Thanks to Berkley for the advanced ebook copy in exchange for my honest review.

When I saw there was another Helen Grace book coming out I was so excited! Not only because it's a great series but because of how the last book ended. HIDE AND SEEK is book 6 in the Helen Grace series and it did not disappoint. I would highly recommend reading the series instead of starting here.

Helen Grace is one of the best detectives there is, but even she can't avoid jail time after she was framed for a murder. Now she finds herself faced with a new challenge, not a new case but surviving prison. She's now surrounded by people she has put away and must stay on high alert. She has her people working on the outside to try and prove her innocence, but then bodies start to pile up in prison. With Helen becoming a suspect she must kick it into high gear to find the killer before the killer finds her.

This is a book you just fly through. I will always love a thriller with short chapters and multiple points of view, it keeps the pace up and I love seeing the same events through different eyes. Who is the killer? The reader will be brought through a weaving story to try and figure out the killer before Helen Grace is the next victim. I don't want to give away too much more about the characters or plot, just because it's one I think you should go into without too much information. I will say that I would recommend starting earlier in the series instead of reading this as a standalone - you'll be missing some backstory on Helen Grace. I did take off a little bit because the ending wasn't as climactic as I was hoping it would be (at least compared to the rest of the series so far). That doesn't mean it wasn't a good ending though!

Overall, this is a fantastic thriller. It'll keep you turning the pages and Arlidge pulls the reader into Helen Grace's world instantly. This has become a series that I need to get the next book for and I'll continue to do so!

I give this 4.5/5 stars!

Unfortunately, I only got about half way through the book. I just could not get into it. I found some of the characters whiny, and others just annoying. I am also not a huge fan of over detailing when it comes to description. Overall i would say It was descriptive and decently written, just not for me.

Sometimes life is just crazy-pants busy—so full of a million and one little things, that tasks I was (almost) certain had been accomplished, instead wound up getting completely overlooked. A "for instance," you ask? Take my failure to review any of the books in the Detective Helen Grace series by M. J. Arlidge—something I was positive I’d managed to do at least a couple of times over the past few years… but which, in fact, seems never to have happened, at all.


With that said, this is actually the perfect time to rectify my rather unfortunate little bout of forgetfulness, because the sixth entry in this consistently-engaging and well-written series, Hide and Seek, is, to my mind, the best one, yet.
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Without spoiling things too much for anyone unfamiliar with the series (certainly no more so than reading the back of a book jacket or synopsis on Amazon would do), a brief bit of backstory is necessary…

Detective Inspector Helen Grace works out of Southampton, where she has a stellar track record for solving cases involving sadistic acts of violence (although her methods do have a tendency to go against established protocol, with regard to orders from her superiors and safety limits). Nonetheless, results talk, so her actions (and sometimes-abrasive personality) are mostly tolerated.

On the personal front, she is perhaps even more unconventional (but just as driven); she lives alone—neither having nor seeking a romantic relationship—and she runs, spars, and rides her motorcycle in her spare time, rather than hanging out at the pub with friends (of which she doesn’t really have any), going shopping, or doing any of the other spare-time things we all tend to enjoy. What she does have, in spades, is a messy, sad childhood—something she ran from for most of her adult life (but which finally starts coming to brutal light early in the series).

Moving forward, then, to where the sixth book picks up… A sequence of shocking events has transpired that finds Helen—unbelievably—not only framed for a series of vicious murders, but imprisoned for them… housed in a decrepit penitentiary right alongside many of the very same inmates she’d helped put there over the years.

With everyone on the inside naturally against her, and no one on the outside (not the former subordinate who gleefully took her job, not the superior who’d been gunning for her forever, and not the thorn-in-her-side reporter who now delights in detailing Helen’s miserable stay behind bars)—save one colleague (and the closest thing to a friend she actually has), who refuses to give up and has her back (going so far as lying to their boss about what she’s investigating)—it’s down to Helen to figure out how to survive inside long enough for a miracle to happen… and she's fresh out of miracles.
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As I said earlier, M. J. Arlidge’s Helen Grace series started out with a bang and has just continued picking up steam. Helen is a complicated character, and the fact that she brings so much baggage with her—that truly horrific stuff in her past—which she deals with in ways we typically only ever see men do, is refreshing.

Could you read Hide and Seek on its own, and get the gist of what's going on? Sure, you could… but do yourself a favor and start at the beginning. This is a fascinating journey well worth taking.


~GlamKitty

This is book 6 in a series and I will have to warn you that there could be spoilers below because book 5's story line completely informs book 6, so you at the very least would have wanted to read the book before this before you dive into this one and to be very frank, I would start at the beginning. These books are too good to jump around in the series, you will enjoy the series so much more if you start at the beginning.


Ok. With that warning in mind, I am going to proceed with my review which could very well have quite a few spoilers and such!

We find Helen Grace in this book in jail for the murders from the previous book in the BDSM community. This is a completely different setting than any of the other books and having her inside the jail was so so interesting.

Of course since Helen Grace is in a jail, there are going to be murders in the jail and she is going to have to insert herself and help solve them. But the added security and inability for her to access information makes this book so different than the rest of the series. I loved that she was almost handicapped, but was risking it all to try to help solve these murders of her new "friends."

I will always love and adore this series. The murders are crazy and not for the faint of heart, but the twists and turns are oh so good!!

Another stellar book in the Helen Grace series. Keep them coming!!!

My apologizes but this was a misclick. I have not had good luck with this series unfortunately

A real roller coaster ride could not put it down characters are well developed and the story line flows well

Helen Grace has the reputation of being one of the best detectives in the country. But after being framed for murder, she is behind bars living with some of the people she put there, trying to survive. While she counts on people on the outside working to prove her innocence, murders start happening inside. She becomes a suspect and her cop instincts come to the surface. She's in a race to find the killer before the killer finds her.

M.J. Arlidge really knows how to bring you into the world of Helen Grace. Once again the short chapters help you breeze through the story. Multiple POVs are easy to follow and you're consistently wondering who the culprit is and where the story is going. I had a great time reading this and did it one sitting. However, compared to the rest of the series, it fell a bit flat for me. The bite, intrigue and edge-of-your-seat suspense was lacking. Would I still recommend? Absolutely! Am I still auto buying the rest of the series? You betcha! Still top notch, but comparatively not at the top of my list. Series books tend to do that don't they? Bring me lucky #7!

The DI Helen Grace story comes to a tentative clos in the most intense and gory stories of this series. Helen is in prison as the story opens, awaiting trial on the murders her nephew framed her for. Her travails within prison and the fighting on the outside between her former friends and enemies keeps the reader in a continuing state of anxiety. A few new characters are added to the cast, and Arlidge does an outstanding job of fleshing them out without delaying the action. this final book is one of the very best.

4/5 ⭐️

*This review, and others, can also be found on my blog: https://wordpress.com/view/readingbetweenwinessite.wordpress.com

This book was actually kind of hard for me to rate because of an oopsies on my part. I was completely unaware that this book was part of a series when I requested it from NetGalley, and I have not read the five books before it. That may not have been a big deal, except book 5 (Little Boy Blue) was probably a pretty major piece to the majority of the plotline to this book considering this was the sequel to it... That being said I still really enjoyed the book, but I wish I had read the other books, especially Little Boy Blue, first.

I think M.J. Arlidge does a good job of giving you enough background that this book is OK as a standalone. I would still recommend reading the other books first, but I was pretty impressed at how well it did by itself. I will have to see if I still think that after reading the other books in this series. Again, my fault, not the author's fault.

The prison mystery aspect was great and I had no idea what was going to happen. I was so sure of who was doing it, but I was completely wrong, more than once! I wished I had more background on the relationship between Helen and Robert while reading this book, but I will get that when I read the first 5 books to this series.

I liked that even though there were a lot of viewpoints, the author made sure that you knew who the person was and how they were connected to the story each time there was a switch. I know some people didn't like the (sometimes incredibly) short chapters, but I actually enjoyed that. For some reason it always feels like a book goes faster for me when the chapters are shorter.

Overall I was really happy with this book, and I will definitely be reading the rest of this series!

This is the 6th book in the Helen Grace series. I did not read the 5th book and I highly recommend reading it before you read this one. I have read some prior books in the series so I was familiar with the characters but definitely read the 5th book. This book starts out with disgraced former detective inspector Helen Grace in prison awaiting her trial, which is weeks away, for multiple murders. One of her fellow prisoner is killed in her locked cell with her eyes and mouth sewn closed. As Helen tries to figure out who the killer is, she also has to stay alert since she has a target on her back.

This book is a fast-paced, action-packed, adrenaline pumping story. The chapters were short (142 chapters in the book!) so it made a quick and easy read. Add in some twists and turns and you have a must read suspense novel.

I definitely recommend this book and the whole series.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for supplying a copy of M.J. Arlidge's "Hide and Seek" in exchange for a honest review.

I think this was the best yet!
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One thing that stands out about the writing style of M.J. Arlidge is you are very quickly connected to the story. I think this is because you actually have a series of mini chapters so the story can be can told from multiple points of view.

By using this technique, the author can keep you on your toes. A little suspense here. A little suspense there. Twists and turns all over that walk you right into the final conclusion at the very end of the book.

Arlidge is very good at building an exciting story even through a series of books. And this is a series that you definitely want to start at book one so you can completely know and understand the main characters, Helen Grace and her team.

Hide and Seek is a dark and twisted tale with a bit of gore factor to it. The prison life is depicted in a very raw and gritty manner that makes you thankful that’s not your life. The desperation, the uncaring attitude, the violence, and the bleak outlook is real and daunting. You almost can’t wait until the book ends so you can not have to live that anymore.

Murder, mystery, suspense, who done it, intrigue, investigation, police action, thriller – all of these descriptors apply in this book and in the entire series. Whatever your favorite genre, you’re sure to find it in this book.

"Somehow Helen felt she was already involved in a twisted game of hide-and-seek with a killer who appeared able to commit murder, then vanish without trace."

Former Detective Inspector Helen Grace is in Holloway Women's Prison, unjustly charged with three murders.

I want to point out that this is book six in the Helen Grace series and you will get much more out of it if you've read the rest of the series especially book 5. I have read two other books in the series and enjoyed them but I haven't read book 5. So I was definitely at a disadvantage going into this story.

If you read it as a standalone, there are some missing pieces but you can still enjoy the story.

Holloway is a brutal place full of brutal women and just as brutal guards. And Grace, as a former cop, definitely has a huge target painted on her back. She is just trying to stay alive long enough for her trial, hoping evidence will be found by her colleague friends to get her out of this miserable place.

I liked the way the story progressed as Grace gets involved in a series of murders taking place inside of the prison. Lots of red herrings thrown out there but it was an exciting read.

I received this book from Berkley Publishing through Net Galley in exchange for my unbiased review.

Talk about a locked room mystery! Detective Helen Grace is in jail and the woman the next cell over is found murdered and sewn up and ewww- . Of course she has to investigate because that's what she does but it's a lot harder when you're in prison, unfairly. Meanwhile in a separate plot line, her colleague Charlie is out there trying to exonerate her after she was frame. Arlidge has clearly carefully plotted this series for the long term but this can be read as a standalone. Helen is not an especially likable woman but she's not a murderer. She's also a good investigator. This one is twisty and clever, Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

I will admit to a little skepticism when I first read the books description. Taking place almost entirely in a prison, how would Detective Helen Grace be able to investigate the murder of a fellow inmate? Especially when she is a prisoner herself and doesn't have free run of the prison? Well, I was happily surprised when I started reading to find that I was immediately swept up into the plot, and Helen remains a fine detective.

Helen's former coworker, Charlie is working from the outside to find evidence to free Helen. She is hampered in her progress by other detectives who are only too happy to see Helen behind bars. Meanwhile, Helen has her own murder to solve in the prison. The two stories continue separately throughout the book.

I enjoyed this book very much. It was easy to read and easy to follow. This series is best read in order, as events in previous books greatly influence the plot.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I didn't realize that I had read the previous novel in this series when I requested Hide and Seek (Helen Grace #6) from NetGalley, but as I began reading I recognized some of the events that led up to this installment.

In Little Boy Blue, a killer has laid the groundwork to destroy DI Helen Grace's career. Hide and Seek finds Helen Grace in prison for crimes she didn't commit.

When the bizarre murders of inmates in prison begin, Helen Grace finds her detective mindset kicking in, even as she fears for her own life.

Both books are suspenseful and violent. The series is very popular and the reviews are extremely positive, but the book falls into that abyss of depending on multiple grotesque murders to create suspense. Not my favorite plot line. Nevertheless, M.J. Arlidge has a committed contingent of fans, and we are all different in what we look for in our crime/mystery/detective fiction.

NetGalley/Berkley Publishing

Crime/Suspense. Oct. 10, 2017. Print length: 409 pages.

Great read! Looking forward to reading more by this author! Highly recommend!

I really enjoy these books and the characters. If you didn't read the book prior to this you will definitely find yourself lost when trying to read this one. Helen was framed for murder and is now in prison awaiting trial. Being a police officer in prison is not an easy road and Helen finds herself a target of inmates and guards alike. Helen's partner Charlie has never given up on her and knows she has been framed and who did it, the struggle is to find him and prove it despite what her superiors want.

While in prison women start being murdered and Helen can't help her detective instincts and need to investigate and solve this crime. Walking a thin line between inmate and detective Helen is desperate to find the killer before they can strike again.

This was definitely an interesting mystery and I followed Helen down the same paths of thought which was fun since I'm usually several steps ahead. Fast paced and a great addition to this fantastic series that just seems to get better.