A Sliver of Darkness

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There was only one story that was really able to scare me- and that was because my cat decided to attempt to meow, in the middle of the night, right when a high pitched noise was happening in the book. They are spooky, chilling, with elements of horror, the deranged, menacing and creepy, the bizarre, and on occasion, shot through with the darkest of humour. Though I some of these stories went on a tad too long and others lacked solid endings, hearing their individual origin stories was fascinating and honestly made this a fulfilling reading experience from start to finish. Her books have the ability to simultaneously make you unable to stop reading while wishing you could bury the book somewhere deep underground where it can't be found. First of all, after reading the introduction I applaud the author for writing this collection at what must have been a difficult time.

In The Completion, an estate agent makes the bargain of a lifetime and The Lion at the Gate features some rather startling graffiti. There were a couple of other stories that leaned more to the horror side of things and those were not my favorite. He had been in a nursing home for two years, and because of Covid lockdowns, she could only visit him for thirty minutes every two weeks, speaking to him through Perspex.Tudor’s “A Sliver of Darkness” is an exciting short story collection that was fantastic from start to finish.

The stories vary in length and theme, but in her style, everyone features twists that you don’t see coming and glimpses into our nature that sometimes break and other times bite. After sending the completed manuscript to her editors, Tudor was certain that this book was not going to be published, thus prompting her to move on and find another way to fill in the publishing year 2022. Story 4 | "The Completion" - A sordid real estate agent will do anything to sell an expensive property and the owner makes a deal that the firm cannot refuse. The Block - A locked room horror with nosey teenagers, creatures from another dimension, and an abandoned apartment building.I am not a huge fan of short stories, but I thought that all of these were good, and some were better than good. Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for sending me an ARC of A Sliver of Darkness in exchange for an honest review.

I’m desperately hoping to see a few of the stories included fleshed out into full novels in the future! One thing I like about short stories is the freedom they give authors to jump straight into the narrative without spending time on scene-setting or backstory and in this collection of 11 macabre tales, CJ Tudor makes good use of that freedom. These eleven twisted tales of the macabre from the bestselling author of The Chalk Man and The Burning Girls are your perfect companions as the nights draw in .Another of my favourites, Final Course is the story of a group of college friends who come together for a reunion meal, but the world has gone dark and is in the midst of something very bad. Obviously I like to be stuck in a long book rut with the same old people and places for a longer time than a short story can provide. The story veers in an unexpected direction when they learn about the young man’s girlfriend and I ended up having to read the closing pages twice as I struggled at first to make sense of the sinister ending. The book itself feels like velvet and is a delight to handle, while the tales inside are like meeting up with familiar, if slightly demented, old friends - Only in the most disturbing, nightmarish landscapes!

In Gloria, a strange girl at a service station endears herself to a cold-hearted killer, but can a leopard really change its spots? I also loved how amazingly vivid each story was, I could really picture what was happening and became so sucked in. As is often the way when I experience an episode of anxiety and stress, I lose the concentration needed to read - A hobby I love and enjoy, temporarily eludes Me. Tudor was born in Salisbury and grew up in Nottingham, where she still lives with her partner and young daughter.Tudor includes a b srief, though succinct, introduction in the beginning of each story, contemplating on what inspired her and offering valuable insights to the reader who is in a better position to assess what's coming next.