Christmas Presents
Christmas Presents
By: Lisa Unger
[Fulfilled ‘A Christmas book’ for Shelf Reflection’s 2023 Reading Challenge]
“Everybody knows everything about you in this stupid town. And they know nothing.”
I didn’t realize this was a novella when I first started this book. I don’t usually have much luck with novellas because there never seems to be enough space to do what the author needs to do.
I didn’t feel like that with this book.
The whole ‘thrills and chills’ thing worked pretty well! There was enough mystery and suspense to the plot that kept you reading and the setting gave it the Christmas vibes that made it a great, short read around the holidays.
Novellas can’t be too complex because of their length, so it’s not the most complicated thriller, but it also didn’t feel like it wrapped up (pun!) too fast either. I’m not sure if I really had it figured out until the end so that was nice too. It wasn’t shocking but it wasn’t boring either.
The premise is:
A true crime podcaster, Harley Granger, has decided to investigate the years old murder and possibly related disappearance cases of a group of friends.
Madeline Martin, owner of a bookshop (nice Hallmark movie type of touch), lost 3 of her best friends that fateful night and almost didn’t survive herself. She doesn’t remember much about that night but her testimony put away their supposed friend Evan for the murder. (Not the disappearances because there was not enough evidence to link them)
But Granger has come around with some interesting theories, including that the murderer had an accomplice that is still at large. This is alarming because Madeline has been getting a Christmas present every year on the anniversary of the crime. She thought they were from the guy in prison (which apparently didn’t bother her that much because she never told anyone about them) but now she’s wondering who is actually sending them.
Another girl goes missing and the investigation is hot again. Will it melt the snow and ruin Christmas? But like, metaphorically…
The book is told from Madeline’s first person POV, Harley Granger’s third person POV, and the abducted woman’s first person POV. We also get flashbacks to the night of the crime. My advanced reader’s copy’s formatting was a little disjointed jumping around but I’m guessing in the finished product things will be more clear.
One thing that bothered me:
When Granger gets Maddie to talk to him about the case he shows her pictures of all the missing girls and says one thing they all had in common:
“‘Five young women missing in ten years in the same fifty-mile radius… They all look like you, Maddie.’”
But this line of thinking is never continued or brought up again.
I read an advanced reader’s copy so it’s possible this was changed before the book’s publishing, but if not, it feels like a very loose end that either should have been removed or should have been followed through on. It’s a pretty significant plot point to drop it.
One thing I found pretty funny:
At the beginning of the book Maddie comments on Granger buying a book from her at her shop: “the latest runaway bestseller with foil embossed type, the author’s name in a bigger, bolder font than the title. The dark, foreboding image just a sliver of a girl’s face.”
The fictional author in the book was ‘John Henderson.’ And I’m 99.9% sure Unger was referencing James Patterson here haha. I don’t really read his books anymore for the reasons stated— too aggressive and run-of-the-mill. The author’s name bigger than the title is one of my book pet peeves. Sell your books, not your name.
Recommendation
I think if you’re looking for a Christmas thriller this is a great option. It’s like a murderous Christmas hallmark movie.
There was some swearing, and a lot for such a short book, so wasn’t a fan of that.
But overall, it was a good read for a novella. Probably at the top of the list for novellas that I’ve read. Which may or may not be saying a lot.
The only other Lisa Unger book I’ve read so far has been The Red Hunter (which was four years ago) and from my review I really liked it but it had a lot of f-words. I think I may still give one of her full length books another shot and see if she’s one for me to continue to read.
If you’re already a fan of Lisa Unger, I’m sure you’ll enjoy this book.
**Received an ARC via NetGalley**
[Content Advisory: 23 f-words, 7 s-words; the abducted girl works as a pole dancer at a topless bar so there’s some comments about that, nothing too graphic]
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