The Drift by C J Tudor (repost)

So if you don't want to read a whole review, non spoiler, I have done a 10 words or less video on our TT for it.

Otherwise, enjoy the review, we read this back in January, fab book! Also today, at time of posting, the ebook and treebook (paperback) version is under £5 inc delivery, Amazon UK, absolute baragin.

The Drift by C.J. Tudor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - in and out over 4 days

Pages - 352

Publisher - Michael Joseph

Source - ARC

Blurb from Goodreads

Three ordinary people risk everything for a chance at redemption in this audacious, utterly gripping novel of catastrophe and survival at the end of the world, from the acclaimed author of The Chalk Man

Hannah awakens to carnage, all mangled metal and shattered glass. During a hasty escape from a secluded boarding school, her coach careened over a hillside road during one of the year's heaviest snowstorms, trapping her inside with a handful of survivors, a brewing virus, and no way to call for help. If she and the remaining few want to make it out alive, with their sanity--and secrets--intact, they'll need to work together or they'll be buried alive with the rest of the dead.

A former detective, Meg awakens to a gentle rocking. She is in a cable car suspended far above a snowstorm and surrounded by strangers in the same uniform as her, with no memory of how they got there. They are heading to a mysterious place known to them only as "The Retreat," but when they discover a dead man among their ranks and Meg spies a familiar face, she realizes that there is something far more insidious going on.

Carter is gazing out the window of the abandoned ski chalet that he and his ragtag compatriots call home. Together, they manage a precarious survival, manufacturing vaccines against a deadly virus in exchange for life's essentials. But as their generator begins to waver, the threat of something lurking in the chalet's depths looms larger, 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 threat--one that threatens to consume all of humanity.


My Review

I will firstly say I have read almost all of this authors books and do really enjoy her writing and how she creates characters/atmosphere. So I do look forward to her next books and this one was no exception. The book surrounds three different groups of people and it is tense tense tense.

Carter and crew are in an abandoned ski resort, they call home and work on the vaccine to deal with the deadly virus that has swept the globe. Meg wakes up with strangers in a cable car suspended in the air, they are all knocked out and start waking and trying to recall how they got there. Hannah and her travelling companions are on a coach after escaping from the boarding school when they end up trapped, danger all around and no way to call for help!

Ooft the atmosphere and tension, some of it gave me The Things vibes, you know something bad could be in someone next to you and it is life threatening. Also the isolation all the group have, the guys at the retreat/chalet can come and go but there is still immanent threat about so they are effectively stranded although maybe not as bad as the cable car and bus guys.

There are a lot of characters and three separate scene settings which I don't always love as it can be distracting however Tudor writes it well you keep track no problem and when something kicks off on one group you don't want to leave to the next chapter. Then you are with the other group and its the same thing, I just wanted to know everything already.

Tudor keeps you on your toes and absolutely immersed in the carnage that follows as each group tries to survive. I had no idea where we were heading or what each endgame was going to be, that isn't always easy for authors especially when you have voracious readers. Yet she keeps it fresh every time and in this book we get three separate groups/happenings/stories that keep you hooked and guessing.

I think I only have one more story of hers to read and I so look forward to it, I think Master King gave a favourable quote to one of her works and he wasn't wrong. Exciting, shocking, horrific scenes, a deadly virus and in amongst trying to survive some humans will still be awful and some will show amazing feats of strength, loyalty and character, 4/5 for me this time.

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Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read -

Pages - 352

Publisher -

Source - Bought

Blurb from Goodreads

The New York Times bestselling Queen of Twists returns…with a family reunion that leads to murder.

After years of avoiding each other, Daisy Darker’s entire family is assembling for Nana’s 80th birthday party in Nana’s crumbling gothic house on a tiny tidal island. Finally back together one last time, when the tide comes in, they will be cut off from the rest of the world for eight hours.

The family arrives, each of them harboring secrets. Then at the stroke of midnight, as a storm rages, Nana is found dead. And an hour later, the next family member follows…

Trapped on an island where someone is killing them one by one, the Darkers must reckon with their present mystery as well as their past secrets, before the tide comes in and all is revealed.

With a wicked wink to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, Daisy Darker’s unforgettable twists will leave readers reeling.



My Review

Meet Daisy, part of the dysfunctional family who are getting together for her Nana's 80th birthday. Nana had had a psychic reading done that predicted she would die when she was 80 and being a little unique Nana wants the family together. The house stands alone and when the tide comes in they will be stuck together. When Nana is found dead the family are trapped and no way to get the police. Everyone suspects the other, tensions are high and the killing has only just started!

Oooft talk about troubled family! They are all so different, LOVED nana she is quirky as is her house, her dinner ideas though, you know I am twitchy with foods so some of her concoctions lol just naw. The family members have their own secrets and when nana tells them what she plans to do with her fortune it isn't received well. Tempers/emotions are running high and that is before poor nana is bumped off.

Drawn in quickly, shocking, unlikeable characters (not all of them) but the ones you do like really shows up the bad ones for how shocking they are. Creepy, atmospheric, lies, relationships, family it is quite engaging, I love family dynamics like this and when you think you know where the story is going or working something out, Feeney switches it up and keeps you on your toes. I have read her before and will be looking for the rest of her work, 4/5 from us this time.

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The Sanitorium by Sarah Pearse

The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 3 days

Pages - 384

Publisher - Bantam Press

Source - Bought

Blurb from Goodreads

You won’t want to leave. . . until you can’t.

Half-hidden by forest and overshadowed by threatening peaks, Le Sommet has always been a sinister place. Long plagued by troubling rumors, the former abandoned sanatorium has since been renovated into a five-star minimalist hotel.

An imposing, isolated getaway spot high up in the Swiss Alps is the last place Elin Warner wants to be. But Elin’s taken time off from her job as a detective, so when her estranged brother, Isaac, and his fiancée, Laure, invite her to celebrate their engagement at the hotel, Elin really has no reason not to accept.

Arriving in the midst of a threatening storm, Elin immediately feels on edge–there’s something about the hotel that makes her nervous. And when they wake the following morning to discover Laure is missing, Elin must trust her instincts if they hope to find her. With the storm closing off all access to the hotel, the longer Laure stays missing, the more the remaining guests start to panic.

Elin is under pressure to find Laure, but no one has realized yet that another woman has gone missing. And she’s the only one who could have warned them just how much danger they are all in. . .


My Review

A sanatorium being transformed into a fabulous remote hotel, we open with the early stages of renovation and something dark happens, fast forward five years later to present day. The hotel is up and running and detective Elin Warner is on her way there with her o/h, invited by her brother, celebrating his engagement. Her relationship with her brother Isaac is strained to say the least, she is distrustful, suspicious and when Isaac's fiancé disappears things kick up a notch.

I feel like this would have had a book before this one, Elin has PTSD from an incident, she isn't sure she is going to go back. She is indecisive about moving forward in her relationship, there is a huge issue with her brother. The story does slowly tease out some of the details but I feel we could have done with a bit more on Elin's backstory. Maybe this will be revisited if this becomes a series? I dunno I just felt Elin was a bit hard to settle to. She does come to her own a bit once everything kicks off at the hotel.

The book does manage to keep a feeling of tension throughout, there is enough to keep you interested but I felt myself drifting a bit when reading this. To be fair to the author, I feel a lot of this was about me, we have a lot going on just now and my reading mojo is a bit off.

The story has a fair bit going for it, murder, stalking, unresolved family issues/dramas, relationship issues (more than a few), isolation, police investigation, it has a whole lot going on. I didn't love it but I didn't hate it, maybe a different time I would have received it better, 3/5 for me.

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