Book Review: Dying for Christmas

I’ll be reading a lot of “feel-good” Christmas tales, but I acknowledge that those aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. With that in mind, I’m bringing you something vastly different today. Because although Tammy Cohen’s Dying For Christmas  is set over the Christmas holidays, there is nothing merry and bright about it.

Curious? Check it out:

A novel full of twists, surprising turns, and suspense, Dying for Christmas is Tammy Cohen's most disturbing psychological thriller yet.

Out Christmas shopping one December afternoon, Jessica Gould meets the charming Dominic Lacey and impulsively agrees to go home with him for a drink. What follows is a Twelve Days of Christmas from hell as Lacey holds Jessica captive, forcing her to wear his missing wife’s gowns and eat lavish holiday meals. Each day he gifts her with one item from his twisted past―his dead sister’s favorite toy, disturbing family photos, a box of teeth. As the days pass and the “gifts” become darker and darker, Jessica realizes that Lacey has a plan for her, and he never intends to let her go.

But Jessica has a secret of her own … a secret that may just mean she has a chance to make it out alive.

Review of Dying For Christmas

I may have mentioned that this is NOT your typical Christmas tale. In fact, it’s not a Christmas tale at all, so let’s get that out of the way right now. I think the phrase used in the synopsis – “most disturbing psychological thriller yet” – is more than apt.  And while I hate comparing books to “Gone Girl” – this is a book where nothing is as it seems.

Because, holy twists and turns, Batman! This is one dark and fast ride. You think you know what’s going on? You’re probably wrong. And just when I thought I’d reached the end, I got the rug pulled out from under me.

Bang.

Dark, scary, creepily intense and wholly clever, I didn’t see any of it coming.