I had read The Other People and enjoyed it so I decided to try another book by C.J. Tudor.    The Burning Girls mixes several genres –  thriller, mystery, horror/fantasy, and moody psychological suspense.   The setting is in a small English town, Chapel Croft.    The main character is the Reverend Jack Brooks who comes to the village for a temporary position, relocating herself and her daughter to what could have been a sleepy village, but the past is not buried very deep, and any sleep may be a haunted by dark secrets.   The previous reverend hanged himself, there were two missing girls, and in the past there were two girls who were burned to death.   Jack herself has left behind a tragedy and is looking for a fresh start, but when her daughter starts seeing apparitions in the form of burning girls, questions arise and not everyone wants them asked.

The strengths of this book are the author’s clever plot, winding surprises throughout that reveal hints about a dark past, and the development of interesting characters that we care about.   This book was  accessible, clear, easy to follow, with a good dash of suspense.   It was a bit creepy, though, but maybe just enough to make it more interesting.

“We all have our hiding places. Not just physical ones. Places deep inside where we put away the things we don’t want others to see. The less palatable parts. Our St. Peter’s box, I call it, The one we pray he won’t find when we’re trying to sneak in through the pearly gates.”

Some The Burning Girls Reviews:

• “Top-notch and deliciously creepy storytelling” (Kirkus)
• “There are enough plot twists, including one that most readers will not see coming, to keep you on your toes right through to the unexpected and highly satisfying finale of this consistently creepy psychological thriller.” (The Book Reporter)
• “Tudor (The Other People) strikes again with another thriller filled with twists and turns right up to the mind-bending ending.” (Library Journal)
• “Tautly suspenseful…Tudor expertly doles out the plot twists, some of them small, some sizable, and one so shocking that it turns the entire story inside out. Jack, Flo, and the other fully realized characters and their eventual fates won’t be easily forgotten by any reader.” – Publishers Weekly
• My Rating for this book:4.3 out of 5.0 stars4.3

A trailer for the book: