This was requested when I first found out about NetGalley and I had requested so many ARCs that I could not get to all of them before they were archived. I really wanted to get to this one, as it seemed interesting.  If I can find this somewhere for a reasonable price, I will try to get it! I am giving this book three stars, as I don't want to give it a good or bad rating, since I did not get to it and we have to leave a star rating.

This was a crazy and quick read.  It keeps you in its grip so you have to keep turning pages until you finish. Highly recommend it.

This book started off strong, and I literally was a rocket to the moon until the very end of the book. It's like horror/dystopian/apocolypic genres all rolled into one book.
There are 3 main characters who have different storylines in different locations that converge into one awesome story. I did need to jot down a few notes about who was who, etc. So, keep a pen & paper handy or your notes app open. 

The Whistlers were mentioned in the book, and I was happy the author didn't dehumanize them. The story was influenced by the pandamic, so this story will not be for everyone. Keep that in mind when looking into reading this book.

My first CJ Tudor! 

This was a very thrilling, dare I say horrifying book. Had quite a bit of gore and scenes that gave me chills. For my first time reading this author I’d say it was very enjoyable! 

We have three different POVs:
Hannah, Meg & Carter. 

All are either at or heading to The Retreat during a pandemic / end of the world. 

Very thrilling!

C.J. Tudor is a great author but The Drift just wasn't my cup of tea. I felt like it was too slow for a thriller. I will consider picking this one up again later, though. With so many positive reviews, I must be missing something. I'll update my review when I try again!

Listen up, people. Have you read C. J. Tudor yet? If not, you are missing out!

I read The Drift when it came out in hardcover, but was very neglectful about typing up my review. 

The book is told in three parts. But they intertwine in such a way that the connections aren't immediately clear beyond setting. 

A school bus overturns on trip to evacuate a group of students to a place called The Retreat. These chosen few should be safe there. If they can only make it. 

Meg was also on her way to The Retreat when she awakens in a stopped cable car. Neither she or her fellow passengers can remember how they got there. But with no power and temps dropping fast, they must find a way to survive!

Carter lives comfortably in a ski chalet. But they live at the mercy of the generator. And when it starts to fail, it means facing the things both inside and outside that put everyone at risk. 

Tudor says this was a bit of a passion project. One delayed by but also made possible by the pandemic. 

After all, even I as both a reader and agent had my doubts about ever being able to read a post-apocalyptic thriller in the days around and beyond 2020. 

But I actually found it a bit cathartic. And by the time The Drift released here in the States, I was more than ready for this particular book!

First, I have a thing for snowed-in reads. And absolutely fits the bill! Which is perfect because it's February and I especially like to read snowed-in books while it's nasty and snowing outside!

The world of The Drift unfolds somewhat slowly through the eyes of these three narrators. And it's in part because of the structure—alternating short chapters between each of these characters means you get snippets of what each of them are experiencing alongside the world around them. And I have to say that the deliberate delay in what is otherwise an exceptionally fast-paced read made for a deliciously agonizing experience!

I desperately wanted to know what was going on in this world. Why the desperation to reach The Retreat. Why the secrecy around the facility!

And the dawning of understanding that begins to set in at a certain point in the reading was truly a wonderful discovery and reveal. 

Again, if you've not been reading Tudor, you absolutely need to. There's a new adaptation of one of her works (The Burning Girls), there's a new release (The Gathering) on the horizon, there's plenty of backlist to tide you over, and there's even a TV adaptation of The Drift in the works! Add her to your must-read list today and ENJOY!

From the author's acknowledgements: "There's a lot going on in the book, but at its heart it's about loss and how we hold on to hope and humanity in the face of terrible events."

The Drift is a post-apocalyptic story following three groups of people trying to survive the outbreak of an extremely contagious infection that is whipping out the population. It's high-intensity and gritty and characters throughout will constantly have you guessing who can be trusted when everyone is focused on their own survival.

Thank you to #netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for this eARC in exchange for an honest review. This title is out now and available for purchase.

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.