When did you become a fan of something? You may not remember the day or time, but you probably remember the location or the product (in this blog, a book). Believe it or not, just 5ish years ago, I was a bona fide scaredy cat. I refused to watch scary movies, or if I did, I went to the 10:00 matinee or watched at home with every light on and my arms wrapped tight around my corgi pillow.
Still, my chest pounding and the internal screaming of, “Don’t go in there!,” alongside the blood-boiling dread of a supernatural creature wrapping its ghostly tendrils around the protagonist, deeply intrigued me.
So, when did I take my captivation to the next level? Well, I was standing in the Hoboken Public Library, staring down C.J. Tudor’s (now my favorite author) novel, The Gathering. The cover shows a figure walking into a snowy, small town with a deep crimson sky roiling above her. The snow is heavy and high upon the shops.
Ok, you got me visually. Oh, and then I read the blurb: a detective investigating a grisly crime in rural Alaska finds herself caught in the dark secrets and superstitions of a small town.
Oh hell’s bells, a small town supernatural horror. As someone who grew up in a Wisconsin town of 999 people, this strummed my heartstrings tight.
The first scene: a boy is found with his throat ripped out and all the blood drained from his body.
And who does the small town think is responsible? An ostracized community of vampyrs living in an old mine settlement.
C.J. Tudor has a remarkable flair for English pub-style storytelling, mixed with the jump scares of American horror and the long-drawn-out dread made famous by Mr. King.
After just a few weeks, I was on to the next, her first and the one that put her on the map: The Chalk Man. Next up, The Drift. Then, The Burning Girls.
I’m fascinated by the psychological dread exposed in her characters when faced with unfathomable events. She is becoming a master at blending childhood trauma with adulthood responsibilities and spinning a web of horror intermixed with societal questions. It’s not just who will survive or solve the crime, but what will survive. Is it worth it for a population to live on if they undermine and banish another? Is fear tethered to something more profound than just ignorance? What in our past lingers that only absolute terror can bring to the surface enough for us to make a decision? The classic ‘should I stay or should I go’ moment, if you will.
The Burning Girls: a story about a troubled vicar and her daughter moving to a quaint English countryside town to run the parish, but soon find out the town is buried in worry of, you guessed it, girls who were burned alive and still haunt the town, which is now a TV series, too.
Horror/thriller/mystery/supernatural lovers, C.J. Tudor must be on your list.
Which novel will you be checking out? Comment below.
C.J. Tudor’s name is linked to her author page on the BCCLS catalog to make it easy for you to reserve her titles.
Hit subscribe to get Hoboken Public Library Staff Picks to your email!
Written by:
Sean Willey
Information and Digital Services Assistant
Hoboken Library Staff Picks 