The Hiding Place: A Novel

Ever since I read The Chalk Man last year, I had been waiting for C. J. Tudor's next. I love thrillers that combine suspense with just the right kind of creepiness. The Chalk Man reminded me of Stephen King, but with less horror and more suspense. The Hiding Place (or The Taking of Annie Thorne) didn't quite manage to live up to my expectations.I realize that it is quite unfair to compare two books, as each has its own strengths and weaknesses. Even with that in mind, The Hiding Place turned out to be quite average as far as thrillers go.There is no doubt that C. J. Tudor is a master storyteller. Her words have the power to transport you into the setting of the story, and actually feel the characters. The problem occurs when the characters are not strong enough to arouse any feelings inside the reader. The worst thing for a character to do is to inspire indifference. This book, while written well, fails to deliver in the give-a-damn department.Joe Thorne never thought he'd be back in Arnhill. He thought he had left it all far behind; the toxic friendships, the incident at the abandoned mine, the suicide, and most of all, the disappearance of his sister. But he finds himself not only going back, but also lying his way into a teaching position at his former school. He has his own reasons for returning, and trying to stay low-key, one of which is a strange e-mail that he has received.As soon as he sets foot in his hometown, Joe encounters hostility from old friends as well as new acquaintances. He is not surprised, nor is he deterred from his objective. For he knows what actually happened at the old mine the night that his beloved sister went missing. He was devastated by her disappearance, and thought that there couldn't be anything worse than that. But he was wrong, because there was something worse that could happen, and it did. His sister came back.The plot and characters are somewhat reminiscent of Stephen King's It, which remains to date, the scariest book that I have ever read. But other than the most superficial similarity, The Hiding Place fails to scare and creep out. Even the most horrific scenes felt one-dimensional and just not scary enough. It was like watching a movie where the actors fail to deliver the required emotions and expressions.It is an average thriller that while interesting will most probably fail to impress the hardcore horror/ thriller fans. However, C. J. Tudor is one writer who I will never hesitate to read, so I'm looking forward to her future endeavors. Hopefully, I will find my next favourite book then.

At first I was going to give this a 4 star rating. Then it dropped to a 2 star. Then the ending was strong enough it went up to a 3 star. This book suffers from two flaws. The first kept it from. 5 stars - it takes two thirds of the book before the plot kicks in. And while the writing is good, great even, that is a definite flaw. But then the second problem hit that dropped it down… not to spoil anything but the central plot is already a book by Stephen king and king did it better. Writers - you are not going to out king Stephen. Stop it. So I went with 3 stars.

I am giving this book a 4 because the writer has the ability to describe feelings and situations in a truly unique and often profound way. I have read 2 of her books and in both, I read every word instead of skimming the non-dialogue areas like I often do. I constantly find myself wondering how she described something so perfectly, yet I’m sure she has never actually experienced it. Her writing is really very good. I find her pacing is perfect. I’m not in a hurry for her to get to the point. Others found her main character, Joe, extremely unpleasant and so did I, but that made him interesting. This is Stephen King stuff for sure. I docked her one star because I think she should write something more important than horror novels. She has potential to be great.

This book had a Pet Sematary vibe to me.This book is told from the POV of Joe Thorne. Joe didn't want to return to his hometown of Arnhill, But when he receives a message he knows he has to, to put an end to what happened when he was 15.Joe's old friends do not want him back in town, and Joe sure didn't want to be there and relive what happened all those years ago. Joe's 8 year old sister went missing for 2 days and while that was bad enough, it was when she came back that things got worse.The book opens with a pretty disturbing gross murder scene and just keeps on going from there. This had me hooked right from that first chapter. The pacing was perfect, there was never any moment when it felt like it was dragging.The suspense and tension just kept building until the very end, and let me tell you it did not disappoint. In fact there was a couple of things that I did not see coming.This is CJ Tudor's second book, her first book The Chalk Man I loved. And this book was up there. I look forward to whatever she writes next

Reminded me of the town Derry by Stephen King. Evil is everywhere. A man comes home to save the town from itself basically and settle old scores but then it starts a haunting take of a little girl that came back. It takes a while for the story to tell you what happened to Annie but once it does my skin got goosebumps. I could smell the evil he smelled, the decay and I could hear those beetles. It was very well written. I loved the Chalk Man too. The author has a way with words and getting us into the minds of little boys masquerading as men, and men masquerading as boys. I really liked this story. The ending was just a little off and I am not sure I liked it. It was anti-climatic. I am not going to spoil anything here. I was purposely vague but know this, you will remember this book. Especially because of Annie. And the epilogue was chilling and better an ending than that last chapter. Just wanted more from Joe!

I ordered The Hiding Place, The book turned up with the correct cover but the text was for the previous book The taking of Annie Thorn. I think this is a fake as the printing quality was poor. If I had not read the previous book I would have assumed I had the correct book.

This book is actually called The Taking of Annie Thorne. I bought it as I thought it was a CJ Tudor book I hadn’t read. The price is overinflated but as her books are so good, I thought it was worth it. Shame on Amazon for deliberately misleading fans in UK. Amazing book by the way! As always CJ Tudor.

Set in a Northern pit village in England with similarities to my childhood roots I found it impossible to relate to due to the American spelling in the text ( gray, center, colorless etc ) and American cultural references. Whereas I remember going to the local shop ( ...not the store ) to buy penny chews or sweets - here they used to buy penny candies...the youths in this book used to read Rolling Stone back in the day whereas in the same era in my youth that magazine was pretty well unobtainable and unheard of and we'd read NME or Sounds. These details of place and culture and the irritating spellings totally ruined it for me. Maybe my copy was aimed purely at the American market....a waste of my 17 English pounds.

Like others have mentioned was pleased to see another novel from CJ Tudor only to realise that it is the same story as Taking of Annie Thorne. Very Disappointing

Was so excited to get new book. But when it arrived today I ready through and realised it is the same as the taking of Annie Thorne.... I am so very disappointed in this.