Today I’m finally sharing my thoughts on Good Girl, thes latest book by Mel Sherratt. The sad news is that this is the final book in the Grace Allendale series which I’ve really enjoyed. The great news is that it rounds things off beautifully and it’s a cracker of a book. Here’s what it’s all about:
About the Book
When sixteen-year-old Erin Ellis is attacked, she dies in the arms of her best friend Molly, just metres from her home. Molly is the surviving girl but says she easily could have been the victim – it was a random mugging gone wrong.
With inconclusive evidence, DS Grace Allendale must dig deep within the tight-knit Stoke community for leads. And she soon finds that someone had a motive to kill Erin.
As the investigation unfolds, Grace is reminded of a horrifying case she worked on earlier in her career.
Is the past coming back to haunt her? And can she push through her fear to catch Erin’s killer before it’s too late?
My Thoughts
Aww. The end. Can you believe it? What a brilliant and thrill laden series Mel Sherratt has given to us with the Grace Allendale stories. I’ll be sad not to be coming back to Grace and the team, but we really have seen the series rounded off in style, with shocks, thrills, secrets and the gripping storylines we’ve come to expect from this author.
This time we find Grace caught in the middle of an investigation into the murder of teenager, Erin Ellis. Out with her friend, Molly, for the evening, Erin is stabbed in a seemingly random mugging attack just steps away from her home. Her mother and best friend are left devastated, the community in shock. But what seems like a simple, if tragic case, is anything but, and once again Grace finds her personal life drawing uncomfortably close to the investigation, links back to her notorious half siblings making Grace’s job all the more complex.
What I have loved about this series is the way that the author looks beyond the tangled web of the investigation and into the personal side of the characters too. Not just the police, although I have really enjoyed getting to know Grace and even her terrible family, but also they way in. which the lives of the victims and their families play a real part in the storyline. Even though we don’t have a chance to meet Erin before she is murdered, by the end of the story we have a really clear idea of who she is, what made her tick and what led to her tragic death on the cold dark night. Using the present day investigation and some narrative scenes that take us back into Molly and Erin’s pasts, Mel Sherratt sets the scene perfectly in a story that will make your skin crawl and highlights a story that is sadly all too believable and could easily have been ripped from the headlines.
There is a perfect blend of tension and emotion in this book. Mel Sherratt has pitched the tone perfectly, bringing Grace, and. the characters full circle in a way that will be clear to people who have read the whole series. For that reason, and because you’d be missing out on a real treat if you don’t, I’d suggest not reading this book until you have read the first books. A lot of what plays out links into earlier stories and really do bring closure to some of. the more difficult storylines that first introduced us to Grace and her family. It is not always an easy read, a story of manipulation, abuse and deceit, and the build to the shocking final scenes really did hold my attention right to the end. And as for those very final pages – well what better way to round off the series. After all the sadness and shocks that preceded it, that ending was just what the reader ordered. Another cracking read that I’d heartily recommend.
About the Author
Mel Sherratt is the author of ten novels, all of which have become bestsellers. In 2017, she was named as one of her home town of Stoke-on-Trent’s top 100 influential people.
She lives in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, with her husband and terrier, Dexter.
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