Another brilliantly chilling thriller from C J Tudor, featuring a story that is a bit Miss Marple if Agatha Christie had plotted with a creepy vibe rather than a homely one...

A vicar, a church that holds secrets, weird visions and a clever unexpected finale makes The Burning Girls a right old page turner. Probably read it with the light on though...

Full review upon publication

I love C J Tudor’s writing. And have devoured her previous novels but somehow The Burning Girls didn’t quite gel. There were too many characters for a start and I lost track at times of what was happening. Enjoyable but not her best.

Jack Brook, is a city based vicar who is forced to move to the countryside with her Daughter, for her job. As soon as she arrives at her new home strange things start to occur, including a young girl running into the church yard covered in blood.
This one just all felt a bit too far fetched for me, I didn't related to the characters and found I had to force myself to pick it up and keep going.

It's also very graphic, more so than I felt it needed to be. I mean a one point you have a man in very graphic detail, trying to force another to give him head. It made my stomach turn, I won't lie. Maybe it's more to do with abuse I suffered as a child, but I don't feel books need to be this graphic there are ways to say it without having to be so detailed.

I know a lot of people love C.J. Tudor books, and so I can't say don't read it, it was terrible, I wouldn't say that about any book, because after all we are all different. But this one definitely wasn't for me.

As always thank you to NetGalley, the author and her publisher for allowing me to read this one ahead of its released. Apologies for not enjoying it.

I had high hopes for The Burning Girls by CJ Tudor. Did this book live up-to my expectations? it’s a huge “hell yes, and then some” I loved this book, it’s brilliant, it’s unbelievable and unquestionably one of my top reads this year. The author’s latest offering is an atmospheric psychological thriller interwoven with elements of horror and the supernatural. It’s creepy, chilling, and deliciously dark, but what a fabulous and exciting read it made for. A word of warning to those of a nervous disposition: you may want to read this one during daylight hours. 

The author tells the story of Jack single parent to teenage daughter Flo, Jack left her last parish under a cloud of shame. She is banished to Chapel Cross a small remote village with a tight-knit community and some very strange traditions. This history of the village is a dark and troubling one, firstly it’s the site where eight Protestant martyrs including two young girls were burnt at the stake, on the anniversary of the purge small twig like dolls called the burning girls are set alight to commemorate those who died. Add to the mix the unsolved mystery of two girls going missing 30 years previously, and the questionable suicide of the local priest, and Jack soon realises that it’s a village whose foundations are built on secret and lies and ancient superstitions. 

This is a really atmospheric read, the author sure knows how to tell a story, building on the tension at each turn of the page, deftly unravelling the layers of the story, keeping the reader in her clutches as the tale becomes creepier and far more chilling. As I read on and lost myself in the pages it filled me with fear, suspicion and dread. In my opinion it’s a rare breed of author who evokes such feelings in a reader. The plot is clever, well crafted and impeccably executed, a compulsive and intense novel, and one I would happily recommend to those who enjoy a thriller that veers to the darker side. One final note: I have a feeling The Burning Girls will be a HUGE hit on its release in 2021.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Penguin Michael Joseph UK for an advance copy of The Burning Girls, a stand-alone thriller set in the English village of Chapel Croft.

Jack Brooks, accompanied by daughter Flo, arrives in Chapel Croft as the new priest. It’s a real change of pace from Nottingham but needs must. Chapel Croft, however, is more than it seems with deep secrets and disturbing customs and history but Jack has to deal with more pressing current day problems, like, Flo seeing burning girls, the suicide of the previous incumbent and threatening messages.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Burning Girls which has a bit of everything, religion, the paranormal, “accidents” and mysterious characters, but, mostly, is a thumping good read. It’s a novel of two halves with a fairly slow first half and then twist after twist with some strong action scenes. The first half may be relatively slow, in terms of tension and action but it does a very good job of setting the scene with the village’s strange history of Protestant martyrs, the original burning girls, and the modern day customs around it, the thirty year old mystery of two teenagers who disappeared and the biggie of Jack’s past and it’s implied secrets. Then there is the unnamed character who appears to have an obsession with Jack. The author pulls all these disparate strands together in the second half, along with a few other surprises, and while this is tense, action packed and revealing the first half is where the magic and beguilement are woven. The author has a way of drawing the reader in and then holding the attention.

I must admit that by about half way through I had guessed Jack’s secrets, but that hardly matters as there is so much more I didn’t guess and was totally blindsided by. As a result I found my heart in my mouth as I lived Jack and Flo’s experiences with them. I’m also unsure about the paranormal events in the novel which seem so much more overt than in previous novels. There is no alternative explanation and that doesn’t sit so well with the rational me. I think this is a great read but can’t quite stretch to a full 5 stars because of it.

Jack Brooks is an interesting character who moves in the novel from benign and likeable to something darker. I’m not going to expand on that in case I issue spoilers, except to say that it’s probably not what you think I mean by that statement.

The Burning Girls is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending. 4.5*

The burning girls, set it Chapel Croft is amazing. So many questions pop in to your head as you’re reading, I couldn’t put the book down until I had some answers. Chapel Croft has such a dark past, the main characters, Jack and Flo, have a job on being accepted. But their journey to settle in opens up a whole can of
Worms. A totally gripping read. Thrilling to the last page.

A sense of foreboding permeated through this cleverly constructed murder mystery story. There were many twists to the story which kept it interesting from the start. I wasn't too convinced with the final twist though.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Michael Joseph UK for the advance copy of this book.

DNF'd this book because of other reading commitments, however, it seemed incredibly promising and interesting, just not for me.

A fun mystery with lots of moving parts that eventually slot together for a clever, engaging denouement. A great thriller with some fascinating twists and turns!

Brilliant read. So dark & twisty with a real unexpected twist near the end. Really enjoyed Tudor's writing style

CJ Tudor’s “The Burning Girls” is probably one of the most complex plots I have ever experienced. Despite this complexity, the flow and delivery of the novel could not be better.
In addition to the brilliant plot, there is still a surprising amount thrown into the mix, from vicars and priests, purges and exorcisms, to paranormal experiences. Quite simply, there is a lot going on in this book! Not to repeat myself (but it deserves repeating), CJ Tudor delivers it all with a precision and sleekness that is praise worthy.

I also really loved the characters, in particular Reverend Jack. Her honesty, flaws, background, and above all her relationship and dynamic with her daughter Flo are exceptionally well written. Some might say they would love to see more of her, but if this were to have been the first book in a series, we would have robbed by the holding back of some of the information/characteristics that make her so endearing.

After loving CJ Tudor’s “The Others”, I was initially thinking that this book wasn’t quite living up to the grandiose expectations I had for her new novel. But in all honesty, the book just got better and better to the point whereby I was battling to put it down. And what an epic twist at the end!

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Michael Joseph UK for a review copy

This is the best book I've read for a very long time. I was excited when I heard C J Tudor had a new one, and when I read the blurb I knew it was going to be good.

The perfect mixture of creepy, spooky/ supernatural with added murder and mystery. I imagined every word as if I was watching a film.

Great characters, in fact Jack and Flo are so well written I would love to hear more from them! Can see this being made into a film easily.

Highly recommended this book I loved it.

I have been shocked, horrified and numb after reading this author’s books before but the characters in this one just crept beneath my skin and still came back to make me shudder long after it came to an end. The scandal of Rev Jack Brooks, being involved in the death of a young girl in the parish was enough to get her, and her daughter Flo moved on to not so greener pastures, far away.


Chapel Croft seemed quaint at first glance, but it had an unsettling history going back 500 years centring around witchcraft and the maiming the burning of eight of the village people, which included two young girls. Each year effigies were made from sticks to represent the victims and burnt.


Strange things began to happen as soon as Jack and Flo arrived. OMG it is like reading the exorcist, Carrie, The Blair witch project and Michael Myers’ all rolled into one, and that is just the first half of the book. Now listening to a book through wireless earbuds has its advantages, as I couldn’t hear anything but the story from these pages, the drawback was I couldn’t hear anything but the story from these pages!!!!!! It was intense in these chapters with my mind processing the events into vivid technicoloured images in my mind.


Rev Jack was a cool character that seemed to get under the skin of some locals, but Flo Jack’s daughter was my favourite. Flo wasn’t mainstream at fifteen she had found her own style and had got to like her own company. Well, until she met Jack, who had his own quirky problems.


I loved every page of this book that was edgy from page one and just built on that in every single chapter. This is a lock the windows and bolt the doors read with your back against the wall. I read pages over twice at times, just to make sure I had heard stuff right, this took my feet from under me. An absolutely top read.


I wish to thank NetGalley and the publisher for an e-copy of this book which I have reviewed honestly.

This book is perfect for a cold and windy winter evening. Creepy and atmospheric, full of mystery, murder and martyrs! I loved the character of Jack, a complex reverend with a murky past. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Brilliant. Dark, twisty and full of suspense. This is a very cleverly written page turner. Jack is an incredibly interesting character. The whole plot is complex and jaw dropping in places. This is a memorable read that I would definitely recommend.

Two girls who were caught up in the Marian Purges, when Queen Mary I went on a "burn anyone not the right religion" crusade across England, seem to inspire a whole centuries-spanning drama concerning people who were not protected enough, in this latest from the pitch-black thriller authoress C J Tudor. Our 'in' to the whole drama is a new vicar at the quaint (ie back-end-of-nowhere, "Nothing Happensville") Sussex village of Chapel Croft, and their daughter. The victims of so much problematic behaviour include the original two martyrs, grassed on as they hid in the village chapel and subsequently burnt, if not worse; two girls in the 1990s subject to overly-religious parents, who apparently fled the village but nobody could know for sure; and others.

What we get here is another in this author's oeuvre, with people returning to (or dumped in) rural areas and having to root around in the muck of decades of death, evil and destruction. We do get some differences to what's gone before, mind – we certainly have a place far removed from her previous Midlands/Notts locations; we have a much greater historical reach; and while we get the same really strong sense of character for our leads, we get a sense the book is not solely concerned in giving us the willies, and pulling the wool over our eyes. Religious people will be relieved to find this read as perfectly sympathetic to the state of play in the modern English church, and a lot of the drama revolves around how innate evil is in mankind, how forgiveness might work, and how we are supposed to rebound from something or someone bad happening to us.

That sounds like a fun-free summary, but there's still the genre craft to the fore here – when it takes ten pages for a most disconcerting 'twist' (that shouldn't be a twist) to pull the rug from under us, we know we're on to a winner. The supernatural side of things here cannot help but work in this author's hands. But there again is a sense of this attempting to branch too much away from the pages of the chiller, and in to the realm of something allegedly greater. And with that in mind this has to again go down as a success, but a flawed success – for different reasons, but in much the same way – as the previous books of hers I've read have. I won't go into how a character has a shower when we know for a fact the bathroom contains no shower – that may have been cropped from my proof copy – but I will go into how fans of the intelligent macabre will still enjoy this volume.

The Burning Girls.
This is a unsettling and disturbing read, but what a read!
The Burning girls are twig dolls that are made in memory of 8 Protestant Martyrs that were burnt at the stake during the reign of ‘Bloody Mary Tudor’.
This novel is set in the small parish of Chapel Croft, where some of the parishioners can trace their ancestry back to those macabre events.
Jack Brooks is the new vicar of this parish, but her arrival is not welcomed by some of the villagers. For a vicar, Jack has a few uncomfortable secrets of her own, that include, a childhood of abuse and neglect, a marriage that ended tragically and a brother, who is wayward and who is in prison when this story starts.
Jack, and her daughter, Flo are disturbed by visions of death, burning girls and flickering lights in the chapel at night. Flo is also being bullied, and has made friends with a local boy, whom Jack instinctively distrusts.
This is a very dark, almost Gothic novel, with many twists and turns that are complex, chilling, frightening and a superstitious read that is so compelling!!
I loved it( although I did start reading it at nighttime, I completed it during daylight hours!). I have enjoyed a previous book from this author, and her high standard has been maintained, if not surpassed with this book.
I have given this a 5 star review. This is my honest and unbiased opinion. Thank you Netgalley for my ARC.

The Burning Girls by C.J. Tudor is a clever thriller that takes the reader on an unsettling journey. Controversial vicar Jack Brooks is demoted to a small rural parish, and the relocation is not going all that well, especially since it means dragging a sullen fourteen year old girl away from her school and friends, and setting up home in a town with few amenities, in a house with no internet. The parish of Chapel Croft has a proud history, a site where 8 Protestant martyrs were burnt at the stake in the time of Queen Mary, an event commemorated to this day by the creating of Burning Girl dolls, twig dolls which are set alight on the anniversary of the original event. The parish also has some dark secrets, most notably the disappearance of two teenage girls in the 1980s, and Jack has been sent to replace the previous vicar who hung himself in the chapel. It was never going to be easy for Jack to fit in , and it soon becomes clear that not all the locals welcome the new arrivals. When a mystery package left for Jack by the previous vicar turns out to be an exorcism kit with notes about one of the girls who disappeared all those years before it seems that some of Chapel Croft's secrets may have been about to come to light, and if someone managed to silence one vicar what is to stop them from trying again?
This is a really atmospheric read, the author really knows how to build up tension for the reader, slowly building the story layer by layer in a way that makes for gripping reading. The plot is clever, well crafted and impeccably executed and I really liked the character of Jack . Some of the residents of Chapel Croft were perhaps a little less well executed, there was a little heavy handedness at times that made some of them feel more like caricatures than real people. but that is really a minor complaint about what was really an excellent book
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the Publisher, all opinions are my own.

A well written and engrossing thriller examining the nature of evil, forgiveness and redemption. The characters were beautifully crafted and although the plot twist at the end didn't quite work for me, if you are willing to suspend your disbelief and just enjoy the ride its an excellent way to spend an afternoon.

Jack is a vicar who is a liability. We don't know why, we just know that she has attracted some negative press and it would be the best for The church if she were to leave Nottingham. She's duly sent as far from a city as she can imagine - a leafy village in Sussex with a chapel next to an old cottage with no phone signal and no WiFi (Flo, her teenage daughter, has a lot to say about that) and a local legend that is still remembered in horrifying detail.

In the last years of Bloody Mary's reign, villagers had been burned for heresy for not converting to Catholicism, including two young girls who suffered horrific torture before they died. Such was the power of the event, the original chapel was demolished and a new chapel built over it.

The story persists, in part because the Harper family - held to be martyrs from that time - still rule in the village, the church's main benefactor, paying for new roofs and repairs without apparent resentment.

But all is not as peaceful as it seems in the village, and strange events and odd stories, inconsistencies that confuse and intrigue Jack, persist; the past, it seems, can never be forgotten, especially when the village suffered another tragedy in the 1980s when two girls went missing and were never found, followed by a young pastor, then the mother and brother of one of the missing girls also vanished without trace. Jack has to weave a careful path through village egos to find the truth, while trying to protect her headstrong daughter from the local bully.

I'm hopeless at working out 'who dunnit' in these thrillers, so I was not at all prepared for the ending. There are twists and turns aplenty, and the truth is drip fed to the reader slowly building the layers of the story, the fates of four girls linked across the centuries. Satisfying and gripping, a light touch with the writing, a character in Jack who is believable and likeable, and not averse to speaking her mind. Some of the church terminology is a bit off to my mind, use of 'priest to describe a vicar wasn't done in my day, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.