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.

The first half of this sped along and had me immediately engaged. I felt that it started to lag a bit around the 50-75% mark, but then things picked up again as my jaw repeatedly dropped throughout the last few chapters. This is listed as an apocalyptic mystery/thriller, but I’d class it as a thriller/horror. It was creepy as hell, and I really enjoyed it!

The Drift by CJ Tudor is an apocalyptic thriller. There are three main characters, and we learn all about them and how they fit into this story. This book had a different feel from CJ Tudor’s previous books. It took me a little bit to get into the book, sorting out the characters and their back stories. Once I had that straightened out, I really enjoyed this book. While it is not my favorite of the author’s, it was still a good read. That is just my opinion, because I normally do not like apocalyptic storylines. I think anyone who likes thrillers will be interested in reading this book. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

This story is such an interesting mash up of a thriller + a post-apocalyptic tale. The first half as the 3 character's stories unfold is fast paced, full of mystery, and un-put-downable. As the threads weave together and reveals happen, linking characters and timelines together, it gets a bit murkier--but it's not all bad! The links made the story even more unique and weird and compelling. Some of the villains were a bit flat but it didn't take away from the overall plot in the least. Overall, a super compelling read that had me glued to the page to find out what was going on and who was responsible for what. Would highly recommend to anyone who likes thrillers! (The sci-fi elements are played down and super easy to understand to the point that even non-dystopian/non-sci-fi folks will still enjoy the thriller + mystery aspects of this book.)

I am sorry for the inconvenience but I don’t have the time to read this anymore and have lost interest in the concept. I believe that it would benefit your book more if I did not skim your book and write a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience.

Okay, so here's the thing. I want people to take this review with a grain of salt, because it turns out this might just not be my genre. While I do love thrillers, I've read very few, if any, apocalyptic thrillers. It's definitely dark, creepy, and has a lot of tension in it. If you're someone that likes action, some darkness, and mysteries focused on survival, then I would say this is a book for you. Tudor writes with a certain kind of despair and tension that I don't see very often, so kudos to them on that!

There's a lot going on in this book - both thematically and character-wise. Thematically, it covers a few genres - dystopian/apocalyptic, mystery/thriller, suspense, even a touch of horror. And it takes a while to figure out what's going on in this world and how we got there. Character-wise, there are three story arcs, each centering on one of three major characters, but those characters all have characters in "their" little worlds, and gradually we see connections and why they're important to the story Tudor is telling. Like I said - a lot going on, a lot to keep track of. Not that that's a bad thing - but going in the reader should be prepared to pay attention. I enjoyed this book - it was my first by C. J. Tudor, and I'm certainly intrigued enough by her writing and her storytelling to want to read more from her.
Thanks to Netgalley and Random House/Ballantine for providing a copy for an unbiased review.

I thought this would be a thrilling tale but there was too much death and gory scenes for me. I also could not become invested in the characters as several of them were unlikable and others were not sufficiently “fleshed out” for me. Others may love this but it wasn’t for me.

<i>The Drift</i> was a pleasant surprise for me. I knew right as I started the book that I was going to be hooked. The reader is presented with three different scenes with stressful settings. There is no easing into the struggles the characters are presented in this post apocalyptic time. The world has been ravaged by the virus and only the strong survive.

I was not prepared for the connections that each of the three scenarios had with each other. Once I caught on, I became thoroughly impressed by the writing. Some might think a book about a virus taking over the world might be too soon. But I say no, do yourself a favor and grab this book. Although others might describe it as horror because of gory scenes, it might not be for the faint of heart but I think it shows the talent and range of the author to pull you in and see the descriptions he presents. It's definitely a thriller that is hard to put down.

THE DRIFT was my first foray into the writing of British author, C.J. Tudor. Based on the cover art of blinding white snow falling and covering evergreens as scavenging crows circle above, I had a feeling I was in for a suspenseful tale of isolation. I was not wrong.

THE DRIFT surprised me in multiple ways. Readers are presented with chapters alternating through three different people trying to survive after ten years of a viral apocalypse which has destroyed the normalcy and comforts of 21st century life. It didn't take COVID-19 for creators of any kind to come up with this scenario. It has existed in the forms of vampires, zombies, parasites, or scientific blunders in books, film, and video games seemingly forever. All of the stories in this kind of subgenre ask a simple question: Who gets to live at the top of the power structure and call the shots?

What I liked was the chapter breakdowns. Ninety percent of the book follows: Hannah then Meg then Carter. What I thought I knew was that they were all on the same timeline but in three different locations. It felt like these three people would be the survivors who meet up in the end. I was incredibly wrong. Way off, in fact. There's no gimmicky time travel or multiple universes. You won't have to keep track of convoluted strings like that.

Noted below are where the groups of characters are when readers are introduced to them at the beginning. It's also worth noting that multiple characters take on new identities which is one of the tools I felt was too weak and cliché for how strong the large, massively entwined story is. What readers will have to keep track of are three separate groups plus additional antagonist groups for them:

The Retreat Group:
Carter, Nate, Julia, Jackson, Miles, Welland, and Caren.
Others have already died or succumb to the virus. One specifically is discovered stabbed to death and floating in the pool.
The Cable Car Group:
Sean, Meg, Sarah, Karl, Max, Paul.
One of them is already dead.
The Coach (Bus as an American would say) Group:
Lucas, Josh, Ben, Cassie, Hannah, Daniel, Peggy.
One of them is just about to die and barely clinging to life.
Antagonists:
The Whistlers—people infected who are basically the "monster" of the story even though they still show signs of intelligence and emotion, but rage is the first one to display in abundance.
The Department—the powerful people in charge who are supposed to be working on anti-virals, vaccines, boosters, and engineering a new way of life for everyone.
The Quinns—a father and his sons who run a barter operation and get to make the rules for their territory since there's little population and people need supplies.

The author successfully kept the massive cast of characters and three main locations comprehensible. I still had to do a lot of highlighting and note placement to keep track of all the names.

An area that I think was unnecessary was having multiple murder mysteries along with the three protagonists having their own missions. It was a bit too much. As a reader, I was invested in the questions of whether Carter, Hannah, and Meg would get what they needed to survive. Having Who Dun' It? murders past and present was too much with only one exception—the one which feeds Carter's entire motivation as a character.

Tudor also does a stellar job with reveals. They come out in a well-timed plot. You can count on the end of each chapter leaving an answer (or at least a theory) and a new question. At the end, as the most impactful answers are revealed, each protagonist has a satisfying conclusion to their own roadmap. The fifth distinct part of the book subtitled, "3,500 Miles Away," delivers a gratifying end.

I will only give this one spoiler. Does the dog die?

Yes, for humane reasons like Ol' Yeller.

Summary:

The Drift makes promises of characters being constantly under threats and it certainly delivers in that regard. There are challenges for basic survival: will they get out of X scenario alive?; if they get out, what then?; and is it possible in such a fragile world to trust anyone? The ending brings a conclusion with a little bit of hope that gives readers the sense that not all is lost after decades of the catastrophic viral pandemic.

Rating: 4 stars

I could not put this book down!
We start off with three POVs that eventually merge and so many questions get answered when they do. The story takes place in a post apocalyptic world on the side of a mountain.
A coach runs off the road and only some passengers survive, others are "infected" as well.
A cable car is left stranded high above the mountain, on their way to "the Retreat" and chaos ensues there.
Then we have the folks at the Retreat itself - who are they, what is in the isolation chambers in the basement, and who are the 'good guys" in the whole thing?
I was riveted and absolutely see this becoming a movie. Five stars here!

THE DRIFT any CJ Tudor is a wild ride into an apocalyptic / dystopian world following a viral outbreak where the DRIFT - Department of Research Infection and Future Transmission comes into play, and where we are introduced to three main characters Hannah, Meg and Carter whose stories merge into a crazy ride of your life.

The tension sustains throughout the read with a chilling location that cuts through your bones in suspense and thrill. The twists and turns are fantastic and this nail biting read is loads of fun to read.

What an immensely crazy ride!