The writing genius of C.J. Tudor in bite-size portions..... what's not to love!

I enjoyed A Sliver of Darkness. It's a collection of 10 twisty, creepy, thought-provoking stories. Not so much "bone-chilling" as perhaps "mind-bending." While there were certainly some gruesome parts, I would think even those who may typically shy away from horror would enjoy these stories. I believe there is a strong comparison to be made with the Twilight Zone as many of the stories could easily have been compelling episodes of that classic show. Perhaps the only criticism I have (and criticism is way too strong a word) is that I wanted more. Several stories ended and I would love to have read what happened next. In some ways, that may be the nature of short stories and it certainly fits with that Twilight Zone model where often we were left with our imagination to continue on. Being left hungry isn't a bad thing--it leaves options open to expand some of these short stories into longer-form pieces in the future.

I enjoyed each story but my favorites were:

1) I'm not Ted - Great ending..unexpected
2) End of the Liner - Made me think and ponder
3) Final Course - What's really going on here....

I also loved the introduction by the author before each story. Not only did it help to set up the story itself but if gave additional insight into Tudor and her motivations. It was kinda like a commentary track on a movie--tidbits that you would never get from the piece itself.

Overall--very happy. Another very solid book from C.J. Tudor.

I appreciate the opportunity to review this collection of short stories. Personally, I don't love short story collections because there maybe a few that I enjoy and then others that don't sit right with me. I found that to be the problem here. I did enjoy some of the stories but in the past I have definitely preferred the author's full length novels more overall.
If you like short story collections don't ignore this one. There are some good ones here and some people will love all of them.
#ASliverofDarkness #NetGalley #RandomHouseBallantine

Special thanks to Random House Publishing, Ballantine Books and Netgalley for the ARC for this short story book.

C.J. Tudor has written some really good books. This is a short story collection. I enjoyed some of the stories, others not so much, but I liked that she scrapped a book and wrote this short story book, which has a little narration about each story. One of them I loved, I liked a few, so I gave it a 3.6 to a 4.
I am looking fwd to her next book The Drift.Coming in 2023.

I am a CJ Tudor fan. When I see a title of hers I don't have, I just buy it. I was not aware that this was short stories until I sat down to enjoy the book.....and enjoy it I did. Eleven trips into the skewed world that Ms Tudor loves taking us to gave me plenty of options to spook myself. Of course, as in any collection of stories, I enjoyed some more than others. But that is the fun in reading shorter length stories. The author has fewer pages to grab our attention and then must complete an entire event while still weaving the magic that we all read to enjoy. Let Ms Tudor's imagination take you on a few hops into that Sliver of Darkness.

A Sliver of Darkness by C.J. Tudor

I enjoyed the opening of this book where Mrs. Tudor explains why this short story collection came about. I can imagine the pressure of writing books and having family crisis as well as a National crisis with covid. I am sure she was not alone in struggling to get her work done. It is sad when you realize that the book your working on isn't what you expect it to be and you scrap the book. Sometimes it is better to do it that way then to release a book that your fans will hate and down grade which could cause a loss of readership so realizing ahead that the book was not up to your expectations is good.
With that being said I loved the introduction to each story and the inspirations behind each story. I am going to rate each story and give you a little bit about what I liked about each story.

End of the Line: This is the first story in this collection and it is based on a cruise line during apocalyptic times. Our main character is 75 years old and is at the age that you retire. The ending was a surprise for me. This story was a 4 star for me.

The Block: This one is about an abandon building and you know when you where a kid when you see things like this you have to go see what is inside. When the friends did that and what you expect to be in there will scare the pants off of you. This one creeped me out it was definitely scary and horror. 5 stars for me.

Runaway Blues: The Fatman is someone who scares the bejeaves out of you or is he. There is a twist to this one that i wasn't expecting. What was in the hat box you need to read this one to find out. Oh by the way this one is a salute to Stephen King. 5 stars.

The Completion: This one had a spooky house a cult type vibe to the story but the one man with the one liners annoyed the heck out of me. 3 stars

The Lion at the Gate: this one had a narnia vibe to it. I know Mrs. Tudor wrote a book with this title and from what I am see this is just an added story to that book. Which give more details at the end of the story. 3 Star

Gloria: This one was a little bit more gory then the others but I like the main character who is the cleaner. This was 4 star read for me.

I'm not Ted: this one was kind of funny not horror at all. 4 stars

Final Course: This one is dark and full of surprises with Millie. Everyone deserves what they got. This is a 5 star for me.

Copy Shop: You have a broken vase, a cat and some miracles. This made it a good story. This was a four star for me.

Dust: Reminded me of the time I lived in Arizona when they had the dust storms. This one was dark and I wanted just a little bit more story to it. This is still a 4 star

Butterfly Island: Wow what a great story to end with the island and the mines in the water and the butterflies. All things went crazy real fast in this one. It felt though like the story isn't over yet. 3 star.

Overall this was 4 star read for me. I like the creepy horror vibe in most of the stories. I mostly liked the introduction to each story and where Mrs. Tudor got her inspiration for the story this added so much value to the whole collection. I like hearing about how she came up with stories.

I highly recommend this horror collection to fans of Mrs. Tudor, to horror enthusiasts and to people who like short stories. I cannot wait to read Drift and other future books by Mrs. Tudor.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Ballatine Books for a free copy of this book for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own opinions.

A terrific collection of short stories with the typical C.J. Tudor touch of creepy. Tudor gives an introduction to say these stories were things she worked on between novels and each story has a unique quality. The author also gives an intro to each story telling us how she got the idea for writing the story which was fun to connect her inspiration to the story content. My favorite story was The End of the Liner which seemed like it could have been a Twilight Zone episode with its ironic tone and the lesson of the grass isn't always greener somewhere else. The stories vary from a Stephen King inspired piece about kids daring to go into an abandoned house, to several dystopian tales about our world after war or disease ends our current way of life.

I enjoy creepy short stories as they can have quite an impact if they are written right and most of these are five star worthy. I did find a couple were kind of obvious like The Copy, but still enjoyed seeing how it would end. Looking forward to her next novel, The Drift. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free ARC in exchange for a review.

First off, I'm not a fan of short stories. There were 2 or 3 stories that started off good and then it just ended with no real conclusion. And I was left thinking "That's it??". But most of them felt like they were first drafts of stories written down and then forgotten. It felt amateurish. Definitely not like the books that I have read from this author. Overall, I thought it was a disappointing collection of short stories.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and C.J. Tudor for a copy of "A Sliver of Darkness" in exchange of an honest review.

Welcome to a series of macabre short stories that are the perfect reads for the Halloween and wintry season. Each story is unsettling, with a different kind of twisty, creepy situation for readers to contemplate.

Throughout my reading, I could not help but wonder which short story the author would turn into a novel. I know which were my favorites. Get this book to figure out yours!

The stories are dark and reminiscent of the type of content from Alfred Hitchcock and The Twilight Zone. I found the stories with the dystopian theme to be the most unsettling.

Horror lovers and those who enjoy mystery/thrillers will enjoy these stories.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for allowing me to read an advance copy. I am happy to offer an honest review.

Do you ever wonder where authors get their ideas? One thing I loved most about A Sliver of Darkness was the author’s introduction to each story giving us a bit about her inspiration.

As with most collections, there were some stories that weren’t for me, some that I really enjoyed and some that were just fine but won’t stick with me. I listened to the audiobook which was excellently done and kept thinking it would be fun to listen to on a long drive…if you don’t mind scaring yourself a little as you go. Some stories are creepy, some a little gory for me, but my favorites were the ones that will stick with me and keep me thinking about the concepts long after finishing.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance reading copy. I also got the audiobook from the library.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the early copy.

A Sliver of Darkness is C.J. Tudor's newest book comprised of short stories of varying degrees of spooky and supernatural. This was an excellent read for October and wanting to get into a spooky vibe. There are various stories which was great but also disappointing for certain stories that I wanted to keep reading. However not all of the stories were as interesting for me to read as others. Some felt predictable or trite. Most of the stories were unique and riveting.

The few meh stories were easily outweighed by the excellent ones. Another great release from C.J. Tudor!

I don't normally enjoy or even read short story collections but I love this authors writing and couldn't pass this up. I was surprisingly pleased and happy I did give the book a chance! Each short tale is started with a brief introduction as to where the author came up with the idea for it and it gave me more of a personal feel because of that.

There were a nice variety with a bit of something for everybody it seems and I only really came across maybe two that I only felt meh about. Some of my favorites were Gloria, End of the Liner, and Dust.

Wish I had realized these were short stories. I’ve never found a collection of short stories as satisfying as a novel, so personally, these were very hard to me to get into. A few could definitely be developed into whole books so I’m hopeful for that!

These short stories all have a brief introduction by the author, explaining the background of the story or the creative process behind it. Each story is so different yet contains the same elements of humor, creepiness and fear.

I am truly impressed how this author can write equally well from a male or female point of view. And her writing style grabs the attention of the reader and sucks them into her worlds each and every time. I found myself wanting these short stories to continue!

I enjoyed other books by C.J. Tudor. After reading this one, she has definitely become one of my favorite authors. 5 ⭐️

This is a really fun collection of scary, eerie stories. I really enjoyed reading the introductions before each story….learning a bit about how each story came about. I felt like pretty much all the stories were very immersive, which can be tough with such short stories.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for providing me access to this eARC for my honest opinion!

A good mix of stories, some amazing and some left with really no ending. Also very confused on why she chose to do an introduction for every short story, I don’t think I’ve read a short story collection with introductions for each one.

The first one was the best one for sure and a lot of others had a lot of promise, but needed a little more tie up

Sliver of Darkness, a short story collection by C.J. Tudor, is a grouping of eerie, haunting stories that are quick and easy to read, but will definitely leave the reader with a chill and a sense of unease. Each story begins with an interesting, explanatory introduction from the author herself chronicling a personal, related anecdote and origin of the story.

There are eleven stories in all and they vary in theme and tone. Some are dystopian, others lean more towards the horror genre, some feature elements of dark humor, and some are pure mystery. They showcase mental illness, revenge, trapped-locked room stories and love gone wrong.

These short stories are twisty and varied, and fitting for those who love bite-sized psychological thrillers. This collection is perfect for the Autumn season and it’s creepy vibes, but also for those who have a busy schedule and need quick, short, but atmospheric reads.

These tales were the perfect length with just the right amount of horror. I've always thought that the worst fears were those rogue thoughts we get that disturb us long into the night and I feel like that's what most of these stories do. They leave you unsettled with a lingering question or unease that keep you thinking of them long after you've stopped reading. The intro to each story was my favorite part because I'm the kind of nerd that likes to know where authors get their ideas. You can definitely tell that this was written during the pandemic, and to me it adds a certain credibility to the thought that something similar to these stories could happen.

CJ Tudor’s first short stories collection splices The Twilight Zone with Stephen King. The subjects range from horror to dystopian futures to psychological terror, and they are so good! Of the eleven stories, my favorites are “End of the Liner” (where a cruise ship may or may not be a hideaway from the end of the world) and “Final Course” (where darkness has descended on the world and has not come alone.) “Gloria” features characters from two of Tudor’s novels. They are well-structured and have jaw-dropping endings.

For each story, Tudor provides an introduction that explains her inspiration for the story. I always find these insights interesting, and I think for aspiring or hopeful writers they are a guidepost into how even a random comment can be a source of inspiration.

A fabulous anthology for fans of thrills and chills.

Remember reading that creepy shorty The Most Dangerous Game in composition class? Or Leinigan and the Ants? Those engraved in my mind as a high-schooler, and I’ve always been trying to find something that gave me similar chills. A Sliver of Darkness succeeded, in the best way.

This is my first foray into Tudor’s works, and it won’t be my last. I love the range of stories found here—from post-apocalyptic to monsters to an odd case of mistaken identity to carnivorous butterflies. They reminded me of Stephen King and Neil Gaiman’s short stories, with their creative scenarios and clever twists. I would’ve gladly read a full-length novel based on nearly any of these.

My favorites were End of the Liner, Gloria, I’m Not Ted, and Butterfly Island.

So grateful to Netgalley and the publisher for this fabulous arc!

-A

A Sliver of Darkness by C.J. Tudor

What a collection of stories! Usually, with this format, I’ll browse through and read from what interests me the most to least. In the case of A Sliver of Darkness, I read the short stories in order – that never happens. Each one is fascinating, disturbing, and left me feeling just a bit unsettled – but in that good way you can only get with a really chilling tale.

One of my favorite things was the introduction before each story; I loved hearing how the author got an idea for a story and then how she processed it. Truly fascinating.

I’m not going to rehash each story but I will be recommending this one (already have) to all my friends/followers. This is 5 stars all the way through!

My thanks to Ballantine Books for this gifted DRC.