25 Days is a chilling and creative twist on the holiday countdown tradition. What starts as a heartfelt attempt to bring a family closer quickly spirals into a tense and suspenseful thriller. Each chapter ratchets up the unease, with strange and sinister gifts appearing in a Christmas stocking that turns out to be anything but festive. The isolated setting adds to the tension, and the pacing keeps you hooked.

The concept, a dark “Secret Santa” with deadly consequences, was unique and creepy in the best way. While some parts felt a little over-the-top, the overall atmosphere and suspense were really well done. It’s a perfect read for anyone who enjoys their holiday stories with a dose of horror.

Really good book, you know how you sit on the edge of your chair watching a scary show on t.v. well this is the same exact thing except with a book! I loved the excitement and suspense. My favorite person was Abby as she was super sweet to her little sister and pretty much stayed that way. I doubt many would have that much patience ya know? Mostly it never tells why the guy was so determined to be so hateful and why this family? I guess just a crazy man. ha! Anyway take the time to try it out and you will be hooked into reading without a breath this gem. Thank you NetGalley and publisher!

Loved the idea of it being an advent calendar but I couldn't read this daily once I hit day 20. I had to keep going. It was soooooo freaking good. The writing was so good I sometimes felt like I was a character in the book, experiencing the horror with the main characters. I would 100% recommend this! (please check trigger warnings, if needed).

Out September 30th, 2025
In 25 Days, Per Jacobsen turns your favorite Advent calendar into a daily dose of dread—25 chapters, 25 mornings, each unveiling a new, gruesome “gift” for the Gray family stranded in a snowy mountain cabin. It’s holiday horror wrapped in a red stocking that demands you shake it at your own risk. The mounting tension of unseen footsteps, creeping camera slides, and empty gas tanks gives the story a slow-burn chill.

A few twists are delightfully nasty, but predictability seeps in when you realize the “big reveal” is almost telegraphed. Secondary characters stay in the shadow of the main family ordeal, making their fates feel like cameos rather than full scares.

The finish line hurtles toward you so fast you barely have time to savor the last stretch of creeping horror. Still fun, though.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and HumbleBooks for this ARC!

25 Days by Per Jacobsen is a tightly wound, psychological horror novella that grips you from the very first page and doesn’t let go until its haunting conclusion. Told in a diary format, the story unfolds one day at a time, inviting the reader into a creeping sense of dread that builds with chilling precision.

The premise is simple but incredibly effective: a man moves into a remote house and begins experiencing increasingly unsettling events over the course of 25 days. Jacobsen masterfully uses the constraints of the format to ramp up the tension. Each entry feels intimate, raw, and immediate. As the protagonist’s mental state begins to fray, the reader is pulled deeper into the claustrophobic and eerie world he inhabits.

What makes 25 Days so effective is its restraint. Jacobsen does not rely on gore or cheap scares. Instead, he leans into the atmosphere and psychological unease. The horror is slow-burning and subtle, allowing the reader's imagination to do much of the work. By the final entries, the suspense is nearly unbearable, and the ending lands with quiet devastation.

What elevates the book beyond its chilling premise is how much we come to care about the family at its center. Their warmth, their struggles, and their attempts to maintain a sense of normalcy in the face of something unknown make the creeping horror all the more affecting. You are not just scared for them; you are emotionally invested.

25 Days is a must-read. It's a perfect read to start on December 1st.

25 Days, by Per Jacobson 📚

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was not on my list to originally read this month, but I knew I had to once I kept seeing people share about it — did NOT want to have a case of FOMO.

I stuck to the advent style of reading this — a chapter a day — right up until the end, until I binged the last two chapters yesterday.

I really enjoyed this book. It was hard to put down each day after just one chapter — it kept leaving you hanging and you NEEDED to find out what happened next.

Did you read this? If so — what did you think?!

If you haven’t read this, I highly suggest adding it to your TBR for next December!

BOOK REPORT
Received a complimentary copy of 25 Days, by Per Jacobsen. from Atria Books | Atria/Emily Bestler Books/NetGalley, for which I am appreciative, in exchange for a fair and honest review. Scroll past the BOOK REPORT section for a cut-and-paste of the DESCRIPTION of it from them if you want to read my thoughts on the book in the context of that summary.

Yoohoo! Oh, yoohoo!

Why?

Why?

Why did any of this happen?

Why were all of these people so miserable/hard to like/hard to believe in?

Why was this book so popular with (checks) everybody but me?

I started to give it a 2-star rating because it was easy to read and the like, but I woke up the day after reading it with my jaw out sideways about it and have never come to any sort of peace with it.

So here we are.

DESCRIPTION
The countdown to Christmas has never been scarier than in this internationally bestselling holiday horror novel from Per Jacobsen.

Hoping to bring his family closer together, Adam Gray arranges a vacation in a remote cabin on a snowy mountain. Things take a dark turn, however, when someone starts leaving gifts in the Christmas stocking mounted on the barn door.

Each morning brings something new, and with every passing day, the contents become more terrifying. Soon, the family makes a spine-chilling realization: they’ve been dragged into a deranged game of Secret Santa, and if they want to survive, they will have to fight.

I really hope there is a book 2! It would really tie in the missing pieces , that make you go huh. I loved the calendar idea. It is what really made me like it more than anything else. The thought of a day by day book showing the events of the Christmas holiday was so exciting to me!

25 Days, 25 Chapters, and it's a very merry and terrifying Christmas.

25 Days by Per Jacobsen. It’s a thriller story about a family who is stuck in the snowy wilderness and being stalked by a mad man. I could easily see this as a Shane Black movie, so take that as you will. It’s written as an advent calendar, with one chapter to be read each day, leading to the final chapter on Christmas day.

This story is told from the different viewpoints of each family member, which adds freshness to each day. It moves very fast- the chapters are short, the action is fast, and conflicts resolve into new conflicts very quickly. It’s a great quick read if you just want to power through and read all the chapters in one sitting. The plot moves fast enough that you’d be done in no time.

The characters are all very likeable. Jacobsen doesn’t shy away from exposing the negative traits of each character, which makes them more likable than having a perfect protagonist.

Okay… this book messed with my head—in the best possible way. 25 Days starts off like your typical cozy holiday family retreat… until it doesn’t. Every morning, a mysterious stocking has something new in it, and let’s just say—Santa was NOT the one filling it. 😳

The structure is so clever—one chapter for each day of December leading up to Christmas—like a horror advent calendar. I LOVED that. It made it easy to binge (or pace yourself, if you have self-control, which I do not).

The story’s told through different POVs, and it added such a layered feel to the unraveling chaos. I felt like I was trapped in that damn cabin with them. The tension just kept building, and by mid-book I was white-knuckling my Kindle like my life depended on it.

Now fair warning: it gets graphic. There’s definitely gore, and it does not hold back. So if you’re squeamish, maybe skip it—or just read it with the lights on and a barf bag nearby.

The only reason I didn’t give it a full 5 stars is because I wanted just a bit more from the ending. It left me with questions—and maybe that was the point—but I wanted one last twist to knock me flat.

🎄 Creepy Christmas vibes
🩸 Bloody good tension
💥 One wild ride start to finish

If you love atmospheric horror with a psychological punch, and you’re not afraid of a little blood under the mistletoe, 25 Days is 100% worth your time.

I enjoyed the concept of an advent book and reading a chapter daily. However, I did not adhere to this and finished early. Overall, I enjoyed this book, although it got a bit gory at several points.
This was a solid, fast-paced read. However, some questions I had remain unresolved, which is kind of annoying. Maybe there will be a book next year that will answer these questions.

25 days, 25 chapters, and a count down to Christmas! Adam Gray is struggling to connect with his family. He decides to take the wife and kids to the mountains and rent a cabin in the woods for a few days. No phones, no computers, all family time. Shortly after arriving, objects start appearing in a stocking hung up outside. At first, the objects seem harmless, but as the days go on, the more terrifying they become. Before they have a chance to leave, a snow storm comes, forcing the family to stay isolated while a stranger gets closer and closer.

The concept of this book is fantastic. It can be read in one sitting (like I did), or can be read as an Advent Calendar, making down to a deadly Christmas. The first half was suspenseful and very engaging. The ending was slightly disappointing; there was a lot of buildup that kind of gets side tracked, but a fun read regardless!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Release: September 30, 2025
Author: Per Jacobsen
Publisher: Atria

Rating: 3.75 ★ 

Adam Gray plans a getaway to a secluded mountain cabin, hoping to reconnect with his family during the holiday season. But their cozy Christmas retreat quickly turns sinister when mysterious gifts start appearing each morning in a stocking hung on the barn door. At first strange, then increasingly horrifying, the presents reveal they’ve become unwilling players in a twisted, deadly game of Secret Santa. As the terror escalates, the family realizes their only chance of making it out alive is to fight back.
This book started off with such a great premise — a chilling Christmas horror story told like an advent calendar, with one short, suspenseful chapter for each day leading up to Christmas. The concept was creative and drew me in right away. The isolated cabin setting, the mysterious stocking “gifts,” and the growing sense of dread were all so well done at first, and I found myself flying through the early chapters because I just couldn’t wait to see what would happen next.
Unfortunately, the second half really let me down. The pacing, which was so tight in the beginning, started to drag, and then the ending felt rushed and unsatisfying. We never learn anything about the villain — no identity, no motive, no explanation — and that lack of resolution left me frustrated. There were also some noticeable plot holes during the more intense action scenes that pulled me out of the story.
It’s also worth noting that while it’s marketed as a “Christmas” read, the holiday theme doesn’t really carry through beyond the stocking and the December dates. If you’re looking for a cozy Christmas vibe, this isn’t it.
Overall, this book had so much potential, with a clever format and a gripping opening, but the underwhelming ending and shallow writing left me disappointed. If you go in for the creepy concept and don’t mind an ambiguous finish, you might still enjoy it — but for me, it was a missed opportunity.

Favorite quote:
“But it's not oil. It's blood. A viscous, sticky pool of it. Like a drip painting, as abstract as it is macabre. And—he realizes to his horror—the eerie pool of blood next to the car may be the largest, but it's not the only one.”

Thank you to Atria Books via Netgalley for the gifted copy.

I read this like an advent calendar up to Christmas and oh my gosh I loved it! Do you know how hard it is to only force yourself to read one chapter of a horror book a day when you want to know what happens next?! Haha.

This horror story is soooo good. Add that it’s at Christmas time and the author actually put to read it like an advent calendar which is genius. This family rents an isolated cabin to share Christmas together to reconnect and they end up finding gifts each day left for them ….and it was not Santa Claus who leaves them lol. It has a little bit of gore, some suspense, some oh crap moments, some short not so much happening chapters, but very well done. If you like horror slasher movies and love Christmas this is right up your alley.

You know what’s really fun? Reading a Christmas themed book in the middle of summer, especially a horror book! There’s something about the stark contrast of laying in the sun whilst reading about icy cold fear being induced in the characters, safe to say I had a blast reading this book.

I definitely had FOMO when this was all the rage over the Christmas period so when I saw a copy on netgalley I had to grab it and was so happy to be approved! And the book definitely lived up the hype it was getting and will therefore hopefully have a good second run this year.

The plot follows Adam and his family who decide to spend the Christmas period vacationing in a remote snowy cabin. An anonymous person begins leaving gifts in the Christmas stocking, and the gifts start getting more and more disturbing as days go on. The slow induced dread definitely creeps up on you in this book! I loved the feeling of isolation you get with middle of no where winter thrillers. The characters were interesting, the pacing was great and the plot kept my eyes glued to my kindle screen.

Highly recommend for the festive season!

Thank you to Atria books for the gifted copy!

You can read this book like an advent calendar and only read a chapter a day, or you could easily read it all at once if that's more your style. I'll admit it's hard to stop at a chapter a day. Some chapters aren't very long or don't have a lot of action OR they have all the action and you just don't want to stop or have the need to see what's going to happen next.

25 days. 25 chapters. You should definitely add this to your December/holiday TBR. It's the perfect countdown to Christmas that will chill you to the bone.

3.5 stars

Adam Gray wants his family to reconnect so he rents an isolated cabin (you know it won’t end well. I’m not in a horror book or movie….I don’t think. I hope not. And I would no sooner rent an “isolated cabin” than I would put out my own eye.) for the first week in December as a pre-Christmas treat. However, almost as soon as they arrive someone starts leaving “gifts” in a Christmas stocking on the barn door. Then things get worse.

The author says the book is intended to be read like an advent calendar, one chapter for each day, counting down until Christmas, which is a great idea, especially if you can share it with another horror lover. Some nice build-up and dread here. I’m not sure….well, that’s a spoiler. Anyway, some good horror fun for the holidays.