I didn't love this book. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't for me.

Coco is visiting her aunt when she becomes consumed with the number of people who are dying on the island.

I thought the book moved along a little too slowly for my liking. It was a little on the wordy side, but wasn't always saying something, is the best way I can describe it.

I didn't find any of the characters to be likable, including Coco.

Overall, just not for me.

Rachel Howzell Hall is back with another riveting family drama. Her stories always cut to the core and challenge the past so it's always something I want to breathe in slowly. She's one of my favorite authors and this one sounded extra creepy.

Coco seems to have been surrounded by death her entire life. As a youth, she was the lone survivor of a violent and deadly home invasion that killed her family.

After a breakup, Coco is relocating. As an obituary writer, she's going where the bodies are thanks to her friend giving her a new opportunity but she realizes the bodies might be piling up a *little* too quickly.

Her curiosity brings her threats but if there's a serial killer or a chance at finally getting closure and/or justice for her family, they're going to have to try harder than that.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review!

Colette (Coco) returns to Catalina Island in 2020, returning to the place where her family was brutally murdered when she was a child. Returning bring up buried feelings, but it also seems like someone else doesn’t want her there…

This was a great book and gave me chills! I definitely couldn’t sleep right after. The twists and turns were unexpected and the ending was great. The character of Aunt Gwen is a love-to-hate (or hate to love? It depends), and Coco has her own demons to deal with.

Overall, this was a great book and I couldn’t put it down. 4.5 stars, rounded up!

Colette “Coco” Weber has relocated to her Catalina Island home, where, twenty years before, she was the sole survivor of a deadly home invasion. All Coco wants is to see her aunt Gwen, get as far away from her ex as possible, and get back to her craft—writing obituaries. Thankfully, her college best friend, Maddy, owns the local paper and has a job sure to keep Coco busy, considering the number of elderly folks who are dying on the island.
But as Coco learns more about these deaths, she quickly realizes that the circumstances surrounding them are remarkably similar…and not natural. Then Coco receives a sinister threat in the mail: her own obituary.
As Coco begins to draw connections between a serial killer’s crimes and her own family tragedy, she fears that the secrets on Catalina Island might be too deep to survive. Because whoever is watching her is hell-bent on finally putting her past to rest.

I don’t know what it was about this story but I was just constantly wanting MORE. I really enjoyed the concept and the underlying messages of racism, intolerance and the importance of family but I just didn’t connect with Coco or any of the characters for that matter which left me not really caring about the outcome of her story which in turn left me at the end of the book just feeling meh. I read this not long after reading Hall’s other novel ‘These Toxic Things’ and I found too many similarities between the stories and where Toxic Things triumphed, this one failed.

Coco has returned to island where her parents and brother were brutally murdered. Her working through the trauma while also trying to solve multiple murders made a gripping read.

Coco Weber is returning to Catalina Island, CA for the first time in 20 years after an event that forever changed her life. As the story progresses, @rhowzellhall weaves in racial issues, murders, twists, the COVID pandemic, and family tragedy to create an intriguing mystery that will have you turning pages and wanting to read just a little longer.

I am a big fan of Rachel’s books including We Lie Here, These Toxic Things, & And Now She’s Gone. I highly recommend reading any of her books, including her newest, What Never Happened.

Thank you Thomas & Mercer and @netgalley for allowing me to read this book ahead of publication in exchange for my honest review.

Colette “Coco” Weber was the sole survivor of a home invasion that took the lives of her parents and brother. It has been twenty years and she has returned to her Catalina Island home to see her aunt Gwen (after her ex has left her). Coco writes obituaries and her friend Maddy has a job for her at the local paper. She will keep busy as many elderly residents are dying on the island.

Catalina is a small island with BIG secrets. Will Coco ever learn the secret surrounding the home invasion which took the lives of those in her immediate family????

The premise of this book sounded interesting to me. A survivor of a horrible crime comes home again. More deaths are occurring on the island. But unfortunately, this was not the book for me. This is a slow burn and I struggle with slow burns. I found myself uninterested for large parts of the book. Others are enjoying this book so please read their reviews as well.

The beginning of this book instantly grabbed me as did the initial chapters but as I kept reading, I had difficulty connecting to the characters and the storyline. I found most of the characters to be unlikeable, but I did enjoy Coco and her thoughts. But she also annoyed me with some of the decisions she made.

Again, others are loving this book so please read their reviews as well. This was not the right fit for me.

I have tried to read a few things by the author and I have finally come to realize their writing style might not be for me. It drags on a little too much and I find myself not caring about the characters very much. So disappointing because I really was interested at the beginning.

Coco is returning to her home twenty years after surviving a massacre. Elderly people are dying and at first, Coco isn’t suspicious until she gets her own obituary.

I wish we had more flashbacks early on to really build the suspense. I was drawn in by the prologue/obituary at the beginning but then the next couple chapters didn’t really keep up that suspense/keep me drawn in like I wanted.

I love anything Rachel Howzell Hall and this was no exception. I really enjoyed this one. More review to come!

Thank you @netgalley for my advance copy!

What Never Happened had a great premise but unfortunately it didn’t work for me. Whenever I put it down, I didn’t want to pick it back up but I was curious enough to see how it would end that I finished. I was disappointed by the ending and also felt like there were some threads left unfinished. Spoiler: what was the point of the compass necklace recording everything?? That was never used? Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance reading copy.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend to all my friends! The plot, characters, and writing were so captivating! Thank you so much NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for this ARC!

What Never Happened by Rachel Howzell Hall is a slow burn mystery, set on Catalina Island.

This was my first book by this author, and although I didn’t love it, I guessed way too early the ‘who’ and ‘why’ of the story. Still, it was entertaining and fun read and I’ll check out other books this author has!

Thanks to #Netgalley and the publisher for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book starts off with SO MUCH TENSION. When you get past that 5% mark, your breath will catch. Like…damn. I’m scared to look but can’t look away at this point. 🫣

This will make for a great thriller choice and I loved the mystery and interesting characters! It was a unique and fun one.

I'm not sure it I like it or not. There's a lovely setting, there's some cozy and some thriller elements.
I wasn't a fan of Coco but the mystery was solid.
.3.5 upped to 4
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Colette has relocated to Catalina Island 20 years after being the sole survivor of a home invasion that killed her family. Now she is back to care for her ailing Aunt Gwen, write obituaries for the local paper, and escape her ex-husband.

While there, Coco realizes there may be a connection between mysterious deaths happening to elderly inhabitants of the island and sets out to investigate.

This is definitely a slow burn mystery but at the same time, a lot is happening. We have Coco’s relationship with her ex, her relationship with her aunt, revisiting the deaths of her family, and the racism she experiences from the inhabitants of the island.

With the slow burn, I was not sure I’d like this one but I ended up really enjoying it. The author does a great job of throwing us off the track throughout the book. The remote setting of Catalina Island was beautiful but also added to the suspense (stuck on an island with a potential killer? 😱).

I will mention that the book plays out in the beginning days of COVID shutdowns in 2020 (not mentioned in synopsis). It was very minor to the plot but if you are avoiding books with it, keep that in mind.

Thank you Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for the chance to read What never happened by Rachel Howzell Hall. The summary and cover is what drew me to this book and new author. The beginning starts of with a bang, and then just slows down. I wanted to like it, but the writing style bothered me and I kept putting it down. The ending picked up, but overall this wasn't for me. 21/2 stars rounded up.

Colette "Coco" Weber is returning home to her Catalina Island home, where she survived a deadly home invasion twenty years earlier. All Coco wants is to be with her aunt Gwen, to escape her ex, and to get back to what she does best: writing obituaries. Her college best friend, Maddy, owns the local paper and has a job that will keep Coco busy, considering how many elderly people are dying on the island. As Coco works through these obituaries and learns more about these deaths, she quickly realizes that they're very similar, and not natural. In the mail, Coco finds a sinister threat: her own death obituary. The more Coco connects the crimes of a serial killer to her family tragedy, the more she fears the secrets on Catalina Island are too deep to survive. Somebody's watching her, and they're hell-bent on putting her past to rest.

I was going through a significant reading slump until I received approval for this ARC. However, once I finished reading this book, it completely pulled me out of that slump. I gave this book a rating of 4/5 stars primarily because I had a strong intuition early on about how the twist would unfold. I won't go into detail to prevent spoilers. Despite having that gut feeling, I found myself continuously shifting between characters as I couldn't make up my mind about who I believed to be the antagonist.

Although I had a solid idea at the beginning, I was still shocked by the twist. I won't go into specifics to avoid spoiling it. Hall skillfully crafted the suspense, and I absolutely adored Coco's character. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to fans of thrillers and mysteries. I eagerly await July's arrival so I can purchase a physical copy for my collection. My next mission is to read Hall's other books!

Big thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Colette was the sole survivor of a deadly home invasion 20 years ago. The killer took her entire family from her while she was out and up to nothing good. Now she's back home, getting away from her life, writing obituaries. But the more she learns about these deaths, the less they seem natural. Could the same killer still be at work?
This is a mystery chockful of twists and turns and red herrings that will keep you guessing, but it did feel drawn out. The ending felt rushed and was predictable, and I was not a fan of the whole COVID aspect of it. It's the second book I read by this author, and I think I'm just not vibing with her writing. I did read plenty of good reviews for the one though, so maybe it'll work better for you.
I received an advance review copy of this book for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is an excellent thriller, taking place of a matter of days pre-pandemic, and while it may seem like just a thriller read, it actually is about more than just missing women. Race, abuse, family and mental health are all overarching themes and they are executed very well.

Collette is set go back to help take care of her Aunt Gwen who is living in Coco’s childhood home. In 2001, Coco’s family relocated to Catalina Island. When Coco decides to sneaking out, she returned and and found her father, mother and younger brother had all been murdered.

We start in March of 2020, Coco, running away from her LA life and takes a job with her college roommate at the paper on Catalina Island. She is working writing Obituary’s for the paper. Gwen was on the one who raised Coco after the brutal murders.

Through Coco’s job, she learns about a series of missing women....missing older women, who later are found dead in odd locations. On top of that, someone is claiming that the house where Gwen has lived, and that Coco owns, is theirs. They will stop at nothing to get the house from Coco.

Thank you to Thomas and Mercer, Rachel Howzell Hall, and Netgally for the ARC!