Fan CastingThe Taking of Annie Thorne

The novel follows Joseph (“Joe”) Thorne as he returns to Arnhill, the small Nottinghamshire town of his youth and takes up a teaching post in his former school, replacing a teacher who, apparently, shot herself and brutally murdered her own son. The words NOT MY SON are usefully smeared on a bedroom wall in blood so we know the situation is extra sinister. Joe is a compulsive liar with a shady past and even darker childhood. His motives for returning to Arnhill, a place most people would be quick to leave and never return, are unclearread more