Title: The Drift

Author: C.J. Tudor

Publisher: Ballantine Books 2023

Genre: Thriller

Pages: 340

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 52 Book Club - Published in 2013

Hannah awakens to carnage, all mangled metal and shattered glass. Evacuated from a secluded boarding school during a snowstorm, her coach careered off the road, trapping her with a handful of survivors. They’ll need to work together to escape—with their sanity and secrets intact.

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. They are heading to a place known only as “The Retreat,” but as the temperature drops and tensions mount, Meg realizes they may not all make it there alive.

Carter is gazing out the window of an isolated ski chalet that he and his companions call home. As their generator begins to waver in the storm, something hiding in the chalet’s depths threatens to escape, 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 danger—one with the power to consume all of humanity.

What an absolute ride! Usually books billed as thrillers really fall flat for me. They just lack the oomph that I’m looking for or the characters are so incredibly unlikeable that I’m wishing all of them would get murdered. This one I went in blind except for a recommendation from my favorite podcast. The host purposely left the summary mostly hidden so as not to spoil the reveals and that’s exactly the way to go with this one. I dove in and immediately started piecing the big connections and storyline together. We are plopped right into the middle of a bus crash, a stalled ski lift gondola, and a mysterious locked “retreat.” From there, we have to understand exactly what is going on in the outside world, who each of the characters actually are, and how they intend to survive the situation and the elements. I got so wrapped up into the story that I ended up finishing this book in one day. I was completely along for the ride. Once the big reveals happen, I actually gasped out loud (I hardly ever do that.) It was just so good! A great book to end my work on.

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