I was sent an uncorrected advance proof of The Taking of Annie Thorne by C. J. Tudor to read and review by NetGalley.
This is an absorbing tale told in the first person, switching between the present day and protagonist Joe’s schooldays 25 years before. Having moved back to his home town as a teacher at his old school Joe intends to confront his past and the circumstances surrounding his then 8 year old sister’s disappearance and subsequent return – not quite the same child as when she mysteriously went missing 48 hours before. This novel is very evocative of schooldays, most notably of bullying and also the fragile teenage relationships within the most popular clique of children, in both the past and present chapters. There is also an undercurrent of the supernatural throughout the story which makes it all the more compelling. With believable well rounded characters I found it a nicely written and thoroughly engrossing read.

Grabbing you with its opening murder scene; a blue bottle infested home of bludgened children, supposedly killed by their mother- a teacher with depression, who then shoots herself - I was hooked from the start.
It's the precurser to Joe Thorne returning to his depressing, unwelcoming home town of Arnhill. He is a decent teacher that that due to his gambling addiction has become unreliable and hunted for a 30k debt. He moves into the house where the murders took place to the great distaste of the townsfolke. Despite having grown up here, he is treated like an outsider, with unwavering contempt. His old school frends maybe parents themselves now, but the town is essentially stuck in its own timewharp.
Despite his faults, Joe is very likeable and you find yourself behind him all the way. He is intelligent, self-depreciating with a dry sarcastic sense of humour, that Tudor enlightens us to, via the italic unspoken dialogue. He has grim and miserable memories of the town that are steadily revealed. He has returned home for a reason though. His sister went missing when she was 8 years old and he has received a note saying it is happening again.
There is a fair degree of violence, retirbution and hostility. But despite its bleak and dark nostalgic backdrop, it is entirely intriguing. Dialogue driven, it moves quickly and I virtually read it in 1 sitting. There is a supernatural element, but don't let this put you off if this is not your usual bag as it offers an atmospheric quality that matches the gritty and realistic backdrop. A totally absorbing, dark and impressive read from a relatively new author that I am sure will continue to impress us in future books. One to watch out for...

I absolutely adored C. J. Tudor’s debut The Chalk Man and could not wait to read The Taking of Annie Thorne. I was not disappointed – this book was even better!!

The main character Joe Thorne returns to his home town of Arnhill in Nottinghamshire (an old colliery town). Now a teacher with some bad debts from gambling and nasty sorts after him, Joe is no-ones idea of a hero. Arnhill is a typical Northern mining village (and I was born and raised in one so can say this), a small community filled with small minded people. Although Joe lived there he is still seen as an outsider and people are suspicious of his agenda, the fact that he is renting a house where a murder/suicide took place recently does not help his image. The events of the house seem linked to Joe’s past; his younger sister went missing and came back 48 hours later…different. A mother had lived in the house Joe is renting with her young son and inexplicably murdered him then killed herself, above his bed she had written NOT MY SON.

As a teenager Joe was involved in a local gang who revelled in making the local misfits/different kids lives a misery. The episodes of bullying are not an easy read and there is a certain scene which really gave me the shivers! Their actions lead them to a life changing event which will have repercussions for everyone involved.

The Taking of Annie Thorne is definitely more of a horror than a thriller and I loved the supernatural element. Creepy kids, terrifying bugs and secrets that literally refuse to stay buried. C. J. Tudor has been compared to Stephen King and I would agree, I am definitely reminded of his earlier works. I reckon it’s about time we had a Queen of the horror genre and I’d happily hand C. J. Tudor the crown!

Wow! I liked and enjoyed The Chalk Man, C.J. Tudor’s debut novel, but The Taking of Annie Thorne is next level good. It is dark, it is clever, it is brilliantly written and it shocks and surprises right up to the very end.

Joseph Thorne had no intention of returning to Arnhill, scene of his teenage years. His old stomping ground, a small Nottinghamshire village had never recovered from the days when it had a thriving pit and employment wasn’t hard to find. Arnhill no longer holds any good memories, if ever it did. After what happened to Annie, and to Chris, a school friend, he left without a backwards thought.

But times are hard and Joe needs to get out of town. It’s not as if he’d have chosen to go back to Arnhill, but as he is preparing his escape, he receives an e-mail that really doesn’t leave him any option but to go to the place he once called home. Arnhill may after all have something to offer – the answers to everything that happened in his past.

Joe’s sister Annie was only 8 years old when she disappeared for 2 days before coming back and when she did return, she was….different. His school friend Chris committed suicide and he lost his dad in an accident.

But the e-mail tells him that things are going wrong again and he knows it is time he confronted his past.

For a central protagonist, Joe Thorne is easy to dislike. He’s a judgemental sod, sneering at the punters in his local bar: “The men sport signet rings and rolled-up shirt sleeves revealing blurry grey tattoos. The women are all brassy streaks and crinkly arms poking out from ill-advised vest tops.”

He has substantial gambling debts and has lied his way into a teaching position at his old school and now he is renting the cottage where only recently a teacher at the school killed her son, Ben and then shot herself.

There are people who are not happy to have Joe back in Arnhill, and there are others looking for him. But for Joe, it is finally time he confronted his past and found out once and for all what happened to his sister, and why she came back.

In a beautifully plotted, wholly immersive story, C.J. Tudor ramps up the chill factor by several notches with a well-drawn narrative arc that takes the reader on a journey into the depths of hell where unmentionable secrets lie and no-one who goes there ever escapes unscathed.

This is scary, super-sharp story-telling with old tropes refashioned in new ways as old-fashioned evil swarms and slides around creating mayhem below ground just as new evils are being perpetrated above ground. When the two come together, and the past meets the present, it is hard to know whether there will be anyone left to tell the tale.

Then just as you think you might be able to breathe a sigh of relief; ‘thwack’ the story hits you right in the gut with a sucker punch you just did not see coming.

Verdict: Clever, spine-chilling, horror that packs a punch, is intelligently told and completely riveting.

I have mulled over this review for some time now, and I have to admit that a big part of me didn’t want to write it. Why is that, you wonder? Well, it is because I really, really wanted to love this book, but I just didn’t.

To me The Chalk Man by CJ Tudor was one of the best debut novels that I have read, I absolutely loved it and I have spent the last year and a bit telling people that they should read it. So when I got the chance to read The Taking of Annie Thorne (or The Hiding Place if you are in the US) I jumped at the chance and it didn’t cross my mind that I wouldn’t love it too.

At times I thought that it was all going well and I did enjoy reading it, it’s a twisty story that keeps you guessing and wondering and questioning what is going on.

The main character, Joe Thorne, is really rather unlikeable. He’s rude and unpleasant and although I often don’t like the characters in books that I read and find that perfectly ok, I really didn’t like Joe and found that I didn’t really care all that much about what was going to happen to him.

I’m not a fan of horror books, I used to be and loved Stephen King but as I’ve got older I just don’t want to be scared in the same way as I used to. I didn’t find this book scary though, but there is a lot of supernatural stuff going on. While there was an element of that in The Chalk Man in this book it is central.

There was also one scene in this book that I did not like reading one bit, it was so uncomfortable and just awful to read. I’m not quite sure how the author was able to write it.

But I did think that it was a clever story and there was a lot to like about it. I think that my expectations were so high after loving The Chalk Man so much.

The Taking Of Annie Thorne (or The Hiding Place) by CJ Tudor is well written and easy to read, it was just a little bit too ‘out there’ for me.

I received a copy of The Taking Of Annie Thorne by CJ Tudor from the publisher, Michael Joseph. I was under no obligation to review the book and all thoughts are my own.

The Taking of Annie Thorne by C.J. Tudor

Joe Thorne has returned to the Nottinghamshire village of Arnhill years after he left it. He has an interview at the local school which he wishes to join as a teacher. His references are impeccable. He would be the perfect choice. Indeed, the Head is pleased to give him the job. But Joe has history with this school, just as he does with the village. This was where he grew up. He knows the parents of many of the children he’ll be teaching. The same behaviour can be seen. Personalities recur through the generations. It’s almost as if the past is repeating itself.

Years ago, Joe’s little sister Annie went missing. The whole village searched. Two days later she turned up again but she wasn’t the same. She wasn’t Joe’s Annie. She terrified him. And now the same thing has happened to another child. Joe has come back to make this end.

Last year’s debut novel by The Chalk Man was such a memorable, creepy and menacing read, combining mystery with horror, a winning combination in my eyes. This is now followed by another stand alone novel, The Taking of Annie Thorne, which builds on the atmosphere of what came more and, in my opinion, the result is even more successful. Once more we have the fright associated with children who in some way have strayed from what is right, even what is real. It’s almost classic Stephen King nightmare territory and you can see why he’s such a fan of C.J. Tudor’s books. As King says, if you like his books, then you’ll like this. He is right.

Joe Thorne is our narrator and he’s most certainly as unreliable as you’d expect. But it’s easy to warm to him, especially as the true horror of what happened all those years ago emerges. It all happens bit by bit. We know that Joe has arrived in Arnhill with an agenda so we’re on our guard from the outset but I love the way that so much of the story is revealed through wonderful character portraits. As Joe gets to know the children in his class, he’s reminded of their parents and this is such an effective way of introducing flashbacks to a past that Joe thought he’d escaped.

Little here can be trusted. People lie or they deny the past. But even the rules of reality can’t be relied upon. This is horror after all. But it’s almost more psychological than anything else. The powers of a child’s imagination fuels this novel but sometimes the monster might be real and it haunts them still.

The setting of Arnhill is so well created. It’s a mining community that has lost its reason for being. The mine has closed. More than that, the mine has been eradicated. There seems so little reason to stay and yet some of the children that Joe knew all those years ago seem unable to leave. What ties these people to this unhappy place?

The Taking of Annie Thorne is a wonderfully chilling tale of a village haunted by its horrible past. The atmosphere is one of menace and evil, an evil that is accompanied by such a rank and festering stench. I love this kind of horror. In settings such as this, with characters like these, it’s almost as if this horror could exist. It feels real and believable. This is a compelling novel to read, particularly, I think, by lamplight, late into the night.

Other review
The Chalk Man

I LOVED this book! I thought The Chalk Man was good, but C. J. Tudor has surpassed herself. Deliciously creepy with more than a hint of a Steven King vibe, it’s an absolutely 2019 standout for me already.

I loved this book - not having read anything else by this author, I wasn't prepared for the supernatural element but being a big fan of Stephen King, that just added to my enjoyment. I read it over a few days and loved the ending - fantastic and highly recommended.

he Taking of Annie Thorne is a brilliantly creepy read which kept me completely hooked. It’s got mystery, weird occurrences and disturbed children (always high on the ‘creepiness’ scale!) plus a satisfyingly dark storyline, but still manages to be almost convincing – worryingly so. I don’t want to give much away, but I could picture most of this actually happening (minus the slight – and only very slight – supernatural element, which I’m pleased to say didn’t negatively impact the great plot for me).

To start with, I had no idea if I liked Joe, or if I was supposed to hate him. He’s a really mixed up character, and he definitely has his faults (which I liked), but as the novel went on I really warmed to him, and the more I read about what he’s been through, the more interesting he got! He also brings some humour to the story which provides a bit of light relief at just the right times.

Though there are some horrible characters in The Taking of Annie Thorne, I felt like the people in this book were pretty believable and convincing, which only added to the book’s shock value. I liked the blend of thriller and horror and feel like this more than lives up to the standards of C J Tudor’s previous novel, The Chalk Man.

The Taking of Annie Thorne is a decidedly creepy and twisty read that gave me a few restless nights. Joe Thorne, damaged, unlikable and running from trouble returns to the former pit village where he grew up, and the scene of a family tragedy. Just like people, places have secrets, and Joe is dragged back into the nightmare he thought he'd left behind.

I quite enjoyed this one. It is different from The Chalk Man, but good. I liked the story, and that it was definitely a more supernatural vibe. I thought the ending a little rushed, but will definitely be reading more by Tudor,

This is a gripping combination of crime, horror and coming of age novel - well worth reading, a genuine page turner.

I bought The Chalk Man, Tudor’s first novel, for my Mom last summer and although I haven’t read it myself I know how well recommended it is. When her new novel came up on NetGalley I jumped at the chance to read and review it.

I began straight after finishing The Whisper Man by Alex North so I was definitely in the mood for a solid British crime novel, and this didn’t disappoint. I stayed up far too late at night getting through the first 25% before having to force myself to stop reading and go to sleep.

The novel opens with the brutal murder/suicide of a Mother and Son. When Joe Thorne comes back to the same village he grew up in, he gets a job teaching back at his old school and rents a local cottage – the same cottage the vicious deaths had occurred in. But the job is not the real reason he’s there and soon he is thrown back into the terrible situation he tried to run away from – except this time he wants to put an end to it.

The thing that instantly drew me to the book was the narration. The main character should be really dislikable but I absolutely loved his dark, sarcastic humour. He lies to get what he wants but as a reader you don’t care, he’s just funny. His humour is just enough to make you feel a false sense of security so that when the odd things start to happen it is jarring.

The story is by no means believable but you won’t care because it propels you forward. When you think you have a grip on what happened in the past through flashbacks you can think again because it’s never what you think. I really enjoyed the great nostalgic references to what life was like growing up without phones, when bullies were just the same, and made me reminisce about my own childhood.

It’s easy to see the stories that this book will be associated with: the friends group in IT, like a grown up version of The Sacrifice Box. It also has all the grotesque zombie-like return of Pet Semetary. It’s all the drama of Stephen King packed into a small rural village.

A gruesome start so not for the faint hearted but I loved this book. I liked the flawed main character and the realism of the schoolboy / girl relationships. There were certain phrases I just wanted to read out loud to someone.
Definitely recommended.

‘Life is not kind. Not to any of us, in the end. It adds weight to our shoulders, a heaviness to our stride. It tears away the things we care about and hardens our soul with regret’. CJ Tudor (The Taking of Annie Thorne).

Meet Joe Thorne, a flawed 40 year old who is haunted by the disappearance and subsequent reappearance of his sister, Annie, years before. We first encounter him as he is travelling back to Arnhill - fleeing from the horror of his life and determined to find out, finally, what happened all those years ago.

Joe is likeable, relatable and whilst he is shrouded in misery, he tells his story with a wry humour that instantly brings him to life. His quest for the truth and to find the secrets buried deep within Nottinghamshire legend driving him forward, even as his life crumbles around him.

Like The Chalk Man, The Taking of Annie Thorne blends myth with reality really well. The horror in Annie Thorne though is more abstract - each cleverly crafted word painting the outline of the picture and then sitting back and letting your imagination colour it in - in all its terrifying glory. This actually intensified the fear factor, my overactive imagination revelling in the swarms of flies and turning them into a murmuration before my eyes.

As past and present collide a new terror is born, a terror that presses down on your chest, making it harder and harder to breathe and whilst you are desperate to free yourself you are compelled to remain, held hostage until the final chilling word has been uttered.

In The Taking of Annie Thorne, Tudor has taken her writing to a different level, the fear still skittering over your skin as the newly injected pathos brings a tinge of sadness that lingers long after the final page.

This is a brilliantly spooky, atmospheric book. It hade up till the early hours reading, I just couldn’t wait to see what would happen next ! What a excellent second book.
I loved it 10/10.

‘When my sister was eight years old, she disappeared. At the time I thought it was the worst thing in the world that could ever happen. And then she came back.’

It’s hard to share my thoughts on The Taking of Annie Thorne without getting spoilery. I’m warning you now, I’m going to give away EVERYTHING in this review. That’s why I’ve waited until after publication date to post it, because it makes me feel a little less guilty for being unable to resist going on a bit of a tirade.

If you haven’t read The Taking of Annie Thorne and want to retain some element of surprise, look away now.

The rest of you ready? Well, let’s dive right into this then.

The Taking of Annie Thorne focuses on Joe Thorne, Annie’s older brother, who has returned to the town of Arnhill with revenge in mind. Revenge against Stephen Hurst, his old ‘friend’, a man who he has some serious dirt on.

The dirt? That Stephen murdered his sister, Annie.

Everyone thinks Annie disappeared for two days before she came back, covered in dirt and acting differently, but Joe remembers the truth. He knows that the head injury inflicted by Stephen’s crowbar isn’t something that an eight-year-old could have survived, and whatever came back from the mine wasn’t Annie.

So Joe has returned to Arnhill, planning to threaten Stephen into giving him enough money to pay off his gambling debts in return for his continued silence. But Stephen Hurst has always been a powerful man, and Joe’s plan isn’t going to go as smoothly as he was expecting it to.

I was enjoying The Taking of Annie Thorne until it took the turn into the fantastical. Expecting a traditional psychological thriller – child gets kidnapped, returns marked by the events that they’ve experienced and changes their family’s lives for good – I didn’t see the twist of Annie’s death coming. It ruined the entire story for me.

The first half of the novel blew me away. The foreshadowing was a little heavy-handed, but the brutal way that Joe is treated by the people from his past upon his return to the village was shockingly violent. It made the story far darker than I was expecting, making me excited to find out exactly what happened to Annie all those years before.

It was a shame that the reveal caused my enjoyment of the book to plummet so rapidly. Perhaps I would have felt differently if C.J. Tudor had focused on why the events happened, but instead the characters seem to blindly accept the fact that something about Arnhill makes children come back from the dead.

There are some insinuations that the land itself is magical – the tragic events take place a burial ground filled solely with children’s bones – with hints towards the same thing happening to more children after Annie. However, there’s no concrete history that cements it in the story of the village and makes it more believable.

It gives it the impression that C.J. Tudor was halfway through the story, had an idea and decided to turn it on its head, but didn’t completely think things through. This becomes even more apparent during the last couple of chapters, where nonsensical events happen like dominoes falling. It made me feel as though my copy was missing a chapter or two at the end that actually explained things, but unfortunately that was not the case.

I’ve seen a lot of rave reviews for The Taking of Annie Thorne, so I’m definitely in the minority having not enjoyed this novel. Perhaps I would have liked it more if I’d known what I was letting myself in for, but I’ve also never been a huge fan of novels which blur the lines between genres, so perhaps this was never meant to appeal to me.

C. J. Tudor wrote The Chalk Man which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Because of that I couldn’t wait for her next book.

This one is just as good but in a very different way, more sinister, more creepy and definitely (on audio) it had its spine chilling moments.

I crossed from reading this on my kindle to listening to it on audio so that I could continue reading it yesterday in the car. Yes, I was hooked.

I think a lots been written already in reviews so I’m very reluctant to add more as I’m a great believer of allowing a potential reader of a book going in at least semi blind.

Returning to his home town and taking a job in the local school is it on purpose or to make ends meet?
Is there a reason he’s gone back to where he grew up and if so, why?

I felt the plot inch by inch widen as I slipped more and more down its cracks sucking me in.

A few places I gasped and wondered how this author came up with this story.

The main character had a great way with sarcasm and quirks. It satisfied my warped sense of humour and was very realistically done. I was well on par with his replies. I get a bit like that myself, tongue in cheek, so it was brilliant.


The ending wasn’t what I thought either. It was a satisfying finale to the plot but not to the teacher.....or the one female I thought connected to him.

I felt a bit sad for them not.

I’ll definitley be awaiting this authors next book without a doubt

Really impressive followup to the Chalk Men. Written with drive and pace the plot involves a school teacher returning to his home village bringing secrets with him but also aware that there are secrets buried at home that need to be resolved. Great pacing and plotting with a good background of characters. An author to keep an eye on.

I loved The Chalk Man and was expecting something similar from this book. However this book is possibly even darker, and has supernatural elements which I thought C.J. Tudor did a great job of integrating without it becoming too much.

The book starts off a little slow (after the shocking opener) as the story is set up and we get to know more about Joe and his past. There are some really creepy moments, and I thought the ending was great even though I am left with a number of questions!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book.