Welcome (though…) to Chapel Croft. 500 years ago, eight inhabitants of this Sussex village were tied to the stake and burned alive because of their religion. 30 years ago, two friends disappeared and, if we say that they would have run away, we suspect that their disappearance is of another nature. Two months ago, the village vicar hanged himself. The Reverend Jack Brook — who, as his name and title do not indicate, is a woman — arrives to replace him. This is not a promotion: this widow, mother of a teenager, was ejected from her diocese of Nottingham, because she has blood on her hands. We will understand which in time and place. That is, when CJ Tudor sees fit.
Before that, the anguish distilled in Incandescent will climb; the ghosts, to rise; tension, increase; and the mysteries multiply, beginning with the presence in the cemetery of these “incandescent”, dolls of twigs which serve to commemorate the local martyrs and which are burned during an annual ceremony. The distant past taints Jack’s present with gothic black. His near past is blood red—and he’s not dead. As proof, someone is stalking her.
Adopting different points of view and varying its narrators, CJ Tudor offers a breathtaking book, whose short chapters invariably end in a situation that leaves the main characters at bay (endearing and fleshed out enough to accept that those around them are more monolithic)… and the readers, glued to the book. A proven mechanism, which works wonderfully here.
The former journalist and television presenter has undeniably taken to the job since the publication, four years ago, of chalk man. In the process of being adapted for television, this tribute to Stephen King-style psychological thrillers was successful, but very / too much stuck to the art of the masters of the genre. After The disappearance of Annie Thorne and The shadow of others, Incandescentwhich skilfully mixes tension and horror, proves how much the British novelist deserves her place in the ranks of these “queens of suspense” who, without upsetting anything, know how to play with the nerves of a readership who begs for more.