In this tour de force from Tudor (The Burning Girls), a postapocalyptic thriller, a haven called the Retreat, which has been constructed for a select few in the wake of a devastating new plague, proves to be not much of a haven. Some of those in residence at the mountainside facility begin to disappear, even as vital supplies go missing and power outages increase, leading up to the discovery of a body floating in the recreational pool. Meanwhile, a cable car transporting a group to the Retreat is stranded mid-journey; its occupants, including Meg, a former homicide cop, are stunned to find they're trapped with a corpse, whom Meg recognizes. And a second group also faces a threat to their lives; Hannah Grant has been evacuated from a boarding school, but the bus she's in crashes, possibly not by accident, trapping her and several others. Tudor shifts among the three situations, teasing a common link, and gradually ratchets up the pressure on her characters as they try to preserve their humanity while surviving. This is a masterpiece of its kind. Agent: Madeleine Milburn, Madeleine Milburn Literary. (Jan.)

Tudor's (The Burning Girls) latest features three interconnected narratives that collide in a frozen landscape just as humanity is clawing its way back from a devastating pandemic. A coach from a secluded boarding school crashes their bus, forcing Hannah and her surviving classmates to try and survive the frigid night; Meg and her group awaken inside a broken-down cable car with a storm raging outside and a possible murderer within; Carter and the residents of an abandoned ski chalet must band together when the power goes out and what's trapped in the basement gets loose. Narrators Nathalie Buscombe, Rachel Handshaw, and Richard Armitage provide unique voices and compelling depth for each POV character, from Armitage's rumbling growl for Carter to Buscombe's clinical deadpan for young Hannah. This gut-wrenching tale of survival culminates in a third-act reveal that completely flips expectations. VERDICT Like all great apocalypse stories, Tudor's novel is a blizzard of brutality and despair with just the tiniest flickers of hope. Recommended for fans of Kevin A. Muñoz's The Post or Ruth Ware's One By One.--James Gardner

The author of The Chalk Man (2018), The Burning Girls (2021), and the recent short-story collection A Sliver of Darkness (2022) has surpassed herself with this postapocalyptic thriller. After an extremely contagious virus has made its way around the world, civilization is in shambles. In the middle of a snowstorm, small groups of people are trying to reach a place called the Retreat, where cures for the virus are being tested. Three strangers, Hannah, Meg, and Carter, come together to fight for survival and, as it turns out, to save humanity. Tudor is a magnificent storyteller. The writing here is powerful, with shifting points of view keeping the story moving at a brisk clip, as the author piles questions on top of questions, constantly giving the reader something new to ponder. Tudor started with a bang with The Chalk Man and gone on to become one of the strongest voices in genre blending, adroitly combining elements of horror, SF, and thriller. The Drift has already been optioned for television, but don't wait for the TV series--this is a book that demands to be read now.