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

Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead by Jenny Hollander

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Review is also available on my site: https://roxannacross.com/2025/07/11/b...

Trigger warning: Includes scenes of school violence, cutting, overuse of medication and alcohol as coping mechanisms, and scenes of extreme panic attacks with dissociation, which can be triggering to readers or listeners who suffer from similar conditions.

This debut psychological suspense audiobook is also available in paperback, hardcover, or Kindle on Amazon or at your local library through the Libby App. The audiobook is narrated by Marisa Calin, and the story presented is told in a dual timeline style, switching between the past and the present.

Nine years ago, when Charlotte ‘Charlie’ Colbert started her graduate degree in journalism, headlines lit up everywhere with the story of a mass murder on a school campus, which reporters and police dubbed the “Scarlet Christmas.” Charlie was there, and she knew she was more than just a spectator, a fact she’s worked hard to keep hidden. This life-altering event shook her foundation, leaving her scarred by the past. Now, word of a movie set to be filmed about that blood-soaked night brings it all back, and Charlie has too much to lose. She’s the editor-in-chief of a glamorous magazine and is engaged to the golden boy of the publishing industry. Charlie must stop this movie, no matter what. Even if it means more blood must be spilled.

Like a tightrope walker who must keep in perfect balance, Hollander presented to readers and listeners a female protagonist suffering from severe episodes of depression, anxiety, repressed memories, and other mental issues relating to trauma. Charlie works through her problems with the help of a therapist, albeit unsure if the methods applied in the book are valid or not. The overuse of medication and alcohol as Charlie’s coping mechanism was worrisome, and the fact that Hollander didn’t address this by making a friend or her fiancée notice if it was by choice or an oversight? However, the extreme panic attacks with the dissociation episodes were beautifully written and filled with gripping emotions that readers and listeners could relate to.

Hollander’s use of the therapy session to switch the timeline from present to past blends well with the story’s flow, keeping the narrative on track and bringing it back to where it needs to be. This is very well done. In this back-and-forth plot, lines are introduced and dropped. The motives are lackluster and could have been handled differently, which impacts the ending and weakens the book’s potential. It’s as if Hollander lost her way or changed course at some point, and everything unraveled in a rush of wind, wrapping up everything in a neat package yet leaving questions in the minds of readers and listeners. Why?

Charlie’s go-to coping mechanism of expensive wines and pills, her dismissive attitude towards friends in her quest to stop the ‘movie,’ and the rushed, almost frenzied ending are what make this a 2.5-star read or listen.



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