The Other People by C.J. Tudor

Cover Art Courtesy of Goodreads

So C.J. Tudor is an author that I know a lot of thriller fans love. She has three novels out, and I've had some exposure to all of them. The first was The Chalk Man, which to me was solidly okay, but I only rated 3 stars. The Hiding Place came next which I attempted to read, but unfortunately ended up DNF'ing. When this third book, The Other People, came out, I thought it would help me finally get a good idea of how I felt about C.J. Tudor's work overall. 

The Other People starts with following three main story lines. Gabe's daughter has been taken, but no one believes him. Instead, everyone else believes Izzy to be dead. Not just dead, but murdered. For three years, Gabe trolls the interstate looking for the car he saw stealing his little girl away years ago. Katie works as a waitress in a service station, and often sees Gabe when he comes in. She sympathizes with him, as she too has lost someone unfairly...her father. Fran and her daughter Alice are constantly moving from place to place, running from people that pose a threat to them because of something that Fran knows.

I try to go into thrillers knowing as little as possible. I usually don't even read the synopsis. That's why I was pleasantly shocked to find out that this book prominently featured the dark web. This has always been something I've been intrigued by, and I haven't seen a lot of in thrillers up to this point. This book also had a few, dare I say, supernatural elements to it as well, which were a nice addition. Three story lines were a bit much to follow at first, and I found myself not being drawn to any of them. The book did pick up in the last third or so, but for a while there it was a lot to slog through. The ending was decent, but didn't really take my breath away or shock me.

As much as I had hoped this would give me a true read on my thoughts on this author (ie, I was hoping to absolutely love or absolutely hate this book), it just didn't. Like The Chalk Man, it was a completely middle of the road read for me. I didn't find myself reaching for it, but the story was interesting enough. I guess I'll have to wait and see what she puts out next to really make a determination!

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars

Thanks so much to Ballantine Books for a finished copy of this read! The Other People by C.J. Tudor is out now!

The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor

Cover Art Courtesy of Goodreads

I've been so into thrillers lately that I had to snag this as my December Book of the Month pick. Just the title and cover alone made this book have the creep factor that I'm always looking for. The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor follows Eddie and his friends, both in 1986 and in 2016. As children, the group of friends witnesses a gruesome act that could only be pinned on "The Chalk Man." Now, years later, the group gets a mysterious message, a note and a piece of chalk each, and one of them turns up dead. Is The Chalk Man back and trying to tell them something? Are they in danger? Or were they wrong about everything all along? Now they must figure it out, or another one of them could end up dead.

This book is told in a format alternating from present day to flashbacks by the main character Eddie. One interesting thing about this book is that you think all along that who the murderer is is obvious, until the end that is. The flashbacks were easy to understand, and I liked all the characters, but I still unfortunately had some issues with this book.

First, it really wasn't that THRILLING for a thriller. Normally I can't put these types of books down, but this one just didn't grab me like that. Also, there is an unnecessary dog death in this story, and things like this always turn me off of a book, no matter how good it may be. It was also confusing when it came to who is related to who and why people are suddenly reappearing in Eddie's life. Who the murderer was was not as exciting as I had hoped, although the last few pages blew me away!

I feel bad for not loving this book, really I do, especially since others on Goodreads are just raving about it. But when it comes down to it I think there are much better thrillers out there. Luckily it wasn't too long, so even though I wasn't obsessed with the story I was able to get through it fairly quickly. I think this might be a good read for someone just getting into thrillers who isn't sure about the genre yet, as it is definitely on the milder side in my opinion. You win some, you lose some I guess, so hopefully my next read will hit it out of the park!

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars