Based on the synopsis, this sounded like the type of thriller I always gravitate too. The premise sounded strong and interesting, and I had hoped it would be very fast-paced. Unfortunately, the story fell flat for me. I didn't feel like the characters were strong, I found the main character of Charlotte to be very whiny, self-centered (which is strange since she's constantly talking about her fiance's family who is very egotistical), and honestly, annoying.

The chapters felt too long and didn't hold my attention either. There was one twist towards the 60% mark that was good, but the main twist of the story felt rushed and a bit out of the blue. I kept going with the book because I wanted to know what actually happened the night of Scarlet Christmas, and while the ending was good, I was definitely underwhelmed.

In all, this book read more like contemporary drama than a mystery/thriller.

Thank you Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead is a true mystery! From trying to decipher what exactly happened on Scarlet Christmas to determining which characters died, as referenced in the title, the reader is drawing conclusions to find these answers and more, all from an unreliable narrator!

I especially enjoyed the therapy scenes which not only normalized mental health and adult trauma but also served as an important catalyst in the plot and protagonist’s evolution.

If you are in the mood to get lost in a tangled mystery featuring a haunting secret you likely won’t solve until the very end , then this book is for you!

This was the first first thriller / mystery book I picked up in several months. Unfortunately, it missed the mark for me by a lot. I felt like the story starts off interesting as you see the main character with her perfect life and psyche slowly crumbling. Slowly we learn she's hiding a huge secret that she's unwilling to even think about.

This goes on for ages where we get flashbacks that don't really connect well to what's happening to the present. It drags on out for a while and then culminates to a big climax that I just didn't feel any urgency in. I expected the characters to leave more of an impression on me since they were all in some way or another involved with the big mystery, but I really couldn't even place who some of the characters were by the climax.

[2.5]

The writing is fantastic, but I ultimately had to DNF because of the inspirational disabled sister. When the only disabled people present in a book are there to inspire the MC and give their life meaning, it's just a no from me.

I wanted to love this. However I felt the characters were average and typical. There wasn't much depth to the characters and the entire story was predictable and unoriginal.

I loved the suspense and slow reveal of what happened during the Scarlet Christmas event. The author teases out the reveal keeping you guessing till the end. Though the characters are not always very likable, I was still pulled into their story. This author's debut has me waiting for more. 4.5 stars.

Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead by Jenny Hollander
Genre: thriller
Format: eARC

I DNFed this one at 44%. I really liked the idea of this one, but I couldn’t get invested.

Pros:
- short chapters
- interesting premise
- flashbacks (grad school and present day)
- Hollywood aspect (making a movie out of the story)
- journalism aspect
- therapy representation
- quick read (under 300 pages)

Cons:
- didn’t hold my attention
- couldn’t connect with the main character

I really need to be hooked by 25% and find the main character intriguing enough for me to get invested in a thriller. I gave this one a little longer because it seemed like it had potential, but I sadly couldn’t get into it. I think others may like it - it just wasn’t for me!

Thank you to Minotaur Books for my eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really liked Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead when I started but the more I read the less it captured my attention. When the truth of the incident at the school was finally revealed, I felt tricked. One of the worst endings I think I have ever read in my whole life. Definitely not worth the time I put into it and I skimmed the last 30%.

Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Author: Jenny Hollander

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: 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.

My Thoughts: This was a really intense, psychological thriller and well written for a debut novel. Almost a decade ago, Charlie Colbert escaped the most terrifying event of her life, known as “Scarlet Christmas.” She has risen above the odds and has become a successful editor-in-chief and engaged to another successful man. When one of Charlie’s classmates was to embody the Scalet Christmas into a film, it starts to bring up memories for Charlie, not all good. The continuum between then and now begins to cross and Charlie is forced to remember to not let anything in front of her happiness. Will this backfire on her? Or will she actually remember what happened that night? Will digging in her memories reveal that she may have had something to do with the tragic event?

The story was narrated in past (Scarlet Christmas tense) and current, with little snippets of press announcements and therapy sessions. The characters were developed and not all of them were likable. The author did a great job with the twist reveals, some were unpredictable, although some you could see coming. The prose was on point. The plot evolved as it should, keeping the classic whodunit with reach, not going too far fetched. However, I felt like we needed more pieces earlier, it was a little slow paced. Towards the end, some of the passages were unclear and it was hard to determine what was Charlie’s fog and what was actually happening in the story. There were times that I had to reread passages to make sure I understood what was happening.

Hollander has established herself as a solid psychological thriller author and I know we can expect amazing things from her in the future. The ending was not what I had expected, but was still satisfying. There were some plot holes towards the midpoint, most of them resolved, however, there were still somethings left unturned. Overall, I liked this story. It kept my interest, it was captivating, gripping, and twisty. I would recommend to other readers.

I liked the majority of the book but it did feel a little slow in the middle. I didn’t see the last twist coming, which I always appreciate in a book.

While I really liked the pacing of the story, I found the characters to be unlikable. The mystery was strong enough to keep me reading and I loved how it ended.

Nine years ago, Charlie and her friends were the victims of the Scarlet Christmas, and not everyone made it out alive. In the time since, Charlie has built a highly successful life for herself. But the gaps in her memory still bother her, and with the upcoming anniversary, she is more uncertain than ever. In a book filled with twists, turns, secrets, and lies, will the truth ever come out?

Told through a dual timeline, the reader is taken through Charlie's experiences. The story is intense, steeped with secrecy and raw emotions. I really enjoyed Charlie's character, both past and present. It was very interesting to see how she handled (or didn't handle) her traumas. The twists were good and kept me on my feet. However, at times the book was a little slow. I also feel like even after the end, we didn't get clarity on what happened to one of the victims (intentionally vague to avoid spoilers). Overall, a good book that could have used a little more fleshing out on the intricate plot details.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for this ARC. I am leaving this review voluntarily and all views expressed are my own.

The concept of this book is what totally drew me to it. A group of college students and several of them wind up dead. The event is dubbed Scarlet Christmas and the reports don’t quite match up with the events of that day. Charlie believes, for the 10 years that follow, that she is the one that did it because she had blacked out. She pushes everyone from that event away to try and protect herself but they are reunited when she finds out one of the friends is producing a movie to “set the record straight.”

This was definitely a page turner and I had a hard time putting it down. I have to say that I was a little disappointed in the anticlimactic way that the truth was revealed. It was all this build up with very little bang for what really happened that day. But it all ties up nicely in the end. Overall, it was a good book, right along the lines of what I like to read, but just a bit of a disappointment in the way it was revealed.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press Minotaur Books for the gifted copy through NetGalley.

I love a good slow burn psychological thriller, and this novel delivered. Complicated characters and a banging plot make for a great experience. As someone who has had traumatic amnesia, I felt like the topic was covered honestly and earnestly.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for providing this novel in exchange for an unbiased review.

This book was very hard to get into, and seemed, slow, long, and drawn out. I could not connect to any character, which made it even harder to continue with the book. This lack of connection, and slowness lead to me struggling through the book. At first I thought the premise of the book was amazing, but the execution was not there.

The narrator, Marisa Calin, did an ok job of narrating this book. Her vocals for some characters sounded like cartoon characters. This made it hard to listen at times. I am not sure I would listen to another book narrated by Marisa.

I want to thank Netgalley and St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books for an ARC of this book and Macmillan Audio for an advanced listening copy of the audiobook.

Thank you, Netgalley and publisher, for the digital ARC.

I wanted to like this one, but it was not for me. The MC was hard to connect to, and I found the way that she kept bringing up accents odd and annoying after a couple of times.

A slow burn physiological thriller. Everyone who can forgive me is dead had the potential to be a really great book but fell a little short for me. The plot was engaging but had that already been done feel. I was engaged and did enjoy the story but something was just missing for me to love it.

I have already purchased this title. It made me want to read it quickly, so that I discovered the end of the book. The author did a good job hiding the truth of the story, though I did feel bad for the main character at the end, as she had lived for years with the conviction that she had done something that she hadn't. It was a very tidy ending, which was interesting. I would have liked to see her keep some of the elements from her new life, like the fiancé, and integrate them into the elements of her old life. I would think that that would indicate growth, though I suppose that that is the point, that she didn't really grow and instead was stuck at the moment of the trauma.

When Memories Are a Glitch, The Present is Adrift

“Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead,” is a novel of reflection on psychological trauma, by Jenny Hollander, that delves into the unresolved grief and suppressed memories of a young woman in the aftermath of a horrific college tragedy where multiple victims died and others were injured.

British exchange student, Charlie Colbert, is a grad school Journalism major in NYC who witnessed her boyfriend and best friend brutally stabbed by another student before passing out. Her memories of the event are blurred and confused. Charlie’s visions are of insurmountable red blood splattered everywhere. She hazily recalls squeaking window hinges and her name pleadingly being shouted.

However, Charlie’s imperfect memories of the events of “Scarlet Christmas,” as the media dubbed it, haunt her every waking and dreaming hour. Through years of psychotherapy, Charlie tries to relive and remember what truly happened because she believes that deep down she does know the truth, but may have lied to authorities to protect herself or someone else.

Nearing the 10-year anniversary of the horrific college “bloodbath,” news reports say that a movie about “Scarlet Christmas” is in production. Charlie’s anxiety about the past is tantamount to Vesuvius erupting. She can’t eat, sleep or concentrate on anything besides the possibility that her buried fears and lies will be exposed.

JoyReaderGirl1 graciously thanks NetGalley, Author Jenny Hollander, and Publisher Minotaur Books, an imprint of St. Martin’s Publishing Group, for this advanced reader’s copy (ARC) for review.

This was a decent enough book, with plausble red herrings, but some aspects felt a bit leaden to me. A slower paced story than was necessary I guess. I honestly didn't believe how long a process the therapy aspect took. I feel she would have remembered what happened sooner than she did.