Okay I normally post my own summary – but this one was so full of twists and turns there is no way I could do that without spoilers. So, I am going to use the publisher’s blurb.

Blurb: Hannah awakens to carnage, all mangled metal and shattered glass. 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.

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 calls 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.

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.

Review: If you are looking for a dark, twisted thriller look no further than The Drift, it comes out Jan 31 and you need to pre-order this ASAP! It is that good. I loved the authors previous work, have you seen they did a tv show based off The Chestnut Man? He’s good, this book is amazing. It’s a pretty dark book, but again, that’s what this author does – and he does it fantastically.

This one is a 5-star read for me. Its going to be with me quite some time. I am ecstatic that @netgalley and the publisher, @randomhouse Random House – Ballantine for my advanced reader copy. All my opinions are my own.

Please note review will be posted to social media two weeks prior to release date per the publishers request :) Once done I will add the link

As a rabid fan of post apocalyptic fiction, I was beyond excited to read this new release by CJ Tudor. I dove in feet first, but it didn’t take long to feel as if I was drowning in details that were too obscure to connect. From the first page, I was thrown off balance and truly puzzled about where Tudor was headed. I could find no frame of reference to allow me to place the characters into a scenario that made sense and instead spent an inordinate amount of time trying to manufacture connections that would allow me to find an actual story I could follow. There just wasn’t enough background to anchor the events. Whilst the writing itself is on point, the structure and lack of depth just made for a chaotic read. Add to that a series of similar characters who remained flat and lifeless, and the result is a selection I would recommend leaving on the shelf.

The book unfolds in cycling chapters that focus on three different locations where characters are caught in the aftermath of a viral epidemic. One group finds themselves trapped on a bus that crashed during a snowstorm, while the second group of six is stuck high in the frigid air on a stalled cable car.. All, in both locations, were volunteers en route to “The Retreat”, an isolated former ski lodge now functioning as a facility focused on finding a vaccine. It is at that research institution that the reader finds the third and final group, a diverse mix of men and women engaged in various nefarious activities. One fact is made crystal clear—in each location, and to a person, everyone is harboring secrets.

From the beginning, the chapters exist in isolation. No group has knowledge of any of the others, and so the reader is left with the impression that they are reading three separate stories, related only by the virus that has decimated the world around them. The expectation, of course, is that the reader is being set up for a grand intersection. I have seen this technique utilized successfully when links between those parallel plots are revealed before they again divert and gain traction as completely separate storylines. They eventually spiral down into a single event that melds them seamlessly together when the plots collide, leaving the reader wondering how they missed the connections. Here, however, Tudor waits far too long to offer the reader any common threads. Instead, the stories stand apart with no clear relationship to one another, each weaving distinct paths that at times become tedious in their ambiguity. There’s a fine line between expecting the reader to infer and dissect clues and making the clues so obscure that it is nearly impossible to follow them to any logical conclusion, Tudor never closes the gap between the storylines in any satisfying way, and when the big picture is finally made clear (too little, too late), the result was, for me, a big “so what”.

Character development, or lack thereof, is another disappointment. In each group, the characters aren’t just eerily similar, they are near carbon copies, down to their vocabulary and the cadence of their speech. Some of these similarities are eventually explained, but others are just the result of inadequate character development. It’s as if Tudor storyboarded four or five stock character sketches, then recycled them as he moved forward.

Overall, the promise of a post-apocalyptic tale was replaced with a story borne of revenge and violence, structured in a way that left me disconnected and unable to invest.

I am grateful to NetGalley and Random House Publishing (Ballantine Books) for allowing me to receive an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Publication is set for January 31, 2023, at which time I look forward to reading other reactions and reviews.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The Drift.

Three different people faced with life threatening scenarios soon realize they all have something in common. their lives are in danger and the end of the world is near.

I'm all for post apocalyptic novels featuring survivors in dangerous locales and faced with frightening choices to make.

The Drift started out well; there was tension and drama in all three POVs; Hannah, Meg and Carter.

The reader is given tidbits of information about the current world; a virus sweeping the country; a pandemic ravaged world where the elite buy their way out of death and tragedy. a cold, callous doctor tasked with developing a vaccine, the less fortunate forced to become guinea pigs for money and a few material comforts.

The world building is decent, but trope-y; a government agency hell-bent on doing anything to maintain the current world order, including killing innocent people, a doctor with no morals and ethics, and a motley crew of survivors who are unsure of their current standing, and the Whistlers. They're kind of like zombies, except they're still alive.

It appears there is no government infrastructure, the only priority on seeking a cure or vaccine to beat this disease

Everyone has their own agenda. Everyone is confused and suspicious of one another. I respect that. It's a confusing and dangerous time.

At first, I couldn't understand how each person's story connected. Then, as more details emerged, I understood where the narrative was going, though I couldn't see the endgame.

Also, I felt a bit cheated that the main character was one individual, not three. It felt like a trick on the part of the author to deceive the reader into caring about all three.

The issue is, I didn't like Hannah, Meg, or Carter, but I didn't dislike them. As previous reviewers have noted, multiple characters barely developed made it difficult to connect with anyone.

There was a lot of action, drama, but it soon became repetitive: confusion among the group, the main character realizes something, accusations are made, people are hurt or killed.

That's the biggest problem with multiple POVs in similar scenarios; each setup begins to sound the same, the characters act similarly faced with life and death scenarios, the supporting characters are suspicious and turn on one another.

The lack of character development and exposition to how each character came to be in this situation also hurts the narrative.

I had a slightly uneasy vibe the author might have a not so subtle political agenda he or she is pushing with their novel.

Or, maybe that's just me.

There were parts of the narrative that seemed focused on the heinous actions the government agency was employing to keep their vaccine funded program running and the way they were treating the marginalized and the poor.

And, after all the turmoil the characters (and the readers) go through, we get to that ending.

My first and only thought was: "What's the point of all that?"

I don't mind vague endings. Even sad endings. Or pessimistically hopeful ones, but this ending seemed to mock all the efforts and actions of the main and supporting characters.

I know there will be more pandemic themed novels in the future and I'm fine with that; authors write what affects them and the world we live in.

I just wished I knew what the point was in The Drift.

The story begins with three groups of people in a freezing climate where a winter storm starting. One group is in a coach that has turned over with several casualties. Another group is in a teetering cable car also with casualties. The third group is already at the destination of all of these people, the retreat.

All three of these groups have characters you are rooting for, villains you are rooting against and the just-plain-annoying-in-a-crisis characters you can’t help but roll your eyes over. As their stories unfold, everyone has secrets as the world has been dealing with a health crisis somewhere between Covid and The Walking Dead. Probably much closer to the latter.

CJ Tudor is a favorite of mine and I am happy to say this may be her best work yet, and that’s saying something. The story and the character development were outstanding and the ending was superb. Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for an early copy of The Drift. This is my unbiased review.

Expected Pub Date: January 31, 2023
Pages: 354
#NetGalley #ballantinebooks #cjtudor #thedrift

A fatal disease is jumping from one creature to another until finally infecting a man, his family, and the world. Hannah is on a bus leaving her boarding school, heading to the Retreat and fleeing the virus that is killing so many people. When the bus crashes, everything she believed in falls apart. Meg is in a cable car that has jerked to a stop; they are trapped, a thousand feet from the ground. They were on their way to the Retreat. Carter is at the retreat, with a small group of survivors.

The chapters jump from Hannah’s perspective to Meg’s perspective, to Carter’s perspective, all heading to a surprising end. I never saw it coming. Each person’s story shows the strengths and weaknesses of humans, while looking at how the world would handle a deadly, highly contagious disease.

Thank you to Penguin Random House and NetGalley for an ebook ARC of the Drift; this is my honest review.

I wasn't sure if I was going to like this as it is not really my normal genre. With that being said, I was hooked from the beginning. I wanted to get home and continue reading to see what was really going on. I had an idea about one of the twists and I read reviews that said it all came together nicely so I was curious how it was all going to fit. But then for me it just....didn't. About 80% through I started to get disappointed about where things were going and by the end, I had just sort of checked out. I did find the end satisfying at all and felt more confused then anything else. I am going to give this author another try since I did enjoy the majority of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Weaving together three seemingly different narratives, each culminating with a life or death situation for the characters makes "the Drift" an interesting read. In the time of a viral pandemic, the government and their lead scientist have decided to set up "Retreats", set up like a soothing mountain spa to attract those whose plasma carries the antibodies needed to keep the healthy/wealthy members of society alive. The "volunteers" for the program do not know that they are going to be held prisoners and periodically milked for their plasma. The story follows three groups of people that are being "evacuated" to one of these retreats and the disasters that befall them on the way. Characters who are not who they appear to be and who have a host of hidden agendas make keeping track of possible suspects in the sabotage that occurs a challenge for readers. Culminating with an ending that reader's won't suspect, "The Drift" is for those who like to track the clues and puzzle out the "whodunit" before the author's reveal at the end.

The whole book was edge of your seat action and was completely breathtaking. I found myself shivering at the descriptions of the snow and the cold.

When starting the book I felt like I was missing something like I was starting book two without reading book one and I almost gave up because nothing was getting explained. But everything was explained eventually.

I think it went a little too far into the government and lab controlling things, without that it would have held up just as well.

I’m a huge fan of thrillers but come on? The multiple perspectives? 3 stories in one? How was I supposed to even care about the book?

This dragged. There are better thrillers out there.

Review of uncorrected eBook file

Hannah and a small group of students are on their way from the Academy to the Retreat when their coach crashes and becomes half-buried in a snowbank. Half a dozen are dead, others seriously injured. Now trapped in the coach as the snowstorm swirls around them, they have no way to call for help.

Meg and several other passengers find themselves stranded in a cable car when a power outage stops the cable car mid-transit. But none of them remembered actually boarding the cable car. And now, stranded high above the ground, a snowstorm swirls around them.

Carter is one of a small group of caretakers at the Retreat tasked with maintaining the mountaintop Retreat and its grounds, keeping the place running, even as the snowstorm swirls around them.

With everyone isolated, facing unique hazards, unable to summon help, will they survive?

=========

Tense and apprehensive, dark and disturbing, this is the chilling story of disparate characters dealing with the fallout from a global pandemic. Told from the viewpoints of three different characters, this gritty post-apocalyptic thriller spreads over multiple timelines. The story unfolds via groups of characters . . . those in the coach, those in the cable car, those in the Retreat center . . . with several characters in each group. There’s a parallel between the three groups; paranoia, secrets, distrust, and death all play a part in the unfolding of each group’s story. As the story progresses, readers will discover that there’s an unexpected link between the groups as the plot twists and turns in completely unexpected directions.

With the exception of embarrassing comments regarding zaftig characters, there is little description for most of the characters. Added to an almost-nonexistent backstory for the majority of the characters, it’s difficult for readers to connect with them or to relate to their actions. To pull the readers into the telling of the tale, they need to be able to empathize with more than the characters’ desire to survive the plague.

Some other, but important, thoughts . . . .
. . . . Considering the [at times] still-raw aftermath of the still-lingering pandemic, it may be a bit too soon to give readers a worldwide, rapidly-spreading, lethal virus, even if it is fictional.

. . . . Dumping the anti-Christian, anti-conservative views of the author into the telling of the tale adds nothing to the story and serves only to distance readers

. . . . The unnecessary and extensive overuse of a particularly offensive expletive mars the telling of this tale and lowers the rating for the book.

I received a free copy of this eBook from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Ballantine Books and NetGalley
#TheDrift #NetGalley

The Drift by C. J. Tudor. Is a crafty, dystopian thriller that slowly fits the puzzle pieces together. While some parts are a little convenient and have you rolling your eyes, on the whole, it’s a really fun read. Definitely recommend.
#TheDrift #NetGalley

This book was excellent. Very well done. The way the ending pulled everything together was masterful. The characters were fascinating and intriguing. No one was safe - you didn’t have “main characters” getting out of everything and surviving unrealistically. It was just brilliantly done.

This is such a very clever book. It's quick moving, fairly dark, and just a wee bit gruesome, and I enjoyed reading it quite a lot.

The book is structured around three storylines for three different characters who are each trapped in a high stakes, life-and-death situation in some remote, frozen landscape. The story alternates between each character, and we the reader assume these three people will all connect eventually. How that unfolds is where the book truly shines.

This story moves fast. Each of the storylines require little set-up--the characters are in danger from the opening pages. Instead, the story concerns itself with how each of these characters will get themselves out of their situations, and who is on their side and (who is not) while they tackle that task, (in two of the three stories, the characters are surrounded by strangers, so this is difficult to figure out.) One of the storylines had a bit of an Agatha Christie vibe, IMO.

My only quibble with this book? While do you get to know these three main characters in great depth, many of the rest of the characters in the book fall a little flat. Literally the set up for each of these stories is a person in a room with a bunch of people who are described with only a few words (e.g. "older man," "overweight boy," etc.) Many of these people are quickly killed off. This seemed akin to Star Trek's red shirt problem...these other people were added to the environment only to create a sense of doom and urgency, they didn't serve much more of a narrative purpose.

But that's just my opinion. Overall, this book is like an elaborate puzzle that is very, very fun to put together. The thrills are visceral. (I could have used WAY more whistlers, but that's just me.) Would be a fun read on a cold, snowy night.

Thanks to the author and NetGalley for granting me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Another book that is difficult to provide a review for.

I didn't care for the book at all.. yet... I kept reading.. I had to know what was going on, and what would happen next.

There were multiple storylines about survival. They of course end up converging, but it takes you a while to see how the author will get there.

What did I not like?
I didn't care about any of the characters. They didn't have enough depth or something.. I kind of hoped for them to die...lol
Then each story had a "friend" betray them - I mean really?
I couldn't follow the logic of the characters thinking sometimes - I was like "how did they make that jump?"

But again.. I just kept reading it. I couldnt stop myself from reading more.. I kept thinking it HAD to get better.. But it really didn't.

I want to thank the author, the publisher and #netgalley for the ARC which obviously did not impact my review. This is one of my rare 2 star reviews. (usually when it is that bad, I don't finish it which means I dont review it)

I strongly disliked this NetGalley ARC. The characters are drawn so thinly. The trope of "character turns around to find another character they thought was their friend pointing a gun at them" is used literally a dozen times. Characters jump to insane conclusions in the service of pushing the plot forward.

I normally would DNF a book I dislike this much, but there <i>was</i> something compelling about the plot. There were just enough little cliffhangers and interesting tidbits about the wider world to make me want to continue on. Unfortunately the wider world never amounted to anything worth continuing on for.

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, from Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine and #NetGalley. Thank you for the opportunity to preview and review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Intense, action, you’ll be on the edge of your seat.

OMG , she did it again, this book was everything I was hoping it would be and just as good as her other books, it's right up there with her books The Burning Girls ,and the hidden place. And yes I've read all most all of her books except for her other new one A silver In darkness which I also have to read but as soon as I was invited to read this one I couldn't wait to read it ,it had my all time favorite trope which is strangers meet for the first time and are stack with no way to get help in a remote location, secrets come out and Murder happens. And just like her other books I've read and loved it had me on edge the entire time, It was dark, creepy , and a bit gore , but over all the perfect book to read under the blankets on a cold wet day.

This is the first book I've read by CJ Tudor and wow, what a story it is. This is an edge of your seat, intense, action packed story. It grabs you from the first line and is impossible to put down.
The story takes place in multiple locations with multiple people who are trying surviving after a pandemic. Each of these people are hiding a secret. As the story unfolds, secrets get revealed and the truth unravels.
The characters are unreliable storytellers as no one is to be trusted. You question who these people truly are and what their ultimate goal is. You wonder how they all relate to each other and if their storylines will interconnect.
I loved this book. It has elements of mystery, action, and science fiction. It has me left waiting another book just on The Whistlers. I think anyone who likes action and suspense will like this book.
Thank you to Netgalley, Ballantine Books, and Penguin Random House for the advanced copy of the book. The opinions are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley, C.J. Tudor and the publisher for this e-ARC.

Oh I just love survival books and this one does not disappoint.

Three groups of people are stranded in 3 separate places, all trying to survive being stuck with no escape, not knowing who to trust, while also trying to avoid being infected by a contagious virus, AND also avoid being found by the government who is trying to kill any and all infected people or those potentially infected. A total shitstorm!

This one kept me on edge the entire time and I did not want it to end. Most of the characters were unlikable, but while reading and seeing what they're going through, you can understand why they do what they do. Everything is about survival. "You're either a good guy, or you're a survivor".

I would've given it 5 stars but keeping up with 3 sets of characters, and 3 locations, was very confusing at times. However, all of that was tied up and made sense in the end. It was also incredibly gory and I don't really enjoy that.

Otherwise, excellent book and I'm so excited to have gotten an ARC.

This was such an intriguing story. The plot twist was awesome. I love how the story unfolded. I don't think I've ever read a story quite like it. It was unnerving and more than a little twisted. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The only negative for me was not learning more about Eva. Maybe there will be a book #2?

I received a free advanced copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.