REVIEW: ‘Secret Santa’ by Andrew Shaffer from Quirk Books
Image courtesy of Quirk Books / Provided by official website.
Andrew Shaffer’s new book, Secret Santa, comes with a devilishly good tagline: “The Gift That Keeps on Giving…” What transpires within these 200-plus pages is a creepy and wholly unique set of events that straddles the line between horror and comedy. It’s a book that’s a breeze to read, with the story anchored by the engaging protagonist Lussi Meyer.
After a series of strange events, Lussi ends up with a job at Blackwood-Patterson, a publishing house located in the East Village of New York City. It’s the 1980s (because this is a horror tale, after all), and the company has fallen on hard times. They have not had a bestseller in many years, but Lussi hopes to change their prospects.
Blackwood-Patterson also resides in a scary building with a creepy basement and things that go bump in the hallway. As Lussi gets used to the staff members and her new surroundings, strange things seem to be afoot. During an office “Secret Santa,” she is gifted a peculiar object that doesn’t help the transition to her new senior editor position.
Secret Santa is fun, quick and acerbic. There is a motley variety of supporting characters who simultaneously feel misunderstood and corrupted. As Lussi searches for answers, including who might be her “Secret Santa,” anyone and everyone appears to be a suspect.
Shaffer is a clever writer whose prose jumps off the page with wit and whimsy. He employs the right amount of brevity and economy of words, making this feel like a novella, or a novel that can be finished in a few sittings. His greatest creation is Lussi, the only character who feels fully known by the reader. She is a woman searching for the next step in her career, someone who is on the hunt for the new Stephen King, and she recognizes that something is wrong with this publishing house — a company that marries mystery with murderous intent. It’s up to her to jump beyond the role of senior editor and become a character herself. In that way, Secret Santa feels like meta-fiction, a commentary on book publishing, with its oddities and hypocrisies wrapped up together.
Does Secret Santa scare readers like the best of Stephen King’s output? No, but that’s not its intention. This is more of an offbeat nostalgia trip, a narrative steeped in 1980s pastiche and featuring a unique plot that keeps readers guessing what’s happening … and who’s doing it. Secret Santa is a wonderful read any time of the year, but it’s devilishly appropriate for Christmastime — or perhaps Christmas in July.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Secret Santa by Andrew Shaffer. Quirk Books. 224 pages. Click here for more information.
