Great book. Fab storyline and great characters. This book really surprised me and I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. I will defo be checking out more books by the author.

OMG! Where to begin? I recently read Chalk Man and couldn’t put it down. Then I read this one and was gripped from the beginning. Full of twists and turns it leaves you wondering throughout. Highly recommend it! It’s a must read for sure!

The Taking of Annie Thorne by C.J.Tudor is dark, creepy, spellbinding and (yes, I know it’s such an abused word right now, but) unputdownable!

Like her first novel (The Chalk Man) it is filled with suspense, horror and the supernatural and it’s simply masterful.

The storyline alternates between past and present and it is evident from the very beginning that things are not right down in Arnhill – they weren’t then, and they aren’t now.

The ending leaves a few unanswered questions, and that’s just how all supernatural thrillers should be. Left to the imagination, the spookiness grows and grows.

After reading Ms. Tudor’s debut novel, she became an author on my “to always read” bookshelf and having read this one, I know I made the right decision!

#thetakingofanniethorne #cjtudor #netgalley #penguinuk #michaeljoseph

"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."

Joe Thorne is pulled back to his dreary hometown of Arnhill by a teeth-grittingly, alluring e-mail, giving Joe something he has wanted for twenty five years; 'I know what happened to your sister.' Armed with a huge gambling debt, a fake reference for a job, and a promise for answers, Joe rents a cottage that has recently become available due to a murder-suicide. In fact, that is exactly why he chose to rent that cottage. Convinced it is somehow connected to the disappearance - and reappearance - of his eight year old younger sister, Joe steps on the toes of his old frenemy whilst trying to make amends for his shaded past.

I literally demolished this in a few hours. I say this as a young, blossoming, pregnant woman but honestly? children make for the best villains in a horror story. They're unreliable, unpredictable, and we as adult humans have natural instincts to protect them and essentially do what they want most of the time.

C.J. Tudor has this unwitting ability to weave a strange story that completely sets the reader on edge.

Her attention to detail with regards to the setting, Arnhill, was impeccable and extremely atmospheric. I also really enjoyed Joe as the main character, cynical, brash and the only reliability he seems to have is his penchant for making bad choices, I also found him altruistic at times, especially when it comes to kids, his moral compass poked just a little shy off North, he was a gritty main character with lots of personality that definitely pulled me in.
"'Obviously,' James says, 'if any of us had suspected there was anything wrong-'
What? I think. What would you have done? Asked her if she was okay and smiled with relief when she said that she was fine. Job done. Concern-box ticked. The truth is, none of us wants to know. Not really. Because then we might have to care, and who has the time for that?"


I feel that whenever an author writes a horror book, they are compared to Stephen King, whereas C.J. Tudor is a talent of her own.

I actually find her writing much more creepy than the King's, where he tends to go for character development and the complexity of choices, actions and reactions his characters have, I find that C.J. Tudor focuses much more on the narrative of the tale, this is the second book of hers I have read (another four star from me), and I can tell that she is fond of using unreliable main characters, realistically spooky settings and causing her readers to shiver with horror and distaste. Oh, and she's really good at it.

I'm not sure I could ever survive sitting around a campfire telling ghost stories with her.

Many thanks to Net Galley and Penguin UK for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved CJ Tudor's The Chalk Man and was keen to read The Taking of Annie Thorne. The opening of this book is shocking and absolutely gripping and the rest of the story develops well.

There were some similarities to TCM here: again, the roots of this story stretch far back into the past, the flashbacks concern a group of young friends and a dark secret, and there was at least one tangential reference to TCM, but this is definitely its own creepy story!

I really like Tudor's writing: it is witty and incisive and she crafts great characters and brilliantly illustrates their feelings. There is a real gut-wrenching emotional core to this book and once again, Tudor has written a very powerful story.

Thank you to Penguin and NetGalley for the ARC of The Taking of Annie Thorne.

Wow what a thrilling book. Just as soon as you think you've survived a twist, there is another one!! This was really a fantastically entertaining read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Recommended.

OMG this was a creepy chiller of a novel! What started off as a standard thriller soon becomes more chilling and disturbing than ever! Small towns, folklore and murder - what more could you want!

Excellent page-turning stuff. Had my heart in my mouth and blanket over my head. Thoroughly recommended.

This author is brilliant at writing thrillers, and this book shows just that perfectly! The writing, the characters and the story had me hooked completely!

Another great read from Tudor. Liked that the setting was a little different from the norm. Perfect balance of humour (Joe’s interview at the start of the book and the various conversations with teacher colleagues) and the macabre story of the disappearing children returned to their families. Gripping, twisty and can’t wait to read book 3!

As soon as I hear about C.J Tudor's second novel I knew I had to read! I thought The Chalk Man was a smashing and original debut, which meant there was some high expectations with this novel and I did struggle a little (hence the long time review). When I first picked up this book and read the first chapter, I was hooked, it was a complete bloodbath, it was intense and right up my street. But then I started to struggle - so I had to put down and re-visit. There's a strong supernatural side to this story and I think that's where my problem lied, I didn't expect that from the blurb, I expected more heavily crime thriller - I think this is more down to my expectations, as I love the author's writing style, I love the nostalgia she adds to her books, but things were never properly explained. All this said, I still look forward to what C.J Tudor brings next .

A creepy book that kept me turning the pages until late at night. I thought the characters were well developed.

I missed out on The Chalk Man, but all the hype over C. J. Tudor's made me jump at the opportunity of reading the ARC of The Taking of Annie Thorne, I had been expecting this to be a straight up thriller and was surprised to find out it was not. It was more like a completely different genre, <spoiler> horror</horror>, and one that I don't particularly like. Still, it was very easy to read and I kept turning the pages.

If you are looking for something different to your mystery-thriller reading, this book of dual time lines set in a British mining village might be the thing for you.

(Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy!)

This was a great book to read with a supernatural element I wasn't expecting at all. This book will keep you gripped right until the very end.

This book will ensnare you, take you on a ride and won’t let go until the final page. A great plot with wonderful characterisation and written with empathy and verve. I wasn’t sure where the story was going at one point and unjustifiably worried that it would go in an unbelievable direction. However it pulled back from the brink of incredulity just in time. A really good read.

One night, Annie went missing. Disappeared from her own bed. There were searches, appeals. Everyone thought the worst. And then, miraculously, after forty-eight hours, she came back. But she couldn't, or wouldn't, say what had happened to her.

Something happened to my sister. I can't explain what. I just know that when she came back, she wasn't the same. She wasn't my Annie.

I didn't want to admit, even to myself, that sometimes I was scared to death of my own little sister.

I really enjoyed this well written novel, part horror, part thriller and part suspense.
The ending was full of surprises and all ends were tied up satisfactorily.
The characters, especially Joe, were so well described that I felt I had grown up with these kids and I was desperate to find out just what had happened to poor Annie.
Fast paced and tense, this is a good read that will have you gripped.

The Taking of Annie Thorne is creepy crime fiction at its best, from its compelling characters and strong sense of place to its fast-moving plot and action-packed ending.

Centred around a small mining village, the book is chilling from the outset, told through the mesmerising and often humorous voice of teacher Joe Thorne, who has returned to the place of his childhood. His little sister, Annie, disappeared for 48 hours when she was eight and was never the same again.

Joe is flawed and unreliable with an underlying vulnerability, haunted by memories of his dead sister and a creepy doll called 'Abbie Eyes'. The book swings between his past and present, as old mistakes, teenage rebellion and unfinished business gradually bubble to the surface.

The Taking of Annie Thorne is dark, shocking, atmospheric and entertaining, filled with elements of supernatural, horror and psychological thrillers. This is a book you'll want to keep reading well into the early hours - though that may not be advisable if you ever want to sleep again!

It made me nostalgic for my teenage years, when I was addicted to Stephen King and James Herbert books. And very soon, I'll be re-reading those books again.

Looking forward to seeing what's next from CJ Tudor.

With thanks to the publisher for the copy received. I enjoyed reading C.J. Tudor’s first novel The Chalk Man last year and have often heard about author nerves regarding follow up novels. In my opinion, she has nothing to worry about. I devoured this novel.

The Taking of Annie Thorne has everything I enjoy. A dual time frame novel where everything is slowly revealed, unofficial history which I have always loved, myths and legends, a spooky thread and some wonderful characters.

There are very few pleasant characters, even Joe Thorne had his faults. But his likeable traits made up for any faults he had. His devotion to Annie especially, was lovely to read. I think Annie was the character I could visualise the most. All the way through. The bullies in modern day are the children of the bullies from Joe’s school days. But another of the more appealing sides to him showed that he knew exactly how to handle them.

The story itself wasn’t what I expected it to be. It was a lot more sinister, I’m glad that I couldn’t experience the ‘odour’ that Joe could as I was reading. I felt nauseated just imagining it. Some of the characters took a while to show what they were really like. I was both surprised and shocked by what was revealed.

I have tried to find out if the Arnhill exists, I’ve not found it or anywhere it could be based on. I don’t usually look but the historical facts (or fiction) were fascinating and I wanted to know if any of the events did happen. Or if they were just imagination.

Looking forward to book three.

Joe Thorne is a teacher. He has taken a job back at his old school. The village he grew up in hasn't changed much, and he is afraid that the same old habits are continuing; that what happened to his sister might be happening again. But is that why he has returned, or does he have ulterior motives? And just what exactly happened to Annie Thorne?

The story is very much centred around the protagonist, Joe. It's clear that he has secrets and is maybe not the cleanest cut of people. As the story unravels, Joe's reasons for returning home are uncovered. Stories of his childhood are also slowly revealed, and in particular of his little sister Annie, who went missing one night when Joe was a child, and who seems to haunt him still.

I was really happy to finally read a book by C. J. Tudor, and it wasn't a disappointment. She definitely lives up to a lot of the hype I've heard about her writing. This book was very easy to read, but not predictable and not un-challenging (I don't think that's a word, but anyway...). It was sort of a cross between a character-driven psychological thriller, and a supernatural horror story, so I can definitely see why people sometimes compare her to Stephen King. And coming from me, a die hard King fan, that's high praise indeed.

The protagonist in this book is Joe Thorne, a teacher, who has very serious gambling problems. He comes back to his little hometown because of several reasons, and that is where history starts to repeat itself. I really enjoyed Joe’s character, he is incredibly witty and sarcastic and made me laugh on multiple occasions. I really liked the way the author portrayed the atmosphere of this little town and the people living there. I loved how the characters in this book were developed, and how interesting and intriguing they were.

When I started this book, I thought it is going to be a crime mystery, and was really pleasantly surprised to find it to be a horror story. The narrative travels between present and past, explaining many events which are influencing the present, and I really liked this way of storytelling. The author used a single perspective in this novel, and I think it worked very beautifully. The topics discussed in this book were bullying, gambling, school life and wish to fit in, etc.

I thoroughly enjoyed the writing style of this book, I think all the twists and turns were in the right places, and it was a true page turner for me. The chapters had very decent length and were just flying by for me. I have to throw in a disclaimer, there are some severe and nasty cases of bullying in this book, which might upset some readers. 😦 The ending rounded the story very nicely, and I really liked the way the author wrote it.

So, to conclude, it is an incredibly well-written horror story, that is dark, creepy, and gave chills down my spine. It is filled with a great variety of characters and unexpected plot, which held me on the edge of my seat throughout the book. I strongly recommend to read this book, and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.