C. J. Tudor

You just never know what you're going to find in a book from C.J. Tudor - other than a great read! I never read the flyleaf of her books - I just know that I'll like it! But have a second look at that cover of the newly released The Gathering to get an idea.

The book is set in the town of Deadhart Alaska. There's also a Colony of vampyrs further out. When a teen boy is found with his throat ripped out, it seem pretty easy to know who is responsible - right? But the law needs to be followed as vampyrs are a protected species.

Detective Barbara Atkins is called in as she is also a specialist in vampyr killings. She is a the perfect protagonist - she's older, heavier and is often discounted by someone's initial assessment of her - which actually works for her. She's intelligent, reads people well and doesn't give up easily.

There's a large cast of supporting characters. The one thing that all have in common is that they all lie
- about the past and the present. Barbara has to deduce who the killer is, and do it before anyone else dies - including the vampyrs. Tudor has created her own set of traits, abilities and more for the vampyrs. (Hint - don't bother buying any garlic.)

The melding of a murder case alongside with the race issues kept me interested from first page to last. There's also a number of pages that are the inner dialogue of an unnamed captive. We have no idea who she is and when this is happening. I really like it when I don't know what's going to happen on the next page and the next chapter etc. I like being kept on the edge of my seat. Kudos to C.J. Tudor - that last page is perfect!… (meer)

This was a speculative buy, principally because it was on special offer in my local bookshop, and it was payday! Still, it proved a serendipitous discovery, and I found it very gripping.

I don’t know how many dystopian novels set in the aftermath of a destructive and disruptive pandemic. Until not long ago, it was all too easy to shrug and dismiss such a story as an intriguing idea, but not one that could really happen. Of course, we all know differently now.

The pandemic context underpinning this novel is that the world has clearly been challenged by a devastating virus, to such an extent that society has been riven, and some people whop have succumbed to the virus have been driven away, expelled like medieval outlaws.

The book takes the form of three narratives that seem to unfold simultaneously. One follows a group of people on a coach destined for a ‘Retreat’ although their role there is never made entirely clear. As the novel opens, while traversing some remote countryside, the coach crashes, and is pitched off the main road into a deep snow. Meanwhile, a small group of people find themselves in a cable car suspended high about a snowy landscape, which suddenly grinds to a halt. When the occupants recover their balance, they see that one of them is dead.

The third narrative follows a group of people at the Retreat itself, Located in remote countryside, the people running the centre have to contend with extremes of weather and wild animals , but their greatest concern comes from the Whistlers, terrifying strangers left to survive on the fringes of society.

C J Tudor weaves these threads together very capably, and the book fairly fizzes along. There are numerous twists along the way, and virtually all of them had me fooled.… (meer)

Full review:

This book…whoa… *wide-eyed blinking*

I picked it up because it was on my TBR and I was also looking for a change of pace….boy did I find exactly that. Within the first two pages…of the epilogue…it was already intense. *mouth agape in silent shock* But we didn’t stop there…got twelve more pages in and my mouth literally (not just saying that here – I use the words literally and figuratively correctly) fell open. At this point I had to pause, put the book in my lap a moment and reacquaint my mind with the rush that shocking and unexpected events can cause.

I have this habit of trying to guess where a story is going to see if I am not only clever enough but also to see if I have as keen an eye for details as I think I do. I like to challenge myself to see if I can figure out the events and the ending before I get there. This story though…I got half way though it and realized that it ain’t givin’ anything up about what’s to come. Which was so thrilling! Being able to keep me guessing is something I am always searching for when I’m reading. So yeah, the plot and story line of this book is great! Oh, and I hope you like cliff-hanger chapter endings, cause C.J. Tudor has quite the taste for them. I appreciated that Tudor also made it a point to not leave any “plot holes” where the reader is left wondering “well what about…?” (She even has our main character comment on how much he dislikes plot holes – irony. I love it.)

The writing was good and the characters were well thought out and full of depth. I really have nothing to complain about here. It was all good. The words effortlessly pulled me through the story and I feel like there’s a lot to be said for that.

This book was also riddled with wonderfully quotable lines.

Now you might be wondering “Why the half star ding then, Rochelle?” Two reasons; the pace/excitement level of the events slowed down – just a bit – and there were one or two plot holes I found. …I am being suuuper nit-picky here, guys. The only reason I say the pace slowed is because after the first twelve pages I didn’t have another jaw-dropping moment until the very end. How can you start of “sprinting” – shocking the sh*t out of me – in the first twelve pages and then start “jogging” until the end?? It was just a little to disjointed for my taste. As for the plot holes, there’s two occurrences with the chalk-men that are never quite explained that I would have preferred cleared up. You get the “sense” of an explanation, but I wanted a logistical explanation. How did those get there and when did they get there?

It’s a great book if you either like this genre of book or need a good change of pace.… (meer)