This book really just took me for a ride. I loved the build up, the character development, and the writing. I would definitely read more from this author!

C.J. Tudor knows how to write a horror story and The Drift is no exception. This book was not at all what I was expecting; it leaned a little more dystopian but I still really enjoyed reading this book. Perfect book to snuggle up with on a cold winter night!

🦠🦠🦠🦠.5 / 5

Thank you to @netgalley and @randomhousegroup for proving me access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Holy 👏🏼 shit 👏🏼 There’s literally 100 emojis to choose from to rate this book because so much craziness went down—and I was here for it. This had all the things: locked-room mystery (x3), thrilling action, apocalypse, dystopia, horror, witty humor, and so much more! I had no idea how the three points of view were all connected or where the story was headed, but I was utterly shocked at the end and impressed by Tudor’s ability to tie everything up in a nice little bow. I don’t always include in my review that interested readers should check the trigger warnings before delving in, but I feel obligated to mention it here because this story was gruesome and I’m sure isn’t for everyone. However, if you’re looking for a book that will mess you up, look no further!

This book kept me totally captivated from start to finish.

It's a kind of dystopian thriller, with shades of mystery and locked room scenarios. There are three threads: Hannah is on a bus headed to The Retreat, when the bus careens off the road during a massive snowstorm. Carter is at The Retreat and their power is failing, they are down to a bare minimum of staff and trying to figure things out. Meg is a former police officer, trapped in a cable car in a snowstorm, with no rescue in sight.

How all of these separate storylines come together is brilliant and engrossing. I loved when the pieces started to click for me, my mind was spinning in the best way. This book is atmospheric, filled with action, and also shades of horror. There are a few things that weren't completely explained in the end, but overall this is a not-to-be-missed thriller that will keep you up at night. Highly recommended.

4.5 stars. This novel sucked me in from the very first sentences.

A virus has taken over the world. It's incredibly infectious - many are dead, but some survive in a state no one would want to be in. Amidst this apocalyptic backdrop, several people try to survive the impossible. And realize something strange is going on. The three storylines come together in the end in a satisfying way, although this book is bleak - filled with death, gore, attempts at revenge, and not much hope for redemption. That being said, it's such a fantastic read!

"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."

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House-Ballantine for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

“If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, it’s also a one-way street. No going back.” -C.J. Tudor
THE DRIFT by @cjtudorauthor
This book will chill you to the bone both physically and mentally. The Drift is a tale of cold weather survival in the midst of humanity’s fall. Three icy locations, three groups of strangers fighting for their lives, and three locked room murder mysteries. A bus has gone off the road and down a hill in a snowstorm, a cable car is stopped a thousand feet in the air as temps drop below zero, and a research facility where volunteers go knowing their is little hope of making it out alive.
I was so captivated by this cast of characters with their secrets knowing that no one can be trusted and with the settings that make you curl up with a blanket. Several times I had my stomach in my throat as people stood next to open air drops with wind blowing all around. (I’m not typically afraid of heights, but this was dizzying) I could also feel the joy whenever the dog Dexter showed up to be near his humans. But I think this is the only time I have felt the odd sensation of smiling as one of the characters I like dies.
- “There were times, Carter thought, when being a survivor really sucked.”

This book was weird, in the best way. However, it was also a bit confusing because we were just suddenly thrown into a world with a virus we didn't know anything about. I loved that we got three perspectives, but I felt like there was information I was missing. I wanted to know about the academy that the coach came from, I wanted to know what the team was doing at the retreat, and I wanted to know more about the virus and how it affected the world. This book was set some time after the virus, but it felt like we were already expected to know all the facts regarding it. I liked how things all came together, and the reveals all made sense. Overall, this is a book I will thinking about for a while.

The Drift by C.J. Tudor
What a cleverly written book. It had it all, suspense, horror, and tons of action. The chapters were short and concise, and the pace was quick. I enjoyed everything about this book.

The story involves three locations. - a bus evacuating students who have supposed to have been clear of a virus that is rapidly spreading, a cable car with a group of strangers and the place both groups were heading called “ The Retreat”
Nothing is at it should be - the bus crashes and it may have been planned as well as having two infected students in board. The group on the cable car is stuck midway and when they awake after apparently bring drugged, one of the group is dead. At The Retreat one of the group goes on a grocery run and returns to find dead bodies. How do these groups tie together and who is the murderer in their midst?
CJ Tudor cannot write a bad story and this is no exception. Be forewarned when you start this book you need to have a warm blanket and a warm drink nearby because you will be transported to the snowstorm each group is in. I read this book in one sitting and I did not see any of the twists coming. This author is a must read for any fan of thrillers or mystery novels.
Thank you to the publisher and #netgalley for the free e copy. “The Drift” is available now!

Sometimes I read so many books that I just don't remember the premise when I start a book. And with The Drift, it's one of those books were once you get into it you are kind of like, oh, wait! It's like the time I went to see From Dusk Til Dawn and didn't realize it was about vampires.

The Drift is an amazing book, but just fyi, it is a little apocalyptic. Although really, it's just a story about a pandemic that was a just a touch more deadly than our most recent one. And its appropriate because in Tudor's last book, A Sliver of Darkness, a collection of short stories, she explains that her novel was due but she opted for the short stories instead because the pandemic was distracting for her. How appropriate that the next book should explore this theme.

I'd love to divulge details about this pandemic in the book, but I feel that it would give away important plot points, so I will stop there.

Early on in the book, we are introduced to three sets of characters in three settings. And as the story slowly unfolds in these parallel situations, it's up to the reader to start to pull together the common thread, and try and figure out what (or who) specifically holds them together and what order these stories have taken place in. So this element is definitely interesting and a lot of fun for someone who always likes to try and figure it out before the end of the book.

The Drift is a great read for anyone who likes putting the pieces of a puzzle together. It kept my rapt attention from beginning to last page. Special thanks to Netgalley and Ballantine Books for an advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review.

Finally!!! This is the C.J. Tudor story I've been waiting for.

It has been a decade since a pandemic swept the world and this story follows three people trying to survive in the most inhospitable circumstances.

Meg awakens in a cable car dangling over the mountainous terrain while a snow storm rages outside. She isn't alone. Who drugged them and brought them here? Who can she trust, if anyone?

Hannah awakens after her bus crashes in the snow storm. She and other students were trying to make it to safety at The Retreat. Some of the students perished in the crash and the others, turns out, may be infected.

Carter works with a few others at The Retreat which seems safe enough until other residents start turning up dead. The generator is about to die and any security they once felt they had has blown away like the snow swept wind.

This book had it all. Action, suspense, and all the horror you can imagine. As if a pandemic of epic proportions wasn't bad enough then add in a snow storm, Whistlers, and an untrustworthy bunch of people - some armed and some most definitely dangerous. I was between biting my nails and peaking through my fingers the entire time I spent with this book. Not only that but this book is CLEVER in the best way possible. A victory for Tudor to be sure. This is my third book by her but it's the first one to WOW me and, trust me, I was WOWED!!! ALL. THE. STARS!!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing - Ballantine for my complimentary copy.

Actual Reading Experience:
Wow…just wow! I can't say much about this story, but wow, because it would be so easy to give away a spoiler without meaning to, and trust me, you will not want that at all. Because the shock factor of this story is worth the wait and my brevity. I will discuss the story's characters, narration, pacing, and setting in the appropriate sections. Still, I'm going to leave my review there.

The rest you will have to find out for yourself.
Characters:
Hannah is a medical student who is holding on to some big secrets. She is haunted by the words of her father, who is a much different person than she is though he is also a doctor as she is studying to become. She is selfless and self-sacrificing as the good of the many dictates she should be. Still, she is also strong and resilient, with enough knowledge to make her understand the realities of their situation more than most.

Meg is a tragic character in many regards. She used to be a police officer and approaches the many mysteries of what's happening to them with the eagle eye of a law enforcement agent. But her secrets could be a game changer for everyone stuck in that ski lift.

Carter is also a tragic figure. He lost half of his face to frostbite, and the description of how he looks genuinely is unimaginable. He ended up at the retreat by chance, not by design like everyone else but has proved to be a valuable team member. He has befriended the dog that lives at the retreat, which makes him easily a more sympathetic character than he might otherwise be.
Narration & Pacing:
The narration is done in the third person, with each storyline focusing on the point of view of a particular character in that storyline. The students on the bus storyline focuses on Hannah, the ski lift story focuses on Meg, and the retreat story focuses on Carter. This works exceptionally well and holds up the very creative technique used to tell this story perfectly. It's always clear and makes the pace faster because there are mini cliffhangers at the end of most chapters. You have to get through two more chapters before you find out what happens, but of course, you have two more mini-cliffhangers you want to resolve, so you can imagine how fast you will want to read.
Setting:
The setting for all three plots is a snow-filled remote area high in the mountains. Beyond that, nothing more is told. Is it the same general location? The reader doesn't even know that. Just that all three places are very cold, very snowy, and very dangerous.
Read if you like:
Shocking thrillers
Survival stories
Atmospheric to the point of claustrophobia

Wow! Well, I had to read this in a day. You have three stories woven together about three groups of people that have found themselves in deadly situations, the only connections being trapped in snowy areas and there is an infection going around...and lots of secrets to be unraveled. You can definitely feel the pressure and fear of these people from Hannah and the others stuck in an overturned bus, to Meg and her group in the cable car. Carter's story is interesting too, being at The Retreat with an odd bunch and death all around. Makes for a very exciting read, especially when it all comes together and you can go "ahh, I get it now!"

So, yes, it is a good thrilling story, best to be read in one sitting.

This was a very intense and suspenseful book. It was really three different stories taking place after a virus has taken over the world - Hannah and a group of students trapped in a bus during a snowstorm, Meg and another group trapped in a cable car and Carter and a group of people who live at the Retreat, where the bus and cable car are heading. There were some good twists and I was very surprised at how the stories eventually tied together. My only issue was there were a lot of characters to keep track of. I had never read C.J. Tudor before but I would definitely read more of her books. Thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC.

CJ Tudor has written a high octane, bingeable thriller that is pure nightmare fuel. Living though a pandemic today, this book hits really close to home. Even though this one takes a situation like our own and cranks it up 5 notches its still not hard to feel pure terror while reading. It’s scary because it seems like something that COULD happen. Hopefully not in our lifetimes though!

The Drift is about a crumbling society when a virus takes over the world. It tells the story of 3 different individuals/timelines as the virus rips the world apart and seamlessly weaves the timelines together brining one shock after another. We get to meet a group of kids who are on their way to a “retreat” that will offer them a safe place to quarantine. However, when their bus gets into a major accident they being to realize that it may not have been an accident at all. Then we meet a group of people stranded on a cable car 1000 feet in the air. These people were also on their way to the retreat after signing up to be test subjects but something or someone has other plans for them. Finally, we meet the group of people who work at the retreat. All very different people who are facing their own nightmares when one by one they are being killed off. How all three of these stories come together makes this one exciting and original novel!

CJ Tudor is an excellent writer and each and every book she writes is unique, fast paced, and hard to put down. I found this one to be atmospheric (the perfect winter read), uncomfortable, disturbing, and very chilling. So, if that’s your cup of tea then I highly recommend grabbing a copy of this one! My only complaint is that all the characters I was rooting for were swiftly taken out. Perhaps this makes the novel more realistic if you think about it.

𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗙𝗘𝗖𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗙𝗔𝗡𝗦 𝗢𝗙:
• High Octane Thrillers
• Apocalyptic Novels
• Uncomfortable and Chilling Reads

𝗠𝗬 𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4.5)

Not really a fan of dystopian novels but I'll read anything CJ Tudor publishes. The Drift was interesting as you cannot tell how how the 3 different POVs are connected until the very end of the novel. Hannah and a group of students are being evacuated from their Academy, when their coach bus gets into a terrible accident in a white-out blizzard. Meg wakes up in a cable car with a bunch of strangers that are on their way to safety from the world pandemic of Choler. However, the cable car seems to be stuck and unmoving and there is a dead body on board. And a blizzard storming around them. Carter seems to be safe from the Choler pandemic, for now. He is stuck at the Retreat, the Department's safehouse, where a cure is supposedly being worked on. But then a blizzard hits and all hell breaks loose.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for this e-arc.*

Thank you to NetGalley for an arc of The Drift in exchange for an honest review. This review is wholly my own & may not be reproduced.

While I own two other CJ Tudor novels, this is actually the first that I’ve read and it was a solid read that I quite enjoyed.

This story centers around three unrelated individuals: Hannah, Meg & Carter, who each are trapped in life-threatening situations. As this thriller progresses, we learn that these three separate situations are all part of a whole.

This novel is told from three separate POV of each of the main characters. It was definitely fun & frustrating trying to figure out how all three storylines would come together, but Tudor did an amazing job of making it come together!

This is not your usual suspense thriller. It has several elements such as pandemic, survival, dystopian, apocalyptic and even leaned into horror (which I’m not a big fan of).

While I would not say this is the best novel of this sort that I’ve ever read, it was a very solid read. It was a quick read that flowed well from one POV to the next and kept me guessing. I may or may not have figured out the twist. You will just have to pick up a copy and see if YOU can figure it out!

4 Stars from me & I’d definitely recommend giving it a read.

I haven't read C.J. Tudor's work before, and although the premise sounded interesting I found this novel was not for me. I'm sure it would be a good read for true horror/survival fans. Too much gore for me. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I like Tudor's previous work, and I feel like this is "more of the same". If you like horror and fantasy and their overlap, you'll like most of Tudor's work, including "The Drift".

I've read all of C.J. Tudor's books, and The Drift is definitely her most ambitious novel to date. Taking place in the aftermath of an apocalyptic, violent virus, it follows three protagonists as they deal with extreme circumstances in harsh environments. Hannah wakes up trapped in a crashed coach while a snowstorm rages outside; Meg is stuck in a stalled-out cable car 1000 feet in the air; and Carter is at The Retreat, an abandoned ski chalet where he and his fellow survivors are dealing with power outages and threats from inside and outside the walls. As their stories unfold, it becomes clear that everyone has secrets, and no one is exactly who they claim to be.

I admire Tudor for taking on such an audacious project with this book. The Drift is essentially three locked-room mysteries, all happening simultaneously, while also each serving as part of a larger, connected narrative. I was impressed that Tudor was able to pull off this gutsy, bold structure, resulting in a novel that is creative and inventive and intriguing, full of action and gore.

But while I loved the idea of this book, the execution did leave me wanting. The cast of characters is too large, and none of them are very well-developed, so it was hard to keep everyone straight (especially the expendable ones). This is a book that is all about the plot and not so much about the characters; all of the character development felt very surface-level, so it was hard to form an emotional connection to the characters, even the main protagonists. They just felt like vehicles to move the plot forward. And the writing was too much telling, not enough showing, so that sometimes I felt like I was reading an outline of a novel rather than an actual novel.

If you pick up The Drift looking for insight and depth and thoughtful character development, you'll be left wanting. But if you're here for the mysteries, action, and gore (and poop, on several occasions), I think this book will be just the ticket. It wasn't my favorite of Tudor's by far, but I definitely appreciate and applaud her efforts for stepping so far outside of the box. Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine books for the digital ARC.