What a dazzling debut! This was such an immersive and quick read and that title?! It’s just so intriguing, there’s no way you don’t pick this one up because of it!

I have a bit of mixed feelings on this one.

I’m a sucker for a well done unreliable narrator ✔️
I looooooooove a good halfway or 50% in explosive twist ✔️
Easily bingeable ✔️
And I relished in all of the wit and dark humor undertones ✔️

However, I do feel like this one ending up being a bit front heavy and started out super compelling and then kinda falls off and sorta trickles off near the end.

While not my favourite psychological thriller, still a chilling and entertaining mystery. I’ll be curious to see what she does next.

3.5 rounded to 4 for goodreads

This debut thriller started off strong but sort of fizzled on me and I wish I had gone with my gut and DNF'd when I first started getting bored. Just an okay read for me, definitely not one that will stick with me for long afterwards. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

3.5 stars ⭐️ A suspenseful thriller that was definitely an enjoyable read, but I feel like this plot has been done before and been done better.

This book started out in an intriguing way, but as it went along it just kind of fizzled.

Charlotte "Charlie" Colbert is a British expat living in NYC, she's the editor of a top magazine and engaged to Tripp. When she was in grad school, a horrific event nicknamed "Scarlet Christmas" occurred. Now, one of the survivors is set to make a movie about the events and Charlie does not want that to happen, because it will bring to light the fact that she lied about what happened when really she cannot remember. She is intent on talking to her therapist and figuring out exactly what did happen on that fateful night that left some of her fellow students dead.

I just didn't have buy in for the way everything played out, and I could have done without the rah-rah we all live happily ever after ending. One thing that made this book really not work for me was that we don't get to know any real details about Scarlet Christmas until almost the end, and even then it felt kind of disjointed, like I couldn't really picture what happened and why. The motivations of the people behind what happened seemed so out of the blue. And with all of the drugs and alcohol and more alcohol they were all consuming, it's a wonder anyone remembered anything about what happened.

This book was just okay. Nothing earth shattering and I will probably forget what happens fairly quickly. This is Hollander's debut novel, I would definitely read something else she writes in the future because I think she has potential. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator does a good job at portraying Charlie and her frenetic search for the truth.

While this book took me a little bit to get into, I am so glad that I stuck with it. The first half was a bit slow, but by the middle as the reader is able to start actually piecing things together, I couldn't read fast enough. I really liked Charlie as a character - I thought she was very raw and developed. Side characters, such as her family, really made me understand who she was a person. The ending was a pleasant surprise, and though overall a little predictable, I thoroughly enjoyed this read.

I enjoyed this thriller. It gave "luckiest girl alive" vibes with reliving a trauma and getting to the truth due to publicity surrounding the murder. I always like when a story toggles between now & then and thought the author did a good job of providing nuggets of information in both tenses. This is a book I would definitely pickup paperback. While I do enjoy getting a copy virtually/audibly, I think it's probably a better read on paper.

This was a mid story, so it gets a mid rating. It was definitely more suspense than thriller, I'd say. There were some interesting twists, but mostly you're simply stuck following the unlikable Charlie Colbert as she stumbles her way through making her privileged life unbearable for herself and the reader. Oh, and it was exhausting being reminded that Charlie was British constantly in the beginning of the book, but I suppose that's for physical readers. Since I had the audiobook, I was listening to a woman with a British accent remind me that she was from England multiple times in the first 5%.

Thank you to NetGalley, MacMillan Audio and Jenny Hollander for an audio ARC of Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead in exchange for an honest review.

I was very excited to listen to this audiobook as I'd been seeing it pop-up around social media. Unfortunately, I tried three times to finish this book, but ultimately it was a DNF. I got through roughly 60% of it, but it was too all over the place and confusing to keep up with. I kept waiting for it to get better, but at 60% through the book, it should have done it at that point. If it had only been the "all over the place" aspect, I might have gotten through it, but it wasn't even interesting enough for me to want to keep going.

I'm sorry! I obviously will not be recommending this one, but I believe in being positive on social media, so I won't be saying anything negative either. This will just go on my list of books that I just refrain from mentioning altogether.

The synopsis sounded great, but the follow-through was just severely lacking.

This was a bingeable read with a fantastic title. The alternating timelines were well used and left the reader wondering what happened all those years ago. I felt an emotional connection to Charlie - I could not imagine having the press at my door because of something I was a witness to. The writing was strong and the plot was interesting. I like how Hollander unfolded the mystery and there were a few twists I didn’t see coming. I can’t decide how I feel about the ending - it was neatly wrapped up but maybe too neat? I can’t decide. I alternated between reading and listening because I really wanted to know what happened!

Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead, by Jenny Hollander
This book had me guessing until the end. It's a journey though the protagonist's sanity. It's a sad story with a surprising ending. I think a lot of people will enjoy the audio book.

Charlotte ‘Charlie’ was a survivor of Scarlet Christmas, a mass campus murder that left several of her fellow grad students dead including her best friend, Cate. She had blacked out much of what had happened but had lied to the police about this at the time and had kept this a secret ever since, fearing what her role might have been in the killings.

Now it’s almost a decade later and Charlie is in therapy, still trying to move past it while refusing to try to dredge up those hidden memories. But when she learns Stephanie, Cate’s sister and a fellow classmate at the time, says she is making a documentary about the event because she is determined to put the real story out there, Charlie is determined to stop her,

For the most part, I enjoyed Everyone Who Can Forgive Me is Dead by Jenny Hollander. It’s a well-written slow burn thriller with plenty of red herrings and twists and turns and Charlie’s memory loss makes her an interesting unreliable narrator. However, as other reviewers have pointed out, so much of this tale and the ensuing events depended on cryptic statements by the characters and could have been resolved if someone had just asked the characters what they meant. And, well, I’m still not sure how I feel about the ending.

Still, the novel is very entertaining and kept me reading despite my criticisms. The story is told in the first person by Charlie and I followed along with the ebook while listening to the audiobook narrated by Marisa Calin who does a great job of projecting Charlie’s memory loss and fear of what might be discovered should the memories ever return. I’d like to thank Netgalley and both St Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

3.5

Oh my word Read this book. There were times when I was going to give up on it, because whiny and all that. But really it was an honest down to earth book. The ending was worth the read

This book was so good! It was definitely not what I expected. I was a bit confused at times regarding keep the characters and the story straight but really not much. Overall and excellent book

This book was intriguing. I like the mystery of not knowing what really went down, but I wish we had found out who died sooner, when I finally found who was and wasn't alive I was just confused. And when I found out how they died, I was even more confused. Maybe because the title suggests that EVERYONE SHOULD BE DEAD, and for most of the book I thought more people were dead than actually were. The twists were all pretty minor in my opinion, nothing truly shocking. And it wasn't told in a suspenseful way, as Charlie gets her memories back, things just start to unravel more and more quickly towards the end.

The audio was a bit confusing, with the back and forth of timelines and memories, but it worked for the story. I think all of the characters needed a bit more meat to them. They were very cookie cutter. It felt obvious to me that our MC wasn't the true villain the entire time, but when I found out who was, I wasn't invested enough in the characters to be surprised. There was only one death that truly made me feel anything, because it was so f'ing random.

Long story short, creative plot, mediocre execution. Also, a happy epilogue for a thriller is kind of meh. I don't need that, I want more twists!

I appreciate the opportunity to review this ARC!

I feel like perhaps I went into this book expecting a thriller and was just less than thrilled. I enjoyed the listening experience, but the last 25% of the book really fell flat for me. I found myself with 15 minutes left of the audio thinking, wow is that it? Had this book been marketed toward more of a contemporary literature fanbase, I do feel the writing stands out. I feel that many are going to pick this up expecting the twists and turns of popular thrillers today and be disappointed.

𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐌𝐞 𝐈𝐬 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐝
𝐁𝐲 𝐉𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐲 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫
𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐫: 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐮𝐫 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬
𝐏𝐮𝐛 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝟐.𝟔.𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑆𝑜𝑜𝑛!


Charlotte “Charlie” Colbert seems to have her life together. She’s an editor-in-chief of a magazine and engaged to Tripp, the heir of a publishing dynasty. But then her past comes crashing back in when a news anchor decides to make a film adaptation titled “Scarlet Christmas,” detailing that bloody night - nine years ago - that Charlie had survived. Charlie had not given any details of that night. She knows there is something more about that night her friends died, but she can’t get the facts straight.

The incident happened on a college campus in New York when Charlie was a graduate student. The details are parcelled out slowly as the narrative switches back and forth between “then and now.” Charlie is a very unreliable narrator, as the trauma and stress has literary caused her to suffer from anxiety, panic attacks, and disassociating from her body.

While there is some good tension and suspense throughout, I felt like the build-up to what really happened at the “Scarlet Christmas” resulted in a letdown. I guess I wanted more of a dark twist, an “oh, wow” factor. I actually found Charlie’s therapy sessions and how she related to people most interesting - so maybe I could see this as a good character study.

Thank you @MinotaurBooks for the gifted book. And thank you @Macmillan.Audio for the gifted audiobook.

This book had a lot of great potentially, but unfortunately it fell a bit for me.

We start off with a thrilling concept of Charlie questioning the events of “Scarlett Christmas” that altered her life back in college. However, around the three quarter mark of the story things take a change and we kind of lose that thriller aspect of the story. Things wrap up in the end with no real twist or drama which kind of just made me go, oh that’s it?

As a debut novel though this was not bad by any means! I’d be interested to read Hollander’s future work!

Thank you Macmillan Audio, NetGalley and Jenny Hollander for the opportunity to listen to this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead was a slow burn suspense, I truly wouldn't label this as a thriller. It took me a little to be invested and I truly never fully was.

The characters I truly did not care for. What I did enjoy was the unreliable narrator. I always find it so fun to be thrown in all directions. I just felt like it was a huge misunderstanding and that the author withheld information until the end for the reveal that truly left me unsatisfied.

I was expecting to be truly shocked and thriller, but unfortunately this one did not achieve that. I felt like the ending was way too wrapped up in a beautiful bow, I was expecting it to be messier and just give me more. I do think this might be a good one for someone starting out in this genre.

🎧 The narration by Marisa Calin was good, but I do have issues when the narrator has a British accent. I love the accent but I do find it harder for me to be fully invested. She still did a great job with the FMC, her emotions and fears were well portrayed.

✨️Thank you to @netgalley, @minotaurbooks & @macmillanaudio for my free ARC & ALC in exchange for an honest review.

I am so sorry this was my first DNF. This books plot is more of a general fiction then it is psychological thriller. The plot for me was just very boring. I think this should be marketed as general fiction with thriller undertones

If you enjoyed The It Girl by Ruth Ware, this book by Jenny Hollander definitely needs to be added to your TBR pile!

Almost a decade after a tragic night in graduate school, Charlie is still haunted by the fact that she can’t remember her part in a horrific incident that left several dead! A movie announcement means the spotlight is about to be back on events of that night, meaning Charlie and her lack of memories will once again be in the spotlight!

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and Charlie is desperate to regain her memory and while at the same time making sure no one else can share something that would incriminate her!