A Sliver of Darkness by C. J. Tudor

[Elyse]

We will be reading A Sliver of Darkness starting Nov 1!

Goodreads synopsis:
The debut short story collection from the acclaimed author of The Chalk Man, featuring ten bone-chilling and mind-bending tales

Timeslips. Doomsday scenarios. Killer butterflies. C. J. Tudor's novels are widely acclaimed for their dark, twisty suspense plots, but with A Sliver of Darkness, she pulls us even further into her dizzying imagination.

In Final Course, the world has descended into darkness, but a group of old friends make time for one last dinner party. In Runaway Blues, thwarted love, revenge, and something very nasty stowed in a hat box converge. In Gloria, a strange girl at a service station endears herself to a cold-hearted killer, but can a leopard really change its spots? And in I'm Not Ted, a case of mistaken identity has unforeseen, fatal consequences.

Riveting and explosively original, A Sliver of Darkness is C. J. Tudor at her most wicked and uninhibited.

[Trisha]

I'm so excited for this one! I had it preordered when I took the chance and requested it! I was so excited when I got it!

I've loved all of the author's most recent works but I think this one will be a little different than the usual.

[JenniferJ]

I loved The Chalk Man. I'll join y'all!

[Trisha]

Yay!!

[Elyse]

I read the Introduction, it's heartbreaking. I still plan on starting 11/1!

[Trisha]

oh no! heartbreaking?! I'm so excited to start this one!!

[Elyse]

I’m going to rate and review each short story.

End of the Liner (view spoiler)[Wow! So good! Creepy, eerie, post-apocalyptic, I loved this story! Poor Leila, after going through all that maybe she really did want to “retire!” Lol. 5 stars! (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha]

Yes! that was my plan too!

End of the Liner :
(view spoiler)[ YES! that had a perfect, creepy feel to it. The watching eyes, the listening in, ugh - and the creepy animals dancing and singing songs for the kids. and yes, lol, she certainly sounded tired. night time cocktails and not having to cook or clean did sound kind of nice! lol

AND I get really sea sick so I would definitely have died if everyone had to be shuttled on to cruises!! I agree, 5 stars! (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha]

The Block :

(view spoiler)[ eek! the insects were wild. and their "hungry" *shivers*
I wouldn't be heading in to an abanded building either so so far I think I'd die in the apocalypse but definitely survive this invasion! lol
I liked this one - 4 stars
good atmosphere, interesting characters. it gave a lot of story in the short pages (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha]

Runaway blues (view spoiler)[ ha! that is NOT where I saw the twist going! I thought the Fat man really was killing the women. so awful that he took off her feet! yikes! (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha]

The Completion (view spoiler)[ this one was more silly than scary. the one-liners were a bit silly too. and the head popping off was odd but I loved the end of the world being in the hands of a realtor! lol 3 stars for this one. (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha]

The Lion at the Gate

(view spoiler)[ this one I've read before and loved it! I think it was an addition at the end of one of the previous books. SO good! I loved it! 5 stars (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha]

Gloria (view spoiler)[ha! I liked this one! Gloria was an interesting character but her job was gross lol I like that she didn't lie but she didn't let him get away with threatening a little girl (hide spoiler)]

[Elyse]

Trisha wrote: "The Block : [spoilers removed]..."

(view spoiler)[Ugh ick yes gross. Noooo thank you. I was expecting some sort of lizard thing. lol. Yeah, I liked this one too but not as good as the first one. The open ending eep!! 4 stars (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha]

Elyse wrote: "Trisha wrote: "The Block : [spoilers removed]..."

[spoilers removed]"

*shivers again* lol remembering it. . .

[Elyse]

Runaway Blues (view spoiler)[I loved this one! The twist!! And the Fat Man really was just as evil as the narrator damn! So good! And definitely King-esque. I loved the Alzheimer's factor as well. But why did Jack feel like he did it out of love? He said something like you can do evil things but for love. Technically talking about the Fat Man but does that tie in to why Jack was killing women? Did he think "burning the trash" was for Stella? lol. 5 stars, this was juicy. (hide spoiler)]

[Elyse]

The Completion (view spoiler)[I agree, this one was a bit cheesy. And cheeky. I thought maybe they were doing it for the youth since Dan was so focused on young women. The way that he played poor Holly was quite hilarious though! 3 stars (hide spoiler)]

[Elyse]

The Lion at the Gate (view spoiler)[I loved this one! So cool! And the end! I never read beyond the end of a book (excerpts, acknowledgements, etc) so I definitely would've missed this one. 5 stars (hide spoiler)]

I'm really enjoying her introductions and how these ideas sprang to her. I love these parts of any book!

[Trisha]

I love the intros too!! One of the best parts is learning how something inspired a story!

[Trisha]

I'm not Ted (view spoiler)[ super short but still cute. I liked not Ted's frustration - I felt like he voiced it the way I would! lol
and interesting ending! (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha]

Final Course (view spoiler)[ Ha! this was great!! I wasn't sure what to think but the little girl totally had me fooled!
I thought she was weak and they were going to hurt her
I thought they might even hurt Tom! I never anticipated her killing them all! lol perfect atmosphere - the apocalypse - and the scary unknown reunion. Then when they foud the bodies?! It had me going! SO good!! 5 stars (view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha]

The Copy Shop (view spoiler)[ ha! I knew she was going to take the hubby but I never thought she'd take herself! good twist. I like how it started with just a vase. 4 stars (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha]

Dust (view spoiler)[ wow, that one was dark. and maybe a little too short? I would have loved just a little more story 4 stars (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha]

Butterfly Island (view spoiler)[ oof brutal! the flesh eating butterflies! the mines in the water!
but I felt like this one ended so open-ended. I would have liked more 3 stars (hide spoiler)]

Yay! And that was the last one! I'm done!

[Elyse]

Trisha wrote: "Gloria [spoilers removed]"

Gloria (view spoiler)[I actually didn't like this one. I feel like the woman and daughter got killed anyway since Gloria got the text at the end about TWO female bodies? 3 stars. I haven't read The Hiding Place and at first I thought she was from The Other People. (hide spoiler)]

[Elyse]

Trisha wrote: "I'm not Ted [spoilers removed]"

I'm Not Ted (view spoiler)[I liked this one! seems to be a get into higher place test! And Ted has failed 1509 times. Eep! 4 stars (hide spoiler)]

[Elyse]

Trisha wrote: "Final Course [spoilers removed] ..."

Final Course (view spoiler)[Loved this one! The things a parent will do for their child..! And really, everyone Millie has killed has been bad in some way. So far. 5 stars (hide spoiler)]

[Elyse]

Trisha wrote: "The Copy Shop [spoilers removed]"

The Copy Shop (view spoiler)[Agreed, definitely knew Alan was getting a "makeover." This was kind of sad though. Imperfections are not bad! But it was a good story. 4 stars (hide spoiler)]

[Elyse]

Trisha wrote: "Dust [spoilers removed]"

Dust (view spoiler)[Verrrry dark!! Chilling! Horrific! But loved the concept. 4 stars (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha]

I love reading all your updates as you are going!!

[Elyse]

Trisha wrote: "Butterfly Island [spoilers removed]..."

Butterfly Island (view spoiler)[Yesss I wanted more!! It reminded me of The Island but worse! lol. It was far too short. It was just the tiniest itty bitty little taste of something that could be really cool. 4 stars (hide spoiler)]

[Elyse]

Overall, 4 stars. Really enjoyable collection. A lot of good ones, I think I only gave one two 3-star. More horror than I was expecting!

[Trisha]

so glad you loved it too!! Yes, I think I had one or 2 3 or 4 stars but I gave it 4 stars overall! There was more horror than I'd anticipated but I was so sucked in to every story! I loved this group of stories!

[JenniferJ]

I am slowly making my way thru this....I've been in a kind of reading slump but it's not the book because what I've read I'm enjoying! I to love the introductions for each little tale. That was a nice touch and great insight into where the author's mind was at when writing each one and why....

End of the Liner - (view spoiler)[This was interesting and I would actually like to have more from this one to see how they further progress on land and also to find out why "the creators" I think that's what they were called... wanted to keep everybody on the ship all that time. I mean I know for control obviously but why retire the folks on their 75th birthday in lieu of secretly sneaking them off the ship and letting them live out the rest of their days on land....I just felt that was so cruel. ----Also did it seem to y'all that Leila wasn't all that impressed with being on land even though she was back with her daughter? I almost got the feeling that she would have rather perished at sea. (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha]

awe, reading slumps are the worst. I hope this one helps you get through it!

[MarilynW]

JenniferJ wrote: "I am slowly making my way thru this....I've been in a kind of reading slump but it's not the book because what I've read I'm enjoying! I to love the introductions for each little tale. That was a n..."

Replying to your spoiler Jennifer

(view spoiler)[ Yes, I got the impression she thinks she went from something she could accept to thinking she's landed in a horror movie for the rest of her longer life (hide spoiler)]

[Elyse]

Yes, Jennifer, I felt that as well! (view spoiler)[She didn't want to work at age 75!! lol (hide spoiler)]

[JenniferJ]

The Block - (view spoiler)[I found this one to be just meh... 2.5 stars maybe. It started out good until I realized it was bugs. Up until that part I was all into it! LOL (hide spoiler)]

[JenniferJ]

Runaway Blues - (view spoiler)[5 Stars!!!! Loved this! I honestly had no idea on this twist! I love it when I can't immediately guess what's going on! I'm still sitting here thinking about this one and it's been a good day or so since I read it. LOL (hide spoiler)]

[JenniferJ]

The Completion - (view spoiler)[ 3 Stars... I agree that the one liners were annoying...One or two may have been okay but it seemed everything out of the mans mouth was a one liner and I couldn't stand him and his cocky self. He just irritated me to the end of the Earth...grrrrr... But I did enjoy the actual story with the spooky house and the old man and his cult? I hated that Dan was spared just because he was a virgin???? I was like OMFG! Unbelievable!! When he was naked in the cage and said his balls was burning or something to that effect ..y'all I a'int no mean person but I was sitting there squealing burn baby burn! That's just how bad I couldn't stand him because he had such little care or concern for anybody besides his own self! (hide spoiler)]

[JenniferJ]

The Lion at the Gate - (view spoiler)[ Sadly this one did nothing for me. I had no interest. 1 star. :( (hide spoiler)]

[JenniferJ]

Gloria - (view spoiler)[ Ohh this was one of my faves! 5 stars!!! I want to see more from this one! I watched a tv show that this kind of reminded me of...I think it was called Blacklist or something like that where they had an older female "cleaner" come in and take out the trash so to speak and I loved it to! I also enjoyed how she didn't really lie to the man but didn't tell him the truth either.....she never said she wasn't gonna kill him. lol (hide spoiler)]

[JenniferJ]

I'm Not Ted - (view spoiler)[ Liked this one to! Funny how he can fail so many times! 3 stars (hide spoiler)]

[JenniferJ]

Final Course - (view spoiler)[So so good! Kudos for Millie! Loved the way this one turned out and I feel they all got just what they deserved! 5 stars for this one! I didn't see that coming though! I thought maybe since she was blind she may was able to sympathize with the creatures and they understand each other and be able to communicate but had no idea how things really turned out! Loved it! (hide spoiler)]

[JenniferJ]

Copy Shop - (view spoiler)[ I liked this one but it was pretty guessable as to what was going to happen. Can you imagine if this was for real? 3.5 stars (hide spoiler)]

[JenniferJ]

Dust - (view spoiler)[Another one I enjoyed! It had almost a gothic feel to it! 4 stars (hide spoiler)]

[JenniferJ]

Butterfly Island - (view spoiler)[Meh, ones like this and the lion just aren't my cuppa tea. 2 stars (hide spoiler)]



Okay so finally finished and overall it was a nice selection of short stories. There were only a couple that just didn't hit on much for me. I'm giving it 4 stars. Some I hope she will exaggerate on in the future and bring us more action from them.

[Trisha]

YES! There were quite a few I'd love as full novels!
So glad you liked this set too!

[Elyse]

My review