Little Boy Blue by M.J. Arlidge

Well, well, well DI Helen Grace certainly has some dark secrets, doesn't she? Talk about living out your hidden demons. The whole 'I want to whipped and punished because I was abused as a child' is pretty messed up.

This is the fifth book in the series, but it can be read as a stand-alone novel.

Arlidge has included enough information about the previous books to make sense of the characters and the story without reading the other books.

Unfortunately her penchant for being dominated in the BDSM scene doesn't really gel with her job or the position she has in the police force.

After building the plot, the murders and the unknown murderer up, Arlidge whips a convenient perpetrator out of the bag. Too little, too late, and a wee bit disappointing. Not the who, but the how.

Overall the police procedures are a little unbelievable.

Arlidge ends the book on a huge cliffhanger. There is no sweet solution that falls into place to bring the story to a neatly packaged end.

For me it missed the mark. It was a solid set-up for the crime, but it became a little me, myself and I where Helen was concerned. I think pulling the cat out of the bag near the finish line was a bit lazy and could have been done better.

Buy Little Boy Blue at Amazon UK or go to Goodreads for nay other retailer.