book and you tell me if you draw the same conclusions.
​"On the floor by the phone you'll find a gun. It has one bullet in it. For Sam or for yourself. That is the price of your freedom. You must kill to live. Do you want to live, Amy?"
​That excerpt was from the the first scene that I encountered the books serial killer.  I knew right then that I was in for a wild ride, and boy was I right.
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For those that don't know, Saw is a psychological thriller movie that scared the mess out of almost everyone.  People were put in a room and were told in order to get out they had to kill everyone else. Yep, that's right. While the fear factor of this story didn't carry throughout the entire book, the horrible scenarios did.  I counted twelve people that this killer had kidnapped, of which eight of them died (if I'm remembering correctly).

It took a long time for our protagonist Helen to start putting two and two together and figure it out. But when she did, it was a doozy.  Helen didn't work alone. She's got her police team working with her and she's searching for a mole in the department as well as a serial killer. Her colleagues added more depth to the plot. I liked almost all of the characters on her immediate team that were were introduced to. All men and one woman - Charlie. She's almost polar opposite of Helen and I liked the chemistry between them. I hope that Charlie and Helen will be working as a team a lot in future installments.

As I mentioned earlier, I completed about half of this book in audiobook format. I've got to admit, I had no clue that there were four narrators! It's amazing. Either I was really into the story or they all melded so well together that I didn't notice. Regardless, they did a great job on the narration of this book.

One small thing that bothered me is that I never really got how the title tied into the story.  It almost seems like this title was chosen just because using all lines from children's rhymes fit with the series.  I could be wrong, but I guess I'll have to see if the following book titles tie into the stories.  Putting that issue aside, this was a well paced mystery/thriller. If you like a little gore and twisted characters, this is up your alley. It'll surely keep you entertained if nothing else.

I've already started book two, Pop Goes the Weasel, and I'm enjoying so far. I thought that it would be a while before I'd be able to get my hands on books three and four, but it looks like they are all out! It appears that they were all published back to back.  That's good thing for me if I just want to breeze through them one after another without waiting.  I look forward to seeing how things end up for Helen Grace and her team of police officers as they investigate the next serial killer.

So what about you? Did you read Eeny Meeny? If so, what did you think about it and did you carry on with the next book in the series? I look forward to reading your comments.

Happy Reading and Listening,
​~Tamara
Get the Kindle version here: | Get the Audible version here:
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