Sara-Jayne Townsend is a published crime and horror writer and likes books in which someone dies horribly. She is founder and Chair Person of the T Party Writers’ Group. http://sarajaynetownsend.weebly.com/
Eight years ago, a group of five teenagers were kidnapped and tortured, after getting lost in the woods whilst doing the Duke of Edinburgh Challenge. Four of them escaped and moved on with their lives, forging success for themselves as adults. Their abductor was never caught. And then one of the survivors goes missing on his way home from work after receiving a sinister phone call: a mysterious caller telling him “you have one hour to live”.
DI Helen Grace is called in to investigate. Is it a coincidence that the victim is one of the survivors of the famous Daniel King abduction case? Initially Helen thinks it must be. Until a second survivor goes missing, and Helen is obliged to face the fact she might have a serial killer on her hands.
I have not read the full series, but I can well understand why this author has so many fans. This is a tightly plotted and tense thriller that will have you turning pages ever faster as you get gripped by the action. There are twists and turns aplenty, and every time you think you’ve figured out what’s going on, another plot twist comes out of the blue and hits you right between the eyes. I love the short chapters, too, although these can be fatal if, like me, you’re a “just one more chapter and then I’ll turn out the light” sort of bedtime reader.
This is the ninth book in the Helen Grace series, but you don’t have to have read the rest of the series to keep up with the story. Helen is a character with flaws, but she is a tough and determined woman, and easy to empathise with. You may not always agree with the decisions she makes, but you can’t help but root for her as she chases down the killer. There are also many strong secondary characters, each with their own story arc that has evidently played out over the course of the series, but it is easy enough to pick up the gist of each character’s backstory from this novel, without having read the rest of the series.
If you’re a Helen Grace fan already you will love this latest story. If you’re not, you probably will be by the time you get to the end of this gripping and fast-paced novel.
