Those who are familiar with Tudor's oeuvre, her landmark novel The Chalk Man that put her on the map of the global crime/horror fiction reality and other works such as The Taking of Annie Thorne or her latest, The Burning Girls, which is going to be adapted into television with the airing date being undisclosed so far, know her skills in creating both compelling, chilling storylines and well-rounded, three-dimensional characters who live and breathe on page. The good news is that not only will there now be a different novel number five ("The Drift") being published in 2023, but there there is also the bonus of this volume of eleven short stories under the title, "A Sliver of Darkness" in the meantime. Tudor’s “A Sliver of Darkness” is an exciting short story collection that was fantastic from start to finish. Story 1 | "End of the Liner" - A post-apocalyptic world where we follow a group of people stuck on a cruise ship for decades.

Each short story begins with an explanation for the inspiration and I enjoy that, especially the Nottingham based ones! Even though there were a couple I didn't fully get at the end, I think that's more due to me not being the person who figures the ending out ahead of time, and CJ may be expanding some of these in future, I think. I liked pretty much all of these short stories (more detail to come) and that's almost JD Salinger level for me. 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. If you are a fan of Stephen King, Kelly Link, or the horror or thriller genres, there is definitely something here for you.

The stories are all different, some are quite unbelievable with magical elements, some set in dystopian worlds, and some are just strange in general but all of them were scary and interesting. Since the book includes eleven stories and since they are short, I don’t think I’m up to the task of reviewing intelligently (do I ever? The Block – slum neighborhood with a large spooky boarded up monolithic building – kids break in – there’s a reason this spooky looking building is boarded up! The mixing of genres and styles, while it may sound onerous to some, is maneuvered exquisitely by the author while the featured characters are credible as well as intriguing, a remarkable achievement for an author writing a story in a limited form.

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. I am normally not a big fan of short stories but found these to be an exception to the rule as I was delighted and wished there were many more to come when I finished the book.I find short story collections are either a hit or miss for me- this collection was absolutely a hit! I enjoyed reading tidbits about her life in Nottingham, England where she once worked as a dog walker. 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. Concluding, I would like to underscore that A Sliver of Darkness is one of the most versatile and enthralling collection of short stories for the year 2022, regardless of the genre, and further solidifies C. It also put me in mind of the scene-setting introduction that Alfred Hitchcock used to provide in "Alfred Hitchcock presents" television series.

There was definitely a deeper meaning behind it of greed and honesty which could have been expanded on. You don’t need to know them too much, but in this story Gloria, a cold-hearted hitwoman, meets a strange girl with unusual powers at a service station. The book opens with a heartfelt introduction by this “down to earth” author, and in it she shares that in January 2021, her Dad passed away. In Gloria we are reunited with a couple of characters we previously met in Tudor’s other books, The Taking of Annie Thorne and The Other People.I would like to thank both Netgalley and Michael Joseph for supplying a copy of this collection in exchange for an honest review. Tudor delivers horror through ten incredibly original and creepy tales, ranging from an apocalyptic cruise ship to cannibal butterflies. 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.