I was excited about the premise of this book but it unfortunately fell a bit flat for me and I felt the timeline and storytelling was a bit of a mess

I dnf'd this book at 20%. At 20 percent, all we know in the book is that a few people died and the story everyone knows isn't the truth or something. I'm frustrated because at this point, I would like to at least know some of the story about what happened that day or what people thought happened. Instead, all we see is a girl having a breakdown and trying to stop a movie. I don't even like any of the characters.

Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead by Jenny Hollander

Published: February 6, 2024
Minotaur Books
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Pages: 294
KKECReads Rating: 4/5
I received a copy of this book for free, and I leave my review voluntarily.

The method this story was told was engaging and entertaining. This is a book you sit down and finish. There is no stopping once you start.

The characters were well done. I enjoyed the alternating timelines. I do wish the big reveal was given more time and space.

The plot was well-developed until the end. I wish the ending were fleshed out a bit more. It did take a long time to get the build-up and reach the big moment.

I found this an easy read, and I like Jenny’s writing style. She tells a story in such a compelling way. The way things unfolded kept my attention.

I may reread this in a few months to see if things settle differently. I wanted to love this story, but the ending fell a bit flat for me. The build-up was fantastic, and the storytelling was top-notch.

In "Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead," Jenny Hollander crafts a tale of suspense that begins with a bang but fizzles out partway through. The story centers on Charlie Colbert, a woman who is still troubled by the events of "Scarlet Christmas," a fatal incident from her past. Hollander compiles a narrative that keeps readers guessing but ultimately falls short of its potential.

Right from the start, the book grabs readers with its interesting premise. As Charlie navigates the aftermath of "Scarlet Christmas," readers are drawn into her world of secrets. However, despite its promising start, the plot loses steam midway through. While the ending offers a sense of redemption, it fails to recapture the book's initial intrigue.

Each character is interesting in their own right, but none are particularly likable. While this adds depth to the story, it leaves readers searching for someone to root for. Overall, "Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead" is a good read, but falls short in the end. Hollander's storytelling keeps readers engaged, but the uneven pacing prevents the book from being great.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest and thoughtful review.

I wanted to like this book, but I really had a hard time getting into it. The beginning dragged, and kept trying to increase expense, but instead just took too long to get to anything important. I did not finish as a result.

3.5 stars, rounded up.

This book was very messy throughout the beginning and middle. It was also deceiving throughout most of it as well which made me annoyed. I really can't stand untrustworthy narrators and that's exactly what you have here. I don't even understand why the fmc acted the way that she did and the story she told the reader. It did nothing for the tale and made the book very confusing for me. I get that was supposed to be a twist, but I hated it.

Outside of that, I did enjoy this story because you're constantly wondering what actually happened. There's a campus murder and our fmc lied to the cops saying she saw everything and told people who the perps were, but deep down she wonders if maybe she was the perp. It was a tad unrealistic, but still interesting to see how it unfolded.

Nine years ago Charlie witnessed a brutal event dubbed "Scarlett Christmas"
Being the only "witness" to the events, Charlies version of the night is the only story anyone has ever heard.
But now a film vowing to "set the records straight" is getting a lot of press, and Charlie is worried the story she told, will start to unravel.

One time I was at my husbands office, sitting on the couch in the lobby reading.
All of a sudden I heard screeching tires and a car slammed into a fire hydrant right outside the lobby window. In the movies, water would shoot into the air, this is what I was expecting.
Instead the fire hydrant just toppled over... that is how I feel about this book.
I was promised shooting water, and instead I got a sad little fire hydrant laying down.

Ok, hear me out—I love the concept behind this book, but I could not be less excited about the execution. The main character was...fine....but her insistence on just, not sharing critical details with the people that matter (and also the reader) was kind of infuriating. I spent MANY chapters trying to figure out what the 'event' was that everyone was dancing around (which I think was the intended pacing) but by the time it actually all comes together, the actual event really fell flat. Also....

*SPOILERS*

Scarlet Christmas?? Like, we've all heard about the Red Wedding from GoT—be more creative. And the fact that the MC spent the entire book agonizing over something she *gasp* didn't actually do?? While a highly visible public figure—and coincidentally, the unknown killer—wants to make a movie about this event to "set the record straight"?? Comeonnnnnn has no one heard of letting sleeping dogs lie? And finally, HOW DOES EVERYONE KNOW EACH OTHER??

Maybe the actual intention of this book was just to rile me up.

Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead is a mind blowing, psychological thriller in which the reader has absolutely no idea where the plot is going and gleefully anticipates the next twist and turn as the pieces of this insane story are put together. Hollander puts the reader on a rollercoaster and doesn’t let them off until they are exhausted and completely spent and satisfied.

Charlie Colbert is a survivor. In college on Christmas Eve, she was a part of a horrific event at the school. Some of her friends died. It made the national news. It is notoriously known as The Scarlet Christmas. So, you can only imagine what happened…

But now, ten years later, Charlie is still trying to survive. Even though she has worked all those years to become the editor-in-chief of a prestigious magazine, she is still haunted by that young girl who saw what she thinks she saw that night, but can’t remember everything.

Back when it happened, Charlie was the only survivor who refused to talk to the press. When one of her best friends wrote a book about that night, she refused to even participate. Since then, she has distanced herself from those best friends whom she loved and adored.

And now, nearing the 10th anniversary of the incident, one of her classmates, a powerful woman in the media industry has decided to make a film of all things about what happened that night. And she announced there is more to what happened than has been said.

Now, you see, Charlie can’t let this movie happen. Yes, she has moved on. She is engaged to a very wealthy man and has a great life. But she is hiding horrible secrets about that night that even her therapist she’s been seeing for years doesn’t know about.

Now, for her own safety as well as that of her family and her fiancé’s very connected family she must do something she has never wanted to do. She must remember what really happened that night. Remember all those blocked out moments, even if it kills her, or someone else.

Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead is a nail-biting page turner with believe it or not some humor infused into the story. But you will not be disappointed with the complex surprise ending which will shock you!

Thank you #NetGalley #MinotaurPress #JennyHollander #EveryoneWhoCanForgiveMeIsDead for the advanced copy.

Special thanks to St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

I felt like this book has been done before, just worse. The main character was so unlikable. Her constant panic attacks and self-pity did not line up with her fast paced lifestyle as an editor.

This book was so slow going I put it down several times, and then the ending made no sense to me. When the building up of suspense doesn't match with the reveal, something is not right. 2 stars.

This book let me down so bad.
It started slow and for me it remained slow.
I didn't like any of the characters at all. It just didn't keep me engaged like I enjoy.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc.

3/5 stars

The premise of 'Everyone Who Can Forgive Me is Dead' is good. And if you've never read another novel about school vi0lence, you'll probably enjoy this reveal!

What I didn't enjoy is that this really feels like Luckiest Girl Alive.. in a different font. Right down to the rich boyfriend/fiance who doesn't really get her, her somewhat high-powered magazine job and desire to escape her financially unstable past... and last but not least, her unwillingness to talk about what really happened that night.

The reveals are different... but overall, I just felt like this has been done before. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

**Thank you to Minotaur Books & NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. I received this book for free, but all thoughts are my own. – SLR 🖤

This book was not one of my favorites. The premise sounded interesting…a group of college kids were killed and the main character can’t remember everything that happened.

The storytelling made me angry. The main character was so unlikable. I get she may have had PTSD but her constant panic attacks and woe is me whining didn’t align with her fast paced top editor lifestyle. I read about 75% of the story and still didn’t know what actually happened. A slow burn is ok, this was just snails pace. And then when the truth finally came out, it made absolutely no sense! The buildup didn’t match the reveal.

I really should have DNF but I wanted to know what happened. This book was a complete waste of my time.
Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC! This was certainly interesting and different from what I had expected. It moved very slowly in the beginning and I’m not sure if thriller was the right genre for the book, more like obscure lit fic.

This wasn’t my cup of tea, but it was unique and different which I appreciated!

I went into this book with high hopes that I was really going to enjoy it. I love when the main character has trauma and needs to figure out the truth. This one wasn't exactly how I would've wanted it to be. Charlie was a great main character and I really enjoyed her personality, but the execution of what really happened just fell a little flat for me. I figured out the "twist" pretty early on. Just an ok read for me.

*Thank you @minotaur_books for the #gifted galley in exchange for an honest review.*

Interesting mystery with a gorgeous cover and plot that instantly sucked me in. From the start, I really liked Charlie. You can tell she's barely holding herself together, even though a lot of things have gone really well for her. She's planning a wedding and working her dream job.

But the past just won't stay away. The mystery is instant - a movie is being hinted that's going to be made about a horrible moment in Charlie's life. She doesn't completely remember all that happened, but it was an awful night, one she isn't telling us.

Slowly, those that were around in the past gather back up. Charlie spirals farther and farther as she tries to control the uncontrollable. I really liked learning about the past and the now. I liked the text message chapters and the twists and turns. This one had me going , even though I saw a few things, I really liked the very end. It's a fun, dark read.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

This one started out as such a page turner. The story gives you crumbs about what happened on Scarlet Christmas but never reveals what really happened. I loved the slow burn at first but I felt like the plot started to fizzle because the mystery drug on too long. Then once the big reveal actually happened, it had some serious plot holes. I am so conflicted because I really got invested in the story but it frustrated me. Did I like it? Yes. Did I love it? No.

Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead by Jenny Hollander
#thriller #mystery
#NetGalley published 2/6/24
#stmartinspress

What exactly happened 9 years ago at the incident called Scarlett Christmas? Does Charlie remember everything properly? Who knows what did happen? Does Stephen really need to make that movie?

Charlie's story is told in 2 timeliness. Then and Now. As Now happens Charlie goes to Noor her therapist to help her unlock the memories from back Then. What really happened when she "blacked out"?

Because the timeliness switch back and forth quickly, the book itself moves along quickly as well. I really did enjoy this book. But I did take away 1/2⭐ bc something about the book kept bothering me. I can't put my finger on it. I would definitely pick up another book by JH!

#generalfiction #everyonewhycanforgivemeisdead #jennyhollander
#bookstagram #bookreview #bookrecommendation #booknerdsbookreview

Everyone Who Can Forgive Me is Dead has a familiar premise, but it's one I'm a fan of. A woman has done everything to put a terrible tragedy in her past behind her, but a pesky documentarian (sometimes it's a journalist or a podcaster) wants to put a spotlight on the case and ruin everything!!

The main character seemed to have amnesia or a muddled idea of what actually happened, which made this book quite different from a book with a very similar premise, The Luckiest Girl Alive. That book started slow and built to a dramatic conclusion, while this one started strong and I think fizzled a bit a the end.

Still, I will be curious to see what Jenny Hollander writes next!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the eARC.

I really was intrigued by this story and what was going on with Charlie. The mystery unfolded in a way I enjoyed.

But then the ending happened and I was so confused and felt a both overwhelmed and underwhelmed.

3 stars overall