334 pages Joffe books October 19,2023 publish date
ABOUT THE BOOK
A NAIL-BITING PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER WITH ONE OF THE BIGGEST TWISTS YOU’LL READ THIS YEAR.
After choir practice for midnight mass, college sophomore Rose Grandon takes a short-cut through Harbor Park. Grabbed from behind, she is violently assaulted, beaten and left for dead.
The last thing she hears is someone singing Silent Night.
Several hours later, the police find Rose lying in a ditch. Badly beaten — but alive.
As she recovers in hospital, Rose is told she’s pregnant. She has a terrible choice to make. She decides to keep the baby.
Nine months later, she gives birth to a beautiful baby girl. She names her Mary.
Rose lives quietly in her small Connecticut hometown raising her daughter — the one good thing to come out of her horrible ordeal. She begins to get her old self back.
But her evil attacker has never been caught. He strikes twice a year. Once on Christmas Eve, once on Christmas Day.
And until he’s behind bars, Rose and her baby can never be safe.
But now he’s found out he has a daughter. And that changes everything . . .
AN EXHILARATING BLEND OF PSYCHOLOGICAL SUSPENSE, NAIL-BITING TENSION AND A SHATTERING FINAL TWIST.
MY THOUGHTS
I don’t read psychological thrillers all that often, some can be really hokey and not much of a plot. Not so with this one, it took my breath away.
A young boy, innocent, still barely holding onto his belief in Santa, is hoping Santa will bring him a few gifts this year because he knows his mother won’t. There’s never a tree or any trimmings to make the holidays special. Neglected and unwanted, he knows his mother would rather be sleeping off her drunken fits than even putting food on the table. He is filled with rage and knows what he must do, and he will when he gets older.
Rose is a shy, church going girl, excelling at college, she doesn’t have many friends. A Christmas eve service has her excited to be with a few friends from church as the youth groups plans that evening’s events. Living close to church in a small Connecticut town, she slips out early to wrap a few presents and plans to return for the Midnight Mass as she walks home in the dark that evening. Her route takes her past a dark and deserted park. Frantic, her parents call the police when she is hours late getting home.
An evening search finds her badly beaten and sexually assaulted; the hospital staff not sure if she’ll survive. After months of physical therapy, she’s physically able to recover in body but she will never be the same. Finding herself pregnant from the attack she decides at the last minute to keep the baby and lives with her parents who give their full support to her choices and help with her child.
Deciding to move to her own place when her child is a school age, she enrolls her child in a local school and meets the new teacher, her child’s new teacher, a male. Her daughter and this teacher form a special bond, she is a challenging student but likes her teacher and they just click. When the teacher needs to talk to Rose about her daughter Mary’s behavior, he also makes an impression on the mother.
This is the start of a special friendship that turns into a romance between Rose and David, the teacher. He was the nicest man, always so understanding of Mary, the daughter and they both fall for his charm and kindness. After the wedding they settle into his house.
Rose is kept updated on the Christmas Eve killer every year by the police. He only strikes on Christmas and twice on Christmas Eve. Very few of his victims survive as he strikes along the East Coast of the United States. Rose doesn’t feel safe because whoever did this to her is still out there. Tucked away in her house with her daughter and new husband she feels as safe as she can possibly be with the decorations up and the spirit of Christmas, she should have no worries, right?
A shocking, twist of a story that lulls you into feeling safe and then strikes when you least expect it. Excellent!
Pub Date 12 Oct 2023
I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are my own.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
An Amazon Charts/Best Selling Author, many of McGarvey Black’s novels are also available in audiobooks and have been translated into other languages. A new psych suspense novel is in the works for next year. Stay tuned.
TWICE ON CHRISTMAS
MY SISTER’S KILLER UK
WITHOUT HER CONSENT #6 on Amazon Kindle in the UK and landed on the Amazon Charts..
THE FIRST HUSBAND, also an international bestseller was re-released in 2023
TRUST ONLY ME
THE WOMAN UPSTAIRS
“I love writing twisty thrillers that keep readers guessing and hanging at the end of each chapter. Nothing makes me happier than when one of my readers tells me I kept them up all night.” —McGarvey Black
Other novels include:
A FAMILIAR STRANGER — a tale of redemption about what happens when you fly too close to the sun.
LOVE ON THE LINE (formerly titled The Fussy Virgin) is a romantic comedy about soulmates finding each other.
Born in New York City and raised on Long Island, McGarvey Black is married with two children and lives and writes in Florida. She loves dogs of any kind and eating ice cream with demitasse spoons to make it last longer.
If you enjoy her books, please leave a review, every single one helps so much. You can connect with her on Twitter: @mcgarveyblack, Instagram: mcgarveyblack1, Facebook: McGarvey Black
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