I received an ARC via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. I quite enjoyed Ms. Tudor’s debut novel, The Chalk Man, and I quite enjoyed this sophomore effort as well. As with her first book, The Hiding Place is exceptionally well-plotted. There are the mysteries you know are being slowly revealed, and then there are the ones you did not even know were mysteries until the answers were presented. Once again, her use of flipping back and forth between the events of 1992 and the present is done to great effect, providing a steady diet of mini-cliffhangers until the final pages.

The Hiding Place also cured what I felt was the biggest weakness in The Chalk Man. In that work, I felt there was an emotional distance between the main character and the reader that kept me from getting fully absorbed in the story. I had no such problem becoming absorbed into Joe’s dilemmas in this book.

I think readers should know going in that there is something supernatural at work in this story. Rereading the plot description, maybe I should have understood that, but I did not. I enjoy sci-fi stories, but readers unwilling to accept such plot twists may be disappointed. My only complaint is that the main plot twist is too derivative of a specific Stephen King book that I will not name to avoid spoilers. Still, The Hiding Place is very good and will hold your interest throughout. Recommended.

I really loved C.J. Tudor's debut novel, The Chalk Man, when it came out in 2018. That story really creeped me out, and I eagerly awaited this second novel. There are some similarities, but mostly this new book is different from The Chalk Man.

Both books have flashbacks from present day to the past. And both stories center around a group of kids/adults who went through a horrific event together, only to have a similar event happen when they are adults. But...where The Chalk Man was more of an exciting suspense thriller...The Hiding Place is more subtle. The story is more psychological with the truth drawn out more slowly. Just a bit revealed at a time. The Hiding Place is much more sneaky with its storytelling. The story grabbed my attention from page 1 and kept me reading until the wee hours of the morning. Total binge read.

I'm not going to say anything about the plot....because....spoilers. The story is much more interesting going into it with very little prior knowledge. I liked the main character, Joe. He wants answers and is willing to do just about anything to find the information he needs. He is a deeply flawed character with a gambling problem and other deep-set issues, but he's also strong-minded and determined. Joe is the only character in the story that is well-developed. The rest of the cast are really just plot points necessary to the story only in their relation and interactions with Joe. But that's ok....they don't need to be fleshed out. Joe is the one the reader needs to know about. Joe....and The Event. The reason Joe came back to his hometown.

It's just a lovely, slow but steady, descent into creepyville. Several times the story caught me by surprise. I love it when that happens! Great story!

I will definitely be reading more by this author. Can't wait for the next book!

**I voluntarily read an advanced readers copy of this book from Crown Publishing via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**

This book was supposed to be a “blend of harrowing psychological suspense, a devilishly puzzling mystery, and enough shocks sand thrills to satisfy the most seasoned reader.” HA! The main character even has the gall to talk about guessing the plot of a predictable thriller book in this joke of a novel. This book is SLOW. Like real slow. The main character is written in a way that is supposed to come off as funny and sarcastic, but the writing is really just so dry that it’s the only thing truly you’ll laugh at in this book. This book is a summer camp ghost story dressed up and marketed to get suspense and thrill lovers to fall for its marketing AND they will. The marketing has this book everywhere and touted as the next “MUST READ” suspense thriller novel, but people will be disappointed or they’ll put up good reviews bc they feel obligated bc they got an ARC of this book and guilt reviews are always tainted. This book has a supernatural undercurrent that turns (after 75% into the book) into a hokey, cheesy ghost tale for kids—NOT ENTERTAINMENT AND THRILL FOR SEASONED READERS! I received an ARC from NetGalley for my honest opinion and I’ve been seeing this book everywhere on Bookstagram and book stores and I was bored and if I was the type of person who could quit a book after starting it, I would have quit this one—QUICK. I just won’t allow myself to not finish books bc I can’t give up hope there will be something redeeming in the novel—this novel did not redeem itself! It just got worse and the ending was a stupid as the rest of this story!

Tried to like this book, but couldn't. From hating the characters to prejudice to flipping back and forth from past and present, none of the elements made this book likable or even interesting.

C.J. Tudor did a phenomenal job developing this story. He ensures that you grow a strong bond with the character immediately, making you turn the pages faster and faster in hopes of figuring out the end. There were several times where I thought I had this ending figured out and it turns out, I was way off. In my perspective, the goal was to figure out what truly happened to the main characters sister. He pains himself with her death and goes through many different tragedies in order to free himself from this guilt. Does he find out the truth? What secrets does this Hiding Place have?

I'm not really one for books with supernatural elements, but I do make exceptions for things that are explained very well and have an understandable set of rules. Meaning, basically, I don't like when authors fail to explain things and just blame it on the monster/creepy thing. Sadly, that's what happened in this book. There's no explanation for what the creepy thing is (or are?) and every confusing thing that happens is wrapped up in the blanket of "blame it on the creepy thing." Which would totally work if I knew more about the creepy thing, how it operates, etc. But we don't get any of that. Overall, I liked the author's writing style and the pacing was good. I just needed a better sense of what was really going on.

3.25 Stars

I was a huge fan of The Chalk Man; it almost made it on my list of favorite books of 2018, that's how much I loved it, so I couldn't wait to read C.J. Tudor's newest novel, The Hiding Place. While Tudor's newest book is dark, creepy, horrifying at times, and has moments that will leave you feeling absolutely terrified, I have to admit that I loved The Chalk Man so much more since I had some issues with this book.

Once again, Tudor has her adult protagonist return to his hometown where something horrifying happened when he was a teenager, things he's never gotten over. This time around Joe Thorne, an alcoholic, high school English teacher who's up to his eyeballs in trouble with a huge gambling debt, returns home to the tiny mining village of Arnhill, a place he never thought he'd go back after the dark and terrifying things that happened after his 8 years old sister Annie went missing...only to return.

Joe's homecoming is preceded by an anonymous email telling him about the suicide of an Arnhill teacher who first bludgeons her young son to death and writes the words "Not My Son" in his blood on the wall. He immediately knows the evil and darkness he thought had died in the past with his sister is still very much alive in the present and sets out with a plan to make all his problems go away, including ones he helped set in motion in the past that are now in a horrifying collision course with the present.

One problem...no one wants Joe home, least of all his old friends who are now his enemies and the only other ones who share the chilling secret of exactly what happened to Annie Thorne the day she disappeared in the ghostly abandoned mine shaft and why she returned days later a completely changed girl. They want him out of their village at whatever cost. 

What I loved about The Chalk Man is that Tudor is a compelling storyteller; she invites you in with her words and just pulls you into the story and never lets go. She does the same thing in The Hiding Place, her storytelling is still spot on. Her characters are just brilliant even though they are completely unlikeable, and with this one, I felt like she added a heightened level of the supernatural, dread, and creepiness which I personally enjoy! This time around, you could feel the fear and terror inching its way through the first half of the book just building in intensity, so I knew that there was going to be something outright evil and horrifyingly otherworldly towards the end, and holy smokes, did she deliver!

But...and there is a but here, I had an issue with the book, which is why I couldn't love it as much as I wanted to. 

It was obvious while reading The Chalk Man that Tudor's a huge fan of Stephen King's work since that book read a bit like King's earlier books but hey, if you're going to write horror, then who better to look up to, right? This time though instead of a nod to the King, I felt like I was reading his books taken apart, mashed up, and then retold with different character names and in a different locale. 

 So while I enjoyed The Hiding Place and love Tudor's writing, I do, I'm a huge fan and think Tudor is a superb storyteller, I want her to write her very own novel...no references to King's books like with The Chalk Man, no obvious retellings of King's novels like with this one, but one entirely her own. She's extremely talented, and there's no doubt in my mind that she can write a brilliant novel. I'll absolutely look forward to reading her next novel because I know it will be excellent!

**Thank you, NetGalley and Crown Publishing for the ARC to read in exchange for my fair and honest review.**

I didn’t read the Chalk Man so I was unfamiliar with C.J. Tudor’s work. Also, I stayed away from reviews and descriptions of The Hiding Place so I did not have any expectations. I wasn’t aware of the many comparisons of Tudor to Stephen King — that would’ve told me something because I am not a King fan.

The Hiding Place is part thriller and part horror/supernatural. The beginning and the middle of the book were particularly slow for me but I stuck with it partly because I remember so many people loving The Chalk Man. It wasn’t until the last 1/4 of the book, that it picked up and there were some great twists, especially at the end.

For me, part of the problem with The Hiding Place was that there was no one to like and as a result, I was unable to become invested in the story. I didn’t care about anyone and so was not motivated to see how things would turn out but I kept reading. Perhaps the book would have greater appeal among fans of the horror genre, of which I am not one. However, I do plan to go and read The Chalk Man and see if it holds more appeal for me.

Thank you to Crown Publishing and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The Hiding Place is the latest story by C. J. Tudor. In The Hiding Place Ms Tudor does an excellent job of weaving back and forth in time, bringing the reader information needed at that point. Some twists,turns, and surprises make this book difficult to put down. I was given an early copy to review.

I was a huge fan of The Chalk Man so when I heard C.J. Tudor had a new book coming out I knew I needed to get my hands on it immediately... & it did not disappoint.

This book is dark and creepy just like the cover recommends. We are introduced to Joe who is returning to Arnhill where he grew up to apply for a teaching job at his old school. We learn that Joe has lied some on his application to get the job but we have no idea why? We quickly learn that many of his classmates who have not left town are not happy to have him back. This dregs up past issues and events that occurred when they were in school. When Joe's past catches up to him and he begins to piece the puzzle pieces together readers will be shocked with what they learn.

3 1/2 ⭐️‘s

With its dark and eerie premise, this book was quite a page turner. Not quite sure where Tudor was going with the story kept me engaged throughout. With a Stephen King like feel, Tudor straddles the line between thriller and horror and does it quite well. Cleverly creepy, this was a good read!

One of my favorite things about The Chalk Man was the writing. And it’s equally good here, in The Hiding Place. It’s not often I find myself highlighting phrases in a mystery. But that’s exactly what I’ve done with both of Tudor’s books.

Joe Thorne returns to his dismal home town of Arnhill and gets himself hired as a teacher. Joe’s not one to make friends. He’s hiding from folks outside of town, while taking on his old school friends in town. Joe, despite his numerous faults, is a character I could really care about. He’s a gambler, a bit of a drunk, but he still means well and has trouble turning his back on the students who need his help.

The town is as much a character as any of the people and Tudor does an excellent job of portraying that small town, claustrophobic, cloying nature.

The book is as much a horror story as a mystery. There are some particularly gruesome scenes. There are ghosts. There are creepy, crawly things that sent shivers up my spine. The story kept me engaged and I kept wanting to read just one more chapter. The ending had a few nice twists, even if it was a tad contrived.

My thanks to netgalley and Crown Publishing for an advance copy of this book.

5 plus stars! What a book! Pet semetary meets Pretty Little Liars! This book hooks you and doesn’t let go until it is over. While some parts reminded me of Pet Semetary, I think this one was a much more thrilling read. Who can you trust, maybe no one, after reading this! Get a copy and read it ASAP! It’s one fellow thriller, horror, with a splash of drama won’t want to miss!
Will be using in a challenge as well as buzzing it up in Chapter Chatter Pub!

If you like a story without a single sympathetic character, you have come to the right place. Told in the first person by a narrator with no redeeming qualities, the tale unfolds as he returns to the dismal village of his youth.. The reader is then pulled back into his past both as a schoolboy victim and as an adult with a serious gambling debt and all sorts of ill-conceived plans to deal with it.
I’ll admit there were some good twists that I wasn’t expecting that led me to press on to the end, but I felt poorly served by the supernatural element that popped up like some “deus ex machina” to explain the mysterious happenings. I prefer my mysteries to be character-driven, not otherworldly so for that reason, I have to,give this story only 1 star.

Along the lines of C.J. Tudor's first novel, The Hiding Place features a grown man going back home to confront past childhood traumas .

Many thanks to NetGalley, Crown Publishing, and C.J. Tudor for the opportunity to read her sophomore book, following the very successful Chalk Man. I think I liked this one even more - definitely a creepy read!

Joe Thorne comes back to his hometown of Arnhill - a childhood that consisted of bullying, murder, suicide. He gets a job teaching at his former high school, under dubious conditions, and is intent on making someone pay for the things that happened, especially what happened to his little sister. Of course, he has other personal agendas on his mind. Once back in Arnhill, he sees what happened in the past is happening again - can he stop it this time?

Enough said about all this - this is a creepy read complete with scary mine pits, bugs, and the requisite twists. A great read - just keep the lights on!

Joe Thorne comes back to his hometown of Arnhill, a sleepy English mining village. He takes a job at his old school, Arnhill Academy, as an English teacher.
He has a gambling habit that has put him deeply in debt and his bookie has sent a psychotic hit woman named Gloria after him. But she's not going to kill him... yet. She may just maim him to help motivate him to find the money fast!
Joe rents a cottage where the previous tenant, another teacher, killed her son and then herself. The writing "NOT MY SON" was found written in blood on one of the walls.
The first day at school Joe has an unfortunate encounter with Jeremy Furst, the school bully. He also happens to be the son of Stephen Furst, a tormentor from Joe's old gang.
Past and present are meeting up, as he links his eight year old sister's long ago disappearance with events now happening in town. Annie, his kid sister, eventually returned home, but was disturbingly different.
An old mining shaft, filled with children's bones may be the source of horrifying supernatural occurrences.
This was a fast, thrilling read with strong vibes of Stephen King.
Thank you to Crown/Archetype Publishing and NetGalley for the free ebook in exchange for an honest review.
3.5 star review, rounded up to 4 stars.

I loved C. J. Tudor's debut novel, THE CHALK MAN, and I love the second novel, THE HIDING PLACE. Strumming the tension maximally from first page to last, the author makes us understand the characters, feel their emotions, comprehend their motives, rail against injustice, and wish everything could simply have been different from the beginning. In other words, Life. Joe Thorn, our narrator/protagonist, is not so much a feckless hero as a failed hero. Coming of age in a small Nottinghamshire community, a community which had existed for centuries, Joe was an adolescent when the local mine closed and his father had to find other employment. A mine collapse in 1949 had cast its continuing pall over the community, but the real danger lay not in the mine, but in the underground adjacent to the failed colliery.

Author Tudor superbly suspends disbelief in weaving in elements of the supernatural, or perhaps "preternatural," along with the life stories of the village, of these boys and girls grown to adulthood who persist in the patterns of their childhood and raise their children to repeat their failings. Following historian George Santayana's premise, "Those who do not remember history are condemned to repeat it," the inhabitants of this village manage to sometimes remember and frequently, generation after generation, to repeat. Reading THE HIDING PLACE is tough and painful in that we are required to live vicariously through our less-than-perfect characters, but so much of good fiction (and nonfiction) means just that: diving below the superfluity of surface currents and seeing--living--in the depths.

I enjoyed a lot about The Hiding Place- Joe Thorne is a troubled, vengeful character who, with his propensity to drink quite a bit, is perhaps not the most reliable witness to his own issues, and the reasons why he's come back to his decaying, miserable hometown are pretty intriguing. However, I felt like the story was a little incomplete and like it never really went as far as it could have. If a story is going to have supernatural elements, I prefer them to be a little more fleshed out (versus just some kind of vague, secretive town lore about what happens to these vanished children). An ending that wasn't quite expected definitely increased my enjoyment of this story.

C.J. Tudor's THE CHALKMAN, was one of my top ten books read last year; I absolutely loved it, and therefore had high expectations for her follow up, THE HIDING PLACE. Although she is clearly a natural, and very entertaining writer, the plot and characters never really hit the mark for me. Joe, the protagonist, lies his way into a teaching position in his hometown - he has returned with a purpose: to find out what really happened to his little sister so many years ago. The problem is, he's just not that likable, certainly not when compared to Eddie in her first book, who was a fascinating and incredibly appealing personality. And he's not the only one, most of the characters are similarly unlikeable, which this reader views as somewhat problematic.

Tudor's writing style and themes harken back to Stephen King's earlier work, such as STAND BY MY, later retitled as THE BODY. HOWEVER, the key component of King's storylines was the true essence of childlike innocence of his characters - the sweet innocent meeting up with evil forces is unquestionably a theme he mastered to perfection. While Eddie, in THE CHALKMAN came close to that key ingredient of innocence, it seems to be missing in THE HIDING PLACE, and therefore, falls short.

Further, I prefer the ending, particularly of a crime/supense/thriller to answer all the questions and have them tied up neatly with a bow. I don't care for the concept of finishing a story which has left bits untended and unanswered.

This is not to say i don't admire her writing, I truly do, this one was just a wee bit of a let down after enjoying THE CHALKMAN so very much.

Will I read her next book? Yes, probably so, I would simply hope there is a bit less paranormal and a bit more character likability.

Thank you very much to Net Galley, Crown Publishers, and C.J. Tudor, for the digital ARC, in exchange for my honest opinion, it is greatly appreciated.