"The Drift" follows the stories of three separate characters and plotlines; beginning with Hannah, a woman who's fled a boarding school but awakens to find herself and her fellow passengers stranded in a crashed coach. Buffeted by snow and forced to deal with injury and the presence of the feared virus that's overtaken the world, Hannah's forced to take the lead and try and save them from their predicament. Her own backstory, however, helps her to unravel the chain of events that brought them all there to begin with...

The second plotline is told from Meg's perspective; she awakens to find that she and her fellow cable car companions are stranded in the middle of their ascent up to The Retreat. Meg immediately recognizes the dead passenger, however, and in addition to having to survive and escape their situation, must contend with the fact that someone on board is also a murderer.

The final perspective is told from Carter; he's a resident at The Retreat, a ski retreat that also serves as a place of isolation and refuge against the virus that's destroyed the world. Carter's own background is a mystery as he was found wandering in the icy hills, but he and the other residents are forced to contend with a failing generator that exposes them to threats both inside and outside The Retreat.

This was a fascinating take on a sci-fi/thriller/mystery genre, and I can't help by imagine that the COVID-19 pandemic inspired the existence of a virus that infects people across the world. Although all three characters and storylines seem disparate, Tudor does a fantastic job of leaving small clues and hints at how they relate to each other, and the final reveal makes readers question their initial assumptions. The writing is concise and well-paced, and while I sometimes struggled to remember all the secondary characters (mostly fellow passengers or residents) involved in each arc, I think the story was delivered in a way that most readers will understand and enjoy.

I hate the word "unputdownable". HATE it. If I could ban one word from the English language, this would be one of the top contenders. I want to make sure it's clear how much I hate this word before I say that.... this book ....... was unputdownable. There! I said it! I feel dirty, but it's how I felt.

The book follows 3 different individuals - Hannah (trapped in a bus), Meg (trapped in a ski lift), and Carter (living in an isolated lodge in the mountains). Each chapter focuses on one of the characters and then the next chapter moves onto the next one (usually after a teaser with important information or the character in a dire situation). The author did a great job of differentiating the characters and the situations to make it easier to keep track of the 3 storylines. I felt invested in all 3 of the storylines. When each chapter ended, I was angry since I wanted more of that person, but then I quickly got immersed in the next storyline, and when the chapter ended, I was angry - repeat for each chapter. It was a little rough, especially when I kept staying up too late because I had to keep reading to get back to the person, but then I needed to get back to the next person. I appreciate how the storylines tied together and they wrapped up well. Each arc felt complete and answered all my outstanding questions. I didn't love the very last chapter, but I probably would've wondered more if it weren't present.

The premise is that there is an outbreak of an easily spreadable virus. The government is doing its best to contain the virus, by any means possible. The infected's plasma can be harvested to make an injection, needed regularly, to keep people from catching the virus. Of course, some strains are worse than others. I found the premise believable enough so I could be immersed in this story without feeling like there were discrepancies to bring me out of the story. There were a handful of spelling/grammar errors, but that could be because it's an ARC and might not make it into final publication. The funniest was the book referred to a character as "Rocky" - there was not a Rocky character in the book.

This was my first time reading this author, though I have a few other of their books in my TBR list. I'm looking forward to reading more from them.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this advance review copy.

Captivating, provocative, and uber-tense, The Drift puts the reader in the middle of a realistic and vivid virus-ravaged humanity to ask tough questions that require introspection about moral codes, acceptable actions and if the ends justify the means. CJ Tudor has constructed a foreboding and sober story that tunnels into your brain and sets up shop for the foreseeable future to make you confront inconvenient hypotheticals about how you’d act if put into these untenable situations.

The Drift is told from the perspective of three individuals. Hannah is trapped in a bus after it crashes in a snowstorm, tending to the wounded and banding together with several others to find a way out. Meg is stuck in a cable car suspended high in the air with several strangers, little recollection of how she got there…and a dead body. Carter resides in a ski chalet with a sketchy power situation and an even more fragile detente with the other inhabitants. And each one of them is a piece of a larger puzzle where people will do anything – and I mean anything – necessary to survive in a dystopian pandemic-altered world.

The Drift is a fascinating tale about the breakdown of societal norms and the fight for survival. It’s an exploration into individual motivations and how decision making is impacted when every moment delivers a new life-or-death crisis. It raises the question of the sanctity of life and whether it’s worth continuing to exist when you and/or the world around you has irreparably changed and everything you care about is gone. It also studies different reactions to grief and profound loss. And all of this is wrapped up in a fast-moving psychological story with intriguing characters, a plot that keeps you guessing, and a body count that rivals any action thriller.

It’s a truly thought-provoking, mentally stimulating, and gripping novel. Give it a shot if you like to be challenged and entertained at the same time.

The Drift by CJ Tudor takes place after a virus has ravaged society. It is told from the viewpoints of three main characters who are all isolated by accidents, made worse by winter storms.
I could not put this book down! The alternating viewpoints and short chapters make it a quick and easy read. Every chapter leaves you hanging and there are twists galore. A purrfect winter read, but a bleak and unnerving one so I would proceed with caution if you are still dealing with residual COVID anxiety.
Many thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this book

I was sent an pre-approval from a PenguinRandom publisher with the following blurb...
THE DRIFT is a story of survival and the things we do to make sure we get out alive. There’s three groups of survivors fighting their way through it (and with each other): A group of students who barely made it through an awful train crash during a blizzard; a suspended ski lift dangling in the sky, completely out of power filled with scared and paranoid people; and a research facility with staff that keeps showing up dead…
How could I pass up the offer to find out more? I got so immersed in the story that I finished in two days. I had a few questions in the end that were left unresolved for me. But overall the story had me going along for the drama and suspense while not knowing there was an unexpected twist going on.
Because the book is not scheduled to come out until next year this review will be kept vague. I think the author did a fabulous job in driving the story along and the characters kept the story flowing.
I really enjoyed this new to me author's work and will be reading more in the near future.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with a free copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own and freely given.

This story is told from three POVs - Hannah, who is stuck in a crashed coach bus in the middle of a snow storm after the driver veered off the side of the road, Meg, who is stuck in a cable car swinging high about the trees also during a snow storm, and Carter, who lives at the retreat when the snow storm starts to cut the power in and out. They are all part of a volunteer program where scientists are trying to find a cure to a disease that creates Whistlers/zombies. The rich people have the money to get away, but regular people sign up to be volunteers at a chance for survival. How will the three characters lives intersect?

This was a great book! I did not expect the twists and turns at all and found myself not wanting to put it down. It is my first book by CJ Tudor and I would love to read more of their stuff.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a very intriguing book! I did not realize it was an apocalyptic-type setting, which is not something I'm usually drawn to. The characters were engaging, and I thought the social commentary was interesting especially in this post-COVID outbreak world. There were 3 separate storylines, and I loved how the author tied them all together. It kept me guessing until the end.

Thanks to Netgalley for the book to review.

I'm not sure what I expected from CJ Tudor's new book, The Drift. I had only read one other book by this author (The Chalk Man). I enjoyed that one, so I was happy to have the chance to read this one. I was not expecting a twisty-turny psychological thriller with Zombie Apocalypse overtones. This book was about as different from The Chalk Man as night is from day.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, especially the Big Twist. Didn't see it coming, for sure. The book was well-written and fast-paced, filled with relatable, interesting characters THAT DIE when you least expect it.

Thanks to Netgalley, CJ Tudor and Ballantine Press for allowing me the opportunity to read this ARC. All opinions are my own.

This book channels the most distressful conditions one can find in life. It’s about surviving the unimaginable; the utmost harrowing experience. The focus is on three groups with Hannah, Meg and Carter and their connection with a Retreat, a place of research for those infected by the virus.

It takes place in the mountains 3,500 miles away from everything and next to a thick forest with wild hungry animals like bears. Professor Grant, a Virologist, was in charge of the Retreat. His daughter, Hannah, worked at the facility but didn’t advertise that he was her father. She said if she was infected, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill her. He would say, “Contain the virus at all costs.”

Hannah was on a coach that was headed to the Retreat when suddenly there was a crash. It tipped over rolling down a steep slope. Half of the students died. The other seven scrambled to figure out how they were going to get out with a drop in the temperature. Their bags and phones were taken before boarding.

Meg was in a cable car that was headed to the Retreat. Then suddenly it was dislodged. They were stuck and in the midst of a snowstorm. One man was dead. She worked with him in Homicide and Infection Control when she was a police officer. After examining him, it looked as though he was stabbed before everyone boarded.

Carter was at the building which housed the Retreat. He was 25 years old and knew how to cook, clean, do grocery runs and basically take care of what was needed. It was a nice place with a pool, gym and steam rooms. Yet, something was wrong. Very wrong.

This was a book where the reader had to stay on top of what was going on with all the characters along with the secrets and details that were introduced. Everything moved fast and there was always suspense at the end of each section. And then you had to wait until a few more parts to find out what happened.

Death was a part of everything. If they got infected, they would die. Or, they could freeze. Or get eaten by animals. Or killed by each other. Meg’s mom said, “Be careful who you trust. The Devil was an Angel once.” Every once in a while, I came across other lines that made me pause. “It took ten years for the human race to crumble.” It made me think: we need to pay attention before it’s too late.

My thanks to C.J. Tudor, Ballantine Books and NetGalley for allowing me to read this advanced copy with an expected release date of January 31, 2022.

This is a cautionary tale of a failing society where greed and deception are as infectious as the incurable pandemic that turns victims into zombie-like “Whistlers.” The Reader follows a group of people who become stranded in extremely dangerous circumstances, trying to survive until help arrives. Most have secrets. Some may not be who they claim. Who can you trust? Questions lead to suspicions, that lead to more questions, that lead to more suspicions, and on it goes. If this all sounds confusing, yet compelling as a zombie train wreck, climb aboard! This one is definitely not for the squeamish. And watch your back!

The Drift, by C.J. Tudor was received directly from the publisher and I chose to review it. I had never read this authors work before and I wont avoid future books by her, BUT, I also won't seek them out. Three different plot lines going at once kept it interesting and I rarely skimmed when the storyline got bogged down. SPOILER ALERT: The thing that cost points by me was the sudden ending that did not wrap up the storyline(s) and obviously set up a sequel. If you, or someone you buy gifts for likes this author or likes a thriller/action/adventure type books, certainly give this book a read.

3.5 stars rounded up to four stars.

C. J. Tudor really got me with this one! Throughout this story you are trying to figure out the connection between these three sets of characters, other than their destination in this apocalyptic thriller. Even when I got to the twist I had to reread to make sure that is what I had read. I never saw that coming! Now that I have read it I want to go back and reread knowing what I know.

What a fun book to read, I literally could not put this one down. It definitely did not disappoint. It would have been a 5 star read for me, but the ending left me wanting more, even so, I still highly recommend!

By far the most intriguing/complex new-release thriller I've read this year. The Drift does a lot with very little time and never loses its pacing. The novel follows a crashed bus, cable car, and isolated "retreat" all in locked room settings with a very And Then There Were None - esque beat. The chapters alternate between setting and eventually all tie in together at the end. It's hard to summarize a book with so many different characters and concepts, but it's the definition of hard to put down.

I will warn you that The Drift is *not* an easy read. There are a lot of characters in this novel and it requires your full attention for every sentence of every page. But it's all worth it as the climax and twist are both exceptionally done in a sort of "I should have thought of this!" way.

Read the Drift if you want a fast-paced, gory, and smart mystery thriller blend that's unlike anything you've read before.

In DRIFT, Tudor crafts a deliciously disorienting tale set during a viral apocalypse.

I went in to this novel completely blind, eschewing any synopsis prior to diving in. Here there are three storylines told from various locations during the pandemic apocalypse: a group of students caught in a snowy bus crash; a group suspended inside a cable car ascending a snowy mountain; and a final group high atop a mountain inside a building called “The Retreat.”

Let me tell you—I had NO idea where this was taking me!

As the novel unfolds, I was able to piece together small glimpses of how these seemingly disparate groups were tied together but I admit that at about 25% I did need to read the synopsis because I felt so lost. I do recommend having SOME idea about what this story is prior to diving in so you aren’t as lost as I was.

Once I became oriented many clues became apparent to me. Tudor is a genius it’s how she gives the reader just enough to keep them guessing!

I was so surprised! The clues were there all along I just failed to put them together!

Fans of apocalypse books, dark thrillers verging on horror, and fans of hopeless mountain thrillers like No Exit will love this heart pounding ride!

I enjoyed this to an extent. The premise was amazing and there were so many gripping elements in the story. I love survival themes in thrillers. However, the characters and even the writing itself seemed a bit too stiff. There were times when I lost interest, but I still wanted to see how the book would end as a whole. I think fans of the genre and the author will like this one.

Trying to survive in the face of imminent danger to life’s continuation can sometimes bring people to the very edges of humanity and the events within C. J. Tudor’s The Drift demonstrate this through three people’s stories at the end of the world.

Awaking in a crashed coach full of students from the Academy traveling toward The Retreat, Hannah takes stock of the damage around her and tries to think through how best to survive in their harsh, desolate surroundings with the limited resources they have available to them and the storm trapping them; working together proves to be process fraught with distrust as they all have secrets and personal agendas driving their actions. On their way to The Retreat in a cable car that stopped on its ascent during a storm are a group of people who wake to find one of their number dead; Meg, a former detective, recognizes familiar faces in the car and realizes there’s something bigger, and possibly more insidious, going on than any of them signed on for. Within the abandoned ski chalet that became The Retreat, Carter works with an odd group of people to survive in their remote location while manufacturing valuable vaccines against a virus that’s taken the world over; power problems, exacerbated by a storm, drive the group’s tenuous bonds to their breaking point and when the power fails truths come to light in dangerous, surprising ways. Hannah, Meg, and Carter all face similar issues of isolation and survival, but they each are but one part of a much bigger puzzle and threat to humanity at large.

The story is an engaging, clever puzzle with pieces of information and aspects of character backstories slowly unveiled as time is played with to pique and maintain interest and the eventual connection between the characters and their situations strewn across time and locations demonstrate a persistent fight for justice and survival in the face of struggles, human and natural, that are all too familiar – a viral pandemic wreaking havoc on life and socio-political dynamics that emphasize the power that wealth and privilege have in determining who survives and by what means. Told through three rotating points of view that depict a form of closed room mystery narratives, a much larger, and interconnected, story develops as details linking them together are slowly revealed to satisfyingly tie the threads together. While many of the numerous questions raised throughout the stories, which provided propulsive tension, are addressed and resolved, there are still some things that were noted, particularly around the rise of the virus that changed their world and some specifics of the characters' backstories, that remain unanswered, leaving some frustrating loose ends.

Overall, I’d give it a 4 out of 5 stars.

*I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I wish to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine Books for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book. I have voluntarily read and reviewed it. All thoughts and opinions are my own.


This book is way outside my usual choice of reading material and I readily admit the fault is my own for requesting it. I thought it was going to be a mystery but it is so much more than that. It is very detailed and gory and just not something for me. I did not find any of the characters to be someone I cared about and out of a sense of responsibility I felt I had to keep reading. But ,honestly I finally gave up about half way through. Now those of you who like this sort of story will most likely love it but sadly I admit it is just not for me. The story is a post apocalyptic one of trying to survive in a world where everyone is for themselves. I have read several other books by this author and really liked each one of them but this one missed the mark for me.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Hannah, Meg and Carter are complete strangers that hope to survive the dangers that they are in. This book lagged at times.

This was my first time reading this author’s work. It was a crazy ride! I had no idea what or where this storyline was going, but it was fast, intriguing and had me engaged.
Well done. Thank you Net Galley for the ARC.

I have really enjoyed Tudor’s other books, so I was so excited to pick this up. Fair warning, it is much darker and more horror based than her past books. That being said, I loved it. It kept me on the edge of my seat and I was surprised at how all the storylines came together. It’s a little unnerving reading about a deadly virus after covid, but I think that made the story seem even more plausible. I definitely recommend for horror and thriller fans.