Published by Penguin UK, Michael Joseph Books
Publication Date: 19th January 2023
My thanks to the publisher for allowing me the privilege of reading this book ahead of publication in exchange for my honest thoughts
Book Description:
Survival can be murder . . .
During a deadly snowstorm, Hannah awakens to carnage, all mangled metal and shattered glass. Evacuated from a secluded boarding school, her coach careered off the road, trapping her with a handful of survivors.
Meg awakens to a gentle rocking. She's in a cable car stranded high above snowy mountains, with five strangers and no memory of how they got on board.
Carter is gazing out of the window of an isolated ski chalet that he and his companions call home. As their generator begins to waver in the storm, the threat of something lurking in the chalet's depths looms larger.
Outside, the storm rages. Inside one group, a killer lurks.
But which one?
And who will make it out alive?
My Thoughts:
The opening paragraphs of this book grabbed my attention with both hands and showed me that CJ Tudor has upped her game considerably with this book - I'm not saying anything detrimental about her previous books (which I have loved by the way) just that it seems like she has stepped up to another level with her descriptions, plotting and execution this time.
From the description I expected this to be one of a whole slew of books out recently set in a cold, icy environment; a group of people trapped in the throes of a terrible snowstorm and then one of them decides it's an ideal time to get revenge for a long-held grudge. Boy, was I mistaken! There's not one but three separate locations/groups of people, each experiencing their own horrors, which somehow seem to be linked but it's not clear how for a good percentage of the book. The chapters switch between those locations which I found a little disjointing at the start, but soon adjusted to - I felt this writing style just helped keep the suspense building with little cliffhangers slotted at the end of virtually every chapter which I love.
The author has pitted each character in their group against one another; the mistrust between them all is tangible - right at the time they should be pulling together just to survive the storyline drops in another element of doubt to make them question who is a team player and who is purely out to save themselves.
Set in a world where a new virus with no cure has swept the globe it is a frightening insight into what could happen to the human race and how money, corruption and power could influence the outcome. This book will perhaps shock some of the author's previous readers as it has a quite strong lean towards the horror genre, its descriptive writing quite shocking at some points. Personally, I would say to keep an open mind and go with the flow as the world these people are survivors of would be as brutal as the author describes. The relationship between both the places and people involved provides an excellent conclusion to the book and left me feeling fulfilled plot wise and mightily impressed with the author's writing talent.
About the Author:
C. J. Tudor lives with her partner and young daughter. Her love of writing, especially the dark and macabre, started young. When her peers were reading Judy Blume, she was devouring Stephen King and James Herbert.
Over the years she has had a variety of jobs, including trainee reporter, radio scriptwriter, dog walker, voiceover artist, television presenter, copywriter and, now, author.
Her first novel, The Chalk Man, was a Sunday Times bestseller and sold in thirty-nine territories.
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