This is a fast paced and quite topical thriller that kept me guessing. The man who was convicted of killing Coco's family is released due to new evidence, she's separated from her husband, and she's trying to deal with her aunt and the family home. And then she realizes that elderly widows who own houses are being found dead. Are they dead from natural causes or is a serial killer at work? Well, there's real estate involved. Hall neatly weaves in racism and COVID to create a more layered read. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. No spoilers.

As a teen Coco moved to a remote island with her family because her mother did not feel safe in the city anymore. One night Coco sneaks out and when she returns home she discovers that her entire family has been murdered. She moves off the island and does not set foot back onto the island until she needs time to get away from her ex. On the island, Coco moves back into the house that was left to her by her family which is currently occupied by her aging Aunt. When the elderly members of the island start being found dead in remote areas of the island Coco is both concerned for her aunt and scared for her life.

I would recommend this book to anyone that likes a quick, twisty read.

What never happened tells the story of the sole survivor of a brutal home invasion. Twenty years later Coco returns to her hometown to escape her present demons and in turn awakens the ghosts of her past.

I didn't love this book but I didn't hate it either. In fact there was alot of things I truly loved about this novel! For one thing I loved that it featured a strong WOC as the main character. I also really loved the setting, the concept of a murder in paradise...yes please!

However, for me personally, it was a slow burn. Which sometimes I like but the majority of time that sort of pacing is just off putting for me. Sadly in this case, the book kind of drudges along and didn't have me flipping excitedly through its page.

As always thank you to the publisher and netgalley for providing me a copy in exchange for an honest review

I really enjoyed What Never Happened. I was surprised by the direction the book took and I appreciated the growth of the characters. This started slow but picked up and then didn’t slow down!

My thanks to Thomas and Mercer, Rachel Howzell Hall and Netgalley.
Man oh man, did I keep trying to love this book!
In the end, I guess I just liked it. Bummer!
I kept going through moments when I loved Coco, but there were more moments when she did something stupid, and I just wanted to smack her upside the head!
The people she considered friends was messed up. I wondered if she had ever had real and true friends to compare it to.
Still, I couldn't help rooting for her. Oddly enough, I'd love to see where she is 5 years down the road.
This book gets only 3 stars from me, but I think I'll be keeping an eye on future books from Ms. Hall. Honestly? She's can only get better, and I'd like to be around to read it!

Paradise? Or horror show?

This hooked you in, with a death grip and never lets you go. This was suspense at its finest. Set in pituresque Catalina Island off of Southern California…you’ll be rethinking your booking on the quaint little island.

I was obsessed - once I started, I couldn’t put it down!

The premise to this book was amazing, however it kind of lost me there. I think that there was too much going on and at times it became hard for me to focus and follow. The ending was not expected, which was great, however it also did not answer 75% of the questions that I had about the book. I think that if the author only had 2 of the issues going on in the book, I would have enjoyed it more. The main character was kind of annoying and flat, but she had so much going on that I didn't blame her.

Colette has returned to Catalina Island, where 20 years earlier she was the only survivor of a deadly home invasion. She is returning to escape her ex, get back to work as an Obituary writer and see her elderly aunt Gwen. As Colette begins to draw connections between many deaths of the elderly, she gets a threatening obituary in the mail, her own. Can Colette survive the secrets on Catalina Island?

Thank you Netgalley for my advanced reader copy.

What Never Happened is a thriller.

Colette “Coco” Weber returned to her Catalina Island home. Twenty years ago, she was the sole survivor of a deadly home massacre. Coco wants is to see her aunt Gwen and return to writing obituaries. Luckily a friend is able to help her write while she is there.

Coco learns about some deaths that are similar to what happened to her family. She is determined to find the person responsible.

I was interested in the description and the intro of the book. I am not sure what happened after that, but I could not stay interested in this one. I picked it up several times in order to finish the book. This one is just not for me.

What Never Happened is a blaze of speed, with enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing the entire book. Rachel Howell Hall create a genius mystery that had me hooked from page one. This was one of my favorite reads of the summer, and I'm certain it will be a hit.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
The premise of the book drew me in but once I started reading it, I just couldn’t get into it at all.
I wish the author, publisher and all those promoting the book much success and connections with the right readers.

The summary of this book really hooked me and it started off strong but just completely fell off the rails. This book DRAGGED!!!! By about the 45% mark I felt like the book stopped and absolutely no progress was made. I did not particularly like the main character and the story became confusing with so many ancillary characters. There were a number of events for a normal person would have raised red flags but were glossed over. Definitely not one of my favorites.

It’s murder in paradise as a woman uncovers a host of secrets off the rocky California coast in a gripping novel of suspense. Had my attention from start to finish… I couldn't put it down and finished it in a day. Can't wait for more from this amazing author What an absolute cracker of a book!!!…

A solid thriller. The pacing was a little off and I found the middle dragged. The last 15% was very action packed. Overall enjoyed for a quick summer read!

Colette “aka Coco” Weber is unaware of what has taken place at her home when she snuck out to meet her friends. She returns to find her parents and brother murdered! Twenty years later she is returning to Avalon to live with and help her elderly Aunt Gwen. Coco, an established obituary writer, has a job writing obituaries for a local paper owned by her friend Maddy. She has also been approached to write the story about her family, but is not sure if that is what she wants to do. When the man who was accused of murdering her family is found innocent and released due to new DNA evidence, will she ever find out who murdered her family and why? For me, the story didn't flow smoothly and the writing seemed a bit disjointed at times. It was harder to keep interested in the story, but the ending was exciting and wrapped things up nicely. I received an advance review copy at no cost and without obligation for an honest review. (paytonpuppy)

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, this book really didn’t not work for me. My main issue was the length of the book. This book was way too long. A hundred pages could easily have been cut out of this book, because it dragged so much. Nothing really happens for the first 50% of the book, then some action happens, and then it drags again until the end. The writing style was very convoluted and rushed, and it made it hard to follow what was going on, which was already difficult to do, because there were way too many plots and subplots going on. I felt like the author was trying to do way too many things at once with the plot, and none of them ended up being done well. I also felt like the characters were not written realistically at all, and not acting the way normal people would act in such a situation. I kept reading because I wanted to know the ending, but was very disappointed by it, as it was extremely unsatisfying. I had high hopes for this one, but unfortunately, it did not work for me.

Actual Rating: 2.5⭐

I had a high expectation to this one cause it sounds interesting with the setting taking place in an island and during the time when the pandemic hits the world. Unfortunately, it fell short for me.

The first few chapters are good but after a while the pacing start to get slower, not a lot of significant things happening either which really bored me out.
I also had a hard time connecting with any of the characters in the story, to be honest they’re not really likeable.

The good news is that in the second half part of the book the pace started to pick up and the mystery started to unravel.
However, at that point I wasn’t really invested in the plot anymore.

The ending also felt a bit rushed even though the culprit did surprise me when it was revealed at the end.
While it didn’t work out for me, this book might be for you if you’re looking to read a slow suspense mystery story with eerie atmosphere and dark secrets.

I received an advanced review copy for free through Netgalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Huge thank you to the author and publisher!

In 2001, when Colette was sixteen, she was part of the only Black family living on Catalina Island, a place purportedly so safe, everyone kept their doors unlocked. Until one night, she comes home late after arguing with her parents to an intruder in her house. Colette hides in closet as someone kills her parents and younger brother. Now, nineteen years later, Collette is an obituary writer living in L.A. After going through a breakup with her toxic ex-husband, she returns to Catalina, where her aunt, who loves games shows, now lives in her childhood home. She gets a job as an obituary writer on the island and there are a surprising number of obits for the elderly, who seem to be dying in mysterious ways. Dogs are also disappearing. Is there a killer on the loose? Was the man convicted of her family’s murder wrongly convicted? And if so, who then is responsible for their murder. This is an ominous and creepy thriller about post-traumatic stress and feeling like an outside. Thank you to NetGalley and to Thomas & Mercer for the advanced review copy.

It’s been a while since I picked up a book that was purely a thriller without any fantasy elements, alternative worlds, or a historical setting (for context, the last mystery I read was a cozy called Four Parties and a Funeral). So I was very excited to be approved for an eARC of Rachel Howzell Hall’s latest thriller.

What Never Happened is set on the idyllic Catalina Island, off the coast of California, and begins in 2020—so right around the time of the beginning of lockdowns and social distancing. In the context of the story, however, the place lost some of its charm and took on an eerie atmosphere. It was repeated that it was safe and secure, but I often found myself questioning who exactly that applied to. After all, the location carried a lot of history for the main character, Colette “Coco” Weber. From the death of her family (mother, father, and brother), to friends who came with caveats, and even to the aunt (Gwen) who she had a complicated and sometimes tense relationship with. But, she had a need to get away from her troubles—job issues, an ex-husband. Put together, those aspects kick started the story, and I quickly got invested in learning more about characters and unraveling the mystery of what was happening to longtime residents of the island—and how that correlated with what happened twenty years prior to the beginning of the story.

The middle is where I had a little trouble with the story. Don’t get me wrong, there was a good pace and it was interesting enough to keep me turning the pages. However, I got a little frustrated by the way Colette kept almost denying the clues that she’d uncovered. I kept waiting and waiting for her to make the same connections I had already made, but it didn’t happen until very late in the story. However, the more I thought about it while writing this review, I realized there was her response to fear and her tendency to run from her problems rather than confront them. When I factored that in I was willing to overlook some of my frustration—personal taste and whatnot—because the bone chilling twists at the end were very good ones. Once the action got going it kept going, and the penultimate resolution brought all the plotlines together in a way that turned out to be incredibly satisfying to read.

So, at the end of the day, What Never Happened was a good thriller. I know Hall has other books, and I would be interested in potentially checking those out too.

Disclaimer: this copy of the book was provided by the publisher (Thomas & Mercer) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, thank you!

What Never Happened by Rachel Howzell Hall is a highly recommended investigative mystery.

Twenty years before, Colette “Coco” Weber was the only survivor of a deadly home invasion the took the life of her parents and brother. She was more than willing to leave the Catalina Island home she inherited with her Aunt Gwen in residence and make a career on the mainland. She does well and finds success as an award winning obituary writer. Later, when her relationship breaks up and she learns Aunt Gwen may need some assistance, she accepts a job with the local paper and moves back to Catalina. Once she returns, strange and ominous things begin to happen.

Both Coco and Gwen are fully realized characters while the rest of the characters simply fulfill various roles in the plot. Coco has a prickly personality which may be off-putting, however she also has perfectly legitimate reasons for her attitude. The island and the inhabitants in general also become characters in the novel.

What Never Happened is plot driven by two different mysteries that beg to be solved. The first is who murdered Coco's family as new evidence exonerated the man convicted years earlier. The second mystery that officials seem unconcerned with involves the large number of elderly women who have recently been found dead on the island.

The pace of the novel is uneven. There were sections were I was fully engaged with the plot and immersed in the action. There were other times my interest in the narrative waned. Even with the murder mysteries I had to force myself to keep reading. At over 400 pages perhaps a bit more editing could have tightened up the narrative to keep the action moving along smoothly. Still, this is a very entertaining mystery.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Thomas & Mercer via NetGalley.
The review will be published on Barnes & Noble, Google Books, Edelweiss, and Amazon.

This one focuses on Coco who has returned to Catalina island and finds something weird about the deaths happening over there. Now she gets so deep into the investigation that she gets threats but she is relentless in finding out secrets between her home invasion in the past and the current deaths. I enjoyed the descriptions of the Catalina island and how beautifully it was depicted and the suspense was maintained till the end with brilliant twists at the end. My main issue was it was a bit too long and pace could have a lot better. I have liked the author's previous books better than this one!