I don’t know about you but when I heard that there was a new Helen Grace book coming I got very excited and it was immediately bumped up to the top of my tbr pile!
My Review:
Finally!! A new Helen Grace book is out. It feels a long time since May 2017 when the seventh book in the series was released so I was really excited to read Down To The Woods. Instead of concentrating on his Grace series, author MJ Arlidge has been busy doing other things, writing a book that doesn’t feature Grace that’s set in America for one. But thankfully he hadn’t forgotten Helen Grace and book eight has finally arrived.
I have to admit that at first I wasn’t sure about Down To The Woods, Grace is a character that I love and thoroughly enjoy catching up with when a new book is released, but I guess with the longer break it took me a little bit longer than normal to get back into the book and the character, and especially the smaller characters who aren’t quite as memorable.
But it didn’t take long before I was sucked into the story which was shockingly gruesome. Although I remain unconvinced that Arlidge can top the shock factor of the deaths in Eeeny Meeny (the first book in the Helen Grace series), he gives it a damn good try in Down To The Woods.
Grace herself seemed a little bit different in this book and I came to the conclusion that after the recent traumatic events that she’d been through Helen had grown up. She finally seemed to stop running and it even seemed that she may finally start to let people into her world and her life. Hurrah! I’m very pleased for her.
By the end of the book I didn’t want it to end, Arlidge has once again given us a twisted tale that terrifies and puts Grace and her team through their paces. For those of you who are new to Helen Grace then I strongly suggest that you start at the beginning. I’m sure that you could read Down To The Woods as a standalone, but it would be a lot better if you have read the previous books, and if you didn’t read them then you’d be missing out on some brilliant stories.
Many series lose their way around about now, but there’s no sign of that with Down To The Woods. I just hope that Arlidge doesn’t find too much else to occupy himself with so that there isn’t too long a way for book nine!
Thank you to the publishers, Michael Joseph at Penguin UK for a copy of Down To The Woods by M.J. Arlidge. I was under no obligation to review the book and all thoughts are my own.
Blurb:
THE EIGHTH DI HELEN GRACE THRILLER BY BESTSELLING AUTHOR M. J. ARLIDGE
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.
About The Author:
M. J. Arlidge has worked in television for the last fifteen years, specializing in high-end drama production, including the prime-time crime serials Torn, The Little House and Silent Witness. Arlidge also pilots original crime series for both UK and US networks. In 2015 his audio exclusive Six Degrees of Assassination was a Number One bestseller. His first 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 by M.J. Arlidge is out now and available from Amazon UK and Amazon US.
You can read a Q&A that I did with M. J. Arlidge here where you will also find links to my reviews of some of the previous Helen Grace books.
A forgotten past
Jacqueline Grima has recently completed an MA in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University. Her creative work has appeared in a variety of publications and, in 2014, she was shortlisted for the Luke Bitmead Bursary Award. Only in Whispers is her first novel. Follow Jacqueline on Twitter 
Be careful what you wish for…
Louise Beech is an exceptional literary talent, whose debut novel How To Be Brave was a Guardian Readers’ Choice for 2015. The sequel, The Mountain in My Shoe was shortlisted for Not the Booker Prize. Her third book, Maria in the Moon, was widely reviewed and critically acclaimed. Her short fiction has won the Glass Woman Prize, the Eric Hoffer Award for Prose, and the Aesthetica Creative Works competition, as well as shortlisting for the Bridport Prize twice. Louise lives with her husband and children on the outskirts of Hull, and loves her job as a Front of House Usher at Hull Truck Theatre, where her first play was performed in 2012.
It was meant to be the perfect honeymoon.
If only I could read faster 