'A compelling debut from a gifted storyteller'

Thumpingly good

THE MOST THRILLING HISTORICAL DEBUT OF 2018

Based on the true story of the infamous witchfinder Matthew Hopkins, with one of the most memorable heroines in recent historical fiction, this haunting novel is perfect for fans of The Miniaturist, Sarah Waters and The Essex Serpent.

Beth Underdown grips us from the outset...at once a feminist parable and an old-fashioned, check-twice-under-the-bed thriller

A tense, surprising and elegantly-crafted novel

Atmospheric and filled with foreboding, it's a novel that draws you under its spell

A haunting, brooding debut

Beth Underdown cleverly creates a compelling atmosphere of dread and claustrophobia... Even from the distance of nearly four hundred years, her Matthew Hopkins is a genuinely frightening monster

A novel for our times. Beth Underdown's The Witchfinder's Sister explores another time and another place to lay bare the visceral horror of what a witch hunt truly is

Entertaining and thought-provoking, with a valuable message for our own times

'Anyone who liked Cecilia Ekback's Wolf Winter is going to love this. [It's] about tiny braveries and small courage... a real David and Goliath story, but far less straightforward'

Patterson is in a class by himself.

Captivating and compelling, with a refreshingly brilliant premise, Riley Sager is one to watch

The tale builds to a fantastic conclusion that will have readers thinking of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl and Paula Hawkins’s The Girl on the Train . . . This brilliant horror/psychological thriller will fly off the shelves

You know the cold dread that washes over you while you’re watching a slasher flick? That’s how you’ll feel reading this blood-spattered mystery

inventive, well-crafted ... A fresh voice in psychological suspense

FINAL GIRLS is a compulsive read, with characters who are at once unreliable and sympathetic. Just when you think you’ve figured out the plot, the story pivots in a startling new direction. … A taut and original mystery that will keep you up late trying to figure out a final twist that you won’t see coming

Part psychological thriller, part homage to slasher flicks and film noir, FINAL GIRLS has a little bit of everything: a suspicious death, a damaged heroine, an unwelcome guest who trades in secrets, and not a single character you can trust. Plenty of nail-biting fun!

Smart and provocative, with plenty of twists and turns, FINAL GIRLS will have the reader racing breathlessly toward its shocking conclusion

There are uncommon books and films that crack the ‘safe place,’ that have us forgetting it’s only a story. Nobody knows exactly how this is done, but when it’s done, we know it. Final Girls is operating on that plane; you will check your own arm for a wound a character suffers, you will look across the room when a character hears someone coming, and you will wonder if you yourself have the mettle to endure being a Final Girl.

Sager cleverly plays on horror movie themes from Scream to Single White Female, creating an homage without camp. Despite comparisons to Gone Girl, this debut’s strong character development and themes of rebirth and redemption align more closely with Flynn’s Dark Places

This contemporary love story wrapped up in a thriller is a brilliant read. Compelling and intense

A gripping, compelling page turner that kept me up half the night

You won't be able to put it down!

An utterly unique story . . . my heart was in my mouth the whole time

An assured and gripping debut

Tense and compelling

I found myself wanting to pick it up at every opportunity. Brilliant

Top domestic noir

Once I'd started I was powerless to stop. Brilliantly executed, clever and utterly realistic

This is a book to devour

Startlingly good. Gillian McAllister is a new star in psychological thrillers

Intriguing and atmospheric

Breathlessly brilliant

A thrilling book club read

Prepare to be gripping by this tense thriller

Prepare to be gripped by this tense thriller

Genuinely creepy books don't come along very often, but this one can hold its missing head up high

There are shades of Stephen King in this very creepy timeslip, as well as an evocative portrait of small-town life in 1980s Britain

My favourite crime book of 2018 would have to be The Chalk Man. It initially brought to mind twisted tales of suburban Americana such as Stand by Me and Carrie. However, by weaving in authentic and evocative period detail C. J. Tudor manages to create a story that tells of the darkness at the heart of small-town life that is, like the rotten pastoral in a M. R. James ghost story, uniquely English. Unsettling, taut and skillfully plotted, The Chalk Man grabbed me by the throat from the very first sentence and didn't let go until the final, heart-stopping page

[I] haven't had a sleepless night due to a book for a long time. The Chalk Man changed that. Many congrats C. J. Tudor

What a great book. A twisty thriller and downright creepy ending. 5 stars.

Tense, skillful storytelling

Absolutely brilliant. I was expecting a creepy horror story that I'd have to read with all the lights on but this book is so much more than that - it's witty, insightful, clever, thoughtful, mysterious, gripping, nostalgic and utterly compelling. Publishers often talk about "an exciting new voice in fiction" and I genuinely think C. J. Tudor is going to be huge. This book has bestseller written all over it and if it doesn't go to number one I will eat my crime writing hat

What an amazing debut! Such an ingenious, original idea. I was engrossed from the very first page. I loved how the 1986 and present day storylines weaved so skilfully together to create that unforgettable and unexpected ending. Compelling, taut and so very, very chilling. This book will haunt you!

It's been a while since I've read such an impressive debut. The pace was perfectly judged, the characters superbly drawn and there's a creeping sense of unease that starts with the prologue and grows throughout the book. And then that ending! It feels so fresh and deserves to be a huge success

Utterly Hypnotic. The Chalk Man is a dream novel, a book of nightmares: haunted and haunting, shot through with shadow and light - a story to quicken the pulse and freeze the blood. A dark star is born

Impossible to put down, cleverly constructed and executed

Kept me up until five in the morning. Wonderfully written. I loved it!

I absolutely loved The Chalk Man . . . It's a dark, mesmerising thriller with an ending that left me with goosebumps!

One of the best books I've read since I first read Stephen King's IT when I was 14. Go get it!

I've just finished The Chalk Man by C. J. Tudor. WOW! I could not put it down. If you like Stephen King, you'll LOVE this!

At the heart of this accomplished debut lies a shocking crime stumbled upon by a group of teenage friends. It is a discovery that shatters their innocence and haunts the whole community. Now, twenty years later, someone is sending anonymous letters - chalk drawings of a stick figure with a noose around its neck - someone who hasn't forgotten what happened in the woods all those years ago. The past is very much alive in this book where memory is unreliable and old secrets fester, threatening to turn as odorous as a rotting corpse. Tudor's sharp eye for detail and ear for dialogue lend the childhood scenes an immediacy and authenticity that completely convince. With its driving plot and sensitive evocation of friendship and loneliness, The Chalk Man is an utterly gripping read, with an ending that will make the hairs on the back of your neck bristle

Just finished The Chalk Man. Dark and addictive. This page-turner is more twisty than a rollercoaster. And one hell of a ride.

The Chalk Man is a stunning debut, a riveting thriller about the powerful grip of the past and the unbreakable bonds of childhood friendship. The ending of this smasher will completely throw you for a loop

The Chalk Man is an intricate and surprising book that will reward the reader who approaches it with the attention it deserves

Absolutely loved it! Creepy, brilliant and tense, I could not put it down!

Blasted through this beauty in one intense and thrilling sitting

The Chalk Man stole my weekend! Wow. Just wow. The tension just builds and builds. And what a final page . . .

Finished reading The Chalk Man by C.J Tudor last night. What a book! Enjoyed every minute of it. A total banger!

C.J. Tudor brilliantly weaves past and present into a haunting, vividly imagined tale. Much more than a murder mystery, it is a sharp, terrifying exploration of the bonds and limitations of childhood friendships and of secrets that refuse to remain buried. I fell in love with the guiding voice of this novel, the thoughtful and solitary Eddie. Prepare to be surprised again and again, even until the final page

The Chalk Man is an unpredictable and engaging thriller: sinister, tragic, and with a beautifully rendered sense of time and place. That final page still haunts me

The grip the past has on the present reveals itself in ever more sinister and macabre ways in this utterly original and relentlessly compelling psychological thriller. The Chalk Man kept me guessing all the way to the end

The Chalk Man is superb: compelling, beautifully written and utterly chilling