The town is as much a character as any of the people and Tudor does an excellent job of portraying that small town, claustrophobic, cloying nature. Shows that her excellent The Chalk Man was no one-off in matching Stephen King for creepiness' Sunday Express This is a gnarly, twist-infused thriller with elements of horror and the supernatural. The last part may not appeal to some readers, particularly as the supernatural aspect leaves loose ends. I presume the author is allowing the reader to make their mind up about the role of the unnatural versus the imagination in this novel. While I don’t like plot holes, a few flapping strings sometimes make a story more memorable, as in this case.

While writing the Chalk Man she ran a dog-walking business, walking over twenty dogs a week as well as looking after her little girl. WOW WOW WOW! CJ Tudor’s follow-up to her impressive debut is superbly chilling and delightfully creepy. Smartly written and brilliantly plotted, here is a book that crawls under your skin and hooks on until you reach that jaw-dropping ending." - C J Cooke I know that is something we readers often say, but this time I mean it on a whole different level. I really want to watch this movie, and I can’t even imagine the world without it. It’s not that C.J. Tudor’s writing is bad, it’s that she’s not coming up with any original plots. Both The Chalk Man and The Hiding Place have plots that are so close to Stephen King books and characters, that I just can’t rate this any higher. 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!).I loved this book. It was dark and so creepy. If you love creepy then I think you will love this book. It kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the whole book. It was horrifying in some parts. It had a very creepy supernatural factor to it that I just loved. I noticed that this book had some similarities to two of Stephen King's books. I love Stephen King, so I really loved this book. This book was so bizarre. This is the second book I’ve read by C.J. Tudor. While I wasn’t a huge fan of her previous work, The Chalk Man I was ready to try again. I really wanted to love this one. Unfortunately this book also ended up falling a little flat for me. I do like my thrillers dark but this one went just a bit too far over that line. Short, hard and miserable, I think. That's what most people's lives were like in the nineteenth century. We romanticize the past, with our period dramas and glossy film adaptations. A bit like we do with nature. Nature isn't beautiful. Nature is violent, unpredictable and unforgiving. Eat or be eaten. That's nature. However much Attenborough and Coldplay you wrap it up in.

The Taking of Annie Thorne left us with some unanswered questions, but even despite that, I have to admit that I loved the end. But The Hiding Place absorbs the darkness surrounding it. It is on a far different plane than The Chalk Man. There was a true camaraderie of friends uplifting one another in her previous novel. This one dabbles in the dark underbelly of treacherous individuals engaging in treacherous acts. There's almost a Stephen King flavor added to this electrified punch. Quirky dialogue, topped with humor, always finds its way into Tudor's writing. She's a master. 'Nuff said. The book is as much a horror story as a mystery. There are some particularly gruesome scenes. There are ghosts. There are creepy, crawly things that sent shivers up my spine. The story kept me engaged and I kept wanting to read just one more chapter. The ending had a few nice twists, even if it was a tad contrived.

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! Written with such skill it's hard to believe this is only her second book. It gives King a run for his money' James Oswald, author of the Inspector McLean series