It’s Christmas Eve in Boone County, West Virginia, and fledgling musician Jesse Walker is witness to a bizarre scene; Santa Claus racing through his neighborhood trying to outrun a pack of monsters. Although Santa appears to escape in his sleigh, a sack falls from the sky, landing in Jesse’s possession. The sack is life-changing to say the least, and while it allows Jesse access to endless material possessions, it also puts him on the radar of the imprisoned Yule Lord Krampus. You see Krampus needs that sack, and he’ll stop at nothing to get it.

I’m not quite sure what I expected from this book, to be honest. I like to load up on holiday reads during December and this popped up on my radar while perusing online lists consisting of off-beat Christmas novels. I’m so glad I took a chance on this one because it ended up being one of the best books I read this year.

I really do not believe there is a hero nor a villain in this story when discussing both Santa Claus and Krampus – it’s definitely shades of grey here. Obviously, outside of those characters, there are clear good guys and bad guys but both these mythical characters have traits that the reader can identify and sympathize with. I even found myself tearing up during the story’s climax as it was a real no-win situation for two of the book’s characters.

This review makes the book sound so deathly serious, but Brom definitely knows when to play off the absurdity of the whole situation. After he escapes his shackles, it has been a long time since Krampus walked amongst humans and his attempt to reclaim his status as the Yule Lord leads to both terror and comedy. I laughed out loud at the image of this seven foot creature resembling Satan attempting to convince two children that he is there to offer gold coins rather than bite their heads clean off.

This story has just about everything. Emotional discussions surrounding identity and the complexities of age, gruesome horror, laugh-out-loud moments, and the interweaving of modern Christianity with Norse mythology. If you read one book this holiday season, I can’t think of a better one (unless you’re looking for smut, I suppose).