Secret Santa

For fans of 80's campy horror films and novels, Andrew Shaffer's Secret Santa should be your holiday read. This light-hearted, but frightful novel will be a great binge read, while your family binge drinks around the yule log.

Creepily delightful. As a long-time, old-school, horror-book fiend with far too many paperbacks from hell gathering dust (bugs? spirits? burnt offerings?) on my shelves, I was excited to receive an invitation to check out Andrew Shaffer's ode the genre: SECRET SANTA. So much so that I read it immediately -- I mean, how can you resist that cover!? As a throwback to '80s horror, SECRET SANTA does its job. Count the tropes: scary dolls, mysterious deaths, strangers across the street, spooky basements, hazing rituals, cults, and on. Everything is mashed up alongside a fun send-up of 1980s publishing. It's funny, fresh, and fast-paced, with a genuinely endearing protagonist navigating a host of book-ish weirdos. It's not especially gruesome opting instead to provides it's chills in more ... unexpected ways. Read with the lights on!

#SecretSanta
Secret Santa is one of those books that has both wit and humor. It also is dark and a tad bit scary. I love when you read a book and it is unexpected how the plot plays out. Secret Santa has many great qualities it shouldn't be categorized as just horror. Try it out even if you are not a horror fan!

This was such a horrifically fun read! It was definitely in the vein of an 80's humor horror, rather than any kind of slasher, haunting, brutally horror type book, but it was thoroughly enjoyable. Think of a shorter Gremlins, in terms of overall vibe, but the book takes on a plot all its own. The publisher element, plus an editor who loves finding horror novels to publish, really adds a meta- layer that I also found fun. If you're looking for a fun, funny, retro-style, horror, then definitely add this to your TBR pile.

I received an ARC through NetGalley from Quirk Books. If you like campy horror and are in the mood for a little Christmas cheer, go with Secret Santa. Lussi interviews for a publishing job and while there an old German doll falls into her lap that forever changes the course of her career. Now, she has a new job in a creepy building and co-workers who aren’t quite warm and friendly. Can she impress her new boss even with people falling victim to horrific events all around her? Is there a scandal afoot, is there evil lurking in the building, or is Lussi just falling victim to all the horror novels she loves to read?
The cover is just fabulous and the story is short and fast-paced. The environment of the old publishing house is eerie and there are no romantic heart strings to worry about. Just a girl on a mission to succeed in business and figure out why things are amiss. This was exactly the mindless read I was looking for and I was happy to read it during Halloween into Christmas with all the stores decorated for both upcoming events, LOL!

Secret Santa (A Horror For the Holidays Novel)
HOLIDAY HORROR!! something I never knew I needed, for fans of trashy 80's horror movies.
Absolutely loved it, such a fun way to get away from the real life horrors atm, treat yourself to some
silly, gory, nostalgia. You won't be disappointed!

Lussi's the newest hire at Blackwood, a mysterious and half-defunct publishing house that she's tasked with saving within the first month of getting hired. Blackwood is a creepy place in a bad neighborhood. Lights regularly flicker, iron bars cover every window, Lussi's coworkers are, well... strange. Then a mysterious secret Santa gifts Lussi a creepy Perchta doll, and the bodies start dropping. This is a gloriously done classic horror comedy perfect for fans of The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, or for fully-grown Goosebumps fans looking for something more up to speed. I can't recommend this enough.

Chucky meets Jingle Bells in this unforgettable, un-put-down-able, roller coaster of a book!

Lussi accepts a job at a struggling, arrogant, literary publishing house but she soon discovers there’s something a bit off with her coworkers, boss, and everything that happens to her at work.

I’ll just be blunt: I loved every single thing about this book. It scratched a nostalgic holiday horror itch I didn’t even know I had. Setting it in the 1980s and adding in Christmas horror is pure genius. Shaffer is just a master at his craft here, beautifully spinning a tale that unwrapping itself like a Christmas present. The characters are real and unique and Lussi is someone I kept cheering for. His pacing is perfect offering a book with never a dull moment. The concept and plot are so well done. Lussi is given a gift during an office Christmas party Secret Santa exchange that really shifts this book into high gear.

Secret Santa instantly jumps to top position for all Christmas horror and this will be a book I recommend over and over again.

It’s the publishing world in the 80s, and Lussi Meyer is out of a job. It’s been months, and she’s gotten desperate enough to give Blackwood-Patterson a try. Their prestige publishing ethos doesn’t quite vibe with Lussi’s background in finding great horror, but a job’s a job, right?

Lussi’s interview is a success (albeit one with a body count), and she finds herself in a senior editor position at Blackwood-Patterson, during what one could call a “transitional period,” tasked with finding the next Stephen King to launch the company into its future.

But (and there’s always a “but” in these stories, isn’t there?), something is seriously fucked up at Blackwood-Patterson. There’s something nightmarish down in the basement with the slush pile. There’s a creepy little doll called the Percht lurking around. And someone’s put a secret santa gift for her under the office Christmas tree, and no one knows who it was.

Secret Santa is everything you love about 80s horror: wisecracking banter, a cranking machine of a plot that gets us from scare to scare without wasting any time, scary shit in the dark, some good moments of gore, and a gleeful wicked spirit that knows we’re all here just to have a good time.

But don’t think you’re getting a story you can stay three steps ahead of. Shaffer keeps the proceedings fresh and surprising, with a couple of twists that are genuinely delightful. This homage to old school horror never feels stale. It’s got tricks up its sleeves to keep you turning pages. Finding that sweet spot where horror is both frightening and fun can be elusive for some storytellers. Not so for Shaffer. Secret Santa is loads of fun, with likable wiseass characters you root for.

Cross your fingers someone leaves you this one under the tree.

But not the Percht. Dear God, not the Percht.

Andrew Shaffer's 'Secret Santa' is positively riddled with the type of dark humor I've come to expect from Quirk Books. This was a fast and hilarious read that perhaps I enjoyed more than most because I work in publishing and now I want to buy a copy for all of my colleagues.

No doubt, the 1980s witnessed a surge of readers hungry for horror fiction. In this dizzying world full of Stephen King wannabes, we meet ambitious genre editor, Lussi Meyer. Recently out of work, Lussi prepares for an interview with the prestigious publishing house - Blackwood Publishing. She is hired by the skin of her teeth, and in rapid order, Lussi finds herself at the center of one bad happening after another. She thinks it's all part of some elaborate "new hire" hazing, but Shaffer has something far more sinister in store for his main character. By the end, I was cackling with evil laughter.

Based on the publicity copy, I was expecting more atmosphere for 'Secret Santa' that was perhaps reminiscent of Ira Levin's 'Sliver' (if you like fiction about publishing and horror, I highly recommend it). However, I was quickly reminded that Shaffer doesn't really do extra work on atmosphere, and instead, relies on his readers to fill in those details. To that end, this is a character driven narrative that showcases Shaffer's sarcasm and wit at every turn.

'Secret Santa' reads like a love letter to 80s B-list horror at the height of its glory. Astute readers will enjoy subtle reference to films like Chucky and Gremlins. You'll revel in the glimpses into life in Reaganomics New York complete with gutter punks, Wall Street wolves, and fading remnants of the city's post-war glamour. Throw in a dose of Satanic Panic, smoke filled conference rooms, the sticky fog of AquaNet, a can of New Coke (with rum), and get on the 'Secret Santa' sleigh.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.