The Hiding Place is the follow-up novel to The Chalk man by CJ Tudor. I have similar feelings about both books. Excellent story, great characters, but less than stellar ending. Our main character is Joe Thorne. Set in Arnville, this story takes place during two periods- his childhood and his return as an adult. Arnville is a creepy old town with lots of dark secrets. Joe’s sister disappeared as a child, and he is lured back by an email saying it is happening again. He comes back to uncover the secrets of the past. The Hiding Place is set up as a mystery/suspense yet winds up having some supernatural elements. This is where the story went off the rails for me. I was not satisfied with the ending. I do love her writing and will continue to read her books.

This one was a good scary read for Halloween week. I like the sarcasm of Joe, sometimes it was even funny. More on the spooky side rather than horror novel but very well done!

The Hiding Place is a creepy, supernatural horror/thriller. Sort of has a Stephen King vibe. It was well written with an interesting plot that kept me invested throughout the story. There definitely were some spine-chilling moments. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for a copy of C.J. Tudor's "The Hiding Place" in exchange of an honest review.

The Hiding Place is a winner. A smooth creepy read which kept me guess until the end. The plot alternated between the present and the past giving a little information at a time like dangling a carrot in front of your face. It made me want to read ‘just one more page’ until I realized I finished the book.

Mr. Thorne receives an email saying he needs to return to his hometown to tie up loose ends and stop the strange events from his past which were occurring again. He takes a teaching job at the local school in hopes to find out the secrets which have plagued this town while hiding from his own secrets. Eventually his past and his present converge to uncover the horrible and strange truths which have cursed him his entire life. This twisted story will keep you on the edge of your seat and ready to devour the book in one night.

Thank you Netgalley for this advanced copy.

This is the second novel from the author of The Chalk Man. If you haven't read it then you should. Immediately! And this book doesn't disappoint either. Carefully and skillfully plotted, this story is a bit more of a chiller than the first but every bit as mysterious. The story is told from various points in time and in different voices but always seamlessly. Once I started this book I could not put it down. When an author hits a home run right off the bat with their first novel you cannot wait until their second and now I cannot wait until the third! Thank you NetGalley for the advanced reader copy for review. I highly highly recommend this book!

"Places have secrets too, I think. Like people. You just need to dig. In land, in life, in a man's soul."

Last year, I read and enjoyed C.J. Tudor's debut novel The Chalk Man. That book weaved alternating time periods and strong characters into a suspenseful and enthralling mystery. The Chalk Man immediately became one of my favorite reads of 2018 and left me anxiously waiting to read whatever Tudor came up with next. When her publisher offered me a copy of her next novel, The Hiding Place, I eagerly jumped on the chance to read it.

Joe Thorne is happy to be getting a fresh start. He struggles with alcohol, is a gambling addict, and was recently dismissed from his teaching job in a shroud of personal and professional disgrace. As he looks to create a new beginning for himself, Joe turns to the place where everything started last time. He never thought he'd come back to his hometown of Arnhill, but here he is. He's secured a teaching position at the same school he attended. The Arnhill Academy was so eager to find a teacher that they skimmed over most of Joe's checkered past. For better or worse, Joe is starting over.

Joe's predecessor at the academy was an unassuming single mother who shocked the town when she brutally murdered her young son and shot herself. Now Joe has taken her job and moved into the same cottage where the gruesome crime occurred. He's optimistic about this fresh shot at life. He's already stopped a bully from picking on a student, is getting along with his co-workers, and seems to be on the path to happiness. Life has other plans. The longer he stays in the town, the more he's realizing that things aren't as different as he hoped. In fact, the dark history of Arnhill that destroyed his life years ago seems to be repeating itself.

The Hiding Place, C.J. Tudor's sophomore novel sees the author's brilliant writing veer into much darker territory. While this novel shares many of the same themes as Tudor's debut (childhood trauma, community culture in a small town, etc.) it really pushes the author into new territory. One climactic flashback scene, in particular, left me emotionally shaken. Tudor deftly balances these bleak scenes with brisk pacing, detailed character development, and wit that surfaces at all the right moments. As she did in The Chalk Man, Tudo again employs flashbacks to both provide depth and backstory and to ramp up the suspense. Even a twist that seemed almost too familiar for this longtime fan of Stephen King couldn't detract from my overall satisfaction with this book. With The Hiding Place, C.J. Tudor proves that The Chalk Man was no fluke. She recently tweeted that her next novel is complete, and I'll be the first in line to give it a read!

What an excellent story! I enjoyed the creepy factor and loved the pacing. I started reading it and then couldn’t put it down. I definitely felt some Chalkman vibes which is a good thing!

I've read a lot of reviews of this book as I try to formulate my own thoughts about it into something coherent and I've tried not to let these color my view of the book too much.

Yes, it has similarities with Steven King's Pet Sematary. But it also very much has its own voice. I liked this novel a lot. It was spooky and twisted and an easy, fun read. The characters could have done with a lot more fleshing out (this is why it loses a few points from me), and once I started seeing the similarities to Pet Sematary, it was a little predictable...but overall, this was a good book that I'm happy to have read as it introduced me to an author I wasn't previously aware of.

Julia had a history of depression. She just had a divorce from Ben's father. She had stopped her medication and requested a leave of absence and took Ben out of school. Then she bludgeoned her son to death before she blew her own head off. She wrote three words in blood on the wall of Ben's bedroom, NOT MY SON. Are these the actions of a mad woman or an unbalanced mind or is this something a lot more sinister?

Joe never wanted to return to his hometown, Arnhill. But he is really didn't have a choice, because of what happened to Ben Morton and also what happened years ago to Joe's sister is happening again. It was really hard for him to return to the abandoned mine where it all went wrong and changed his life forever. He did not want to confront the shocking, horrifying truth about Arnhill, his sister and himself. The worst moment for Joe wasn't the day his sister went missing. It was the day she came back.

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.

I thought this book was more darker and more supernatural than The Chalk Man. I loved this one a little bit more. In the beginning, I did not know what was going on and so many times I read the phrase, "It is happening again which kept me intrigued. I just had so many questions and was happy that they were all answered in the end. I loved the twists, and I found it to be a fast paced book and hard to put down. I can't wait for my next C.J. Tudor book.

This was a Traveling Sister read and we all had mixed feelings about this book. I am just happy that I ended up loving it.

I want to thank Netgalley, Crown/Penguin Random House and the author for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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Such a scary, creepy, horrifying, thrilling, brilliant book!! I’ve been disappointed too often by the second books of writers I loved the first time around – not this time! In fact, I liked it even more than the first one! I should probably point out that this is more of a horror novel than a psychological thriller in my opinion. The beginning was a bit too violent for me, I must admit – I actually took a break, went off to read a chicklit, and came back to this one in a better frame of mind. I guessed how it was going to end halfway through but it was still so satisfying. The writing is…exquisite!! A BIG thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. Can’t wait for the next one!

I have been looking forward to reading The Hiding Place since reading Chalk Man last year. The story involves Joe, who reluctantly moves back to his home town. He wants to right some wrongs that happened when he was a teen and his sister went missing. He takes a job at his old high school and soon learns people in the town don't want him stirring up trouble.

I am pleased to say that I did like this one a lot. The Hiding Place was creepy and had a great paranormal atmosphere to it. It's a slow burn mystery that gave me the creeps as I began to realize what was going on in the town. It's actually best going into the book not knowing much about it. The characters were interesting, especially Joe. He is the type of character that is not very likable, but you find yourself rooting for him anyway.

I definitely recommend this one! I can't wait to see what is next for this author.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy of The Hiding Place by C.J. Tudor. I want to start off saying that I don't scare easily at all when books are concerned, and this book thoroughly creeped me out. I found myself up late at night and having nightmares when I finally fell asleep. This book is so well written, and really makes you think. I will definitely recommend the library system I work for buys this book, and will recommend it to patrons.

Apparently I missed the description mentioning this was horror. I started reading it expecting a tale of banal human evil, but found so much more...

This was a creepy tale that, even if not wholly original in premise, was very entertaining nevertheless, largely because I enjoyed the characterizations. Not the characters, mind you - many of them were odious. But the characterizations were brilliant and spot-on for the tale. From the first grim pages, the characters came alive (as it were) for me and really made this tale eerie and page-turningly enjoyable. It may be a concept that's been done before, but if you're going to borrow/adapt an idea, you can't do much better than doing so from The Master. <Insert Stephen King hat-tip here.>

If you're looking for a creepy tale that you can devour in one sitting, pick this one up. Tudor has an engaging style that sucks you in, despite your desire to stay out of the dark corners...

This is a very exciting thriller by CJ Tudor - I am now a huge fan of hers and highly recommend this book as a great mystery that is sure to hold your attention!

The Hiding Pace has a little of everything.... mystery, suspense, murder, supernatural... everything you need to get good and creeped out. The story centers around Joe Thorne - both present and past, and the mystery behind his sister’s disappearance many years ago that lead to her return and her death as well as the present messes that Joe seems to be an expert at creating through his lies and gambling addiction. The story is full of plenty to keep you awake at night, not only because you’re too scared to sleep but because you can’t put the book down either!! I liked this book because of the setting the author created and the attention to detail, and because the ending is so opposite of what you will think is going to happen.

Joe returns to his hometown of Arnhill as an English teacher. He's not the most likable character; he drinks too much, has gambling issues, and is flippant to anyone who talks to him. Since most of the novel is through his point of view though, I became invested in his story, however sad and pathetic it seemed. If you think his life is sad and pathetic, his hometown is just as miserable. Kids who grow up there seem to turn out to be bullies or end up being bullied. Everyone just seemed so mean. There were some bug scenes that I couldn't get out of my head. Eeeeks! I've read the author's first novel, The Chalk Man, and I enjoy her writing style so I'm definitely a fan of her latest.

4.5 stars

I didn't realize how much I missed a good story with a male protag until I read one!
It seems all the novels I have read for the past few months have been female dominated, so this was an unexpected pleasure.

I really like this author's writing style. I immediately got that feeling you get when you put on your favorite pair of sweats and settle down for the night....pure comfort. I felt the same way about Tudor's first book as well. [book:The Chalk Man|35356382]

There is a great story here, full of mysteries to unfold along with a good level of darkness.
Well written characters and a few twists that were perfectly executed. And just when you think it's safe to take a breath, nope-Tudor still has one more surprise left to reveal. Just brilliant!

I am not going to get into plot reveal here. I truly think this is a book that you need to go in blind and just sit back and enjoy what's coming....

ARC provided by NetGalley

Tl;dr: Like a really good early episode of Supernatural.

I've seen mixed reviews for The Hiding Place, but I throughly enjoyed it. It opens with an eerie suicide/murder in the small English town of Arnhill and then moves to the mc, Joe Thorne, who has returned to his hometown with a mix of dread (his sister disappeared for about a day when she was young and was never the same upon her return), determination (he needs a place to lay low) and fear (he does need to lay low, but how are the murder/suicide connected to what happened to his sister? Who even contacted him with an ominous message?)

I loved Joe. He's a liar and a fraud, more than a little broken in body and mind, determined to see himself as disaster that's happened and will happen again and still goes ahead and tries to figure out what's going on in Arnhill. Specifically, what's going on in the now abandoned mine, and why do some children disappear and reappear?

Joe goes right ahead and rents the home where the murder/suicide happened, and that place has Supernatural written all over it, right down to the strange noises and cold spots. And bugs. There are definitely bugs.

Joe also procures a job in the high school he went to, meets old frenemies, lets himself really process the past (CJ Tudor does an excellent job with this), and oh yeah, deals with the evil that's old and eager in a satisfying way that also leads him to solving the problems (besides the whole possibly immortal evil force thing) that guided him to Arnhill as well.

The epilogue is the kind of throughly creepy coda you'd expect and I finished The Hiding Place (such a generic title--the UK one, The Taking of Annie Thorne--is worlds better) eager to CJ Tudor's next book.

And to watch that s1 episode of Supernatural where Dean has to deal with his fear of flying--among other things.

I loved The Chalk Man, giving it one of my very few five stars rating. I couldn’t wait to read this novel. And now I find that I am having a difficult time giving it a rating. It was very well written, but I just didn’t like it.

The beginning was intriguing, but I struggled to finish as the story progressed.
To me, none of the characters were likable, or even seemed to have any redeeming qualities.

I didn’t realize it had the air of supernatural to it, or I probably would not have chosen to read it as I greatly dislike the mystical or anything where one has to suspend one’s beliefs.

I’m sure there will be others who will like this book, but it just wasn’t for me……

The Chalk Man was one of my favorite reads from last year so I was highly anticipating Tudor’s next book, but was also a little apprehensive because you never know if they can keep the momentum going and deliver another hit. I’m so happy to say that it’s an absolute yes from me, I liked this one just as much as TCM and believe Tudor is a serious force to be reckoned with!

This one was creepy with a capital C you guys, it blends a classic thriller with a supernatural twist and was a truly chilling read. Joe’s hometown used to be a mining town that’s long since been disused and the atmosphere of this was desolate, stark and incredibly scary. There was just a really strong sinister vibe that, coupled with some creepy characters made this one to read during the day!

This was one of those books that gives off an uneasy feeling the whole time, the sense that something isn’t quite right. It flips back and forth from present day and 1992 when Joe’s sister Annie goes missing and then suddenly returns, but something is off. These chapters gave me the chills and when everything came together not only was I stunned, I was also scared to death! Highly recommended, especially if you liked TCM but also if you just like mystery/thrillers.

The Hiding Place in three words: Sinister, Scary and Atmospheric.