‘A Sliver of Darkness’ by C.J. Tudor – Book

Chapters

End of the Line The Block
Runaway Blues
The Finalization
“The Lion at the Gate
Gloria
I’m not Ted
Final Course
The Copy Shop
Dust
Butterfly Island

 

It’s the time for scares that are good And what better novel to snuggle in front of the flame other than A Sliver of Darkness? C.J. Tudor returns to the scene following her highly acclaimed story The Chalk Man with a charmingly dark and sinister collection of short stories.

With a variety of perspectives and characters both aged and younger, tales here are quite diverse and include some good adrenaline and chills as well.

One of the most difficult things in writing a collection such as this is keeping it interesting and fresh between stories. This collection accomplishes exactly that while writing with a style that each story becomes enjoyable to read.

The art of writing a great short story is definitely an art and to a certain extent, it’s much more difficult than creating a full-fledged novel. The small amount of words means that every sentence must be designed to drive the plot or character forward while long, fanciful paragraphs stuffed with descriptions are nearly impossible when you have time constraints. But somehow Tudor can make this easy through each one of these stories.

“End of the Liner” is off to an appropriately twisted beginning, by telling a story on a cruise ship that’s not for the faint of heart. From there, the tale is a twirl and several twisted and terrifying stories, which include all kinds of things from an abandoned flat and creepy hotels to an unnamed “Fat man” who sings the Blues. The story is wrapped up with the conclusion story, ‘Butterfly Island, and ends in a positive way.

It is clear that there are many themes interspersed throughout, and it’s really fascinating to be able to see how C.J. Tudor is able to penetrate the thoughts of the different protagonists. Old and young, males and females and new; this gifted author creates credible characters from each character.

It’s not simply a collection of stories. It’s also a personal reflection by Tudor on the current state of the world as well as her own perspective when she was a victim of a viral epidemic which spread throughout the globe.

Each story is preceded by a preface detailing the reasons why she chose to write the story prior to launching into the story. This is a minor addition, but it does well to make every feel as meaningful and meaningful.

The best thing about a wide selection of scary tales is that your top picks are likely to differ from others. They’re all worthy of reading, however, and I personally resonated with the first story the most. There are definitely a lot of Fallout/Bioshock vibes that are present and the story is well-written, leaving readers wanting more about the story when it comes to an end.

The book A Sliver of Darkness is a fantastic collection of stories that are definitely worth a read for this Halloween. The mere mention of a description of every tale would be a dereliction to the excellent work Tudor did here. even though not every story sparkles as brightly as the other but this is a great collection of stories that are definitely worth a look.

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