I do love a good locked room mystery. Throw in some horror and dystopian elements and I am always going to pick up that book. Too bad this was such a convoluted mess! There is a snowstorm with three different sets of people who are stranded. The reader really doesn't know what is going on for most of the book. I didn't think the plot got interesting until the last 1/4 of the book. It literally took me months to finish as I kept losing interest. I thought there were just too many characters and too many plot lines to keep track of.

The Drift by C.J. Tudor presents a chilling survival thriller that may have bitten off more than it could chew.

The story follows three separate groups trying to survive in the midst of a zombie outbreak and historic snowstorm:

- Hannah, a medical student, who is trapped inside a coach bus.
- Meg, a former police officer, wakes up dangling in a cable car.
- Carter, a worker at a ski resort called “The Retreat,” where power generators are going out.

Now, I do feel like the book does a fantastic job of exploring moral dilemmas and people in desperate situations, and the claustrophobic atmosphere and tension is palpable. Those parts were great!

However, for me, the sheer size of the cast was enough for three different novels, and I feel like it would have made for a tighter, more compelling novel if it hadn’t been bogged down with so many unnecessary and underdeveloped characters.

Thank you, NetGalley and ‎Ballantine Books, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"Hannah awakens to carnage, all mangled metal and shattered glass. After she was evacuated from a secluded boarding school during a snowstorm, her coach careered off the road, trapping her with a handful of survivors. They’ll need to work together to escape—with their sanity and secrets intact. Meg awakens to a gentle rocking. She’s in a cable car stranded high above snowy mountains, with five strangers and no memory of how they got on board. They are heading to a place known only as “The Retreat,” but as the temperature drops and tensions mount, Meg realizes they may not all make it there alive. Carter is gazing out the window of an isolated ski chalet that he and his companions call home. As their generator begins to waver in the storm, something hiding in the chalet’s depths threatens to escape, and their fragile bonds will be tested when the power finally fails—for good.
The imminent dangers faced by Hannah, Meg, and Carter are each one part of the puzzle. Lurking in their shadows is an even greater danger—one with the power to consume all of humanity."

Who is going to make it through , who's not going to make it through. Who doing the danger , what danger lies ahead; going to have to read the book to find out. Such a great book, very thrilling and suspenseful. I love cj tudor this would be my 3rd favorite of hers, I give this book 4 stars.
Thanks to netgalley, ballatine books, and the author for an honest review.
Published January 21st, 2023

I love a good survival/post-apocalyptic novel. I thought this story was very creative and loved the flipping between characters telling the story. The chapters had nice cliffhangers that kept you wanting to just read one more (we all know how that turns out). Unfortunately, the ending fell a little flat for me, but overall I enjoyed the read.

I wished that I could say that I loved this more than I did, but I didn’t. Unfortunately, it just completely fell flat for me.

I was very disappointed with this one. It was slow, and it just drug on and on. I would have a hard time recommending this one.

What a heavy, violent novel. I loved the chalk man but something about this novel didn't sit right with me. I did enjoy the ending though, was just a bit too heavy for my taste.

The Drift is a post-apocalyptic story where a virus has hit the population and those who survive turn into animalistic versions of man. The story is broken into three parts. The first is a group of college kids on their way to a retreat after a breakout at their school. The next is a group of volunteers stuck in a gondola high above a canyon on the way to the retreat. Finally is the staff of the retreat.

This is a book that feels like it is going to be stale until about halfway through when you start to understand what is actually going on. Now that being said the book falls a little flat and at some point predictive. It is not a bad book but not one I would go out of my way to recommend to someone unless this is their style of novel.

I liked this book, but I was expecting more of a horror story. That said, the pandemic was interesting. And I liked how the storylines were connected, but I did feel like something was missing. Overall a solid read though.

Unfortunately this wasn’t for me. I have liked this authors work in past (chalk man) and also very much disliked some of her other stuff (the other people). I will be reading burning girls this spooky season though

I had really high hopes for this book and read a lot of great reviews before finally starting it, but I don’t think it was for me. I’m surprised because I love horror, dystopian, and CJ Tudor. I’ve enjoyed a few of her books already… but this was a bit lackluster for me. There was too many minor characters and not enough details on the school, the retreat, the virus, and the professor. The way things came together at the end was unique, but I wasn’t overly shocked. I will say I enjoyed the winter atmosphere and that this book was more horror than previous Tudor books I’ve read.

I would probably give this 2.5/3 stars. I will round up to a 3 because I did enjoy the cast in the audiobook. I am in the minority on my review, so I would still recommend you give this book a try. Highly recommend the audio!

Big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

C.J Tudor's apocalypse thriller hits the ground running and doesn't stop as 3 survivors of a deadly plague struggle to survive the situations they're placed in.

Escaping from a boarding school, Hannah wakes up in a crashed coach with dead and injured students inside and a snowstorm outside. With a deadly virus occurring and no way to call for help, she'll have to work together if she wants to survive. But she soon discovers there is more to the crash than it appears.
Waking up inside of a cable car, Ex-Cop Meg finds herself with five other strangers with no memory of how they got there. They are heading to a place known only as The Retreat. With the cable car not moving, they are trapped inside. And matters become more complicated when Meg finds that one of them is dead, and she knows who he is.

Carter is at the place known as The Retreat. He and his group are creating vaccines for the deadly plague in exchange for supplies for the place they call home. But the generator is failing, and a snowstorm is outside. When the generator fails for good, he and his group will be put to the test.
But at the end of the world, everybody has secrets. And some of the secrets the three characters have will be exposed before the end.

This was a gripping read. The tension slowly builds in each storyline as new dangers in each situation become known. Forcing our characters to find a way to survive them while finding a way to survive their current, inescapable situations. The twists and reveals come at a steady pace, with hints of the main one being placed well enough for you to figure it out as long as you paying attention. It's also interesting to see how each of the storylines ends up connecting with each other despite being seemingly separate from each other.

It isn't perfect though. It is a bit slow in the middle. Not enough to kill the intense pacing, but compared to the beginning and end of the book, its slower pace in the middle is a bit noticeable. In addition, I admit Meg's storyline is the weakest. Not that it was terrible, but it was still engaging. It's just that it was the most static of the storylines. The situation mainly remained the same until it was nearing its end. There were a couple of threads that were left hanging by the end that I would've at least liked to get answers for.

But overall, this was a dark, thrilling, and engaging read that I highly recommend if you're a fan of the horror/thriller genre. Though after such a bleak read, I will have to read something lighter to wash it down.

While the setting was evocative, ultimately I struggled to remain engaged. The characters didn't engage me and it was ultimately difficult to care what happened to them.

The first half of this sped along and had me immediately engaged. I felt that it started to lag a bit around the 50-75% mark, but then things picked up again as my jaw repeatedly dropped throughout the last few chapters. This is listed as an apocalyptic mystery/thriller, but I’d class it as a thriller/horror. It was creepy as hell, and I really enjoyed it!

The Drift by CJ Tudor is an apocalyptic thriller. There are three main characters, and we learn all about them and how they fit into this story. This book had a different feel from CJ Tudor’s previous books. It took me a little bit to get into the book, sorting out the characters and their back stories. Once I had that straightened out, I really enjoyed this book. While it is not my favorite of the author’s, it was still a good read. That is just my opinion, because I normally do not like apocalyptic storylines. I think anyone who likes thrillers will be interested in reading this book. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

This story is such an interesting mash up of a thriller + a post-apocalyptic tale. The first half as the 3 character's stories unfold is fast paced, full of mystery, and un-put-downable. As the threads weave together and reveals happen, linking characters and timelines together, it gets a bit murkier--but it's not all bad! The links made the story even more unique and weird and compelling. Some of the villains were a bit flat but it didn't take away from the overall plot in the least. Overall, a super compelling read that had me glued to the page to find out what was going on and who was responsible for what. Would highly recommend to anyone who likes thrillers! (The sci-fi elements are played down and super easy to understand to the point that even non-dystopian/non-sci-fi folks will still enjoy the thriller + mystery aspects of this book.)

I am sorry for the inconvenience but I don’t have the time to read this anymore and have lost interest in the concept. I believe that it would benefit your book more if I did not skim your book and write a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience.

Okay, so here's the thing. I want people to take this review with a grain of salt, because it turns out this might just not be my genre. While I do love thrillers, I've read very few, if any, apocalyptic thrillers. It's definitely dark, creepy, and has a lot of tension in it. If you're someone that likes action, some darkness, and mysteries focused on survival, then I would say this is a book for you. Tudor writes with a certain kind of despair and tension that I don't see very often, so kudos to them on that!

There's a lot going on in this book - both thematically and character-wise. Thematically, it covers a few genres - dystopian/apocalyptic, mystery/thriller, suspense, even a touch of horror. And it takes a while to figure out what's going on in this world and how we got there. Character-wise, there are three story arcs, each centering on one of three major characters, but those characters all have characters in "their" little worlds, and gradually we see connections and why they're important to the story Tudor is telling. Like I said - a lot going on, a lot to keep track of. Not that that's a bad thing - but going in the reader should be prepared to pay attention. I enjoyed this book - it was my first by C. J. Tudor, and I'm certainly intrigued enough by her writing and her storytelling to want to read more from her.
Thanks to Netgalley and Random House/Ballantine for providing a copy for an unbiased review.

I thought this would be a thrilling tale but there was too much death and gory scenes for me. I also could not become invested in the characters as several of them were unlikable and others were not sufficiently “fleshed out” for me. Others may love this but it wasn’t for me.