The pacing and balance between these three groups was very well done. We have a main POV character in each group - Hannah in the bus, Meg in the cable car, and Carter in the ski chalet. There's a lot of other characters in these three scenarios so having one main POV to anchor the reader works out really well. The pacing for this was phenomenal and Tudor starts each group off at just the right spot for immediate intrigue. Each storyline is different enough that they are all intriguing in their own way which really made me want to keep turning the pages. Tudor also does a great job of staying with each group just long enough for some substantial plot or character development before moving to a new group and this really kept the pacing feeling snappy.
The setting was phenomenal. I love an isolation thriller and this really delivered on a number of fronts. Each group is isolated inside a structure (bus, cable car, chalet) but they are also isolated because of the weather. The winter storm is so atmospheric and Tudor dribbles in reminders to the reader about the threat that a snowstorm would pose to these characters. The close quarters of these different settings also helps amp up the interpersonal tension which is one of my favorite aspects of isolation stories. As we progress in the story, Tudor really amps up the environmental stakes as well as the interpersonal ones.
The horror elements in this were great and really felt realistic for this story. There was a good amount of gore/body horror in the absolute best way. The scenes with the gore were really used to punctuate the story and ramped up the tension really well. These moments are used to show the reader just how much danger these characters are in. There's also some great creature horror which I was surprised we didn't see on page more. However, the scenes where we do get these creatures on page are really impactful and don't feel like they've been added in off-hand. We also get some horror elements related to how this virus impacts infected people and some medical procedure/testing horror.
I think the make-or-break moment for readers is going to be how they feel about the reveal of how these three groups of people are connected. I initially wasn't thrilled with the reveal, but as it continued to play out I ended up really enjoying it by the end. We get the reveal around the 80% mark so then we have the last 20% of the book to see how that information changes our understanding of these situations the characters are in. I had a pretty strong guess going into this book as to what the connection between the groups would be, and I was way off base. Tudor does lay out a good amount of breadcrumbs and I think a lot of readers will figure it out earlier than when the book flat out tells us. I think the implications and how that reveal expands the plot going forward is where some readers might feel it is a little convenient. This book also uses one of my favorite mystery/thriller tropes that I can't say because it would be a spoiler but it is always fun when I stumble into a book that uses it.
Overall, this was a fantastic, atmospheric, and bloody read. I wasn't expecting so much gore/body horror going into this but Tudor really uses those moments for maximum impact and doesn't over rely on them. The setting and way these isolated situations impact these characters are fantastic and I loved the way the plots all tied together in the end.
Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the ARC.
Expected publication date is January 31, 2023
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