3.5/5 stars (rounded up to 4 on here)

Thank you NetGalley, Macmillan audio and Minotaur Books for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!
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This was a debut novel and while this might not be my favorite debut novel this year, I am still excited to see what this author has for us in the future! I loved the dual timelines of the book and going back in time to see all the events that lead up the traumatic event that the FMC experienced back in college. I felt like this gave us such a good understanding of who the characters were back then and how the previous events have impacted them in the current events. I found myself questioning if I was trying to finish the book just so I could figure out what happened, or if I was really invested in the book because it felt slow at times. At least until the end where the ending felt a bit rushed. I wished the ending was flushed out a bit more because I do feel like there were parts of the book that were a lot of repeat and could have been taking out and added to the ending a bit more. However, I loved how the author portrayed the FMC with trauma and showing readers how trauma can affect people differently. Overall, it was still a book that I was invested in and could see people enjoying if they wanted a more lighter read that had some mystery and an unreliable narrator.

This book had so many things that I love in a thriller. Academia setting. Unreliable narrator. Dual timeline. Whodunnit mystery. Perfect recipe for a 5⭐️ for me. The lost memories trope felt like it went on just a touch too long so I deducted one star. The writing was great. There was a great small twist about 50% in that I didn’t see coming. I kind of had a feeling about the very final twist but I loved the build up to it. The secondary characters in this one are great! Especially in the epilogue too! Overall, I really liked this debut book. It hooked me from the first chapter and was a great quick read! I can’t wait to see what the author does next!

Read if you like:
▫️academia settings
▫️unreliable narrator
▫️intriguing twists
▫️satisfying conclusion

Wow! What a whirlwind of a debut from Jenny Hollander. I read probably 50-75 thrillers a year and it’s gotten hard to truly surprise me with twists, but I really didn’t see this one coming.

This dual timeline POV was a great way to present the narrator’s memory gaps in the traumatic “Scarlet Christmas” event that the novel revolves around. It allowed her processing of them in therapy in the present timeline to meet up with the actual event itself in the past timeline for a dramatic climax at the end that will make you want to start the book over to see if you can find the breadcrumbs!

Expertly woven and such a fun, twisty read! Thank you to NetGalley for this digital ARC.

I want to say thank you to Netgalley and Jenny Hollander for this advance copy.


Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead was one of the best thrillers I have read in a while. The other does a fantastic job at writing a main character who suffers from PTSD and is shaped by a tragic event.

Our main character, Charlie, is a British grad student who gets into her top-choice journalist school. Everything is going perfectly in her new life as a NYC resident till one tragic snowy night. This tragic event leads to trauma, causing her to have black holes in memory as well as severe PTSD. When the tenth anniversary approaches the news, one of her past colleagues is creating a movie, which plagues her.

Charlie has to decide what is more important: living her new life haunted by her past or facing the truth her mind is hiding from her. She knows she must stop the film from telling the truth she is afraid of being discovered- but who can she trust if she cannot trust her memories?

Overall, this was such a good read; I was on the edge of my seat throughout it. The ending was so unpredictable, and I enjoyed that aspect. I also enjoyed how the MC wasn't your typical brave fighter; she was terrified and plagued by her past. It gave a glimpse at how trauma can affect your memory and day-to-day life.

Charlie Colbert was a British grad student in NYC who survives "Scarlet Christmas" in her 20s. In her 30s, she is living the high life, editor of a fashion mag, and engaged to a publishing heir. Now someone wants to do a movie and dredge up her past. The premise of the book was good. I can even take an unreliable narrator; as after all, trauma has a way of blunting recall of 100% truth. But for a seemingly smart successful woman in therapy, she immediately turns into a weepy, booze guzzling, and benzo popping twit overnight. Seriously, who was prescribing this woman not one, not two, but three benzos (diazepam, lorazepam, and clonazepam)? What pharmacist was filling those scripts? There are state prescription monitoring programs for a reason! I just couldn't like such a sad sack female character, and I started hoping her past would put her out of my misery.

Overall, it was a decently written debut, and I would read a subsequent book from this author. But, I hope there is a stronger, smarter, and more loveable heroine for which to root for in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books for opportunity to read and review this ARC.

This was a really honest look at PTSD and how difficult it is to fight past trauma. It’s sort of a mystery thriller but I do think, if you’re looking solely for that, you may be bored with the heavy emphasis on mental health. I wasn’t; I like when books are realistic.

My only issue with the book is the characters in grad school read a little immature/young. I kept reading it as being set in college and I think that worked better.

Overall, 4.5 rounded up. It was compelling.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for this ARC of Everyone Who Can Forgive Me is Dead. British grad student Charlie gets in to her top choice journalist school, but pretty soon her NYC dreams are shattered by a traumatic experience. The trauma causes many black holes in her memory and she is dealing with the consequences as the 10 year anniversary approaches with news of a film based on the events. Charlie needs to stop the film from telling the truth she is afraid of being discovered- but who can she trust if she cannot trust her memories? This was such a fun book that kept me guessing and not ever sure who was telling the truth!

This didn’t really work for me. I liked the first half, and it kept me invested, but then it fell flat for me. I felt like the stakes felt higher than they actually were and the twists weren’t really earned. But I did really like the idea of this story and thought it was well written. Definitely check it out if you like dual timelines with an unreliable narrator.

This started off so strong. There was a great mysterious atmosphere, fantastic British narration, and a plot that was engaging. I had to know what happened on Scarlet Christmas and with Charlie’s involvement. The book was fast-paced, which kept me wanting to listen. I do feel like the ending was a bit convoluted and wish it hadn’t been so drawn out. Overall, it’s a popcorn thriller and can easily be read quickly.

I was sucked in from the very beginning. I wouldn't call it a thriller, per se, but it is an interesting mystery, and I felt compelled to find out what happened.

Scarlet Christmas - the worst day of Charlie's life. She can't remember what happened, but is trying, if only to stop new publicity from ruining her life. Told in alternating time lines THEN (before and during Scarlet Christmas) and NOW, this debut novel moves along and keeps you interested in the various characters actions and motivations.

"What if everything you know about the worst night of your life turns out not to be true?

Nine years ago, with the world's eyes on her, Charlie Colbert fled. The press and the police called Charlie a "witness" to the nightmarish events at her elite graduate school on Christmas Eve—events known to the public as "Scarlet Christmas"—though Charlie knows she was much more than that.

Now, Charlie has meticulously rebuilt her life: She's the editor-in-chief of a major magazine, engaged to the golden child of the publishing industry, and hell-bent on never, ever letting her guard down again. But when a buzzy film made by one of Charlie's former classmates threatens to shatter everything she's worked for, Charlie realizes how much she's changed in nine years. Now, she's not going to let anything—not even the people she once loved most—get in her way."

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

This was so entertaining and I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next. I loved the dual timelines between the past and now and how things unfolded. There were some parts that felt a bit disjointed or glossed over but overall I really enjoyed it.

If you enjoy dark academia and Christmas horror stories you should check this one out.

I feel like I’ve read this before: past violent act involving lead character as a young adult - how her future is impacted as the truth comes out. It was…fine for me, not very memorable..

Charlie's captivating journey unfolds in a compelling narrative, keeping me on the edge with suspense and moments of intense tension. It was page-turning experience of trauma healing, offering a poignant exploration of resilience.
While the story grips with its compelling elements, the conclusion, though rushed, leaves a lingering desire for a more satisfying resolution.

Overall, a riveting read that resonates, despite the hurried ending. I’d recommend this to anyone who is looking for a physiological suspense more so than a thriller.

Thank you so much for the ARC of this title. For a debut thriller, I thought the premise and plot was very good. The dual timelines helped keep me wondering what would be revealed, and I liked going back and forth (this part was done well). Where it lost me was the pacing. It started strong, but then became repetitive and much slower paced in the middle, and then all of a sudden we were at the end. For me thrillers need to be pretty quickly paced throughout, and this one was unable to keep my focused interest. I think this will absolutely have an audience, but compared to some other recent thrillers it missed the mark a bit for me.

Jenny Hollander creates a page-turning adventure with a then-and-now format written flawlessly. As a young woman battles with herself to reveal the truth about a tragic event years ago. As her memory of that night starts to come through she struggles with the lie she feels she has told others. Charlie constructs her story during that traumatic event only to find out she was wrong—an interesting view of what happens to one's mind in a traumatic event. Holland intertwines the plot magnificently and keeps one highly engaged in every chapter. This was hard to put down novel and it did not disappoint. As hints were subtly given and yet I did not forsee the ending until it all unfolded in the last chapters. Thanks, NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read a wonderful mystery that I will inform others to read.

Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead is Jenny Hollander's debut thriller about Charlie Colbert, a woman who survived an attack on Christmas Eve while attending graduate school, which was dubbed "Scarlet Christmas" by the media and captured the nation's attention. The novel slowly reveals the life that she has since built and what actually happened that fateful night.

I was really looking forward to this one and the first half of my notes say a lot of things like "so deliciously good" and "totally caught up in this story", but what started out a five star read didn't end up that way for me. EWCFID has a lot of things I like - an unnerving atmosphere and constant suspense, a true crime feel, an unreliable narrator, dual timelines, and juicy secrets waiting to be revealed.

My main problems with Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead have to do with the end of the novel. The main twist came too early and then too much time was spent on the epilogue, wrapping everything up neatly with a bow. The explanation for what happened was not only confusing in the way it was written, but it was also a big, uninspired letdown. Also, I wish the past storyline had been expanded so that equal amounts of time were spent between the two.

Overall, Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead is a fine first outing and I would likely read another book by the author.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Jenny Hollander, and Netgalley for an advance digital copy. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own and given voluntarily.

3 stars

Recommended for readers of:
Psychological Thrillers and Suspense, Mysteries, General Fiction, Women's Fiction, True Crime, Contemporary Fiction

This slow burn psychological thriller focuses on the life of Charlotte (“Charlie”) Colbert almost a decade after she and her grad school friends experience a horrific act of violence at the hands of a classmate. Her memories of that tragic event, now referred to as “Scarlet Christmas”, are blocked, which leads her to believe that she was more involved than she can remember.

When the sister of one of the victims wants to create a movie revealing the “true story”, all that Charlie has built for herself after the event - her editor-in-chief job, her engagement to the heir of a prestigious publishing company, and her perfectly composed front - are on the brink of collapse. She has to figure out what happened that night and break through the black holes of her memory to learn the truth. Alternating between past and present, the reader uncovers bits and pieces of the tragedy along with Charlie, leading up to the moment when all is finally revealed.

This was a quick read for me. As a reader, I really did feel like I was in the dark for most of the book…with the alternating timelines giving small glimpses of the truth along the way. I wasn’t a huge fan of Charlie’s character, if I’m being honest. But her character is grappling with trauma, grief, and fear, and her reactions demonstrate that. The twists were not as shocking in nature for me, and I did have some inkling as to where the story was headed. I did enjoy the ending, which was kept a little open, but pointed towards healing.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Minotaur Books for this advanced copy, in exchange for my honest review.

**Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press-Minotaur, and Jenny Hollander for an ARC of this book!**

You've heard of White Christmas...Green Christmas...but have you ever heard of SCARLET Christmas?

Charlie Colbert's here to tell you about it. Well...what she can REMEMBER about it, anyway. See, 9 years ago on Christmas Eve, Charlie was attending college at the prestigious Carroll school, surrounded by a group of friends that felt like family, until that one terrible night...where 3 of them died. Charlie fled the scene, making her an immediate suspect, but she somehow manages to escape the law and maintain her innocence, due in large part to a huge gap in her memory.

In our '9 years after the tragic event' present day, Charlie has managed to rebuild her life in a significant way: she's editor in chief at a well-respected magazine C, and she's engaged to Tripp, a handsome richie-rich boy who is set to help keep her safely ensconced in a comfortable life. When the sister of one of the victims of the murders reappears, however, and Charlie discovers she is setting out to make a MOVIE about that awful night...all of the fears and panic has about that night and the gaping holes in her memory come flooding back. Why CAN she only remember such tiny fragments about the timeline of that night? And why does she have a sinking suspicion that SHE might have had something to do with the bloodbath? An once this filmmaker begins digging around...will opening night mean a final curtain call on Charlie's shiny new life?

There's no way around it, so I'll just come out and say it: when by the end of a book, you discover the best thing about it was the TITLE? There's just no way to feel good about that. From the very beginning, it became evident that this was going to be a bit messy and elusive as a read...which in principle isn't a deal breaker for me, especially in a story like this one. The narrator has memory issues: of COURSE we as readers are going to be left in the dark, struggling to put pieces together, make educated guesses, fill in the blanks until we are let in on the secrets somewhere down the line, often AS the main character figures them out.

But there is a difference between purposefully messy and just simply incoherent...and this book too often fell FIRMLY in the second category.

First off, this story is full to bursting with unlikable, rambling characters. I had so much trouble caring about ANY of them, even our MC. They were all so bizarrely written, it felt like an adult trying to hang out with the Gen Z set and using slang words completely out of context...until all the kids stop what they're doing and stare blankly over at them until they shrink back into the corner. We were told over and over again how British Charlie was, although I'm not sure WHAT relevance that had to the plot to be such an important fixture of the story. Everyone constantly brought up everyone else's accents and affects as if none of these college kids had ever seen a person slightly different than themselves before...and it just made the whole thing feel OFF.

On top of this, Charlie's memories are tied to whatever she discovers with her therapist Nori, and when I say I feel sorry for Nori...it's not an understatement. The sessions were almost as painful as the plot in general and twice as pointless. I also couldn't understand how Charlie was able to simply gloss over this high-profile crime and tragedy and move effortlessly into a new life...it's mentioned that her new magazine KNOWS who she is...so as editor-in-chief of a well-known magazine, she was hoping to somehow hide in the background? It really didn't make any sort of sense. Charlie also thinks she has pull with Stephanie, the sister of one of the victims, who is at the helm of the film...and I have no idea why she would think this or why anyone believes her about ANYTHING, frankly.

Of course, once we get to our 'big reveals' at the end all is explained...but in a pseudo-heartwarming way, we are presented with a sort of saccharine ending where I think we are supposed to feel sorry for Charlie (?), followed by almost an ENTIRE chapter, for no reason whatsoever, about her new dog. I'll be honest, when I first started reading this particular chapter, it was a bit unclear it was even ABOUT a dog...I thought I somehow had missed Charlie having a CHILD. As grateful as I was for this not to be accurate, it still made me laugh...but at the end of this 'thriller,' I don't think I should have been laughing. We also find out it is Charlie's 35th BIRTHDAY which seems laughable to me...at 36, this character read a lot more like 15 than 35.

Sometimes the cover of a book can feel like a lot like a movie trailer, where sometimes all you get is a couple of quick pictures, a title, and a release date to whet your appetite. If all of the pretense is enough to draw you in, you might buy a ticket, grab your popcorn, and expect a certain level of entertainment to come your way for the next hour or two. But in the case of EWCFMID (yup, it's even long as an acronym!) an attention-grabbing title just couldn't make the steep price of admission worth it.

2.5 stars

#EveryoneWhoCanForgiveMeIsDead @MinotaurBooks #smpinfluencer

Jenny Hollander's Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead is an enthralling and thrilling narrative that will captivate you from beginning to end. This mesmerizing book is brimming with ingenious turns, a masterfully constructed storyline, razor-focused prose, and an immersive journey that will leave you spellbound.

3.5* What a catchy title!! This is exciting as a debut for this author. I started this and put it down over a three month period, so now that it is done I must say I did enjoy it. I need the main character's therapist, Noor...with her odd therapy sessions, but when you are working with an unreliable narrator with a distorted memory or a good liar you have to be clever in this endeavor. A fun Christmas party is labeled as the "Scarlet Christmas" after three people were slaughtered. Charlie cannot remember what happened after the police wanted her to be a witness to the nightmare. She blacked out so She lied about what happened because she thinks she had something to do with it. Is she guilty or a good liar?
Charlie, ten years later, has a nose job and different hair color to change her appearance from this ordeal. She has moved up in society as an editor-in-chief of a magazine company and engaged to the wealthy and handsome Tripp. She knows to never let her guard down in case she is discovered.
Her nightmare is about to hit the big screen when one of her friend's sisters decides to make a movie out of it. Charlie is afraid of what they will make of her story and will realize she has lied about it.
It started off strong and I thought it was worth riding it out to see what really happened. I did rush the ending and might have enjoyed it more had I not.
Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!