First thing I want to start with this review is to make it clear, I think this is a well thought out and written debut. It had a lot of twists and back and forth on timelines and it was perfectly executed. I didn’t find the jumping around confusing or too much. However, I felt like the story itself was lacking. It was a bit slow at times for being a thriller, which I would not categorize it as that. There is grief and trauma and navigating that along with missing memories in an unreliable narrator, which in general i loathe. This book reminded me so much of luckiest girl alive and Listen For the Lie, so I didn’t find the plot super fresh. The twists were ok, not surprising and I found I just didn’t care much when they happened. I think Jenny Hollander will give us some solid thrillers in the future and some of my friends loved this one, sadly it wasn’t for me.
The narrator was fine for me. I think I lost interest in the audiobook because of the content, not because of the narrator.

This book really kept me interested and guessing, but kinda fell through at the end...

*Publisher's summary
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 & Macmillan Audio for the ARC of this book!

Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead
By: Jenny Hollander
Narrated by: Marisa Calin
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Release date: 02-06-24

Charlotte "Charlie" Colbert has come a long way in the almost 10 years since 'Scarlet Christmas.' She is the editor in chief of a fashion magazine, her fiance is a golden boy heir to a publishing house, and she has put the past firmly behind her. Until an old classmate is hell-bent on "setting the record straight" for the 10 year anniversary of the tragedy that struck her journalism grad school. Although Charlie was a witness, she can't really remember what happened that fateful Christmas Eve. As Charlie explores her past through therapy and hypnosis, she descends into an anxiety-laden fugue where even she isn't sure what truly happened. But she will find out any cost.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this audio e-arc.*

Unfortunately it’s a no from me for this debut novel. I didn’t find it especially thrilling or exciting. It sort of just drug on and on and on with the main character becoming more and more shrill as each chapter passes. The ending wasn’t even especially worth sticking it out through the book.

Absolutely loved this Jenny Hollander thriller! A fast paced page turner that had me speeding through it within a day. I would recommend this novel to any of my friends, especially fans of Luckiest Girl Alive. Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead is the first thriller in a while that I wasn't disappointed by, a 2024 must read!

Rating: 3.5/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
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Charlie Colbert was involved in a tragedy in college which involved a murder of three people. The only problem, she cant remember much from that night. So when one of the member of her friend group wants to make a movie about the night, Charlie with the help of her therapist to uncover those missing memories.
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I felt like I was drawn to this story, I wanted to know what happened that horrible night and just how involved Charlie was. I think that Hollander did a phenomenal job at giving little bits of information throughout the story to keep you invested. It’s told in a dual timeline between the past (through Charlie’s regaining of memories) and the present. There aren’t too too many likable characters.
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The story is fairly fast paced, with pretty shocking twists placed at the perfect spots, but the ending was just not my favorite. It seemed to end a bit abruptly leaving me with questions as to “why”..
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I listened to this one via audiobook and I was not a huge fan of it. Marisa Calin just did not do it for me. I actually started and stopped this one a few times because I struggled with her accent or something.
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Overall, the story is interesting enough with some solid twists, recommending the story, not the audio. Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead is being released next week 2/6. Be sure to check it out. Huge thank you to NetGalley, Jenny Hollander and Macmillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

Book review: Everyone Who Can Forgive me is Dead by Jenny Hollander

3⭐️

Charlie has meticulously rebuilt her life after a brutal attack at her college and just wants to keep moving forward. When a movie is about to be made about her events of that night, dubbed scarlet Christmas, Charlie would do anything to keep that from happening. Desperately trying to regain her memories about that night and putting a stop to the movie Charlie has to finally confront her past and face what actually happened that night.

I’ve had my eye on this book for a while and when I saw the ALC available on NetGalley I jumped to request it. Marisa Calin does a great job giving each of the characters distinct voices. The timeline jumps between Charlies time at college before the attack and after once she learns that the movie is about to be made. It took a long time to actually find out what happened and I was in suspense the entire time. However once the reveal was actually made I wasn’t overly impressed. The story overall is intriguing but I wasn’t blown away by the reveal which I felt like was just information the author was withholding until the last moment. I felt like I was listening just to get to the end of the story to get the whole picture. I think this would be great for someone just getting into thrillers, but if you’ve read quite a few this might be a little predictable for you. I did enjoy the epilogue and being able to catch up wth some characters who didn’t get a lot of story time earlier in the book.

Everyone who can forgive me is dead publishes on February 6th. Thank you to Macmillan Audio, NetGalley and Jenny Hollander for this ALC.

This debut novel by Jenny Hollander does not read like a debut. It is a solid, psychological thriller that had me guessing throughout. The best compliment that I can give it, is that I cannot wait to read what this author writes next.

Check for trigger warnings before reading this book.

Charlotte "Charlie" Colbert has suffered a great trauma. While in graduate school, she and her friends were part of an incident that came to be known as "Scarlet Christmas" because it took place on a quiet Christmas Eve. Charlie knows a lot more than she's telling the reader about what happened that night - she is the quintessential unreliable narrator. She has a tremendous amount of trauma that she has been trying to work through with her therapist. When a former classmate decides to make a film about the incident to be released on the tenth anniversary, Charlie wants to stop it at all costs. Charlie tells the story in her own way so that you will come to see exactly what happened that night.

This story moves through a now and then timeline. It really works here. The author gives the reader just enough information to keep you guessing throughout the story. Also, the supporting characters are not as they appear to be - or are they? Go into this story blind - you will appreciate it more.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books, and Macmillan Audio for the digital and audio copies of this book. Thank you for the opportunity to read this book early! I did a tandem read of this story, and I loved it! The audiobook narrator - Marisa Calin - is incredible! I highly recommend both formats. This book releases on February 6th - preorder it now!

Charlotte Cobert is under a lot of stress she is the senior editor on a magazine whose owner only thinks about finances, mostly his own so he continues to add pages upon pages that Charlie and her journalist have to fill. So when she gets an email from Jordan saying that he ran into another classmate from Carroll Academy Stephanie and she says she is making a movie about the massacre that Charlie survived called the scarlet Christmas. She goes from overwhelmed to overcome and makes a hasty retreat to her home where she lives with her fiancé and publishing prince Trip goodman West. She also calls her therapist Nor, Who has been trying to help her remember all that she has forgotten about that night. Deep down inside Charlie thinks she is guilty and this is causing her massive stress. Throughout the book we hear about what she tries to do to stop the movie with a dual timeline of the events that led up to that horrible night. This is a grim story with witty dialogue I listen to the audiobook and read the Kindle version and in my humble opinion I think the audio version is much better with the great narrator giving tone and context and great character distinction she also made it so much funnier because there are some very very funny lines in this book despite the horrible plot. Not horrible in its execution just in the subject matter. Like most great books there is a lot I want to say but not much I can or I would give away too many key plot points but OMG this book is so funny and traumatic at the same time which is a hard thing to meld together but I think Jenny Hollander did an awesome job doing just that. With a lost memory and a guilty conscious many things could go wrong Charlie is trying to do her best to keep it all together and even contemplate becoming something she believes she already is this is a great plot with great narration and a definite must read for mystery and thriller dance. Don’t mistake this book for your typical someone knows something plotline because it is absolutely way more than that so good! A solid read with no eye rolling moments it is a book you cannot go wrong with I would definitely listen to the audio however because the narrator brings so much to the book and totally raises the bar on the entertainment level. The narrators name is Marissa Calen and she is phenomenal and I’m not exaggerating she is awesome. I want to thank Saint martins press, McMillan audio Minotaur books and Net Galley for my free arc copies please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

Nine years ago, Charlie was a witness to the murders of some of her classmates during a journalism school Christmas party. Because of this trauma, she has very little memory about it. Her life is going fairly well with an important job with a prestigious magazine, her engagement to wealthy Tripp and she is working through the trauma in therapy. But when Stephanie, one of her former classmates announces that she is helping to produce a film about the infamous “Scarlet Christmas”, Charlie panics as she suspects that her repressed memories may be hiding that she lied about what happened that night and that she may have had more responsibility for the deaths than she previously thought.
I listened to the audio version of this book and the narrator did a good job with the reading. It is the plot, the characters and the writing style that I just couldn’t connect with. Maybe it was listening to the book rather than reading it, but I found the characters too many and confusing and all unlikable. I definitely didn’t like the repressed memories aspect of Charlie’s story - this seemed like an out of control train taking her off the rails and just felt like a weird way to set up the twists. Overall, I was frequently confused by what the characters’ motivations were and most of the story was unrealistic and the plot was lost in all this at times. Although I liked the ending of the book, I had honestly wasn’t sure how many people died versus injured, who was responsible and what the motives were. 2.5 stars rounded up.
#NetGalley #MacmillanAudio

Good debut thriller.
I flew through this book.
This reminded me of a Lisa Jewell thriller.

Even though I enjoyed this book, I wasn’t obsessed with the ending.

I was so pleasantly surprised by this book. I wasn't sure if it would be my cup of tea going in, but I truly enjoyed it and found myself desperate to know what happened. Charlie was such a great unreliable narrator, and as she became progressively unhinged, I found myself feeling anxiety on her behalf. Did I think she made the best choices? Absolutely not, but I was definitely along for the ride. I wanted desperately to hear what had actually happened on "Scarlet Christmas," and I felt like Hollander did a great job balancing the flashbacks with the current events in a way that kept me on tenterhooks. Now, are there problems? Sure. Her fiance and his terrible family for one (not to even mention their meet cute - no spoilers, but wow). Overall, though, I really enjoyed this book. If you are looking for a solid memory loss, mystery, whodunnit style book, this one is a great choice!

I hate to do this. I really do, because authors figuratively bleed onto the page and I respect that. But I think this one just isn't for me. The suspense is almost all created by interior monologue and the main character's hysteria, much of it difficult to understand. I get the core of it though. She worries that she might be a murderer because her trauma is so profound she can't actually remember whether she is or not. That premise is a sound one for a psychological thriller and has been done quite successfully before, but the main protagonist in this one (trauma notwithstanding) is not compelling, and given what she endured, not even a sympathetic figure. Not "likable" mind you. She doesn't need to be that. She isn't COMPELLING. I can't muster up enough curiosity to keep going to learn her fate.

I think what this author is attempting, 'Luckiest Girl Alive' by Jessica Knoll did incredibly well, giving an appropriate balance so that the main character Ani FaNelli as narrator never quite convinced us that she was as hard-nosed and bitchy as she wanted us to believe. That device does not succeed here. I have no idea who the main character is at her core, but worse yet, I don't care.

The comparison to Jessica Knoll's book is on some level not fair (every writer should be judged on their own merits) but the author too blatantly invites that comparison—the protagonists in both books are in the same industry for heaven's sake, they are both engaged to wealthy men from well-heeled families, they both are struggling with a trauma related to a school they attended where someone they saw as a friend grievously betrayed them ... I could go on. But the point is, I cannot. Not if going on means reading or listening to the end. I'll almost always give a writer a second try, so maybe I'll enjoy Jenny Hollander's next one, but this is a miss for me.

Audiobook Note: the narrator exacerbated my issues with this book. Her pitch was near histrionic the entire time and the American accents were campy and almost comical.

I really enjoyed this twisty and mysterious book. One of my favorite types of mysteries is dark academia/college thrillers where a group of friends meets up after a long period of time to discuss and figure out something terrible that happened to them in college. This was really well written and kept me guessing. The narrator did a great job switching between different accents and voices and kept me interested in the story.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for access to this ALC which publishes 2/6/24.

I love this narrator from previous titles. This was a great book and it took awhile for me to figure out not only who the killer was but also how everything fit together. I will definitely recommend this to anyone who is a reader of Ruth Ware. Great setting and good pacing.

This book had all the ingredients for a book I should love - missing memories, murder, two timelines, etc. I liked the format of some chapters being the main character recovering her memories in therapy and wish there had been more of that. Overall, the book fell a little flat for me. The beginning was slow and didn't explain the mystery until later than I'd expected. The plot twist was unexpected but not very satisfyingly resolved. The audiobook was fine but I think it made it a little hard to follow, especially at the end.

Pubs: Feb 6th

I think this will work well for many mystery/ thriller readers. This is told in multi-timeline (which I love) with some mixed media (which I also love). I really enjoyed the audiobook narrator; use of different accents and voices lend to an enjoyable listening experience. There is an overarching mystery throughout the whole story of what happened in Charlie's past.

What I did really like was the use of the therapy sessions to have Charlie face the past and this is how the reader learns the past storyline.

I'm certainly an outlier but this was just 'okay' for me. Not great but not terrible. I found myself zoning out of the audiobook often and just couldn't care enough to go back and catch up past a certain point. Are they trying for "Red Wedding" vibes with these people naming the big event "Scarlett Christmas"??? Charlie seemed super unhinged at times.

The mystery is decent and I did sort of want to know what happened. There were some twists. Overall, I found myself bored too many times to rate this higher (which bums me out but what can ya do). I think maybe I'm getting too picky, lol. I'll definitely give this author another chance though!

Big thanks to Macmillan Audio for the ALC via Netgalley to read and review!

Oh boy, this book. It had such a promising storyline. I love any book that the lead is troubled by a past event and as a reader, you go through the turmoil as that character faces whatever trouble comes along. But what happens if that lead character is just simply...annoying? And whiny? And well...kind of unrealistic? So we're supposed to believe that Charlie is an editor-in-chief as well as being engaged to a guy, who turns out has no redeeming quality and so so boring. There is no chemistry between the two, and Charlie just doesn't seem like someone who remotely has a backbone to ultimately gets the ediotr-in-chief position.

And that's just the baseline of the book, y'all. Not even the meat of it.

I powered through the audiobook, thinking will Charlie ever become stronger or better or slightly even more interesting. Not so much. And the other characters in the book... nothing that really stood out about any of them. I thought this better redeems itself near the end of the book, because I was truly curious of what ultimately happened with Scarlet Christmas. And...it flatlined. Not much happened to where I was surprised or in awe. The book had some great written moments, I could see how great the author could be, but this was just the wrong story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the audiobook in exchange for my review.

This is a twisty Thriller that kept me guessing. It’s about a woman that survived an attack on her group of friends in college. She has spent years building a life since then. Now, someone is asking questions about that day. Is her carefully built life going to be torn down?

EVERYONE WHO CAN FORGIVE ME IS DEAD by Jenny Hollander and narrated by Marisa Calin is a suspenseful listen that had me trying to parse out fact and fiction.

Charlie Colbert is a successful magazine editor who has tried incessantly to bury the events almost a decade ago. She doesn't really remember that night when several people died, but she is sure she is responsible for it. Told in dual timelines, we get to see what really happened 10 years ago along with the pressures for Charlie as one of the group plans a film of the events for the anniversary. This triggers Charlie to keep her secrets, especially as her private life is in the public eye, and she is willing to do whatever it takes.

This story had some good, dark academia vibes from the events that happened in journalism school. I was curious to see what was really happening with Charlie. I thought the fact that she was British and had some funny insights into Americans was a bit of a comic relief to the devolution of this character. Charlie was fascinating to watch grow from a college student into a successful business woman, only to reveal what was real under the façade. I did feel like this story felt familiar in the vein of memory loss surrounding a traumatic event. That said it was still an enjoyable listen, and the narration was really fantastic. The accents were fun and she pulled them off well (to my utterly untrained ear!).

Ultimately I thought this was a good debut and I will be curious to see what Hollander writes! ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to @netgalley & @macmillan.audio for access to this ALC which will be published on February 6th!

Do titles just pull you in? This was one I couldn't resist!