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The Taking of Annie Thorne: 'Britain's female Stephen King' Daily Mail

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This was a Traveling Sister Read and we all had mixed feelings about this book. I am just happy that I ended up loving it.

The whole time, I was sure this would be one of those psychological thrillers, but it is actually a real, blood curling horror. Written with such skill it's hard to believe this is only her second book. It gives King a run for his money' James Oswald, author of the Inspector McLean series Arnhill is a grim little village where lots of bad things have happened." AND.....they're happening again. You could say the town is cursed or perhaps it's just the ghosts of Joey's past that want him gone. I'm left wondering why, up until now, I haven't felt compelled to read Tudor's debut novel The Chalk Man, which I promptly corrected by adding to my tbr list upon completion of this book.She’s not bad. She’s able to write about interesting characters and the suspense is good in the books. I’m reading until the end regardless about how I feel about the plot. Julia had a history of depression. She just had a divorce from Ben's father. She had stopped her medication and requested a leave of absence and took Ben out of school. Then she bludgeoned her son to death before she blew her own head off. She wrote three words in blood on the wall of Ben's bedroom, NOT MY SON. Are these the actions of a mad woman or an unbalanced mind or is this something a lot more sinister? This is one of those books that you cover your eyes with your hand while still looking through the space between your fingers, saying no, no, no, not that. It can't be THAT! I have read all of this authors work now and I am amazed at how powerful her writing is. Each and every novel pulls me into the strange and suspenseful storylines and has me completely consumed by the characters and mystery. This novel, along with her following one The Other People, have some unrealistic elements which is usually a huge turn-off for me. However, her writing is so strong that I am able to overlook those elements without hesitation and simply allow myself to get wrapped up in the characters circumstances. That shows how strongly I connect to her writing! I highly recommend and can’t wait for her upcoming release!

Joe is not welcomed by the community with open arms, his former gang members and others project deeply held animosity and hostility and willing to express this violently. Stephen Hurst is now a powerful and wealthy man locally, on the school governing board, and makes it transparently clear he will do anything to ensure that Joe leaves. Stephen married Marie Gibson, now a dying woman suffering from cancer. Joe's problems have followed him to Arnhill with the appearance of Gloria, a hitwoman intent on ensuring that Joe pays his debts. Joe befriends the art teacher, Beth Scattergood, and becomes aware that little has changed at the school and in a community harbouring dark deeds. He is plagued by vibrantly vivid nightmares and the house is exhibiting some eerie and creepy vibes linked to the dreadful events that occurred there. As the past haunts the present, and the pressure piles up on Joe, we learn of what happened to Annie, and of an ancient evil that has dwelled in the area. Every town, village and city has a history. There's the official history. The bone-dry version collated in textbooks and census reports, related verbatim in the classroom. Then there's the history that is passed down through generations... The secret history." This is the second book I’ve read by C.J. Tudor. While I wasn’t a huge fan of her previous work, The Chalk Man I was ready to try again. I really wanted to love this one. Unfortunately this book also ended up falling a little flat for me. I do like my thrillers dark but this one went just a bit too far over that line. You’ll like some of the characters in this book and hate others. I always love complicated characters in a book and The Hiding Place has this in spades. The characters are spot on, the setting takes on a life of its own, and you will be fully immersed into the storyline, dying to find out how it will come together.There's not one baby or young person buried here.' He stares at me triumphantly. 'Where are all the children?' Sometimes I think it's not the passing of the years that really ages you, but the passing of the people and things you care about."

CJ Tudor has been criticized for writing too much like Stephen King. I say PHEWYYYY! I think Tudor is a hundred times more user (reader) friendly than King. I’m a fan of this super talented author.Even though I was left wanting—if only Tudor had pushed the envelope a bit further—it won’t deter me from visiting another of her literary creations. In fact, at the moment, I find myself contemplating a peek at her debut, The Chalk Man. Okay so the book starts off with the police discovering a corpse of a woman whose head is blown off and its chunks scattered all over the room (hey, I said spoiler free, didn't say it won't be gory) and her son dead/murdered in a really brutal way and the people think that the mama killed her son. It only took me a few chapters to start comparing Tudor's writing style to that of Stephen King, and I mean that in the most flattering of ways.

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