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3.48 AVERAGE
3.48 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
There were moments of suspense and intensity, but I wanted more from this story. Characters were developed enough, but I didnt like the main character, too much of a philosopher who relied on tired cliches (the shadows are not just shadow, etc.)
It was a quick read, and a solid 3 stars, possibly bordering on 2 because the twists were perdictable.
It was a quick read, and a solid 3 stars, possibly bordering on 2 because the twists were perdictable.
I feel like I was just too dumb for this book. I dunno. If you’re into the paranormal, you’ll enjoy this book. We kept on killing off people who had answers. I had SO MANY QUESTIONS at the end of the book. And if someone could explain that epilogue to me, that would be great.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was so Stephen king pet sematary coded you couldn’t dent it if you tried.
It was a good book but some details just got lost in the fact it was so similar to pet sematary.
It was a good book but some details just got lost in the fact it was so similar to pet sematary.
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There is something about the way that C J Tudor writes that draws me so completely into her stories. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is. Although I gallop through the pages in a matter of a few sittings, I feel as though I have spent an age in the places she describes, with the characters she introduces. I read The Taking of Annie Thorne over four days, fitting it into the gaps allowed by a full time job and family life, yet I feel as though I know Arnhill, have lived there myself amongst these people.
I am new to C J Tudor’s work, you may have seen my review of The Chalk Man just the other side of this past weekend, but already I am a committed fan. Her stories are consuming, drawn into the darkness you lose sense of everything else and focus only on your surroundings, her words. For me that’s the sign of quality, you inhabit a book and the real world slips away. Anything could be happening around you but you are oblivious, reacting only to the events unfolding in the turning pages you hold.
The opening prologue tells you that this is going to be an unsettling read, not just the violence but the familial setting that it has happened within, the relationship between a mother and child so utterly broken. How? Why? Joe Thorne is pulled back to his childhood home of Arnhill by an anonymous message, “It’s happening again”. His little sister Annie disappeared 25 years ago aged 8, but it was only when she returned two days later that the horror really began. Something had changed.
Arnhill isn’t pleased to see Joe again, there is too much history, too many secrets. It is a tight knit former mining community in north Nottinghamshire and outsiders are not welcome. Joe might have been one of them once but he gave that up when he left, Arnhill people don’t leave. Thorne himself is a hard guy to like, a gambler and a drinker who has lost enough times to have become an island of self-interest, but his unreliable narration is compelling.
In 2017 he takes up a position as a teacher at the local school. Interrupting his investigation to find out who has contacted him and dragged up the past are flashbacks to 1992, when a 15 year old Joe was part of a typically uneasy teenage gang, led by the local bully and consisting of a group seeking either reflected glory or a “safe” place to avoid the direct focus of his tyranny. As we start to understand the mystery of Arnhill we have to work out who to trust, what really happened. After all “The past isn’t real. It is simply a story we tell ourselves. And sometimes, we lie.” and in typical Tudor style the twists keep coming so that we never feel on solid ground
The Taking of Annie Thorne is a fantastic follow up to The Chalk Man, taking us deeper into a supernatural horror whilst retaining the depth and absorption in its storytelling. You can set the book aside but ‘Abbie-Eyes’ stays with you and in these first few weeks of 2020 C J Tudor has cemented herself securely into my favourite authors list. It was a risk when I decided to book myself onto the launch of her third novel at Waterstones Nottingham later this week without having read any of her books, but I needn’t have worried, Tudor lives up to her hype. She has delivered two captivatng novels and I’m very much looking to the third.
There is something about the way that C J Tudor writes that draws me so completely into her stories. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is. Although I gallop through the pages in a matter of a few sittings, I feel as though I have spent an age in the places she describes, with the characters she introduces. I read The Taking of Annie Thorne over four days, fitting it into the gaps allowed by a full time job and family life, yet I feel as though I know Arnhill, have lived there myself amongst these people.
I am new to C J Tudor’s work, you may have seen my review of The Chalk Man just the other side of this past weekend, but already I am a committed fan. Her stories are consuming, drawn into the darkness you lose sense of everything else and focus only on your surroundings, her words. For me that’s the sign of quality, you inhabit a book and the real world slips away. Anything could be happening around you but you are oblivious, reacting only to the events unfolding in the turning pages you hold.
The opening prologue tells you that this is going to be an unsettling read, not just the violence but the familial setting that it has happened within, the relationship between a mother and child so utterly broken. How? Why? Joe Thorne is pulled back to his childhood home of Arnhill by an anonymous message, “It’s happening again”. His little sister Annie disappeared 25 years ago aged 8, but it was only when she returned two days later that the horror really began. Something had changed.
Arnhill isn’t pleased to see Joe again, there is too much history, too many secrets. It is a tight knit former mining community in north Nottinghamshire and outsiders are not welcome. Joe might have been one of them once but he gave that up when he left, Arnhill people don’t leave. Thorne himself is a hard guy to like, a gambler and a drinker who has lost enough times to have become an island of self-interest, but his unreliable narration is compelling.
In 2017 he takes up a position as a teacher at the local school. Interrupting his investigation to find out who has contacted him and dragged up the past are flashbacks to 1992, when a 15 year old Joe was part of a typically uneasy teenage gang, led by the local bully and consisting of a group seeking either reflected glory or a “safe” place to avoid the direct focus of his tyranny. As we start to understand the mystery of Arnhill we have to work out who to trust, what really happened. After all “The past isn’t real. It is simply a story we tell ourselves. And sometimes, we lie.” and in typical Tudor style the twists keep coming so that we never feel on solid ground
The Taking of Annie Thorne is a fantastic follow up to The Chalk Man, taking us deeper into a supernatural horror whilst retaining the depth and absorption in its storytelling. You can set the book aside but ‘Abbie-Eyes’ stays with you and in these first few weeks of 2020 C J Tudor has cemented herself securely into my favourite authors list. It was a risk when I decided to book myself onto the launch of her third novel at Waterstones Nottingham later this week without having read any of her books, but I needn’t have worried, Tudor lives up to her hype. She has delivered two captivatng novels and I’m very much looking to the third.
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The beginning was promising, but the dialogue felt over-dramatized. I could have also used about 200 fewer pages. I wanted to like this! But … not so much
La desaparición de Annie Throne es un libro de la autora C.J. Tudor, una novela negra que nos llevará de la mano a contarnos la historia de la mano de Joe Throne, hermano de Annie, que se convierte en profesor y acude a su antiguo lugar de residencia para vengarse y descubrir quién está detrás de todo lo sucedido tras la desaparición de la pequeña Annie.
El libro está narrado en primera persona, desde el punto de vista de Joe, lo que hace que te adentres en la historia desde sus emociones y sentimientos. Así te apiadas del personaje y junto a él se va descubriendo toda la trama que hay detrás y los verdaderos motivos. En parte esto me ha gustado, porque te ayuda a empatizar con él, por otra parte, no, porque mete mucha información que, al menos para mí, no ha sido necesaria y he leído con más rapidez porque se me hacían pesadas.
Los personajes me han gustado, están bien construidos, con un pasado turbio detrás y no los conoces del todo hasta que finaliza el libro, y esto es lo que me ha hecho seguir leyéndolo hasta el final, porque a pesar de que no es muy largo, como digo, había partes muy pesadas. Hay personajes con los que he empatizado más como el propio Joe o incluso Hurst, y otros que he odiado con todas mis ganas y que no me hecho mucha gracia desde el principio, aunque es verdad que no he visto el pastel hasta el final y no me lo esperaba.
Y en cuanto a la trama. Tiene una pega para mí. Es cierto que el tema del misterio tras la desaparición de Annie te mantiene un poco pegado al libro, esa sensación de que necesitas avanzar para saber que esconden todos los personajes, pero el final es demasiado abierto para mi gusto y no revela algo que creo que debería haberse revelado, lo que me ha dejado con dudas (por supuesto no voy a decir que es, no quiero spoilear a nadie)
El libro me ha dejado con sentimientos encontrados, por una parte, me ha gustado, es interesante, pero por otra me sabe a poco por las cosas que se quedan tan abiertas. No sé si la Autora escribirá continuación o algo similar, de no ser así, como ya he dicho, se ha quedado ahí un poco a medio terminar.
El libro está narrado en primera persona, desde el punto de vista de Joe, lo que hace que te adentres en la historia desde sus emociones y sentimientos. Así te apiadas del personaje y junto a él se va descubriendo toda la trama que hay detrás y los verdaderos motivos. En parte esto me ha gustado, porque te ayuda a empatizar con él, por otra parte, no, porque mete mucha información que, al menos para mí, no ha sido necesaria y he leído con más rapidez porque se me hacían pesadas.
Los personajes me han gustado, están bien construidos, con un pasado turbio detrás y no los conoces del todo hasta que finaliza el libro, y esto es lo que me ha hecho seguir leyéndolo hasta el final, porque a pesar de que no es muy largo, como digo, había partes muy pesadas. Hay personajes con los que he empatizado más como el propio Joe o incluso Hurst, y otros que he odiado con todas mis ganas y que no me hecho mucha gracia desde el principio, aunque es verdad que no he visto el pastel hasta el final y no me lo esperaba.
Y en cuanto a la trama. Tiene una pega para mí. Es cierto que el tema del misterio tras la desaparición de Annie te mantiene un poco pegado al libro, esa sensación de que necesitas avanzar para saber que esconden todos los personajes, pero el final es demasiado abierto para mi gusto y no revela algo que creo que debería haberse revelado, lo que me ha dejado con dudas (por supuesto no voy a decir que es, no quiero spoilear a nadie)
El libro me ha dejado con sentimientos encontrados, por una parte, me ha gustado, es interesante, pero por otra me sabe a poco por las cosas que se quedan tan abiertas. No sé si la Autora escribirá continuación o algo similar, de no ser así, como ya he dicho, se ha quedado ahí un poco a medio terminar.
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes