One night Annie Thorne went missing. There were searches, appeals and everyone feared the worst, but then after fourth-eight hours she returned but she was never the same.
Joe knows something happened to his sister but he can’t explain what and he was very scared.
I found this to be a dark scary read but I really enjoyed it. I found the characters interesting, well developed and I felt I knew them all.
Brilliantly written and kept me turning the pages from start to finish.
Many thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Weird but compelling. Childhood bullies and relationships set in an old mining village with a disturbing history .

This book defines the expression "spine-chilling." I swear there were moments while reading this that I felt like someone was attempting to stab me in the eyeball - but at the same time you can't put it down either because you're so drawn in you just HAVE TO see how it ends.

For books like THE TAKING OF ANNIE THORNE there should be a separate genre called CHILLERS.

Loved it and dreaded it!

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to horrify myself in exchange for this honest review.

Goodness me! A brilliant, fast-paced book, moving from present day to the events of 1992, when Annie Thorne went missing, returning after 48 hours but never the same again. I read parts of this book through my fingers, and stopped reading it before bed, just in case … This was exciting, spooky and with enough twists and turns to make the pieces of the puzzle fit into place. Highly recommended.

Having read The Chalk Man previously I was looking forward to this, it did not disappoint. Fantastic characters, great storyline. Look forward to more by this author.

This was my first foray into Tudor's work and I really enjoyed it. It's quite a dark and tense novel, which has a sense of mounting dread and demonstrated the fine line between paranormal terror and the evil that men do. Well-written and creepy.

I enjoyed CJTudor's debut very much and I think The Taking of Annie Thorne will appeal to many readers too.

Teacher and gambler Joe Thorne returns to his childhood village and local school to find out the truth about his sister Annie's mysterious disappearance when she was 8 years old. He lives in a cottage where recently the teacher he replaces killed her young son before committing suicide and he has to face the people he grew up with who do not make him feel welcome.

There are plenty of interesting characters in this novel as well as a creepiness that pervades the story as Joe eventually learns the truth about what took place the night that Annie disappeared. Thanks to NetGalley and PenguinUK/Michael Joseph for the opportunity to read and review this book.

A little odd, this one. Not bad just odd. I’m still not entirely sure of the ending but the characters and general plot were pretty good.

Strange things have happened in the past and it seems it’s happening again. Childhood enemies don’t ever change and no matter how far you go sometimes you get lured back for unfinished business. A child was brutally murdered and the killer? His mother. A teacher at the local school who in turn kills herself.

To return back to your hometown isn’t always a good idea. To replace a teacher and live in the same place where the murder occurred seems like madness but sometimes demons need to be faced and others protected.

A twist and turn of events from childhood that reach into adulthood where feuds should have been forgotten but the stakes are now higher. Are there any winners?

A brilliantly written book but I’m just not sure of the storyline - it’s a bit far fetched.

The taking of Annie Thorne is a good thriller/horror with undertones I feel of Stephen Kings pet cemetery, in the novel it starts with Joe Thorne, a teacher that no one wants and with a dubious past going back to his childhood home of Arnhill to hopefully get a job at the local school but to also find out who sent him an e-mail, saying they know what happened to his sister.
The story does drag you in but all the time I was reading it I had the vague sense that I already knew this story, but the author CJ Tudor does admit she was influenced by writers such as Stephen King when she was growing up, so that's probably it.
But all in all an enjoyable read with a few surprises along the way.

I really enjoyed most of this book. At times, however, particularly near the end, it seemed as though the author couldn't decide which genre the book should be, and added a touch of the supernatural and a gangland element in to spice it up. In my opinion, these were not necessary, and detracted from an otherwise excellent crime novel. The main character was sympathetically drawn, but as is quite often the case, the teachers were ridiculously unrealistic. In my experience, teachers do not arrive at school at the same time as pupils - they are at least an hour earlier; neither do they go to the pub at lunchtime. overall, this is a well paced, riveting read.

I really wanted to enjoy this one having loved the first book by C.J. Tudor. Unfortunately this time around, the story just didn’t click with me. There is still that same level of creepiness and unease that we found in The Chalk Man, but for me, personally, I just didn’t feel this idea was executed as well.

We meet Joe Thorne who has reached rock bottom after he has raked up huge gambling debts and who is now on the wrong side of a group of dangerous people. He has relocated to his old town and has become the school’s English teacher. We’re aware that something terrible happened to his sister Annie in the past which is something he is haunted by, and Joe also receives a very frosty welcome from some of the locals, particularly as he has moved into a house where a mother and son were horrifically murdered several years earlier.

Of course, when I started this book, I wanted to know what had happened in the house which Joe later moves into and C.J. Tudor opens The Taking of Annie Thorne with this scene in such a brilliant way. I could feel the terror that the police officers were experiencing as they wondered what they were going to discover, but after this point, the novel just seemed to lose its way a little.

One of the themes that C.J. Tudor writes about in both her books is bullying, and she reminds us just how cruel children can be. There are some nasty teenagers in this book who will get under your skin, but I couldn’t help but compare this idea to what she wrote about in her previous novel, and I couldn’t see how this benefited the plot. These scenes did make me feel very tense though as I wondered how events were going to unfold on the page and this is where C.J. Tudor succeeds so well in her writing.

Joe was a character who I didn’t particularly care about, and I was more interested in what had happened to his sister Annie rather than what became of him. I think one of the main things I was disappointed in was that I didn’t get to know all the answers to the questions I was seeking to. But I won’t go into too much detail here as I don’t want to spoil it for you if you decide to read it.

Sadly I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I thought I would, but it doesn’t mean that I won’t try another book by C.J. Tudor. She is a very talented writer who writes horror and crime very well. It was just this particular story that didn’t work for me.

I've never read this author before so had no idea what to expect. I was immediately drawn into the story, with the flashbacks and other characters' viewpoints fleshing out what had seemed straightforward. I liked the slightly supernatural aspect, combined with flawed characters and small town life. Will be looking out for this author's future work.

Thank you to netgalley.co.uk for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Unlike a lot of people who seemed to have read this, I did not read Tudor's debut novel The Chalk Man so I did not go into this novel with any great expectations. While I was reading, it felt like I was reading something I had already read before. it wasn't unique. However, I think Tudor shows real promise in her writing but she needs more faith in her storytelling.

I didn't read the description of this book properly so it wasn't at all what I expected, it was absolutely brilliant however. I thoroughly enjoyed it and was gripped from the beginning. The crime/thriller aspect of this book is enhanced greatly by the creepy supernatural parts. All the different dimensions of the plot weave together to make a wonderfully pleasing and satisfying whole. The characters are interesting and unexpected and fit well with the plot. Not my usual read at all, but definitely well worth adding to the bookshelf

Joe Thorne is a teacher, he’s also a gambler with a large debt owed to the Fatman, who is after his money. So he returns to his childhood village to teach in his old school, to settle some scores and to raise the money to repay this debt. There he meets with some remaining members of his old gang and they are not happy to see him. They all have secrets, secrets that begin with his sister Annie...

This is a dark and creepy thriller, that just simmers with tension right up to an immensely satisfying end.......but is it ?

I loved this, It reminded me a little of Stephen King’s, Salem’s Lot, as in returning to a troubled town with a little of the same atmosphere of an ancient evil lurking nearby. There are some real heart thumping moments and it honestly gave me the creeps at times, in a great, horror story way......Abbie Eyes will stay with me for a long time. Brilliantly atmospheric with great twisty, nerve jangling writing. I can thoroughly recommend this and I will definitely be reading more by C J Tudor albeit with the lights on !

I would like to thank the Author/the Publishers/NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair and honest review

#TheTakingOfAnnieThorne #NetGalley

Published by Michael Joseph (Penguin Random House)

4 Stars from me!

What a fabulous, creepy little book!

I was drawn in from the very first page and flew threw this book because I just didn't want to put it down. 

It was creepy, chilling in places, had a good build up of suspense, a few twists and turns and some really likeable characters. In fact, the attention to detail surrounding the characters and the effort taken to flesh them out is what made this book so brilliant for me.

If you have a book lover in your life, who enjoys a bit of unnerving escapism, this is probably the perfect Christmas gift!



Synopsis: When Joe Thorne was fifteen, his little sister, Annie, disappeared. At the time, Joe thought it was the worst thing in the world that could ever happen. And then she came back.

Now Joe has returned to the village where he grew up, to work as a teacher at the failing Arnhill Academy. Not an act of altruism, but desperation. Joe has bad debts – and bad people – he needs to escape. He also has an anonymous email: I know what happened to your sister. It’s happening again.

But coming back to the place he grew up, means facing the people he grew up with, and the things they did. Five friends: Joe, Stephen Hurst, Marie Gibson, Nick Fletcher and Chris Manning. They were the five who were there that night. Something they haven’t spoken about in 25 years.
Coming back means opening old wounds, and confronting old enemies and Joe is about to discover that places, like people, have secrets. The deeper you go, the darker they get.
And sometimes, you should never come back.

Very cleverly written and very good! I will be looking out for more from this author and will be recommending to all.

Not my usual genre but this book had me gripped throughout. Will be looking out for more of the same!

4.5 stars. I read this authors debut novel The Chalk Man and really liked it so I was looking forward to reading this book as well. Wow it certainly kept me hooked and I devoured it in one day. It was very dark and creepy and left me spooked but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

What a fabulously creepy gem of a book to curl up with on a dark night. Joe Thorne's sister died tragically when he was a teenager, and he left the small town of Arnhill shortly after her death. Why he then decides to return to the claustrophobic town, where everyone knows your business is a mystery that is slowly revealed as the book progresses.
Alternating between past and present it quickly becomes clear that there is something very rotten at the heart of the town. Not only are there corrupt councillors, and school bullies that are never punished, there is also something decidedly wrong with the very earth the town is built on. Joe has returned to escape the problems of his present but also to lay old ghosts to rest; to find out what really did happen to his sister and to prevent history repeating itself. As he encounters old school friends and acquaintances, no-one is who they appear to be, and the book has twists and turns that will really keep you on your toes. There are some genuinely creepy moments that will have goose bumps forming and your hair standing on end. It's an absolute cracker, and I can't wait for C.J. Tudor's next book.

My thanks go to the publishers and Net Galley for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.