#@cjtudor

[thecatandthekindle]

Trying to act hard isn’t the same as being hard. I wish I could tell my fifteen-year-old self that,

[thecatandthekindle]

You can roll a turd in glitter, but it’s still a turd.

[thecatandthekindle]

One of many pointless things in life is arguing with an eight-year-old. Doesn’t matter how smart you are, eight-year-old logic always wins.

[thecatandthekindle]

We like to pretend we learn from our mistakes, but we don’t.

[thecatandthekindle]

Friends, you can cut loose. Family, you never lose. They’re always there, in the background, screwing with your mind.

[thecatandthekindle]

Review: The Burning Girls by CJ Tudor

I received a free ecopy of this book in return for an honest review. Many thanks to Penguin Michael Joseph and to NetGalley for the opportunity.

This is the fourth stand alone horror novel from author, CJ Tudor, and if you haven’t read any of her books yet, it’s time you gave them a try. Tudor writes what I think of as intelligent horror. Her stories range from unsettling to outright put the book down and take a breath, but each one is a thinker as you piece the elements of the story together in your head.

Written primarily from the perspective of the Reverend Jack Brooks, this book also includes some passages from the viewpoint of Flo, Jack’s teenage daughter, as they arrive and settle in at a new posting. The church they have come to live at, is in a small English village with a history of witch burning. Two young girls were betrayed and dragged from sanctuary in the church to be burned on the church steps. The villagers still post small twig dolls called ‘burning girls’ around the churchyard, in their memory. Local legend prophesies trouble for anyone who sees their ghosts. Thirty years prior to the current story, two teenage girls went missing and were never found, adding to the legend.

Tudor seems to have the ability to encapsulate life in modern England. Not the picture postcard external view of genteel old ladies and tea with scones, but the real gritty every day England with pub quizzes, ready meals, school bullies and nosey neighbours. So many of the books I read now are set in small town America. It’s a real treat to see an imaginative story set in what I consider to be real world England. Moreover, this book is full of small moments that catch you by surprise. Reverend Jack’s character is so unexpectedly normal it’s humorous.

Early on in this book, there are an abundance of individual characters and images that don’t immediately appear to fit the plot. It’s a bit like doing a jigsaw puzzle without the box, you know it all fits together somehow you just don’t know what it’s going to show when it does. I read this book obsessively, desperate to get to the final picture and I was so not expecting where it led. I’m a person who often sees a twist coming, but I have to say this book went in a completely unexpected direction and just as I thought the story was resolved, there was a final surprise to keep me awake at night.

This is another great read from CJ Tudor, with an irreverent reverend, a creepy old church, and the ghosts of burned witches. What more could you want?

The Burning Girls by CJ Tudor is out 21st January 2021.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[thecatandthekindle]

Review: The Other People by CJ Tudor

I received a free ecopy of this book in return for an honest review. Many thanks to Netgalley and Penguin UK - Michael Joseph for the opportunity.

CJ Tudor is still a relatively new writer. This is only her 3rd novel but already she is building up a fandom with horror stories that are light on gore and heavy on chills. They are all set in Britain, which is great to see, and are deep enough to leave you thinking about them afterwards.

The Other People begins with Gabe on the motorway, seeing his daughter in a rusty car, in front of him. He pulls off the road and rings home to be told by the police that his wife and daughter have been murdered. He spends the next few years driving the British motorway system looking for that car. Katie is a waitress in motorway café that Gabe habitually visits. She lives a very mundane existence working to keep her family. Like Gabe, Katie also has a tragedy in her past. Fran is on the run with her daughter, Alice. Alice has a supernaturally weird form of narcolepsy.

Initially these story threads seem unconnected but gradually they weave together. I kept thinking I’d figured out where the story was headed, only for the narrative to swerve in another direction. As with Tudor’s other books my curiosity was piqued early and I blasted through the book, looking for answers.

I felt like the supernatural element could have been more developed (I like supernatural themed books) but actually it is the realism in this book that makes it chilling. I’ve driven those roads, I’ve sat in those cafés, I’ve looked into other cars and wondered about other lives. I’ve imagined unexpectedly seeing someone I know go past. This story is a step from that commonplace thought into a very dark place. It’s about people who have a moment in life when everything changes, and not for the better.

If you like dark unpredictable stories then this book is for you. As for me, I’m hoping I see lots more CJ Tudor books in the future, and maybe a few movies too.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[thecatandthekindle]

Nature isn’t beautiful. Nature is violent, unpredictable and unforgiving. Eat or be eaten.