Lead Review

• Book: A Sliver of Darkness
• Location: World
• Author: C J Tudor

Review Author: Tina Hartas

These 11 stories have come out of Lockdown imagination. They are varied and dark and at some level often quite reflective.

What makes this a particularly interesting collection is that the author shares her thought processes about inspiration and writing prior to each story, so it feels like a very personal and engaging way to draw the reader in. This is a beautifully produced book and acts as interim entertainment whilst the author completes her next novel – various personal issues and the pandemic derailed her agreed publishing schedule.

I enjoyed the first story immensely about a world event which has caused mayhem (hello pandemic fall-out), and here there is a cruise liner with passengers who may never disembark. They are corralled aboard ship, with nowhere to go (sound familiar?). It is dystopian with people adhering to the strictures of command, and if they don’t kowtow there are severe consequences. That feels almost like it has political resonance given some of the authoritarian regimes in certain countries and given the pandemic strictures. Hotel California this is not but it all sounds rather familiar.

The Block, set in Nottingham, which the author knows well, really hooked into my love of urbexing, as a group of young people explore a derelict tower, where the lift spins into wheezing life… Inspired by a trip to Turkey and a boat trip an island, Butterfly Island channels The Beach by Alex Garland – the author say that she was inspired by a trip to Turkey, but the story has clearly been transposed to Thailand. Oh, and there is just a hint of Lord of the Flies by William Golding.

 

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