Nie-fantastyka:
»C.J.Tudor „Ostatnia batalia”«

Informacje na temat książki C.J.Tudor "Ostatnia batalia", która ukazała się nakładem wydawnictwa Czarna Owca na początki czerwca 2025 roku.

https://www.fahrenheit.net.pl/ksiazki/o-ksiazkach/nie-fantastyka/c-j-tudor-ostatnia-batalia/

#Fahrenheit_zin #CzarnaOwca #książka #AnnaBrzezińska #MartaStochmiałek #TomaszWyżyński #WydawnictwoCzarnaOwca #MaciejKorbasiński #CJTudor #Ostatniabatalia #TheGathering

#BookReview: The Gathering by C.J. Tudor @PenguinUKBooks #TheGathering #BookTwitter #booktwt #BookX #BookSky #damppebbles

“WELCOME TO DEADHART. ALASKA. POPULATION 673. LIVING. A boy is found with his throat ripped out, the blood drained from his body. It’s not the first such killing, and the town knows who to bl…

damppebbles.com
Just finished "The Chalk Man" by CJ Tudor. My copy had a double cover to showcase all the rapturous quotes the novel has earned, so I'll get the obvious question out of the way: no, it isn't that good, and I suspect Tudor's day job as a journalist has a lot to do with the book's media reception.

It's not much of a horror novel either, despite Tudor being heavily indebted to King fare like "The Body" (the actual name of the story referred to as "Stand By Me" in the linked review) and IT. There are plenty of horrible things happening to innocent people and animals, and at first the reader is poked in the direction of a supernatural explanation for the crimes, but Tudor's heart really isn't in it. By the halfway mark you know you're actually reading a crime novel, and anyone looking for that beautiful weirdness that is the hallmark of a lot of good horror needs to direct their search somewhere else. Many of Tudor's effects are hackneyed, and I really wish writers would stop automatically using old folk's homes as loci for horror. Ageing and infirmity are worthy sources of terror, but I've lost count of how many times these places are described as lonely hells smelling of piss and boiled cabbage, packed with silent zombies and uncaring carers. On the plus side, at least Tudor endows a couple of the old folk with personalities and is committed to exploring the theme of ageing. In fact, if there is a horror stalking this book it is dementia itself, a big white chalk scribbling over human minds like a malevolent child, though Tudor's treatment of it isn't nuanced or original.

As for style, forget it. The late Christopher Fowler once described Stephen King as having all the style of an orthopedic boot, and while nowadays I'm sure you can get some very nice orthopedic boots, most of King's progeny remain resolutely pedestrian. "Fit for purpose and suitably blokey" is the best you can say, and it's not overly wordy (unless you count the overstating of points and the endless repetitions of childhood turns of phrase, also one of King's weaknesses as a novelist.) And don't expect any original imagery or metaphors.

However, as a crime novel it's decent. Whodunnit-wise, it's not watertight - there are places where too much of the answer is fed to the reader - but it moves fast, especially in the second half, where the nostalgia fades out and the crime element really takes hold. The villain is too hammy to be frightening, but the rest of the adult characterization is good. The narrator himself, a middle-aged loner with hoarding tendencies, particularly stands out, and it's really his voice that keeps you interested. Unfortunately, the book alternates between Kid Narrator and Adult Narrator, and Kid Narrator isn't as interesting. When I bought the novel, I'd read that it was about a gang of children who send secret messages to each other using chalk figures, and I was hoping for a modern version of "Talking To Strange Men" by Ruth Rendell. If this book had succeeded better at depicting the grip of secret ritual on its bunch of kids, it could have been great. But you don't ever really feel the fascination here.

On the plus side, I've definitely been a lot more bored reading horror novels in my time, and I'm still thinking about getting a cheap copy of "The Burning Girls", another Tudor novel. I just won't come to it with such high hopes.

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/cj-tudor/the-chalk-man/

#BookReviews #Horror #HorrorBooks #CJTudor
THE CHALK MAN | Kirkus Reviews

Murder, mayhem, and chalk figures in a sleepy English village.

Kirkus Reviews
In my new interview with author C.J. Tudor, she talks about her new thriller — sorry, her new chiller — "The Drift."
https://paulsemel.com/exclusive-interview-the-drift-author-c-j-tudor/
📖❄️🌨️
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#CJTudor #CJTudorInterview #CJTudorTheDrift #CJTudorTheDriftInterview #Books #Reading #AuthorInterview #AuthorInterviews #Thriller #Chiller
Exclusive Interview: "The Drift" Author C.J. Tudor ... .

Exclusive Interview: "The Drift" Author C.J. Tudor \ In which she discusses her new thriller, er chiller.

paulsemel.com

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