Amazing Book! I really don't know how to describe this book other than
Great, engrossing, riveting, page turner, gripping unputdownable, nail-biter, well thought out mystery thriller. With amazing twist and turns thrown in the mix!

Darkness surrounds Chapel Croft. 500 years ago Protestant martyrs were betrayed—then burned. 30 years ago, two teenage girls disappeared and a few weeks ago, the vicar of hanged himself in the nave of the church. Reverend Jack Brooks, a single parent of 14 year old Flo has come to take on the new job. Jack finds the town filled with secrets, and is greeted with an exorcism kit. Seriously strange right? As they start to settle in town, the more they are drawn into the hoopla of hysteria. Now Flo is seeing ghosts of girls on fire that may have not been been laid to rest..

Whew!!! This book had a lot of moving parts. Told from 3 POVs with several plot twists that make this slow burn a page turner. Now this book does have some dark elements and some strong displays of bullying so be warned. Even though I guessed a major part of the twist, I was wrong on others which made this dark novel fun (how’s that for ironic) I really enjoyed the realism of the characters and Jack and Flo’s relationship was a crack up at times. It felt true to life. The religion in this novel helps to add to the overall atmosphere. I really enjoyed this one. It’s definitely a spooky one!

Thank you Netgalley for my advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

I have read both of Tudor's previous books - The Chalk Man and The Hiding Place - but The Burning Girls stands far apart from the crowd. I have never been a fan of supernatural thrillers, but this novel hit a nice balance between paranormal horrors and the evil that can be found right nextdoor. Tudor's writing style is fast-paced and gripping - there truly wasn't a dull moment for me. It also helped that the protagonist, Jack, was likable from the very start.

After a horrible accident, Jack is transferred from her old Nottingham parish to a church in Chapel Croft: a small town rife with dark secrets that its residents seem keen to keep hidden. Jack and her daughter Flo do not receive the warmest of welcomes, and it only seems to go downhill from there. We learn that Chapel Croft has a violent past, and outsiders have historically not fared well. The setting of the novel makes the story all the more sinister - I'm happy I wasn't alone while reading this one!

4/5 stars mainly because I think some of the chapters told from secondary characters' points of view were unnecessary, and somewhat confusing. Additionally, I personally think there were TOO many horror tropes woven in - it felt clunky and overdone at times. Finally, the last 1/10 of the book covered as much ground as the first 9/10, and felt rushed. Too much had to be tied up in too few pages. Aside from those drawbacks, the twists were AWESOME and I didn't see the last one coming. Can't wait for Tudor's next book already!

NOW THAT WAS A HORROR STORY!

Creepy small town. Creepy vanishings. Creepy dolls. Creepy church. Creepy vicars. Creepy murderers. Creepy horrifying backstory. Creepy vault with creepy coffins. Creepy graveyards. Creepy abandoned houses. Creepy characters. Creepy apparitions. Overall creepy characters doing weird, disturbing things.

All mixed together made for a very unsettling, disturbing, and straight up eerie reading experience.

Seriously. Burning Girls is one hell of an ominous story that will keep your eyes glued to the pages from start to finish! I cracked open this book one night and read through it in one sitting because I could not put it down. I will definitely be haunted by this story for a long time to come. C.J. Tudor is certainly a master of her craft, able to weave together an intriguing story with a plot that will raise the hair on your arms more times than you can count.

This review does not do this book justice at all, as you have no idea what you’re truly in for until you read it.

If you’re a fan of horror, mysteries, and thrillers, then do yourself a favor and pick this one up! I still get goosebumps just thinking about this book.

It may only be February, but I know without a doubt that this will remain one of my favorite reads of 2021.

Thank you very much for the chills and thrills C.J. Tudor

CJ Tudor is a hit or miss author for me. Unfortunately, this one was a miss. I made it to around 50% of the book, and could not force myself to read another page. The writing was dry and the characters fell flat. I didn't care what happened to any of them. The mysterious element was uninteresting and the plot was so slow it was torturous. When I DNF'd it, I feel like absolutely nothing had happened and the conflict really hadn't picked up. Like, I really thought I would love this when the character was delivered a freaking EXORCISM KIT!!! But unfortunately, at 50% of the way through, they hadn't even brought it up except for the initial delivery of it. I also found the characters too confusing and couldn't keep any of them straight. The writing seemed to have too much exposition without enough clarity for me. I was so looking forward to this book, because I absolutely LOVED The Other People by CJ Tudor, but this one just wasn't for me.

This was my first book by C.J. Tudor and it certainly won't be my last. I was looking for a thriller after another book described as such, let me down. The burning girls gave me just was I was looking for! A vicar in a remote haunted village??!! Yes! It kept me going to the end and I couldn't wait to see how it all wrapped up.

The Burning Girls is an amazing combination of a suspense thriller and a horror! My favorite part of this book was the underlying fear that I felt through the entire book while I was reading. The story has a great build up, starting out a little slow and confusing until BAM all of a sudden it becomes a fast page turning book. The book left me feeling both chilled and delightfully complete. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

"An unconventional vicar must exorcise the dark past of a remote village haunted by death and disappearances in this explosive and unsettling thriller from the acclaimed author of The Chalk Man.

A dark history lingers in Chapel Croft. Five hundred years ago, Protestant martyrs were betrayed - then burned. Thirty years ago, two teenage girls disappeared without a trace. And a few weeks ago, the vicar of the local parish hanged himself in the nave of the church.

Reverend Jack Brooks, a single parent with a fourteen-year-old daughter and a heavy conscience, arrives in the village hoping for a fresh start. Instead, Jack finds a town rife with conspiracies and secrets, and is greeted with a strange welcome package: an exorcism kit and a note that warns, “But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed and hidden that will not be known.”

The more Jack and daughter, Flo, explore the town and get to know its strange denizens, the deeper they are drawn into the age-old rifts, mysteries, and suspicions. And when Flo begins to see specters of girls ablaze, it becomes apparent there are ghosts here that refuse to be laid to rest.

Uncovering the truth can be deadly in a village with a bloody past, where everyone has something to hide and no one trusts an outsider."

Sounds very much like Midsomer Murders gone horrific... I LOVE IT!

The Burning Girls is a combination horror and mystery thriller. The story starts slowly but crescendos to a fast-paced, suspenseful conclusion. There are many hints dropped throughout the novel as to what happened to those who disappeared without a trace thirty years ago, but most of those clues went right over my head until I went back and reread parts of the story (at which point, everything sort of fell into place.) The Burning Girls is a dark and sinister tale which is often rather disturbing, leaving me with a chilling but satisfied feeling.

What started out as a rather s-l-o-w burn turned into a fast-paced, frantic conclusion!

Jack Brooks is not your ordinary vicar and Chapel Croft is not your ordinary small town! Flo is Jack's 14 year old daughter and they both were hoping for a peaceful transition to their new fresh start, but the strange past and hidden secrets of the village begin to haunt them almost immediately.

I found the beginning slow and hard to connect all the dots. There are a few secret POV's and confusing at first, but they become apparent later. Once the story takes off, I couldn't stop reading it!

Very creepy, atmospheric with some elements of horror and supernatural events. It is clever and intense with a side of darkness

Thanks so much to NG for my advanced copy! OUT on February 9, 2021

The Burning Girls is the latest thriller from C. J. Tudor. Difficult to put down, The Burning Girls will have you on the edge of your seat more than once. Ms Tudor gives the reader lots of twists and turns keeping the reader guessing as to the final outcome. I want to thank NetGalley and Ballantine Books for an early copy to review,

The Burning Girls by C. J. Tudor is a highly recommended psychological thriller packed with plenty of bait and switch clues.

Reverend Jack Brooks, a widow with a fourteen-year-old daughter, Flo, has been ordered to leave Nottingham and go to to fill a sudden vacancy in the village of Chapel Croft as an interim vicar. The Sussex village has a dark history as the site where Protestant martyrs were betrayed and burned five hundred years ago. There is a local tradition of making dolls out of twigs, which are called burning girls, and leaving them on the church grounds. The ominous atmosphere in the village continues as thirty years ago two teenage girls disappeared and the previous vicar hanged himself in the church. When Jack arrives she is left a welcome package of an exorcism kit with a warning note.

The village is as glum and the atmosphere is as foreboding as the history portends. The cottage they move into is dilapidated, dark, and dank. The town is hardly a relaxing village vicarage post. It is full of strange sometimes hostile characters, horrible secrets covering centuries, odd occurrences, and it becomes increasingly menacing. As Jack begins to meet people and learn more about the village, Flo also meets the locals while out taking photographs, including Lucas Wrigley, a teen with dystonia who's bullied by the others, and two of the teens who bully him.

The plot is perfectly paced in this taut nerve-racking suspense. Tudor does an excellent job slowly upping the suspense, introducing one more clue, another odd occurrence, a further piece of history, a new twist, all while moving her characters through the plot as the tone of the narrative becomes increasingly strained, uneasy, and ultimately dangerous. The increasing tension will keep you glued to the pages trying to follow the clues to figure out who is trustworthy and what is really happening in this creepy village. The threat is real, but where is it coming from? Once you hit the last third of the novel you will not be able to put it down and the scenes leading up to the final denouement will actually surprise you.

The narrative alternates between the point of view of Jack and Flo, which works very well in this novel. The two keep many incidents and information they come across to themselves rather than telling each other everything, or at least some of the more egregious events that occur. This helps increase the tension and sense of foreboding as the novel progresses.

While this is a remarkable psychological thriller, for me the enjoyment of the suspense was marred by the fact that I didn't enjoy the character of Jack and this never really slackened throughout the novel. Flo is a perfectly developed teenager and I liked her character, but Jack kept saying things that were off-putting to me. The two have a believable relationship, although there were some things that seemed unlikely, like Jack not telling Flo about her family background.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Random House Publishing Group.
After publication the review will be posted on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Another creepy, horrifying, make-you-look-over-your-shoulder-scary thriller from CJ Tudor. I loved the mother-daughter dynamics between Jack and Flo, the quick dips into the past, and the many sub-plots that come together for a satisfying finish. Can’t wait for the next book from this writer!!

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for the arc.

Wowza! This was my first book by Tudor, and I can’t wait to read more! Set in a small English village, a newly reassigned vicar is thrown into place with a long, spooky history that may come back to haunt them all. I really don’t want to give too much away, but this was an excellently plotted read with great characters. It’s been a while since I finished it, and I find myself still thinking back to it, always a good sign. Very spooky atmosphere, and it kept me guessing until the end!

Burning Girls is the new book from CJ Tudor.

"There's a dark history at Chapel Croft. 500 hundred years ago, Protestant martyrs were burned. 30 years ago two girls disappeared along with a priest. And a few weeks ago, the vicar hanged himself in the church.

Reverend Jack Brooks is sent to Chapel Croft as the interim vicar. She's a single mom with a teenage daughter, Flo. Jack is hoping to find some quiet after the incident at her previous church. But the village has secrets. And when the Burning Girls appear to Jack and Flo they realize that some ghosts refuse to be laid to rest."

There's a lot of creepy here. An overgrown cemetery - an abandoned house - a hidden burial vault full of coffins - the ghostly appearance of the young girls who were dismembered and burned. Tudor can set a creepy mood. You realize that Jack has some secrets about her past and her family. You figure out what a couple of secrets are pretty quickly. There are some interesting observations about families and people from Jack, who is unlike any reverend I have ever talked to. Tudor does a nice job setting up and then tying together all of the different strands of the story. One thing I would have liked to have was more info on the Burning Girl ghosts.

This is one of Tudor's best books yet. If you like creepy and gothic you would enjoy this one.

C.J. Tudor is becoming one of my “go-to” authors! While her books get mixed reviews, her books are never a disappointment to me!

Chapel Croft is a dark place - five hundred years ago, eighteenths protestant martyrs were burned at the stake. Thirty years ago, two teenage girls disappeared. And two months ago, the vicar of the local parish killed himself. When Reverend Jack and her daughter arrive she finds a town mired in secrecy. And when her daughter begins to see strange sightings in the old chapel, it becomes apparent that there are ghosts here that refuse to be laid to rest.

First off - any thriller that combines a ghost story I am 100% in for!! This is a darker mystery that is more of a slow burn compared to the super fast-paced thrillers I’ve been reading. I love the way the author writes each character that is not only relatable, but extremely well developed.

The first half of the book is a little on the slower pace in order for the events to be discussed and the character development. The last 25% of the book I couldn’t stop! I was reading in between classes and during my lunch so I could get to the end! I love how the author wrapped everything together!! My only criticism is the epilogue - I felt it was a little lame, ha!

I highly recommend picking up this read, especially if you are into ghosts, mysteries, and thrillers. Be warned though, this is a much darker read compared to the typical thrillers I’ve been posting!

Loved this book! Well-written characters in a strongly crafted mystery. CJ Tudor is a master at their craft, and this book is a reflection of that skill. Highly recommended.

Excellent! Probably my favorite so far of C.J. Tudor's books. Very atmospheric, and the plot is tight and intricate with just the right speed and intrigue to keep readers engaged right up to the very end. I couldn't put it down. 4.5 stars

CJ Tudor has done it again!

In the nature of all good C.J. Tudor books, this was full of suspense and childhood trauma. Even though I figured out the mystery very early on, I still stayed up too late reading to get to the end! The Burning Girls blends the line of your morality and makes you question, “what makes someone bad?”

This book blended together the spookiness of a horror book and the fast paced page turner of a thriller. I loved it!

This was a solidly creepy and atmospheric psychological thriller that takes place in a small English village called Chapel Croft. Jack (a female vicar) and her daughter Flo move to town after Jack manages to get involved in a case of child abuse in their old parish; Jack is sent to Chapel Croft as a punishment. The village has an interesting history, with a highlight being a group of protestant martyrs being burned alive for staying committed to their faith centuries before. Two young girls were burned with their families, and these are the "burning girls" of local legend. They allegedly appear to people to warn them of potential harm, and the villagers create and burn dolls in their honor. Jack immediately gets involved in town business in a way that isn't totally appreciated, she quickly learns that the last vicar committed suicide, and she's drawn into a 30-year old case of two teenage girls who disappeared. The slow reveal of information was very well done, and I felt fully spooked by the burning girls and the whole mood of the town.