Now this was a Christmas surprise: Thor mixed with Krampus by way of the Coen Brothers. 
 This is by Brom; you should know what you're in for. 
 Jesse is a down-on-his luck country singer, trying to get a doll for his daughter on Christmas Eve. He's shocked when a familiar sleigh of reindeer crashes onto his lawn, chased by coal-black-skinned crazies with glowing orange eyes. In the confusion, Jesse makes away with a very special bag. Santa, after giving his broken reindeer mercy beheadings, realizes his sack is missing. His Belsnickel pursuers need it for their sickly Lord Krampus. And the corrupt town sheriff just wants Jesse to stay away from his money and his new wife (Jesse's ex) and daughter (Jesse's). 
 Santa and Krampus start hunting each other, bearing grudges from the days when they were both in the Norse pantheon. Surprisingly, they find each other only halfway through the book, and then things really kick into gear. 
 I started out thinking this would be a simple good versus evil fantasy with viking Santa and evil Krampus. One of the Belsnickels dies early on, so I had thrown them into the same category as orcs. It shocked me to realize the five remaining "faceless" minions were fully fledged characters, 
 broken and fleshed-out individuals with their own past. 
 Naturally, I assume it'll be a subverted fantasy with good Krampus and evil Klaus. As Krampus finally makes his first nightly rounds in centuries, I fear he's gonna chop up a kid and show me who the good guys and bad guys are. 
 Soon, the book shows me a few truths. 
 1) Both Santa and Krampus turn out to have good points and bad points, pasts that control their futures, and outside forces that lock them on a reluctant collision course. 
 2) Halfway through, I realized that Jessie, Krampus, and each Belsnickel was pathetic in their own way. 
 3) I finally grokked that Brom had made me care about just about every one of those single characters while knowing that there was no easy ending coming were they all walk out of it. 
 Well, except the humans crooks, mostly. If I have a dark Christmas "devil" and Norse god Santa, I'm not going to root for the people who make Breaking Bad characters look good. 
 It's an excellent book. The confusion I had entering was replaced by a sense of satisfaction halfway through. 
 Now, I do have a few problems. 
 Firstly, there's one or two scenes where Krampus by himself or both he and Santa are talking, and some of the humans in the audience. I really felt that one of the normal folk would've spoke up and said something. That's hilariously averted once where Krampus is monologuing to someone mortally wounded who keeps interrupting, letting the Christmas Devil know that he absolutely does not give a shit about his goddamn infodump. 
 Secondly, there's a chunk of the later book where our hero Jesse has to work with the only really sympathetic criminal. Every scene of Jessie and Crime-Guy interacting, where Crime-Guy tends to start fleshing himself out, ends with Jesse cracking a gay joke. 
 Fictional Example 
 Crime-Guy: That dude look depressed. 
 Jessie: Yeah, he knows that you're too busy to suck him off. 
 Of course, that may be totally accurate dialogue for Boon County, Virgina. 
 I started this on Christmas, expecting something dark yet whimsical. About ninety pages in, I started watching 
 Rare Exports 
 for a quicker dark Santa fix. Coming back to the book as the due date drew closer, what I found was well-layered and incredibly rewarding. 
 Also, Santa Calus mercy-kills a reindeer with a broadsword. How often do you get that?