Christmas is around the corner, and one can’t deny it has a certain appeal. Janice Hallett captures the wintry vibe of Christmas in a small tight knit community with a little bit of twist to it; there’s a murder and one of the seemingly do-gooders is responsible.
Janice Hallett’s medium of conveying the narrative is a fun and engaging mechanism; all of it told through text messages, emails, and interview-styled discourses. While I had my reservations at first about how such a style could retain attention and keep readers hooked, I needn’t have worried. In fact, Hallett’s distinctive style makes for a much more engrossing storytelling experience as readers are encouraged to peek behind the curtains of words and feel, putting on their own detective hats to figure out the case along with the investigators in the story itself.
I wouldn’t want to give away more, for it is best to go into the book without knowing much about it. What I will say is that prepare to be delightfully surprised and shocked as the story goes from slow-burn to hot-seat in a matter of a few pages and that change is quite mesmerizing. Read the first 30 pages and you’ll know what I mean.
The Christmas Appeal is an invigorating and comforting crime thriller, an adjective I wouldn’t have thought would go with this genre but strangely enough, Hallett finds a way to fuse the light-hearted holiday spirit with a plausibly dangerous narrative. You’ll be wanting to solve more cases by the time you’ve hit the last page.
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Purchase The Christmas Appeal
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