Down to the Woods: DI Helen Grace 8 (A Helen Grace Thriller)

Eagerly awaited delivery to my kindle after preordering my most expensive kindle purchase. Released in time for my weekend away (a cabin in the woods!) and couldn't wait to read but this book was just bland. Ended up skipping a few chapters but it made no difference to the story. Annoyed by the overuse of the word 'riven' and fell out of love with the characters. Helen Grace was a strong character with a dark side but this isn't evident in this book. Can get a dozen better books for the money!

In Down to the Woods, the eighth novel in M.J. Arlidge’s DI Helen Grace series, a killer is on the loose in the New Forest. DI Helen Grace is called to the scene after the body of a man is found hanging from a tree. It seems at first that this could be the work of an eco-warrior, as Helen and her team delve further into the man’s past. But then a woman is found in the same area, and this prompts belief that a sadistic killer is on the loose, who doesn’t care who their victims are. Unless they can find a connection between the victims, this will make it very hard to track the killer down.What I love about these books is that M.J. Arlidge always keeps the pace turning up a notch and he uses short and snappy chapters. After reading the last book in the series a few weeks back, it had left me wondering how Helen and her team were getting on. There is also a new member of Helen’s team who M.J. Arlidge introduces us to, DS Joseph Hudson. It appears that he and Helen may have a future together, but if you’re a follower of this series, you will know that Helen and relationships don’t work well together. It’ll be interesting to see how this develops further. I think Helen deserves it after everything that she’s been through throughout the series.Journalist, Emily Garanitia, is up to her usual tricks. You would think that she would have learned to have stepped back a little bit, after what happened to her in the previous novel. If anything, though, she seems more determined to break the rules to chase down a story, even if it means upsetting her boss. The only person who she seems to worry about is herself, and her own career prospects. I don’t particularly like her as a person, but she is compelling, and I wondered just how close she was going to get to the investigation. She’s always never far from Helen Grace.DS Charlie Brooks is also in the spotlight in this novel. Her daughter is having night terrors at home, which are starting to have a negative impact on her work life. But Charlie’s relationship with Helen begins to improve again, and I really liked this aspect of the novel.I don’t think this is my favourite of the series, but I would still definitely recommend reading the books in order, to get the most out of the characters and their individual stories. I’m looking forward to seeing what M. J. Arlidge has install for us next.

There is a sickness in the forest. First, it was the wild horses. Now it's innocent men and women, hunted down and murdered by a faceless figure. Lost in the darkness, they try to flee, they try to hide. In desperation, they call out for help. But there is no-one to hear their cries here...DI Helen Grace must face down a new nightmare. The arrow-ridden victims hang from the New Forest's ancient oaks, like pieces of strange fruit. Why are helpless holidaymakers being targeted in peak camping season? And what do their murders signify? Is a psychopath stalking the forest? Is there an occult element to the killings? Could the murders even be an offering to the Forest itself? Helen must walk into the darkness to discover the truth behind her most challenging, most macabre case yet The hunt will take Helen back into the eerie twilit woods - and this time she might not make it out alive.The last thing Tom Campbell remembers is camping in the New Forest with his girlfriend, Melissa. Now he is helpless, alone and consumed by fear, hunted through the woods by a sinister, masked figure...When Tom's body is found, displayed with grisly relish, Helen Grace takes the case. But before she can catch her breath, a second victim is taken - a serial killer is on the loose.You better not go alone . . .Something dark and deadly stalks the forest. Helen and her team must race against time to catch the perpetrator, before more blood is shed.I’ve had this book on my Kindle for a while and kept putting off reading it. Not because I don’t like this series of books but because I wanted to take my time and savour reading it.I never expected the murderer to be who it was (no spoilers here).I always feel quite sorry when the books come to an end, because I almost feel like I’m a part of the team investigating the murders. Another brilliant book. 5*

I was starting to think that I had lost my touch for rooting out a good crime novel since I have rated many of my choices this year at 3 stars, so what a relief to have found a largely well written police procedural with plenty of red herrings. I also really enjoyed the menace and claustrophobia of the wood.What did surprise me in what was clearly the eighth in the DI Helen Grace series was the bland character of the lead detective. The hints about her past seemed to relate to a stronger and rather more individualistic character than the one presented in this book. I really didn't feel she was given enough depth given the importance of her role and I was left feeling I knew practically nothing about her. I am pleased to see from other reviews that she is more fully developed in the earlier books; I suspect I would find them even more satisfying than this novel.Why only largely well written? I felt that the narrative ran out of steam towards the end, leaving me in the unusual position of having been swept along by the plot only to find myself lacking that feeling of absolute compulsion to reach the end.Less significantly, though still an annoying niggle was the repeated use of certain words. For instance, a strong word such as "polaxed" loses its emphasis if overused and whereas one reference to a "bucolic" setting or landscape, particularly in a descriptive passage would have been striking and significant, the repetition of the word, especially in the mouth of a contemporary character, seemed to me out of place; I think of it more as a term associated with art or literature in modern day English.4.5 stars - and, I suspect, a new series for me to enjoy.

I pre-ordered this book as the Helen Grace series has been a delight to read. The book started well covering a plot of cross-bow murders in the New Forest. The investigation had a few twists that kept us guessing until the three-quarter point that the suspect became known. I was then awaiting another twist to complete the suspense and thrill, but it didn’t come. Overall, I felt a little under-whelmed.