It's here! Browse the 2024 Penguin Christmas gift guide
Eeny Meeny

Eeny Meeny

DI Helen Grace 1

Summary

'This is going to be as big as Jo Nesbo' Judy Finnigan

'What a great premise!' Jeffery Deaver, New York Times bestselling author of The Skin Collector and Solitude Creek

Eeny Meeny
is the rocket-paced serial-killer thriller debut from M. J. Arlidge. Eeny Meeny was a Richard and Judy Book Club Summer 2014 pick.


********

The girl emerged from the woods, barely alive. Her story was beyond belief. But it was true. Every dreadful word of it.

Days later, another desperate escapee is found - and a pattern is emerging. Pairs of victims are being abducted, imprisoned then faced with a terrible choice: kill or be killed.

Would you rather lose your life or lose your mind?

Detective Inspector Helen Grace has faced down her own demons on her rise to the top. As she leads the investigation to hunt down this unseen monster, she learns that it may be the survivors - living calling cards - who hold the key to the case.

And unless she succeeds, more innocents will die . . .

Introducing M. J. Arlidge's Detective Inspector Helen Grace, Eeny Meeny is an electrifying début, with the nerve-shredding intensity of Saw and Along Came a Spider. Fans of James Patterson and Mo Hayder should pay attention.

Praise for M.J. Arlidge and the DI Helen Grace series:

'M. J. Arlidge has created a genuinely fresh heroine in DI Helen Grace' Daily Mail

'Taut, fast-paced, truly excellent' Sun

'
Detective Inspector Helen Grace is one of the greatest heroes to come along in years.' Jeffery Deaver, New York Times bestselling author of The Skin Collector and Solitude Creek

'Gruesomely realistic, intriguing and relentless' Sunday Sport

'Eeny Meeny debuts one of the best new series detectives, Helen Grace. Determined, tough and damaged, she must unravel a terrifying riddle of a killer kidnapping victims in pairs. Mesmerizing!' Lisa Gardner

'A gripping debut ... D.I. Helen Grace is a flawed but winning heroine ... and, boy, the pages fly by' USA Today

'A fast-paced, twisting police procedural and thriller that's sure to become another bestseller' Huffington Post

Reviews

  • M. J. Arlidge has created a genuinely fresh heroine in DI Helen Grace . . . he spares us none of the dark details, weaving them together into a tapestry that chills to the bone
    Daily Mail

About the author

M. J. Arlidge

M. J. Arlidge has worked in television for the last twenty years, specializing in high-end drama production, including prime-time crime serials Silent Witness, Torn, The Little House and, most recently, the hit ITV show Innocent. In 2015 his audiobook exclusive Six Degrees of Assassination was a number-one bestseller.

His debut thriller, Eeny Meeny, was the UK's bestselling crime debut of 2014. It was followed by the bestselling Pop Goes the Weasel, The Doll's House, Liar Liar, Little Boy Blue, Hide and Seek and Love Me Not. Down to the Woods is the eighth DI Helen Grace thriller.

In 2019 he published a standalone thriller, A Gift for Dying.
Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more