An easy to read book consists of 142 short yet captivating chapters.
The story follows Detective Helen Grace who was wrongly accused of a murder. Framed, she was placed in a women’ prison in Holloway. Tragically, a series of murder emerged where Helen’s neighbour was first found dead in her cell- gory details entails (hurray?).
Fearing for her life and being a former detective, Helen jumped headfirst to the case. While the rest of the prisoners usually flocked in a group for their protection, Helen was a solo fighter. She knew that she can’t trust anyone in the system.
Finding clues and details about the murders was a difficult task for Helen. She had to sacrifice, fight and fled from many dangerous situations. As more and more murders took place, patterns emerged. Victims died in an eerily and sadly the same way- I won’t spoil and indulge you about the details, but I assure you, it’s shocking.
Racing against time, Helen had plenty of names on her possible-suspect-list, from the Prison Chaplain, fellow prisoners and the guards.
I bought this book out of curiosity and I’m glad that I did! Enjoyed this page-turner book, I engulfed myself with Arlidge’s words and managed to finish it within a week. The chapters are short yet engaging, leaving readers with multiple settings that are woven together at the end.
It brought me mixed feelings at the end of the book. Taking in from the murderer’s point of view, Arlidge offers us a naive simple explanation of why s/he did it: s/he just wants to help those victims. Such a contrast to a typical cold-blooded murderer, the slight twist at the end is how the story hangs.
Would recommend this for anyone who craves for a crime, chilling story with a few gripping details. First series of M.J Alridge book and more to come!
More?