Tudor once again skirts the line between horror and thriller in this sophomore book, similar genre-wise to her breakout debut, The Chalk Man (a MUST read!). The Second part of the book reminded me of two books by Stephen King. I get it, the Author is a big fan....but, I really want her to NOT remind me of Stephen King. When I read her books, I only want to think of HER books. Aside from that, the reader or shall I say the "constant reader" (Hey, even I can make nods to Stephen King!) will finally learn what happened to Annie, why Joe and his high school friends are friends no more, and learn the towns deep, dark secret.

Arnhill is a grim little village where lots of bad things have happened." AND.....they're happening again. You could say the town is cursed or perhaps it's just the ghosts of Joey's past that want him gone. Even though I was left wanting—if only Tudor had pushed the envelope a bit further—it won’t deter me from visiting another of her literary creations. In fact, at the moment, I find myself contemplating a peek at her debut, The Chalk Man. Unfortunately, I feel as if I was left with more questions than answers in the end (perhaps that was the point? Or perhaps it’s user error and I missed a few points) and I would love to sit down with this author and chat over coffee. One day, maybe! This was a Traveling Sister Read and we all had mixed feelings about this book. I am just happy that I ended up loving it. This book was a slower start, I think I was into 50% before the book took off for me. But I know this author and was willing to wait. I’m glad that I did. C.J. Tudor excels at character development. I feel as though I really know Joe and some of his old high school friends, Chris, Stephen, Marie. There are some great twists in this book but they come more from the characters than the plot, but that’s a good thing. It seems easier to turn a plot one way or another than to help us understand how people can hide their inner selves.For me this one was my least favorite, but her writing skills are so impressive that I found myself hooked on the mystery from the start. If newspapers are the place where facts become stories, the Internet is the place where stories become conspiracy theories."

Every town, village and city has a history. There's the official history. The bone-dry version collated in textbooks and census reports, related verbatim in the classroom. Then there's the history that is passed down through generations... The secret history." The characters are spot on, the setting takes on a life of its own, and you will be fully immersed into the storyline, dying to find out how it will come together. Joe attended Arnhill school as a child along with his many friends. He does not have good memories of his time there and vowed not to return because he left under difficult circumstances…including a suicide and a murder; all on a bed of lies and deceit. And what is even more interesting, I read the scene that made my heart jump while I was working. I think that tells you how invested in this story I was. I’ve even put my daily obligations aside. Once again there is a young man returning to the town he grew up in. Joe Thorne has a dual purpose to his return, he needs a job, teaching, and he will never get over what happened to his little sister Annie. Once all is revealed you will have a hard time getting her out of your head as well! He wants revenge and an ending to what seems to be “happening again” in this town.EXCERPT: I glance around the graveyard again. 'You know, when I was a kid, we used to hang around here sometimes. ' Some writers have it, and some don't. C. J. Tudor has it big time - The Taking of Annie Thorne is terrific in every way." - Lee Child The new spine-tingling, sinister thriller from the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Chalk Man. I liked the character of Joe but then I didn’t. He's the anti-hero you want to cheer for. His responses to every question and conversation in this book got on my nerves though.

Now Joe HAS to return to Arnhill. Something bad has happened to another student, all eerily similar to what happened to Joe’s sister. He’s the only one who can get to the bottom of what is happening because he knows the truth. Joe is not welcomed by the community with open arms, his former gang members and others project deeply held animosity and hostility and willing to express this violently. Stephen Hurst is now a powerful and wealthy man locally, on the school governing board, and makes it transparently clear he will do anything to ensure that Joe leaves. Stephen married Marie Gibson, now a dying woman suffering from cancer. Joe's problems have followed him to Arnhill with the appearance of Gloria, a hitwoman intent on ensuring that Joe pays his debts. Joe befriends the art teacher, Beth Scattergood, and becomes aware that little has changed at the school and in a community harbouring dark deeds. He is plagued by vibrantly vivid nightmares and the house is exhibiting some eerie and creepy vibes linked to the dreadful events that occurred there. As the past haunts the present, and the pressure piles up on Joe, we learn of what happened to Annie, and of an ancient evil that has dwelled in the area. Yeah, we'd . . .' vandalize angels . . .'drink, smoke, other stuff. I probably shouldn't be telling you this.' I could follow the gambling debt part of the story just fine but the horror story part of the book lost me. I have too many questions about almost every part of the mystery about the pit and what happens there. I won't say any more because it would be all questions. I think so much more could have been shared about what was happening and why it was happening and what is going to happen to Joe in the future. You can still feel the echoes of bad things. They imprint on the fabric of our reality, like a footprint in concrete. Whatever made the impression is long gone, but you can never erase the mark it left."His eyes light up. I sense we have found his chosen subject. 'That's the other thing. In the 1800s women had an average of eight or nine children. But many would die in infancy or before they reached their teens.' He pauses to let this sink in. 'Ever noticed something weird about this place?' This a complex, multilayered story with an unreliable narrator that peaked my curiosity from sentence one until the final period of the epilogue. A personal favorite trait is that Tudor is the queen of showing vs. telling - everything is implied rather than “told” - a true gift for a writer. And please pay attention, dear reader, because nothing here is a throw away comment or an oversight, every single detail is wrapped into the story one way or another. Despite that, I did kinda enjoy it. I wasn't too sure where the author was taking us for a while - we went around the virtual mulberry bush a few times before it all started to become clear. There are a couple of unexpected and interesting twists which kept me invested, and a creepy little epilogue. I awarded an extra half star for the unexpected ending. 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.