Dying for Christmas

by Tammy Cohen

Dominic Lacey kidnaps Jessica Gould during December Christmas shopping and plans to hold her captive for the Twelve Days of Christmas, but what follows may not go according to Dominic's plan.

• ISBN10: 1681772612
• ISBN13: 9781681772615
• Publish Date: 22 November 2016 (first published 20 November 2014)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Pegasus Crime
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 400
• Language: English

Reviews

[whisperingchapters]

This review was originally posted on Latte Nights Reviews.


I got to 30% and still couldn’t get into it. Then I read the ending by mistake, which actually got me intrigued so I went back to reading, but still nothing. I skipped ahead and nothing was holding my attention so I decided to DNF it.

The premise sounds beyond interesting. I mean, a woman gets kidnapped and has to survive 12 days of Christmas hell? I was all in. From the start, Jessica was making poor choices and that’s what landed her in the predicament of getting kidnapped. Although she willingly got in the car with Dominic, so it’s not technically kidnapping. He did hold her captive, though.

The creepy vibe that Dominic was giving off had my skin in goosebumps. The way he was treating Jessica had me disgusted, but I just needed to keep reading to know more of what he planned to do and that’s my main reason for reaching a little over 30% in the book. I was so beyond creeped out by him.

As I was reading, I realized Jessica is a very unreliable narrator. Granted, I didn’t read far enough to officially know, but a few things were discussed that lead me to believe that. Then when I skipped ahead, I started to doubt my assumption because something was off in her knowledge of Dominic and how he played a part in her life from even before the captivity.

To be honest, I wanted to keep reading this book just to know how everything came together, but I know I wouldn’t have liked the story. I was already forcing myself to keep going and that’s not good. I love when thrillers catch my attention from the start or at least the first 20%. Sadly, this wasn’t the case with Dying for Christmas.

I received an ARC from the publisher for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.This review was originally posted on Latte Nights Reviews.

[Leah]

This novel started very promisingly, but it didn't manage to keep the suspense the whole way through. It just went on, and on, and on, and I eventually got bored of Jessica and Dominic. It was like a poor man's Gone Girl, with an equally annoying ending.

The premise was interesting, but it just wasn't to my satisfaction. When you start a book that says the heroine is going to end up dead, you're intrigued and I was, but it didn't last. I got bored. Then the plot twist happened and it just went to a place I didn't expect or like.

And the ending! What is it with thriller writers and stupid non endings? I'm sick of them. I wanted to know what consequences there were, what happened to detective Kim and her family. Ugh. I was very disappointed overall.