The Taking Of Annie Thorne by C. J. Tudor – Blog Tour Review.

About The Book

Then . . . 

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.

Now. . . 

The email arrived in my inbox two months ago. I almost deleted it straight away, but then I clicked OPEN: 

I know what happened to your sister. It’s happening again . . .

My Review

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.