A review by birgus61
The Fright Before Christmas: Surviving Krampus and Other Yuletide Monsters, Witches, and Ghosts by Jeff Belanger

4.0

I really enjoyed this romp through Christmas adjacent frightening and fascinating traditions and legends. As a person of Swedish descent, I appreciated the chapter on the tomten especially. The author shows us that many Christmas traditions are based on the very real threats that are associated with the winter solstice and the dangers of life in the cold darkness. And like the original fairy tales, these traditions are often about morality and consequences. By telling these stories of Christmas related threatening beings, the writer is also trying to give all his readers the kind of wake up call that Ebenezer Scrooge gets in A Christmas Carol, the wonderful story that I also read every year. I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in the history of the season. It was a great audiobook read by the author.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC audiobook!