Book Review: Everyone Who Can Forgive Me is Dead by Jenny Hollander

BOOK DESCRIPTION (FROM AMAZON)

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.

BOOK REVIEW

Charlie Colbert is the editor of a fashion magazine and engaged to a wealthy publishing heir. She has the world at her feet. But then someone from her past decides to make a movie about horrific multiple murders at her graduate school over ten years ago. Charlie was there, but cannot remember the details. However, what she does know is the story she made up for the police. With the help of her therapist, can she recover her memories? And does she want to?

This is a compelling psychological mystery with secrets that are deeply buried but slowly uncovered as we go along. There are some well-hidden surprises, and the mystery begins to unfold through Charlie’s slowly returning memories of the past. Chapters are simply titled “Now” and “Then,” which differentiates between the present and Charlie’s time at grad school, and this works well. Every character is fascinating and seems to have a secret, and I loved the way the truth is expertly peeled away.

This is a mesmerizing story that will keep the reader enthralled and guessing. Fans of mysteries and psychological thrillers will want to seek this one out.

I received a free copy of this book from St. Martin’s Press via Netgalley. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

(AMASON BIO) Hi! I’m Jenny, a writer and editor from London. My debut novel, EVERYONE WHO CAN FORGIVE ME IS DEAD, will be published by St. Martin’s Press (US) and Little, Brown (UK) on February 6, 2024.

My work has been featured in ELLE, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Bustle, Harper’s Bazaar, and more. I spent ten years in New York, where I worked as a senior editor for Bustle and the deputy editor at Marie Claire. Now the digital director for Marie Claire, I live in London with my husband and our rescue dog, Captain. When I’m not knee-deep in Google Analytics, an edit, or a manuscript, I’m a fierce advocate for developmental coordination disorder, known in the U.K. as dyspraxia, which I was diagnosed with when I was nine.

PURCHASE LINKS (Release date is Feb 6, 2024)

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