Description
Pre-order the chilling new novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Chalk Man & The Taking of Annie Thorne
‘C. J. Tudor has done it again.A mesmerizingly chilling and atmospheric page-turner’ J.P. Delaney, bestselling author of The Girl Before
She sleeps, a pale girl in a white room . . .
Driving home one night, stuck behind a rusty old car, Gabe sees a little girl’s face appear in the rear window. She mouths one word: ‘Daddy.’
It’s his five-year-old daughter, Izzy.
He never sees her again. Three years later, Gabe spends his days and nights travelling up and down the motorway, searching for the car that took his daughter, refusing to give up hope, even though most people believe that Izzy is dead. Fran and her daughter, Alice, also put in a lot of miles on the motorway.
Not searching. But running. Trying to keep one step ahead of the people who want to hurt them.
Because Fran knows the truth. She knows what really happened to Gabe’s daughter. She knows who is responsible.
And she knows what they will do if they ever catch up with her and Alice . . .
‘Utterly magnificent. Such a beautifully weaved and satisfyingly complex tale, with just the right level of spookiness’ James Oswald
‘CJ Tudor is terrific. I can’t wait to see what she does next’ Harlan Coben
‘A creepy, intense novel that drew me right in and never let go’ Samantha Downing, author of My Lovely Wife
‘A darkly compelling tale of justice, revenge and the darkness lurking at the edges of everyday life – with an utterly propulsive plot that makes it very, very hard to put down’ TM Logan, author of The Holiday
‘Hugely enjoyable and deliciously creepy. I was hooked from its gripping opening, all the way through its many twist and turns’ Alex Michaelides, author of The Silent Patient
‘Utterly magnificent. Such a beautifully weaved and satisfyingly complex tale, with just the right level of spookiness’ James Oswald
‘Chilling and utterly gripping. Loved the twists and the well-drawn everyday details. A fantastic new book from the Queen of Creepy’ Will Dean, bestselling author of Red Snow
Praise for C. J. Tudor:
‘Britain’s female Stephen King’ Daily Mail
‘Some writers have it, and C. J. Tudor has it big time. The Taking of Annie Thorne is terrific in every way’ Lee Child
‘If you like my stuff, you’ll like this’ Stephen King
‘A tense gripper with a leave-the-lights-on shock ending’ Sunday Times
Tracey Harriman –
Gabe has promised faithfully that he’ll be home on time, to have dinner with his wife and daughter, and to read Izzy a bedtime story. But he’s running late. He’s stuck in traffic and the phone isn’t being answered at home. He’s studying the bumper stickers on the car in front and speculating who would drive such a car, when girl pops up on the back seat and looks at him. She mouths the word ‘Daddy’. He is in no doubt that it is his daughter so he tries to follow the car to find out what she is doing in there. Once the driver knows he’s being followed he takes evasive action and loses Gabe. On finally being able to call home, a police officer answers the phone with soul destroying news.
Gabe spends the next 3 years living out of a camper van, trying to find his missing daughter. The daughter everyone else believes is dead.
At the same time Fran and Alice are on the run. Knowing that they are being hunted. Knowing that they are never safe.
What lengths would you go to, to find your missing child? This is a question that Gabe is faced with. He finds ‘The Other People’. They are people who, like him, have faced tragedy. They want to help. But he would have to help them in return. The stakes are high.
Holding this book in my hands I was full of hope. I loved Tudor’s previous books and was looking forward to being captivated again. It didn’t disappoint! It was just creepy enough to make the hairs on my arms stand on end but not so much that I had to sleep with the light on.
Tudor has a great way of drip feeding the story. A lot is withheld from the reader and at times I badly wanted to skip forward. I hate to use clichés but this was compelling. There are different characters with their own stories, but, of course, they are all in some way connected…it just takes a while to find out how. Which was why I ended up foregoing sleep and read the book in one sitting. I just needed to know.
Gabe’s desperation radiated from the pages, as did Fran’s fear. How are they connected? Read the book and find out! No spoilers from me!
A cracking read. Can’t wait for more from C J Tudor.
Bob Pickett –
As the synopsis says, Gabe is driving home when he sees his daughter in the rear of someone else’s car. It is the last time he sees her. From then on, his life is devoted to searching for her, living out a camper van, stopping at motorway services to hand out flyers in the hope someone knows something. One of the staff, Katie, keeps a lookout for Gabe. She recognises him as a regular customer and, having taken one of his flyers, knows his tragic story. Then there is Fran. Fran and her daughter are on the run. But from who? Or what? And what is wrong with Fran’s little girl?
Three people, very much on the edge of society (Katie less so, but night shifts at a motorway services takes you out of the mainstream). How do the lives of all three link together? Their stories run in parallel to one another, plus a fourth that drops in between chapters, clearly setting up… something.
This is C.J. Tudor’s third book. And like her other two, it is a mixture of horror, thriller and mystery. For me, up until now the horror element has been peripheral. But this time it is central to the plot. And this sets up the conclusion so effectively. If you want to learn how to write a compelling introduction, read one of C.J. Tudor’s books. By the time I finished the prologue of each one, I knew I needed to read the whole book and find out what happens. And that promise is lived up to. The pacing is superb, the elements of mystery and horror build as the stories develop.
How the three stories come together is powerful. And what happens after that? Perhaps the most scary part is when you realise what happens is most likely all too possible.
Three novels in, and C.J. Tudor has joined that rare club, the “I MUST Read Their Next Book” Club. I WILL read her next one, they’re compulsive reading.
Nicola Humphries (verified owner) –
The is the first CJ Tudor book I have read and I loved it. CJTudor has that certain something that very few writers have, the book had me gripped from the start. I loved the way the separate storylines slowly started to come together in to one, and that any person could be involved. It was the perfect mix of thriller, mystery and paranormal. I can’t wait to read more books by this author!