By: Jenny Hollander
Narrator: Marisa Calin
Macmillan Audio
ISBN: 9781250332578
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: 02/06/2024
Format: Other
My Rating: 4 Stars (ARC)
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 Review
Jenny Hollander's debut, EVERYONE WHO CAN FORGIVE ME IS DEAD, is a compulsively readable journey into the dark corners of memory in this gripping psychological thriller.
Charlie Colbert is a survivor (witness) of an incident known as "Scarlet Christmas nine years earlier. A bloody massacre with three deaths on Christmas Eve at her elite graduate school.
Charlie has rebuilt her life, as the editor-in-chief of a major magazine and engaged, Tripp a wealthy golden child of the publishing industry.
She still sees her psychiatrist, Noor, as she continues to struggle to remember the events of that fateful night.
What happened that night?
Now, Cate's twin sister Stephanie, one of the victims, plans on making a movie based on real events, and Charlie's lies are close to being exposed.
She cannot allow everything she has worked for to be destroyed, and she must protect her family and her sister, Felicity. She does not want her family to be subjected to the public.
Charlie is an unreliable heroine told in the present day with flashbacks of the past. What happens remains a mystery until the final pages when Charlie remembers what took place that night.
What was Charlie capable of in her darkest moments?
Gripping, unsettling, and disquieting, EVERYONE WHO CAN FORGIVE ME IS DEAD is for fans of Andrea Bartz's The Lost Night and Jessica Knoll’s Luckiest Girl Alive.
Fans of psychological thrillers will want to see more from this newcomer. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Marisa Calin for an entertaining performance.
Thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advanced audio copy for my honest feedback.
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
Pub Date: Feb 6, 2024
My Rating: 3 Stars
Praise
Everyone is talking about EVERYONE WHO CAN FORGIVE ME IS DEAD:
"A twisty, thrilling story you won't be able to put down."
― Town & Country
"Witty, tightly plotted, knife-sharp, and utterly immersive, Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead had me flaking on plans to squeeze in one more chapter. Fans of Jessica Knoll and Megan Miranda, meet your new favorite author."
― Andrea Bartz, New York Times bestselling author of The Spare Room
"Jenny Hollander’s Everyone Who Can Forgive Me is Dead is exactly the kind of thriller I love. It’s a deliciously conflicting feeling to wonder when the shiny perfection of a new life built over a terrible secret will begin to tarnish, and in her first novel, Hollander doles out the suspense as masterfully as any veteran author. Honestly, this book had me at 'Scarlet Christmas'. A dark and dazzling debut."
― Jennifer Hillier, award-winning and bestselling author of Things We Do in the Dark
“Jenny Hollander has written an intoxicatingly sharp thriller. Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead deftly explores trauma and the dark things we believe ourselves capable of. I never wanted to stop reading it, and I can't wait for Hollander's next novel.”
- Clémence Michallon, internationally bestselling author of The Quiet Tenant
"Relentlessly twisty and bitingly sharp, Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead is guaranteed to keep you up past your bedtime. With an undercurrent of smart, dark humor, a chilling mystery at its core, and long-buried secrets resurfacing, this electrifying debut will grip readers and not let go. Voicey, unpredictable, and wholly addictive."
– Laurie Elizabeth Flynn, author of The Girls Are All So Nice Here
"Fans of Jessica Knoll’s Luckiest Girl Alive will love this tautly-constructed thriller in which a woman’s fate rests on answering the one question that has always eluded her: what is she capable of in her darkest moments? For accomplished journalist Charlie Colbert, no truth is more dangerous than the one that hides in her own mind, no relationship more troubled than the one she has with herself. Hollander paints an engrossing tale of a woman coming to terms not only with the ghosts of her past but her own true nature. A nail-biting ride that will keep readers turning pages long into the night."
– Ashley Winstead, author of The Last Housewife
"Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead is a propulsive read, rife with tension from page one. The timely storyline seamlessly shifts between past and present, each timeline pushing the other forward, making this a book I struggled to put down. If you liked The Luckiest Girl Alive, you'll love Everyone Who Can Forgive Me is Dead."
– Katherine St. John, author of The Siren
"Jenny Hollander’s debut novel plays with memory to deftly unpack the dangerous ways our minds trick when obsession and a lack of control collide. At once twisty and propulsive, Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead keeps readers guessing as the protagonist parties, falls in love, and establishes her journalism career in New York City until a mass tragedy upends it all―and, years later, the truth threatens to both ruin her life and set her free. If you loved Jessica Knoll’s Luckiest Girl Alive and Andrea Bartz’s The Lost Night, this book is for you!"
– Colleen McKeegan, author of The Wild One
"Totally gripping. Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead grabbed me from the start, and didn’t let go until I had finished the last page. Each character is unique and so clear that, by the end of the book, I felt as if I knew them all, and that I had been there with them throughout the story"
- Rachel Abbott, author of Don’t Look Away
"Everyone Who Can Forgive Me is Dead has a creeping sense of dread, a slow, almost torturous, drip-feeding of information, and a highly likeable, yet unsettlingly unreliable narrator. It all builds to one of the most chilling and interesting reads of the year. Highly recommended."
- M. W. Craven, author of Sunday Times bestseller Fearless
About the Author
JENNY HOLLANDER is the director of content strategy at Marie Claire, where she oversees the brand's daily coverage, as well as the #ReadithMC book club. Before moving to Marie Claire, she worked at Bustle. A graduate of the Columbia University School of Journalism, Jenny spent ten years in New York before moving back to her hometown of London. Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead is her first novel.
