Once again, C.J Tudor has created an intriguing and atmospheric world that sucks you in and chills you to the bone. The story was engaging and told with such skill i could see it playing out in my mind as i read. Parts were extremely creepy and left me on edge. I absolutely loved it.

Clever horror/thriller with a touch of the supernatural.

Please note there may be some spoilers!

When Joe Thorne was 15, his 8 year old sister, Annie, went missing. After an extensive search all hope was lost. However, 48 hours later, Annie came back, but different.
Fast forward 25 years, in debt, desperate and lured by a mysterious email echoing the past, Joe has come back to the village where he grew up. A village haunted by its past and its present. Joe has to face up to the people he left behind and confront the things that they did.

CJ Tudor follows up her massively successful debut The Chalk Man, with this 'horror/thriller with a supernatural vibe'. I’d not managed to read The Chalk Man but was grateful and excited to receive an advanced reading copy from the publishers.

Wow, what a page turner. I read this in a few sittings over two days which is unusual for me. Well paced and perfectly plotted with a time line that goes back and forth, but not excessively. It’s a perfect device to help build up the suspense and mystery which is retained
throughout.

The main character, Joe, is not particularly likeable, but interesting, yes. He’s massively flawed and searching for forgiveness, answers and maybe revenge.
Many of the characters from Joe’s past are equally disagreeable and are great baddies who make for satisfying foils. Foils which help to move Joe’s creepy journey along through the many twists and turns that you can’t see coming, as he searches for answers and redemption.

The character of Annie Thorne is both charming and then, on her return, deeply unsettling. The author has managed to craft a character that gave me the chills. Dolls, creepy kids and horror, equals heebie jeebies!!

I think the author’s great strength is the ability to bring a setting and an era to life. The scenes set in the 90’s, feel like the 90’s. Secondary school feels like how school was, and a small village with a dark secret, feels exactly like that. The village is brought to life so well that it feels like a character. One that is scarred, secretive and full of foreboding.

This is a brilliantly eerie novel that at times chills you to the bone. There’s hints of Stephen King in the writing and more than a nod to 'Pet Cemetery'. It’s gory at times (the author does body-horror unnervingly well) but still remains clever. If you like a good scare, go get it.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC, in return for an honest review.

Having read The Chalkman which I found difficult to put down and very creepy. When offered a preview copy of her follow up novel I jumped at the chance. If anything this book is even scarier and more creepy. Definitely in the genre of Stephen King. Not a book to be read late at night. Be warned.

A village with dark secrets from the past and a returning member of the community after several years away with his own demons to confront. Definitely recommended

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, thank you Netgalley for the advanced copy.

Joe Thorne is in trouble, he owes money to lots of people and decides to take up a teaching job to help pay it back. But this isn’t any old teaching job, it’s at his old school where suspicious going’s on happened 25 years ago and they are starting again. It’s up to Joe to find out what is happening.

I couldn’t put this book down, it was full of suspense and mystery. The characters are brilliant and the setting is really good too. The story goes back and forth between past and present but not in an obtrusive way. And there’s a shock twist which always makes things good. Highly recommended

What a fantastic book. When I first started reading this book I was slightly wary and didn't see where it was going. I didn't think I was going to like the main character in the story Joe, as he seemed not a particularly nice person, and if I am honest I am still not sure I liked him as a person but as a character in the story he was brilliant. I would have to say Gloria was my favorite character, if unexpected. All of the characters in the book were stongly developed and the story slowly unravels as you read on but twists away from where you thought it was taking you. several times. I think this is the best book I have read for a while and strongly recommend it if you like a twisty, creepy tale.

heard a lot about this author and the chalk man and though not lucky enough to get that I did manage to get an advanced read of the taking of Annie thorne. Thanks netgalley and publishers for giving me the opportunity .

Ok so I enter into a intriguing plot and with a host of characters, alternating chapters which appears to be the way these days,past and present
I liked the flawed main character and cd feel the threats around him, gloria was quite a hard as nails charcter who I wdnt mess with!

The plot itself ,the mystery is at times a bit muddled, was it supernatural, was it a murderer ,was it a car crash, was it old folk lore and sacrificial ,in the end I reflected does it matter, sometimes ambiguity is ok and it can be all of those things.

This author was unique in mixing styles of horror ,thriller, mystery ,I would like though to have known about where Annie went ,why did come back so changed ,was it what happened to her by another human, was it that she got lost and unwell, was it darker forces,what happened to her and the book also reminded me a lot of the concept of pet cemetery in some ways by Stephen King which clearly inspired this novel .

The bully's are indeed that and I always felt a sense of dread and fear when they were on the page .

The descriptions of the black scutteling beetles and the sounds really was creepy ,does he hear that due to the trauma when he was a child and its his mind or is it that they supernaturally manifest .

The pitt was well described and spooky

I will read this writer again and hope that links will be made and common themes arise to link the events so its more clear through each novel what is taking place but genre wise this author doesn't settle for one theme and its a mix that almost works just leaves me with too many questions to feel fully satisfied .

A good read over all though

The Taking of Annie Thorne by C J Tudor is a thriller with plenty of horror moments thrown in.
Joe Thorn's sister Annie went missing when she was eight years old, twenty four hours later she came home but would not say where she had been and was acting strangely. Years later Joe, now an unemployed teacher receives a email from an anonymous sender informing him that strange things were happening again in his home town. Joe against his better judgment takes a job at the school that he attended as a teenager to look into this.
This story hooked me from the beginning, it had scary parts and witty dialogue. I really liked the characters and the descriptions of his home town.
This is the second book from this author that I have read and I'm looking forward to her next book.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Penguin Random House UK for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

What a brilliant follow-up to „The Chalk Man“!

I was drawn into the story immediately. And I also fell immediately for Joe Thorne. He is not at his best. His gambling addiction led him into depts. The guy he owes is getting impatient. So he returns to his home town to work at his old school as a teacher because he has a plan to get money. But he is not welcome there. Something dark happened when he was a kid and his old friends don’t want him to tell their secrets.

Joe is a unique character. I liked him from the first page. The story has a dark and eerie atmosphere. Something is absolutely creepy about this town. I would not call this book a thriller. It is more a psychological mystery story with a slightly supernatural touch. For me this was an excellent mix and made the book unputdownable for me. It was a highly entertaining and gripping read. I really enjoyed “The Chalk Man”. But “The Taking of Annie Thorne” is even better because of its well-crafted story, the unique characters and the creepy atmosphere. I happily put C.J. Tudor on my elusive list of favorite authors.

Absolutely loved this book. Totally different.to everything else I’ve read this year. Almost a bit of a pet semetary vibe to it. I also found it very sad at parts. Would highly recommend this book it really is addictive, thanks for the preview.

Thank you very much for allowing me to read an advanced copy! This story centres around Joe Thorne, and his sister Annie who goes missing. Annie comes back but isn’t the same!

I absolutely loved this, it’s so different to what I usually read. It’s creepy, and if you love horror or scary films you’ll love this! It’s probably the best book I’ve read for a very long time. Literally kept me on the edge of my seat until I’d finished it. Will be buying a copy to read again.

I read this on holiday which meant I spent the first day or so sleeping on a sun lounger because I was up all night reading. I LOVED this book! It reminded me a little of Pet Sematary and the idea that death is not something to be tampered with. I will be recommending this to everyone I know.

Excellent book with a great storyline. Characters that are so well written. I would highly recommend this book to anyone!

This book was amazing it started slowly but then it took off and I found myself unable to put it down. I had read The Chalk Man by this author and I loved it so I was hoping this book would be as good, I need not have worried and although I was convinced I had worked it all out I hadn't and the ending was brilliant.

This was a really spooky story especially as a lot of it involved children. You need some imagination to create a storyline like this. At times the tension was almost unbearable and there was a real twist in the tale which made a great conclusion. I can't say I enjoyed it but I definitely couldn't put it down, the need to know was all consuming..

Another absolutely brilliant book from CJ Tudor! I read this in one sitting as I couldn't put it down. Lots of twists, and shocks as expected and different from anything I've read before.

After reading and thoroughly enjoying this author's first book I was really looking forward to this one and I wasn't disappointed! One of this year's not to be missed books!

Thank you to Netgalley, CJ Tudor and Penguin Michael Joseph for my ARC of the Taking of Annie Thorne.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first book by this author; The Chalk Man which I read last year, and I enjoyed The Taking of Annie Thorne just as much. It is a brilliant combination of thriller and horror that chills you to the very bones.

Joe Thorne is returning to his hometown of Arnhill. A place he swore he'd never return to, but here he is, taking up a teaching place at the run down academy. Joe is followed by a trail of bad debts and a desperation to get himself out of trouble. Which means a return to the past. Twenty five years ago he and four friends were involved in something they'd all rather forget. Something which fills Joe with fear and disgust if he just thinks about it. But his return to the village is bringing the past back to haunt them all.

So firstly I'd like to talk about the setting. This was hugely atmospheric, I think more so because I grew up in a village much like Arnhill and actually don't live too far away from Nottingham where the fictional village of Arnhill is placed. An old mining town full of folk who don't take kindly to strangers, run down pubs and miner's welfare's and of course the looming shadow of the abandoned pit. Not to mention all the people who used to work there and cannot let that legacy die. It's a very claustrophobic atmosphere and C.J Tudor nailed that perfectly.

Joe was a great character, complex, deceptive but also strong and enduring. His life had been a patchwork of horrors since he was 15 and yet somehow he has managed to stay alive and relatively sane (depending on who you talk to). The supporting characters too were excellent from the fiendish and feisty Gloria, to Brendan the Irish recovering alcoholic.

As for the twists and turns of the story nothing surprised me more than that ending! Absolutely excellent from start to finish I devoured this book in a matter of hours.

Another EXCELLENTLY creepy tale here in C J Tudor's follow up to her debut, a shivery, beautifully written and haunting tale where past meets present and all is, well, fairly horrible to be honest. But SO GOOD.

We have the small village haunted by it's past and it's present - a returning resident out to right the wrongs and a ghostly, terrifyingly realistic feeling central plot that will keep you turning those pages. Although once it gets dark, perhaps putting it aside for some Enid Blyton might be wise....if you want to sleep.

The sense of place is cleverly claustrophobic, the main protagonist is engagingly divisive and some of the descriptive prose will send you running for cover. A read from under the axe proof duvet novel, if you are irrationally disturbed by dolls and creepy kids then maybe a good cup of camomile tea to the side might also be wise...

Fuller review to follow upon publication. In my humble opinion though another sure fire hit for Ms Tudor.

Recommended.