I made it! I finished out of the ashes by M.J. Arlidge which is the latest novel in the Helen Grace series.

If you didn’t read ‘Into the fire’ which is the previous book in this series I suggest that you don’t read any further as I always do a small section on the previous book.

The previous book had us in bits. Learning more about Emilia Garanita’s past and how she got her scarring and how, the man responsible is still living live so to speak, Emilia has it out for revenge and tries to locate this man meanwhile Charlie Brooks is the new head of the MIT team and can’t find her footing with Helen having quite her job and three collogues lost their jobs so, it was almost a whole new team. Helen has gone vigilante, spotting a beating and kidnapping taken place she doesn’t hesitate to dive in – not knowing that all three of the cases are actually linked. Emilia’s hunt for this man, MIT’s human trafficker and Helen’s victim. In the end of the story Charlie gets stabbed by their man and he finds a way to flee the country and return to Rotterdam.

First off; As a Dutchy myself I loved reading about a crime story taken place in Rotterdam, the details about the city were insanely good BUT I read my books in English for a reason since Dutch words sound very harsh when combining Dutch and English it got rather cringy and with my language being one of the toughest ones to speak correctly I don’t really get why opting for Dutch words in this book.

Helen got her job back, sort off. Superintendent Holmes told Helen that if she could capture Maarten Dekker she would get her job back but if she failed? She could kiss farewell to her job and the media would know of her f. up. Helen wouldn’t be Helen if she didn’t bring her trusted Kawasaki along for this journey. She had a meeting with DI Kim Meijer who runs the MIT in Rotterdam but with Charlie’s condition still being critical Helen is rather antsy and a little catty even. Wanting to run things solo so she can solve this case as soon as possible without to much roadblocks.

Arie Bos is Rotterdam’s drug lord, some kind of mafia type that won’t allow things going other than he wants them to. Having hired two assassins who are actually twins and ex special forces to follow Helen along and give her such a scare that she’ll hopefully run back to where she came from. What Arie didn’t know is that Helen isn’t easily scared and is almost cut from the same cloth as him when we’re talking about iron backbone and that sort of thing. With Maarten being like a brother to Arie there is no way he will rat him out – even if it would cost him his empire. But Arie has a trump up his sleeve, inside knowledge and the promise that Helen will be turned around in this investigation.

There have been quite a few accidents but Helen won’t give up. When she met with Arie at the club he’s almost always holed up in she secretly planted a bug, this resulted in a break in the case. After days of searching and running around a strange city she finally has conformation that Maarten is at the club, they have a stakeout ready within the hour but even that goes balls up.

Meanwhile, Emilia has been wandering the streets of Rotterdam, trying to make friends with Suzanne de Graaf; Maarten’s ex-wife. She thinks that Suzanne will eventually lead her to Maarten of that Maarten will seek out Suzanne and she’ll be ready when that day comes.

There are so many accidents happening with Helen that it amazes me she hasn’t broken or seriously injured herself in this book. With half of the incidents happening a normal person would be hanging on to a thread of their live but Helen just brushes it off and goes on her merry way. Making this book less believable and that’s not something I’m used to in this series.

I’m giving this book a ⭐⭐⭐.5 star rating.