The Burning Girls by C.J. Tudor – Review | Blog Tour

A brilliant read.

WHAT’S THE BOOK ABOUT

Welcome to Chapel Croft. Five hundred years ago, eight protestant martyrs were burned at the stake here. Thirty years ago, two teenage girls disappeared without a trace. And two months ago, the vicar of the local parish killed himself.

Reverend Jack Brooks, a single parent with a fourteen-year-old daughter and a heavy conscience, arrives in the village hoping to make a fresh start and find some peace. Instead, Jack finds a town mired in secrecy and a strange welcome package: an old exorcism kit and a note quoting scripture. “But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed and hidden that will not be known.”

The more Jack and daughter Flo get acquainted with the town and its strange denizens, the deeper they are drawn into their rifts, mysteries, and suspicions. And when Flo is troubled by strange sightings in the old chapel, it becomes apparent that there are ghosts here that refuse to be laid to rest.

But uncovering the truth can be deadly in a village where everyone has something to protect, everyone has links with the village’s bloody past, and no one trusts an outsider.

The Burning Girls by C.J. Tudor – Review

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

WHY YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK

The Burning Girls by C. J. Tudor is a brilliant yet unsettling read.

Right from the beginning, I could sense that the situation is not hunky-dory. Jack arrives at Chapel Croft as the new vicar, hoping to leave her troubled past behind. The village of Chapel Croft is a tightly-knit community. Everybody pokes his nose into everybody’s business. Naturally, Jack has to face their inquisitive stares and their condescension since she is a female vicar.

However, as the story progresses, it becomes sinister. The tightly-knit community soon turns out to be a claustrophobic one with the usual prosperous families calling the shots. You do not bow to them; you are treated as an outcast. Tough diktat for Jack to follow since she is an independent and a strong woman.

Till 37%, the pace is slow. Tudor takes time to set up her characters and the surroundings. It is after 50%, that the book is unputdownable. The chapters end in cliffhanger-bombs. I had no choice but to continue reading till late in the night.

‘The folklore says the burning girls appear to those in trouble.’

The Burning Girls by C. J. Tudor

Tudor did a wonderful job of making me question whether this book was crime fiction or horror. You have got to read it yourself to find out.

The beginning is intriguing.

The ending is phenomenal.

Each passing chapter peels the layers of the mystery and poses more questions.

With a cocktail of bullies, parental neglect, and psychopaths, the book kept my attention till the end. I also liked reading the perspectives of both Jack and her daughter, Flo. I was worried for both. With the ominous atmosphere that the book created, I was not sure if Jack and Flo would survive unscathed. Once more, you got to read the book to find out what happens.

This is the first time I am reading Tudor’s work. I must tell you she is an excellent writer. The Burning Girls will be topping the Best Books of the Year Lists of many readers.

To sum up, I loved The Burning Girls by C. J. Tudor. This is my first 5-star read of 2021. Highly recommended to fans of thrillers.

The Burning Girls by C.J. Tudor

BOOK DETAILS

Genre: Thriller || Pages: 304  || Published on February 9th 2021 by Ballantine Books

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Many thanks to Gaby Young for inviting me to this blog tour. Many thanks to the publisher for my copy of the book. This does not affect my opinion on the book. I opted to provide an honest review on my blog.

AUTHOR BIO

C. J. Tudor is the author of The Burning Girls, The Other People, The Hiding Place, and The Chalk Man, which won the International Thriller Writers award for Best First Novel and the Strand Magazine Award for Best Debut Novel. Over the years she has worked as a copywriter, television presenter, voice-over artist, and dog walker. She is now thrilled to be able to write full-time, and doesn’t miss chasing wet dogs through muddy fields all that much. She lives in England with her partner and daughter.

Author Link(s): Twitter

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