The Fruitcake by Leah Orr | Thriller/Dark Fiction Review

This is such a weird and so hard to put down book.

My 2 Cents for Free!

The Fruitcake by Leah Orr

Released October 2023

Source: Audible Plus Catalog

Get it at your local library or see more @ Goodreads

This is a wild book. I found it in the Audible Plus catalog and thought, why the heck not. May as well get my money's worth out of my pricey Audible plan.

A well-to-do couple with triplets moves into a very pricey and exclusive gated community. Holly has people who help clean and care for the kids and life is pretty near perfect from what I’m reading. At least on the surface. As she begins to become friendly with some of the women in the community, she learns of some strange things simmering beneath the perfect exterior but it’s the fruitcake tradition that brings it all to the surface.

I know. Why fruitcake? Does anyone eat fruitcake? Why eat fruitcake when you can eat cheesecake or chocolate cake or frosted cardboard, ffs? I don’t get it but I don’t have to. It doesn’t matter anyhow so I just shut off my brain and went with it. The fruitcake tradition is supposed to bring them all closer together somehow but all it does is kill the first recipient. Ooops. And yet, they keep it going. I mean, why not? Keeps things interesting. Eventually, more folks are murdered and a husband or two disappear and then come back a little strange and no one really seems to care so why should I? I figured they did something nefarious and deserved whatever it was they got. The story flips around in timelines and we see some odd things happening and it was a little confusing here and there, at least on audio, but the madness of it all made it fun for me.

It’s an unhinged story that moves pretty quickly and I’m not sure if it all makes sense but it was entertaining except for the few too long scenes of tedium where they all gather at someone’s house for a football or some other neighborhood shindig. I guess it was so the reader could get to know them and watch them interact with the husbands but it got a bit boring after a while. You can probably skim those things. The scenes where the women are together are much snarkier and more interesting. I usually don't like it when a book is compared to a tv show or other books because it never seems to completely fit but the Desperate Housewives (with mystery & deadly secrets) comparison really does work here.

Anyhow, maybe bring a fruitcake to the next holiday gathering if you want to shake things up

Final Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Publisher Plot Synopsis 

The Fruitcake - A deadly twist on a popular Christmas tradition

Four friends, one fruitcake, and a ritzy town full of secrets . . .What could go wrong?

When Holly Kelly moves from Miami to the lavish Laguna Palms neighborhood, seeking community and friendship—with her husband and rambunctious triplets in tow—she finds it in spades. She is soon drawn into the intimate lives of almost everyone in their beachfront cul-de-sac, especially her three new ride-or-dies: Gina, Greta, and Chloe.

But when the neighborhood’s holiday fruitcake exchange takes a dark turn, the bodies start piling up. The deaths seem like accidents—at first. Meanwhile, their upscale suburb on the shores of Hutchinson Island, Florida, is also being plagued by a series of disturbing disappearances. Men vanish, then reappear in the neighborhood . . . but changed.

The four friends decide to do some sleuthing of their own, and what they find chills them to the bone. When it’s Holly’s turn to deliver a fruitcake to the Hudson sisters on Christmas Eve four years later, she hears screaming coming from inside the house . . . many different voices—and they don't sound female.

Can they uncover the twisted secrets of Laguna Palms before someone closer to home becomes yet another casualty?

The Fruitcake is a fast-paced thriller that drips with murder, mayhem, and delightful, often delicious Southern hospitality while split narration spins the tale from alternate perspectives. If you enjoyed the TV series Desperate Housewives, you’ll love The Fruitcake—a twisty murder mystery you won’t soon forget.