I have stayed with this series and looked forward to reading the latest case. Although not as gripping as earlier books, this has all the ingredients to keep the reader engaged.
Helen is still emotionally and psychologically wounded but the introduction of Hudson to the team does add frission and challenge.
The unravelling of the connections between victims is careful police work with a few "red herrings" to deploy us for a while but Arlidge quickly gets back to the case and the final chase.
There are hints of another book in the series, but can the journalist please not feature? She is a caricature: implausible and a distraction from the action!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I'm a big fan of this series and this was brilliant. A serial killer is on the loose in the forest slaying victims with a crossbow. Helen Grace must track the killer down before they strike again. Exciting and well written, I highly recommend this book.

The Helen Grace series is one of my favourite mystery series', if not one of my favourite series' of all time, and the latest addition certainly did not disappoint. The creepy atmosphere of the forest mixed with the brutal slayings had me on edge.

I loved the addition of Hudson to the team. I was a little unsure because in the past, we've had new characters come in and be part of the police force and they've butted heads with Helen and so many people in the previous books wanted to take her a peg professionally. So it was refreshing to have this new guy come in and show he wasn't intimidated by Helen. So the killer. I kinda guessed who it would be from the first meeting of that character.

Overall, another great book in this series and obviously I need more!

DOWN TO THE WOODS
M.J. ARLIDGE

When the serene vista of the New Forest is blighted by a horrific series of ritualistic murders and apparent lack of motive, Helen Grace and her team must search for a serial killer who's using the forest as camouflage. Book number eight in the series is nowhere near as dark as the previous entries, but this allows a bit of a breather for longtime fans and the characters too who have been wrung through the mill in this addictive and brutal series that continually pushes it's characters to the edge. This time around the Southampton Murder Team are still experiencing the fallout of events from the last book while getting use to working with a new team member – the dashing DS Joseph Hudson – and trying to bat off vulturous journo Emilia Garanita and desperate to catch the killer before he strikes again. In typical Arlidge fashion, the book skips along at lightning pace with well-rounded characters and intriguing plotting. This book is also a bit different from the others because it works pretty well if you have just happened upon the series and doesn't require much of Helen's complicated backstory to understand her motives and actions. It's not the best book in the series, but it is just as enjoyable.

Another great read from MJ Arlidge and couldn't really put it down with all the twists and turns. Well worth a read!!!!!

A body is found in the New Forest, hung upside down and with crossbow bolts found in it. As DI Helen Grace and her team start to investigate another body is found. There is obviously a link to the dead ponies who have been killed by crossbow bolts, but who is the killer? As suspects are eliminated one by one, Grace and the team search for answers before another killing happens.
I really enjoy Arlidge's books about DI Grace and the Southampton squad. Yes, they are police procedurals and therefore are in a crowded market but there are certain unique features that keep me reading. Grace herself is a complex character with a really dark side. That isn't to the fore in this book but sits in the background. I like the setting in Southampton as it allows for a really varied set of plots, both city and country have featured in the series. here a lot of contemporary themes are explored but when it comes down to it the plot is based on simple motives.

I have always been a huge fan of the DI Helen Grace series but I struggled with Down to the Woods, the story was lacking something. Usually I can't put the books down but Down to the Woods just wasn't the usual page turner I've grown to love.

I wanted to love this book but I don't like the way it is written. For me it wasn't a page turner nor fast paced and I gave up.

Great introduction of a new character in the series albeit a little predictable.

Decent plot with an eery setting for some gruesome crimes.

Good standalone read or as part of the series.

This was a truly interesting book and a good storyline too. I do not know if it was just me but the characters seemed to lose their way somewhat but found it again, just in time to nail the perpetrator. Whether the temporary loss of way was just in my imagination or the author's intent, it worked and gave an extra depth to the story. I can wholeheartedly recommend this tale to you.

As a crime book it didn't excite me. I have dipped in and out of the. Series and have enjoyed other books better than this. All in all very forgettable.

DI Helen Graceis facing an absolute nightmare, arrow pierced victims hang from the New Forest's oak trees,with no rymn or reason as to why they are being targeted. Helen must face her most challenging and macabre case yet. This story is dark and had me hooked from the start. I had no idea who was doing the killings and my suspects list just kept changing and growing as the pages turned. The new character Joseph Hudson is an excellent addition to the team, I do hope there will be more to come. I highly recommended. 5*.

As a fan of Helen Grace, I was looking forward to reading this next instalment from M J Arlidge. Unfortunately, for me, it was not one of the better books - I felt it lacked any real excitement and fizzled out too quick. That said, I will continue to read these books as I do love the characters - it's just this one wasn't for me.

I've followed this series from the start; this story can be read as a standalone, but new readers will miss out on the character development. That's part of the buy in to the stories. At the end of each, I've wanted to know what happens next to the central characters. There's been love, loss, death, imprisonment but within the bounds of each take, it's all remained plausible. I've even accepted a few of DI Grace's foibles.

That aside, this is a bang on crime thriller. Who's knocking off innocents in the woods and why? It's a great police procedural, with Grace pushing the boundaries in terms of going off piste in her investigations. But it all adds to the tension; skilful plotting keeps the pace fast and furious, the characters are developing well and my only disappointment is having to wait for the next one.

My thanks to the publisher for a review copy via Netgalley.

Men and women are being hunted down in campsites in the New Forest... DI Helen Grace has to work out what connects the victims, if anything, and whether they can stop any more killings from happening.

This is part of a series, and it doesn't matter for the plot here, but I do feel if you'd read the rest of the series you'd have a greater insight into the characters. I struggled to separate them in my mind, and I suspect it was because I was missing their back stories.

It's a serviceable crime novel but it didn't keep me up all night. I didn't predict the killer but finding out who it was wasn't a wow moment (not that it has to be, but sometimes this can save a book).

It was perfectly fine. I think I've just read too many similar to this in a row. It didn't stand out for me.

Number 8 in the D.I. Grace series but I have not read any others and it didn't matter as this book is a stand alone story. When two seemingly unrelated people are found murdered in strange and gruesome circumstances within days of dad other the race is on to discover the monster behind the deaths before it happens again. The first mystery is how the victims are able to leave the tents they are camping in without alerting their partners before apparently becoming the prey of a hunger with a crossbow. The story begins to slowly unravel as the past of the victims becomes clearer, helped along the way by a very intrusive and at times dislikeable reporter who is desperate to make her mark in the press even if using unethical means to do so. A riveting book to read that could have been more gripping had the author been more brief at times as some of the side stories and deviations to explore the lives of a some of the police involved didn't really add much to the main event and I found myself skipping chunks of text to get back to the main event. That said I really enjoyed this book and would definitely try the others in the series.

It seems that recently, I've been reading a lot of these unsettling, edgy thrillers that have a larger than life, ominous, yet enigmatically bogeymanish killer. First there was Luca Veste's The BoneKeeper, then Liam McIlvanney's The Quaker and now we have Arlidge's New Forest scarey killer - and I bloody love them!
I love being spooked and a sort of almost inhuman killer gets my adrenalin pumping. I love the edgines- the almost supernatural feel these sort of novels have. The frisson of fear that makes my spine tingle, feeling that we (for of course I'm right there on the detective's shoulder) are up against something more than just human evil - for how could a human be quite so eveil - quite so frightening - quite so indestructible.

In this 8th offering in the DI Helen grace series we're taken Down to the Woods where one of the most scary killers is targeting visitors to the New Forest . The fact that Arlidge doesn't shy away from making this character so scary by killing some of the beautiful creatures we associate with the New Forest is testament to how chilling this read is.

Like The Quaker, Down to the Woods this is a slow boiler, but when it grips you, it keeps you in its tentacles right to the end. Arlidge's cast of characters are fascinatingly varied and are beautifully drawn. He really makes us care about them and keeps them fresh by introducing new elements for them to butt heads against. I love Grace herself - tough, yet vulnerable, intelligent yet not big headed, a people person, but very private - She is a woman of contrasts and that makes her an enigmatic leader. I'm already looking forward to Helen Grace number nine.

A great, grisly read. A maniac is stalking the New Forest, dragging victims silently into the forest from under the nose of other campers and then hunting them to death. They are displayed in a ritualistic and gruesome fashion for unsuspecting walkers to find. Grace's team are in the dark about motive - eco warriors? Occultists? A psychopath? They need to find a link between the victims - and quickly before anyone else is murdered.

This is the 8th DI Helen Grace thriller, but works really well as a stand alone book, so no need to worry if you, like me, haven't read the entire back story. I like DI Grace; a gutsy, female heroine with a bit of the rebel about her and I'd recommend this book as a gripping page turner.

Excellent book from my favourite author, one again I was not disappointed. Five stars, highly recommended.

Many thanks to Netgalley and M.J. Arlidge for the copy of this book. I agreed to give my unbiased opinion voluntarily.

Down To The Woods by M J Arlidge was a riveting read centred in and around the New Forest, Williams happy hunting ground. A macabre set of murders occur there with similar ritualistic style but seemingly the victims have no connection. Until of course DI Helen Grace and her team at Southampton Central sweep in to action. With more dead ends than a cul-de-sac in a cemetery will she ever find the culprit? Perhaps an earlier consideration of motive may have helped? One thing's for certain if you get half way through the book and find the most convincing suspect ever, you can virtually guarantee that with another half to go, it's a red herring. I found the ending to have great pace and drama but why did the chopper not use it's thermal imaging camera rather than the night sun? The only let down was the hero Helen pulling out of her own flesh some barbed crossbow bolts. Really? Personally I think Southampton Central and Brighton's finest should have a group think as to why they have an unusual representation of high ranking Grace's in their midst. Must be the salt air!