CHRISTMAS PRESENTS | Lisa Unger
10.24.2023 | Mysterious Press
Rating: 4/5 stars
Madeline Martin has built a life for herself as the young owner of a thriving business, The Next Chapter Bookshop, despite her tragic childhood and now needing to care for her infirm father. When Harley Granger, a failed novelist turned true crime podcaster, drifts into her shop in the days before Christmas, he seems intent on digging up events that Madeline would much rather forget. She’s the only surviving victim of Evan Handy, the man who was convicted of murdering her best friend Steph, and is suspected in the disappearance of two sisters, also good friends of Madeline’s, who have been missing for nearly a decade. It’s an investigation that has obsessed her father Sheriff James Martin right up until his stroke took his faculties.
Harley Granger has a gift for seeing things that others miss. He wasn’t much of a novelist, but his work as a true crime author and podcaster has earned him fame and wealth—and some serious criticism for his various unethical practices. Still, visiting Little Valley to be closer to his dying father has caused him to look into a case that many people think is closed—and some want reopened. And he has a lot of questions about the night Stephanie Cramer was killed, Ainsley and Sam Wallace disappeared, and Madeline Martin was left for dead, bleeding out on a riverbank.
Since Evan Handy went to jail, three other young women have gone missing, most recently a young college dropout named Lolly. Five young women missing in the same area in a decade. Are they connected? Was Evan Handy innocent after all? Or was there some else there that night? Someone who is still satisfying his dark appetites?
As Christmas approaches and a blizzard bears down, Madeline and her childhood friend Badger return to a past they both hoped was dead—to find the missing Lolly and to answer questions that have haunted them both, discovering that the truth is more terrible and much closer to home than they think.
Do you enjoy true crime elements in your thrillers? Are you looking for a seasonal mystery? Look no further because Christmas Presents is the book you want on your TBR!
Christmas is not an enjoyable time for our main character, Madeline Miller, who has survived a tragic incident that put her in the grips of a killer and left her without three of her closest friends. This year things are worse as that incident is pushed to the forefront of Madeline’s life thanks to a true crime podcaster who has just arrived in her small town. Unger alternates POVs between Madeline and our podcaster, Harley, to give readers a multi-dimensional look into both of their investigations. Sprinkled within these sections are also glimpses into Madeline’s memories of what happened on the night in question.
The pacing for this story is consistently quick, but once the second half of the book hits, it’s the alternating narratives that made it impossible for me to stop reading. It felt almost like Unger ended every chapter with a cliffhanger, which meant I had to power through each chapter to find out what was going to happen next.
I was able to guess a few of the reveals, but this left me feeling like my investigation alongside our narrators was a success. There are clues and red herrings throughout that will keep you guessing if your hunches could be correct!
If you’re looking for a quick thriller to add to your TBR stack, this is definitely a great book to add!
What Jess Reads 