Felicia’s Christmas Vengeance
Ben Kardos
Godless (2023)
Reviewed by Nora B. Peevy
Christmas carols, fireside tales, baking cookies, and visiting your family are normal family traditions, but Felicia, a nine-year-old, has a new and deadly tradition. She wants Santa Claus and everyone at the North Pole dead for having witnessed her mother having an affair with Santa on Christmas. Felicia is not your typical nine-year-old. She’s methodical and patient. She plans for an entire year to hone her craft and put her plan in motion. Will it work or not?
I couldn’t help but laugh at Kardos’ snarky tone. The sarcastic lines the characters deliver opposed to a Merry Christmas set the tone for the perfect splatter punk family holiday festival of murder. By the end of the book, I truly believed Felicia was going to go through ALL with her plans. I’ve never met such a diabolical nine-year-old in a novella before. The front cover artwork is exactly how I imagined the vengeful Felicia look while killing those she holds responsible for ruining Christmas.
She becomes the one to mete out justice around the world. Wait until you see what happens to poor Santa’s reindeer. Poor Rudolph and the rest of them. I wouldn’t want to be a reindeer with Felicia as my mistress. Even Mrs. Claus isn’t safe from the justice meted out by the nine-year-old sociopath. One of the most original, entertaining, and twisted holiday books I’ve read this year. Kardos plays his audience perfectly using humor during his gruesome scenes with just a pinch of sarcasm mixed in. Brilliant.
