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 . . .
When C. J. Tudor released her debut novel, The Chalk Man, last year I absolutely devoured it and credited it with being the book that got me out of a really big reading slump. I just loved everything about it. So it’s safe to say I’ve been excited for the release of The Taking of Annie Thorne for a long, long time.
When Joe Thorne returns to the small village he grew up in, it’s safe to say he isn’t welcomed with open arms. Many people would rather leave the past in the past, Joe included but he’s received an email he just can’t ignore. When he was a teenager his younger sister disappeared, it should have been the worst day of his life but it wasn’t, the nightmare began when she returned. Joe’s fun, loving little sister had been replaced with something he didn’t even recognise and now 25 years later it’s happening to children again.
What started as a return to his childhood village for completely selfish reasons turns in to trying to bury the past once and for all.
Much like The Chalk Man, I absolutely devoured this book, I just couldn’t put it down. C. J. Tudor has been called the female Stephen King and I honestly think that’s a spot on comparison. Her novels are gripping, full of twists and turns with a big helping of the supernatural. I honestly can’t find fault with The Taking of Annie Thorne at all. There were twists that I didn’t see coming at all which is always a big win. The novel moves between present day and Joe’s childhood to weave together a wonderfully terrifying story of a small village with a very big secret.
I cannot recommend this book (or The Chalk Man for that matter) enough, seriously everyone needs to give C. J. Tudor’s novels a read.
Rating: ★★★★★
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