I was very interested by the concept of this book. I see countless new Christmas books every year, but so many fewer celebrating Chanukah. I didn’t mind that these stories were dark, I was actually quite interested in that, but some of the stories were a bit off for me. The stories I enjoyed the most seemed to end abruptly and leave me disappointed. I listened to the audiobook of this one and I did enjoy the narrators very much. I will say that this one made me think and I was interested in several of the stories. It was an interesting book and I hope it starts a trend of more diverse collections like this.

Eight Very Bad Nights is a brilliantly dark and suspenseful collection of Hanukkah noir stories that’ll leave you hooked. Edited by Tod Goldberg, this anthology brings together gripping tales from talented writers like Lee Goldberg, Ivy Pochoda, and Gabino Iglesias. Each story explores the shadowy side of the Festival of Lights, blending crime, intrigue, and holiday chaos in unexpected ways. From botched heists to unraveling family secrets, these stories offer a thrilling, offbeat twist on the holiday season.

Clever, chilling, and completely unpredictable—Eight Very Bad Nights is a must-read for fans of noir and festive crime fiction.

This one took me a while to get into (well past Hannukah), but was worth it! Each story has a whole different energy (and if you have the audiobook, even a different narrator). New ways of looking at noir and something I've never otherwise explored with Jewish stories. I would get this for all my friends for next year! Thanks to #NetGalley for the chance.

Honestly, I think this is a me issue because I’ve seen several people enjoy this book however I did not. Typically, I like books that have multiple POV’s/multiple stories intertwined together, this one I just stopped during the Shamash because it just was not for me, I lost connection to the character and plot.

This is a hard one because of course with all anthologies, you have some stories that are stronger than others. However, I think the disparity between the strong and week stories was really apparent. A good number of the stories don't have anything to do with the actual holiday, they are just set during Hannukah, which is fine but it felt like they were just normal stories and then the setting was put at Hannukah so they could be put into this collection. The narration of this collection was GREAT!

As person who is not Jewish, I was still hoping I would enjoy the stories in this collection, and I am happy to report that, overall, I found most of the stories entertaining. As with most short story collections, there are hits and misses. Unfortunately, I feel like the misses slightly outnumber the hits in this one.

The variety of stories is super fun, though. There are noir stories, funny stories, and even stories that offer a heartfelt meditation on what Hannukah means. I didn't expect to be moved by anything in this book, and I am grateful I was. Unfortunately, I was rarely scared or on the edge of my seat. The good news is I was never, ever bored so, if you want something different to entertain you during the holiday season, pick this one up!

I absolutely loved the audio on this one. I am a sucker for an audiobook with multiple narrators, and this book really delivers on that front. High recommend for the audiobook!

Many thanks to RBMedia/Recorded Books and Netgalley for providing a copy of this audiobook for review purposes. My opinions are my own.

This was a great collection of stories. I thought they were suspenseful and they kept my interest throughout the book. This is a great way to sample new-to-me authors, and I will definitely be checking out more from them. I really liked the narrator as well.

Thank you to the author and publishers for the opportunity to review this audiobook.

I really thought I would enjoy this one but for some reason, I just really couldn't get into it. Thank you for the opportunity to review this title, I unfortunately was unable to finish.

This was a fabulous collection of short dark haunaka stories. I will be adding a few of the featured authors to my TBR. I can't wait to see if another collection is released in the future.

#EightVeryBadNights
#NetGalley

I enjoyed this. I love short story collections with a theme, although Hanukkah didn't always play a big role in these little mysteries. The stories were entertaining and the narrators were good.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me listen to this audiobook

This collection of short stories was okay but not really my favorite. I liked the first and then from there it seemed like I cared less and less. Several of the stories are bloody and most involve heavy crime, which I’m not a huge fan of. This may be a good one for someone, just not me.

Eight Very Bad Nights edited by Tod Goldberg; DNF

I thought this was a really interesting concept for a book and I was happy to receive a copy from NetGalley and the publishers. Unfortunately, none of these books hooked me, and I wasn’t impressed with any of the stories. I decided to DNF this book after many attempts to really sit down and listen to it. I listened to five out of twelve stories and I didn’t like any of them and was left with little hope to enjoy the remainder of them.

Eight short stories all dealing with crimes surrounding Hanukkah. There were certain stories that stood out more than others.

This book sounded like fun, but I was a little disappointed. Some of the stories have little or nothing to do with Hanukkah except for the time of year, but some weave in the traditions. As is often the case with collections by multiple authors, the quality of the stories varies very widely. I also did not find any of the protagonists very relatable or engaging. Most were just obnoxious. It was a meh read for me.
Thank you to NetGalley for the audio arc to preivew.

This was an interesting collection. It contained a variety of dark Hannukah stories. The darkness changed depending on the author and the story. The first story still sits with me and it wasn't even monstrous.
The performances were great. They changed depended based on the stories which I really liked.
Overly, it's on par with most short story collections: some really goods ones and mostly average ones.

This is a collection of stories based around Hanukkah. Some of the stories were very good. Others were just ok. I personally don’t love books that are a collection of stories as I like to get more invested in the stories. This one was definitely interesting and a fun read. I enjoy holiday themed books in December and it’s refreshing to have more Hanukkah books.
Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

The narrators MADE this collection, they were so amazing, I loved listening to all of them.

The stories themselves were all engaging and interesting, though some were looser tied to Hanukkah than others. I enjoyed all the stories, will definitely be checking out longer works from some of the authors. All in all, a great noir collection to listen to over Hanukkah!

Thank you Netgalley for the audiobook!

Very creative selection of stories. I didn’t realize when I requested it that they were short stories but they seemed to go together nicely—unique enough from one another to stand out but similar in scope enough to feel cohesive.

Thank you NetGalley and RBMedia for the ARC of this audiobook for my honest review

Definitely a mix of short stories, some I wasn’t all that interested in but some were SO good I want to buy this book just so I can read those more often. The ones I loved was story #3 , #4, #7, and #9. I’d recommend reading this just for those great and fun short stories!

I'll be publishing my review on Goodreads and StoryGraph 29th December and on Tik tok most likely will add to a monthly wrap up post with review the beginning of January

Like all multi-author collections this is a mixed bag in terms of quality, but on the whole it’s a solid collection and worth a read.

It’s nice to see a Hanukkah collection at the holidays, though I’ll caution that most of these stories are only very loosely tied to the holiday and most of them have little to no holiday atmosphere. I’m also not sure I’d call it a noir collection, but rather a more general catch-all like Crime.

Not a Dinner Party Person by Stefanie Leder is by far the most fun and clever story in the book, a delightfully macabre account of a sociopath who has absolutely had it with her sister’s awful partner.

Also worth a read: Johnny Christmas, If I Were a Rich Man, Mi Shebeirach, Dead Weight, and Very Bad Nights.