The Christmas List by Richard Paul Evans

James Kier is a very powerful and wealthy real estate mogul. He has done everything possible to get to this status and has no qualms about the unscrupulous things he’s done to get there or who he’s crushed along the way to his rise to glory.

He's exactly where he wants to be in life - he has a young girlfriend, his business is doing well, he’s in the last stages of divorcing his wife - so what if he had her served with the divorce papers on her first day of chemo... or that his son won’t talk to him and basically hates him. More or less life is good - until he wakes up one morning and he finds that he is dead.

Well, that's what the paper says. Now Kier's first reaction is to sue the paper but he quickly decides to use his "death" to his advantage. As people he's known throughout his life talk about what a terrible person he was and how glad they are that he is dead, he begins to realize that his "perfect" life is not so wonderful after all. He makes a pact to try to change and embarks on a journey to apologize to the ones he's wronged - but he quickly realizes that's easier said than done.

The Christmas List is intentionally a lot like Charles Dickens' -A Christmas Carol. Kier had no cares for anyone or anything but himself, he made fun of people who were joyful that it was Christmas or who celebrated the holiday. He was mean and just downright despicable.... a regular old Scrooge. This is his story of forgiveness and redemption.

As with all Mr. Evans' books, this story is presented to you in a small little package - a pretty shiny cover and short chapters. And, same as his previous work, it was a page-turner - making it easy to just sit down for a good hour or so and just enjoy a good story, shed a tear or two, and in the end come out feeling that you want to be a better person. This is the third book I read by Mr. Evans and I can actually say they all keep getting better and better. I've also read Grace and The Christmas Box - which were outstanding as well.

This is an original twist on a timeless story - it is about love, loss, forgiveness, family, but mostly it is inspiring. A wonderful Christmas read.