The Burning Girls - C.J. Tudor

Reading Challenge Category: Free ARC from NetGalley

Official Blurb:

500 years ago: eight martyrs were burnt to death
30 years ago: two teenagers vanished without trace
Two months ago: the vicar committed suicide
Welcome to Chapel Croft.
For Rev Jack Brooks and teenage daughter Flo it's supposed to be a fresh start. New job, new home. But, as Jack knows, the past isn't easily forgotten.
And in a close-knit community where the residents seem as proud as they are haunted by Chapel Croft's history, Jack must tread carefully. Ancient superstitions as well as a mistrust of outsiders will be hard to overcome.
Yet right away Jack has more frightening concerns.
Why is Flo plagued by visions of burning girls?
Who's sending them sinister, threatening messages?
And why did no one mention that the last vicar killed himself?
Chapel Croft's secrets lie deep and dark as the tomb. Jack wouldn't touch them if not for Flo - anything to protect Flo.
But the past is catching up with Chapel Croft - and with Jack. For old ghosts with scores to settle will never rest . . .

My Thoughts:

This was full of suspense and chills just as you would expect from a C.J. Tudor book.
It was relatively slow to get going, and there were just snippets given to you about the storyline as a whole. Jack and Flo were great characters, but Flo could be quite frustrating at times. I know she was a teenager, but I just wanted to shake her and make her tell her mum everything. She also kept finding herself in unnecessary situations.
I hadn’t expected the quite heavy religious theme, but I suppose knowing it was about a Reverend I should have expected it. It wasn’t a problem; I just hadn’t expected it. Jack made a great Reverend though and reminded me a lot of Judy that married my husband and myself. It didn’t even occur to me at the time to be bothered about her being a woman like the couple in this book.
The tension really builds up as the book moves along and you really don’t know what is going to happen, especially with the supernatural elements and there being so many suspicious characters living in the village.
I did see one of the twists coming; however, there are so many; there is no way you could guess them all. I did feel as if the ending was a little overcomplicated; I really had to concentrate when everything was being wrapped up to follow who was who and what had happened. There was one character, and we had been seeing their point of view; however, they suddenly disappeared and was only given a brief mention at the end.
I felt like I wanted more, a little bit more of an ending.
I was hooked throughout it though and finished it much quicker than I expected. I don’t think anything will blow me away as much as ‘The Chalk Man’ did, but this did give it a good run for its money!

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