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amicarlton 's review for:
The Christmas Party
by Mikayla Davids
This is my first Mikayla Davids book, but it will absolutely not be my last. At the very least, a sequel is coming out soon for this one and I can’t wait to read it. In fact, I’m already on the tour for it – so yay! So you can catch my thoughts on that in just a few weeks on Sept. 20. But I have a feeling I have a date with some more books by Ms. Davids soon too if I can ever clear out some backlog.
Our family has a rule – born of various readings about safety – that we don’t believe in secrets. Our daughter will quote this to other people when they talk about secrets. And this book made me so glad we’re not a secret family. Davids drove home the point that secrets breed nothing but destruction and mayhem.
The characters were well developed. I reviewed another psychological thriller recently where I said I ended up not liking any of the characters in the end. This wasn’t quite the same, but close. All of the characters were deeply flawed, selfish in multiple ways, and kept making horrible decisions. Though many of them were trying to make good decisions for their families, they were just misguided. It’s often easy to think we know what the right decisions are when looking at a situation from the outside. But everyone was a liar – except maybe the kids who were adorable. I liked them at least. I liked some of the adults, too, but barely.
The author is amazing at writing complicated, two-faced characters, who seem one way and then turn out to be completely different. That is a depth of reality that is so hard to accomplish but is also so true to real life. People’s public face and their private faces are frequently so different, and Davids captured this phenomenally, even letting us into their heads without letting the secret out early.
The story was compelling, complex, and fast-paced. It was absolutely one of those books you can’t put down. I enjoyed getting to hear the book from different perspectives. I prefer when authors don’t backtrack over scenes with the different POVs, however, Davids did this in a way that offered a fresh, clean perspective over the scene, rather than a rote retelling as you sometimes get.
If you’re looking for a thriller to keep you gripped from start to finish, this will absolutely do that. And if you’re a holiday reader, it’s nice to have the Christmas themes in the background. Though if you’re not big on the holidays, the Christmas scenes aren’t really that intrusive. I frequently forgot that it was supposed to be a Christmas event until someone mentioned it since I got all caught up in the action.
Who’s It For
Anyone who loves a twisty, domestic, psychological thriller will love this book. I figured out some of the twists early, but not in the “this is predictable” way. Instead, it was in the “this writer is great at foreshadowing” way. And there were still so many twists and surprises to be discovered along the way.
Content Warnings: There are several subjects in this book that sensitive readers may find disturbing including, but not limited to, domestic abuse, murder, infidelity, pregnancy, physical assault, sexual harassment, stalking, car crashes, alcohol abuse, adult situations, adult language, and more.
Our family has a rule – born of various readings about safety – that we don’t believe in secrets. Our daughter will quote this to other people when they talk about secrets. And this book made me so glad we’re not a secret family. Davids drove home the point that secrets breed nothing but destruction and mayhem.
The characters were well developed. I reviewed another psychological thriller recently where I said I ended up not liking any of the characters in the end. This wasn’t quite the same, but close. All of the characters were deeply flawed, selfish in multiple ways, and kept making horrible decisions. Though many of them were trying to make good decisions for their families, they were just misguided. It’s often easy to think we know what the right decisions are when looking at a situation from the outside. But everyone was a liar – except maybe the kids who were adorable. I liked them at least. I liked some of the adults, too, but barely.
The author is amazing at writing complicated, two-faced characters, who seem one way and then turn out to be completely different. That is a depth of reality that is so hard to accomplish but is also so true to real life. People’s public face and their private faces are frequently so different, and Davids captured this phenomenally, even letting us into their heads without letting the secret out early.
The story was compelling, complex, and fast-paced. It was absolutely one of those books you can’t put down. I enjoyed getting to hear the book from different perspectives. I prefer when authors don’t backtrack over scenes with the different POVs, however, Davids did this in a way that offered a fresh, clean perspective over the scene, rather than a rote retelling as you sometimes get.
If you’re looking for a thriller to keep you gripped from start to finish, this will absolutely do that. And if you’re a holiday reader, it’s nice to have the Christmas themes in the background. Though if you’re not big on the holidays, the Christmas scenes aren’t really that intrusive. I frequently forgot that it was supposed to be a Christmas event until someone mentioned it since I got all caught up in the action.
Who’s It For
Anyone who loves a twisty, domestic, psychological thriller will love this book. I figured out some of the twists early, but not in the “this is predictable” way. Instead, it was in the “this writer is great at foreshadowing” way. And there were still so many twists and surprises to be discovered along the way.
Content Warnings: There are several subjects in this book that sensitive readers may find disturbing including, but not limited to, domestic abuse, murder, infidelity, pregnancy, physical assault, sexual harassment, stalking, car crashes, alcohol abuse, adult situations, adult language, and more.