The story behind the Scarlet Christmas is famous! Yet so convoluted and shrouded in secrets that not even the participants know what actually happened. Charlotte Colbert has lived with doubts and secrets since her time at Carroll University., and she’ll do everything to keep it that way.
When Stephanie wants to make a movie, and tell the whole story, Charlie’s perfectly cultivated life seems ready to fall. What can she do about it? Is she ready to face the truth? .
So many people think they know, and so many have no clue at all. Hollander unwraps the truth, layer by layer, using well developed characters and a dual timeline that creates great suspense. Even when you think you know, that little niggle of doubt seems so appropriate!
I will be looking for more thrillers from Jenny Hollander for sure!

Many thanks to NetGalley, St Martin's Press, Minotaur Books, and Macmillan Audio for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of this debut thriller by Jenny Hollander, narrated by Marisa Calin - 4 stars!

Charlie Colbert was a witness to what became known as "Scarlet Christmas," an event at her elite graduate journalism school on Christmas Eve 9 years ago, where someone died. Charlie has changed her life and her looks since then and never spoken publicly about that night. Mostly because she can't remember what happened but knows she lied to the police. One of Charlie's former classmates is going to make a film about that night and wants Charlie's cooperation. But will that blow up her world once again?

This was a strong debut thriller, with an unreliable narrator. Told in alternating timelines of Then and Now, in addition to press snippets and therapy conversations, we learn the events of the past slowly as well as Charlie's life today. She's engaged to Tripp, from a wealthy family, but will the relationship survive with her past coming to light? I like stories where you aren't sure what you can believe - Charlie was likable too. You could really feel her struggles and trauma dealing with the past. Will be anxious to read more from this author!

Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead

Publication date: 2/6/24

By: Jenny Hollander-debut author

Format: audiobook and eBook

🏃🏾‍♀️Run Time: 8:32

🙏🏾Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Macmillan Audio for this ARC and ALC! I voluntarily give an honest review and all opinions expressed are mine alone.

⚠️: mental health issues - anxiety attacks/ PTSD/ disassociation, death by stabbing and falling, and stalking.

The narrator is Marisa Calin with all characters read by 1 person. I believe the voice fit the characters with the standout from the heroine Charlie(Charlotte). Her voice was the most distinct, but I could easily tell the difference between all characters. The reading style did bring the story to life especially in parts I found a bit confusing. The pacing was great and flowed easily with the story. The narration and the author were in sync, and they fit together perfectly.

The audiobook's flow was pretty good. As I said there were a few confusing parts-mostly Charlie's account of events. She had mental health issues, so I had trouble believing most of what she said. The narrator paused and announced every time a new chapter came. The book had a table of contents which helped me follow along with the e-book and audio.

Charlie is the only survivor of a massacre at her journalism graduate school on Christmas. The story is told in dual timelines before and after the events nine years prior. Charlie has revamped her life, is engaged to Tripp- a publishing mogul's son, and Charlie has a successful career as editor in chief of a magazine. One of the victim's twin sister (Stephanie) is making a film about that night, threatening Charlie's new life. Can she remember what really happened before she's blamed?

Overall, the psychological thriller/ mystery was good. Even though Charlie's memories were questionable at times, I liked how everything was revealed. There were some unresolved plots to speculate about, but I just let my imagination take over.

My recommendation is to read the audiobook because you can adjust the speed, skip parts easily (if desired), and picture the characters more vividly.

Rating 4/5 ⭐

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for this ARC in exchange for this honest review!

Overall, I had a good time listening to this audiobook. It was quick, easy, and a fun read that I listened to all in one day. It took me forever to figure out what was going on (in a good way) and to figure out the twist. That is always a good sign of a thriller/mystery in my opinion.

I have been granted an ARC for Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead by Jenny Hollander by NetGalley and Macmillan Audio.
This is my honest review of said work.
A lot of people have been through horrible events that they think they know what happened or they have a memory of one thing but may have blocked out the events due to the trauma they went through. This story is WILD and such a good thriller! The unravelling of the story and all the connections and all the mayhem kept me on my toes! It was so much fun to read and I was excited when I got to read/listen for an extended period of time because the more the story was told the more shocking everything became.
It is told by the POV of the FMC who played witness to a horrible act on her graduate college campus. It is 10 years later and she struggles to figure out who is out to get her or who is trying to protect her. As her role in that night plays out in her head and her therapist's office her world around her begins to crumbing.
This was such a fun book, I would read it again. I recommend to any fan of phycological thrillers since this story navigates its way around the inner workings of a brain with PTSD.

The story started incredibly strong in this one! I was really intrigued with the mystery and I thought the writing was strong. I felt like the novel started going in circles and felt a bit repetitive around the mid-way point. I liked the way therapy was used to get the MC to reveal more about how things unfolded a decade ago. The dual timelines were interesting. I liked the narration itself and thought it was an easy to listen to audiobook. I'm bumping up my rating because the audiobook was fun.
Thank you so much to Macmillan Audio for the ALC of this one.

Maybe not everyone. I don't feel like forgiving the main character for being so entitled and judgmental . I keep getting reminded of all those Brits on the internet who don't have any understanding of how large the United States is or how different. The narrator didn't do any better. Her "British/New York" accent is not. Her American accents were weird and distracting. I've been to every state but Alaska and couldn't figure out what she was going for. Not all Americans say "yer". And we don't need to have it pointed out every time something is called different things in different countries.

Still, I was interested in finding out what happened. I carried on. Honestly, I don't think I would have finished it if I hadn't been stuck with nothing to do, no internet to download another book, and a long wait. The characters are all pretty thin and forgettable. The story kind of dragged and I think that is because it was mislabeled as a thriller. It was more about how the MC was dealing with her grief. Except she is so unpleasant, so she wasn't relatable at all.

On to the story itself. There was a lot of running in circles in the middle and then a huge information dump at the end. And the part that everyone was so desperately worried about coming out would have been really easy to explain. There were some twists, I guess. Nothing that made the long trudge to the end worth it.

Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead is a heartbreaking book. I thought it would be more of a riveting thriller with flashbacks from a terrifying night on a college campus, but it was more of a devastating slow burn. I felt myself floating back to my college days with house-parties and intersecting friend groups. I could feel all the tension of unrequited love and contrasting personalities tiptoeing around each other.
I much preferred the past timeline to Charlie’s current day life in NYC, though. I felt sad at how horrible Charlie was to her fiancé and how cold and determined she was to focus only on her career. I felt irritated that she hadn’t handled &/or faced her memories from that horrible night. I also felt like “9 years later” wasn’t really enough. It felt strange that she’d so successfully erased herself from that life that wasn’t that far away in both time & distance. It made the audiobook unsuccessful for me because I felt like Charlie should have been much older looking back that just an early 30’s business woman - and the audio voice actually sounded older than Charlie came across. I don’t really know how to explain it, but it didn’t work for me.
The physical book was great, though. Twists and flashbacks and character growth. I’d definitely recommend it.

This book reminds me a lot of Luckiest Girl Alive, but maybe that is because I just watched that movie on Netflix. I really like the narrator of the story and it kept me incredibly engaged the whole way through, which doesn't always happen with audiobooks.

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!
*
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.

I was more drawn to the audiobook than the e book as I felt like the narrator kept my mind engaged throughout the book and I felt myself drawn to listening to this more while getting chores done around my house instead of reaching for other audiobooks!

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.

Nine years ago, Charlie Colbert’s life changed forever when she became a witness of “Scarlett Christmas” at her college. Now she has the perfect job, perfect fiancé, and perfect clothes. But when the anniversary comes up and with that a film based on the events, Charlie becomes fearful her secrets in the event may come to light … and she’ll do anything to stop it.

Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead by Jenny Hollander, narrated by Marisa Calin, is a psychological thriller that’ll have you questioning everything from page one.

It’s very interesting to see how far people will go to protect themselves, and how when people will finally stop when it comes to those they love. This is definitely a book you’ll see that in, and how playing passive in the past can bring out aggression in the future.

I loved how Charlie pushed herself, both to remember what exactly happened that night and to protect her current life. She had to find that line between how far she’ll go between her principles and standard of living, which was very interesting to see. And I enjoyed how her family and old friends played a role, comparing her past self to her now. Also I hated her fiancé.

This had a great buildup with a little bit of a lackluster ending, but still worth the read especially as a debut. The narrational was very smooth and helped guide me along the journey. I’d recommend for those who enjoy a psychological thriller with a twist.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the audio ARC!

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

I was generously given both versions of this book: the ebook and audio. Personally, I preferred the ebook over the audio, which is rare for me as I enjoy listening to thrillers. I felt that the narrator made the book feel flat and made it very hard to follow. Throughout the novel, the narrator is very monotone and stiff. With this lack of expression, it made it hard to distinguish between the characters, thoughts, feelings, and whether we were hearing her thoughts or spoken phrases. Nothing was portrayed like it could have been. I personally believe a huge issue with this was the only hint of emotion was phrases like “excited,” “sad,” etc. There was no influx in the narrator's voice to indicate the emotion, just the phrase as a context clue.


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.

I will not be giving a full review of this book as I did not finish it.

I did not finish it because, for me, the narrator made it very hard to follow. The narrator was very monotoned. I personally was unable.to distinguish between the characters and certain feelings were not portrayed like they could have been. For example, using the word "exicted" was the only clue to someone being excited. There was no change on the narrators voice to indicate excitement.

I will probably wait until I can get the print version and reread it.

This book 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 listened to the audio book and the narrator was great. She had different voices and accents for each character so she added a lot to the story. The book hooked me from the beginning and had surprises throughout. Highly recommend this one!

This starts with so many names/nicknames being thrown at me that I was immediately put off. I think if the characters would have been introduced slower or that every one didn't have a nickname it would have been more digestible. For a thriller nothing very "thrilling" happened in my opinion. I did like the conversations between Charlie and her therapist.

The title of this one alone had me intrigued, and I really liked this one overall. The audio was good, it helped to hold my attention, and Charlie is definitely one unreliable narrator. This is on the slower paced side and deals a lot with trauma to get to the resolution, but it worked for me here. There were a couple of twists I did not guess and the flashbacks helped to understand the characters more, but also made them more unlikeable. This was a great debut, and I cannot wait to see what Hollander writes next!

Thank you to Minotaur Books / Macmillan Audio for the copies to review.

There were many times I was tempted to not finish but I kept perservering and am glad I did. It's a really slow start and the narrator wasn't my favorite. The constant switch in accents was off-putting, and the frantic desperation in the voice throughout the entire story got old pretty quickly. However, I was intrigued enough to stick with it and find out what really happened. Charlotte is an unreliable narrator and only remembered bits and pieces from a tragic night in grad school. One of her classmates decides to make a movie out of it which wreaks havoc on Charlotte's life all over again. If you don't mind a very slow burn thriller, then readers should check this out, but perhaps reading it versus listening would be better.

Jenny Hollander's "Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead" takes readers on a captivating journey through the intertwined worlds of Charlie's present-day facade of perfection and the haunting events of the "Scarlet Christmas" that shattered her life nine years ago. While the book presents a gripping narrative with a compelling twist at the end, it falls slightly short of its potential, earning it a solid 3.5 stars.

The strength of the novel lies in its intricate exploration of Charlie's past, cleverly interwoven with her present struggles as her former classmate, Stacey, seeks to immortalize the tragic night in a movie. The narrative technique of alternating between past and present adds layers of mystery and suspense, gradually unveiling the truth behind the Scarlet Christmas.

However, the gradual development of storytelling may not appeal to everyone. The start of the book felt somewhat slow, and there were moments of confusion, exacerbated by the introduction of characters at points that could have been better developed or introduced earlier to create a smoother narrative flow. Around the 60% mark, the pieces finally start falling into place, providing readers with the long-awaited clarity and coherence.
One aspect that could have improved the book's impact is a more engaging introduction. The opening chapters lacked the gripping intensity necessary to immediately immerse readers in Charlie's world. While the twist at the end adds a satisfying layer to the overall experience, the missed opportunities to establish a stronger foundation at the beginning hinder the book from reaching its full potential.

Despite its flaws, "Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead" is a rewarding read for those who appreciate a slow build-up and enjoy piecing together the puzzle from the beginning. The novel successfully captivates readers with its intriguing storyline and a well-executed surprise at the end. If you have the patience to unravel mysteries and explore the complexities of mysteries, this book is definitely worth your time.

Thank you to NetGalley, Jenny Hollander, and Macmillan Audio for the ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in exchange for my honest review. The book is set to be released on February 06, 2024.

I enjoyed listening to this audiobook. I liked the twists and didn’t know what was happening until the end. Definitely want to read more of this author.