September 23, 2025 by BookoutureISBN
9781805503521 (ISBN10: 1805503529)ASIN B0FJ8MP6V4
My review
What a wonderful book to read. Well I’m listening to it but it’s lightheartedly serious, those two words shouldn’t really go together but this is a murder mystery that whilst serious has some wonderfully lighthearted humour scattered throughout.
After listening to the epilogue and as the chapters kept rolling I thought I knew what was going on, but the twists kept coming.
I instantly could connect with each character, and loved how the author has portrayed three very different brothers but who look out for their youngest Raph who suffers with anxiety.
Their mother Claire learning more about her sons that she really wanted to know and trying not to believe her boys could do the things they have.
The grandmother, the matriarch in every sense of the word, strong calm and level headed. Not has the task of unraveling and sorting out the mess her grandsons have created.
Set in a Scottish castle by a loch in the depts of winter over two timelines. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2005 and Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2025.
The switching between timelines is clear, it’s extremely easy to follow and very easy reading/listening.
There are some delicate issues dealt with, within this story that could easily get missed. How two older siblings handle their grandfather to protect their little brother and how events have shaped their lives and particularly their little brothers mental health.
It does however leave us with more questions than answers and open to a sequel.
About:
You would think we were a happy family. That we have everything we could dream of. But as we gather at our grandmother’s house, to swap presents under the towering, sparkling tree, none of us can meet each other’s eyes.
Because we can only survive if we keep lying to each other. Keep pretending that terrible Christmas Eve twenty years ago never happened.
But this year, our grandmother says it’s time to be honest. And then out of the snowstorm a stranger knocks on the door, with an impossible claim that will destroy everything.
In the morning, we will find the body…
But which of us was willing to kill to keep our secrets? And how far will we go to protect our family now?
