In order to escape a disgruntled ex, Colette AKA Coco returns to the island where her family was murdered when she was a teenager. She moves in with her estranged aunt, gets a job writing obituaries, and begins to suspect the elderly residents who keep turning up dead have actually been murdered.

Final girl Coco makes a wonderful multi-dimensional protagonist with a cool character arc. Her plethora of enemies creates a large suspect pool. Her job at the local newspaper showcases her creativity and keeps clues coming her way. The interspersed obituaries are a treat as is Coco’s sardonic wit.

The island setting, which is full of quirky secondary characters, serves to isolate Coco and increase the tension. The story takes place at the beginning of the pandemic, however the COVID-19 elements add to the mood and ominous atmosphere without overshadowing the story.

The storyline involves identifying who killed Coco’s immediate family in the past and the elderly residents in the present, and includes thriller elements thanks to her disgruntled ex and the dangers related to her sleuthing. While I throughly enjoy the plots of Rachel Howzell Hall’s books, I adore the characters she creates even more.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to Thomas & Mercer for providing an Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley.

What Never Happened is the ninth novel by American author, Rachel Howzell Hall. In March, 2020, Colette Weber is back on Catalina Island. It’s not what she wanted, but since she lost her LA Times job, existing only on writing freelance obits, and with her (not-exactly) husband pressing her to sign divorce papers (and hand over a certain disputed-ownership $500K ring), she is returning to the house she owns in Avalon.

Her ageing Aunt Gwen, who took care of her at sixteen when her family was murdered on the island, is getting to the point where she’s not safe alone in the run-down Beacon St house. Colette will fix up the house and try to convince Gwen to come back to LA. Handy meanwhile that her best friend since college, Madeline Swenson, as editor-in-chief of the Avalon Breeze, has offered her a job as Obituaries and Community Events editor.

But being back in the town as the only survivor of a home invasion isn’t comfortable: Colette has the feeling she’s being watched. From her husband’s text threats, it could be someone of his. But DNA evidence has exonerated the man who served almost twenty years for the triple murder, so might it be a resentful ex-con? Or the real murderer, the one who got away with it, up to now?

Even scarier are the threats: a “welcome” on a photograph of Colette at sixteen, slipped under the door; phone calls insisting she sell the house, then threatening to set fire to it; a nasty message in a bottle through the window; different versions of Colette’s own obituary, left on the doorstep; a map circling the death locations of the widows appearing in her desk drawer; vaguely warning texts; her house trashed; all of which have her second-guessing just whom she can trust.

In the background, there are lots of dogs going missing; there’s some virus threatening to shut everything down; there’s a dishy colleague paying her attention; a flasher on the loose around the town; a literary agent chasing her to write the story of her family’s demise; an undercurrent of well-disguised racism still pervading the island; rumours of a cannibal killer; and several widows who own valuable real estate dying of unexpected causes, away from their homes.

A friend of those widows tells Colette: “People tend to disregard us old ladies—they think we’re only good for sewing robes and making hot chocolate, that we’re crazy since we can no longer bear children. But we’re smarter than everyone because we don’t have distractions anymore. No kids. No husbands for many of us. We always knew the evil that men did, and we still do. Just now, no one believes us.”

No one is looking into these deaths, deemed by accidental or natural causes. Nor is anyone looking for the true killer of her father, mother and brother. Some of these women apparently knew more about what happened to them back in June 2001, so Colette can’t let that go, can she? But as the only young black woman on the island, she’s not exactly inconspicuous, so covert investigation is a challenge. Might there be a clue about their murders in the boxes of her parents’ papers that she hasn’t had the courage to look through?

Once again, Howzell Hall gives the reader a plot with plenty of turns and red herrings that keep the reader guessing right up to the jaw-dropping climax. Her setting is well-depicted, with restricted accessibility to the island and the COVID outbreak giving the whole tale a bit of a closed-room mystery feel. Colette is a gutsy protagonist whom the reader can’t help cheering on, and irreverent Aunt Gwen is a dark delight. Even if the resolution Is a little rushed, this is a clever and brilliantly twisty page-turner.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer.

I loved this book! It was so smartly written, that I was captivated from the beginning. The characters draw you in and make it such an enjoyable read.

This had my heart racing throughout. I enjoyed it a lot. A good amount of misdirection which is good for a book like this.

Thanks to Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review

I thought the concept for this book seemed exciting and unique. I also was excited for the setting. However, the problem came when some parts were overly described (and they usually didn’t have much bearing on the plot) but then things would happen in the plot and they felt rushed. I struggled for a while figuring out what was happening and parts of the plot seemed a bit unclear. While this wasn’t a win for me, if you’re a fan of Hall, you should give it a try!
This was my first read by this author but I would read another to give her another chance.

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas &Mercer for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I loathed this writing style. It was so rushed and confusing. It really detracted from a great story with a very intriguing plot. I wanted to love this book but I didn't. Mysterious and original if you can vibe with the writing.

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the copy of What Never Happened by Rachel Howzell Hall. Wow what a great book! Was Coco an unreliable narrator or was she a victim? She was a really interesting character who had a lot of baggage from her childhood trauma. The writing and story just wouldn’t let me go and I liked the spooky aspect of what was going on. Don’t be put off because this is a long book - it’s a fast read because it’s so well-written and the story is multi-faceted. 4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

Coco Weber is returning to Catalina Island for the first time in almost 20 years. In 2001, her family relocated to Catalina Island, and one night, after sneaking out, she returned and and found her father, mother and younger brother had all been murdered.

Fast forward to March 2020, Coco, running away from her LA life and her soon-to-be (sort of?) ex-husband, takes a job with her college roommate, Maddy, at the paper on Catalina Island and to see her Aunt Gwen. Gwen was on the one who raised Coco after the brutal murders. Gwen is also a fixture on the island, living in the home that The Webers were going to move into, all those years ago.

Upon Coco's return, she learns about a series of missing women....missing older women, who later are found dead in odd locations. On top of that, she starts a new romance with her new co-worker and deals with harassment from someone....someone who claims that the house where Gwen has lived, and that Coco owns, is theirs....and nothing will stop them from getting it.

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

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I have been a fan of Rachel Hall & when I saw this I was so excited to read it! A perfect setting with such a unique plot…unfortunately this book was a bit too slow for me and the writing style didn’t click! I think this book will be great for those new to the thriller/mystery world, but for old pros it is too slow & by the time it started to pick up, I had mentally moved on!
Still a fan & can’t wait to read her future books!

We are introduced to Coco who moves back to her Catalina Island home. It has to be mentioned that she is the sole survivor of a deadly home invasion. She just wants to lead a quiet life, writing obituaries. Since a lot of older poeople are dying on the island at this time, she is quite busy.
She can't help having a closer look at these deaths quickly realizing that the circumstances surrounding them are very very suspicious. Things start to get really strange when Coco receives a sinister threat in the mail: her own obituary.
As Coco investigates the crimes and her own family tragedy, she stumbles over quite some adventures.
Thank you very much #NetGalley #Thomas & Mercer for this ARC

This is not your standard crime story, and that's a good thing. The plot is great, as are the characters, and I really like the storytelling with its direct and impulsive style. The problem is that it's too much, and so things get boring. It's still a very readable and entertaining book, though.

This sounded like it would be a really good mystery/thriller, unfortunately it was slow, ridiculously drawn out and pretty boring. I wasn’t a fan of the characters either which didn’t help any. I thank Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I absolutely adored the setting of catalina - but never really thought about it as a place that could be assumed dangerous …

murders on a tropical island should be its own category I swear because this was equal parts beautiful and terrifying!! I wanted to be there but also didn’t want to be in the middle of the creepy investigation so 😅😅

the writing style was a bit clunky for me, but the plot itself more than made up for it! it was a brilliant, original story - and that’s unique today because there’s so many mysteries and thrillers out there that it’s hard to find one that stands out. this one did just that!!

I absolutely adored the bravado of the FMC and her determination to figure out what was happening to her!! I would read sequels with her in it!!

thank you to netgalley and thomas and mercer for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

rating: 4.5 stars
wine pairing: argentina malbec

Thank you to the publisher for giving me an eARC of this novel! I loved the plot of this book along with the setting because it seemed so different compared to a lot of the typical mysteries that are out there. Unfortunately for me though I didn’t get hooked at all and found this book to be really slow. There was little to none progress and because of that i stopped reading. I would not recommend this to my followers but with better formatting and a more thought out writing it could be a phenomenal novel.

What Never Happened is a gripping multi-layered mystery set on Catalina Island -- not only do we have to figure out who killed main character Colette's family in a brutal home invasion on the island when she was a teenager, now that she's back on the island to care for her aging aunt and work at the local newspaper owned by a college friend we have to figure out what's behind a series of recent suspicious deaths on the island... and who's trying to scare Colette into leaving.

Colette's significant emotional trauma makes her a prickly and challenging character, and early on in the story it seems like she might be overly judgmental and overreacting to the people around her. But as we move through the story, it becomes clear that her instincts are actually pretty solid underneath her trauma responses. The twists and turns kept me on the edge of my seat and had me up reading past my bedtime, unable to sleep until I knew how things turned out. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this advance copy!

I think this is a book you will either love or hate.
For me had a hard time getting into and enjoying it
Great idea for a story but packed the go factor for me
It did pick up the second half but by them I wasn't so invested in it.


Thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for an early release of this book

Hi there,
I have reviewed the novel "What Never Happened" for the Sistah Girls Book Club blog. It is linked below!
Thanks!

I really enjoyed this book! I thought that the pacing was excellent and kept me reading. The storyline was unique and kept me guessing until the very end!

What Never Happened is my second read by Rachel Howzell Hall and my favorite so far. I picked it up because of the author and the interesting premise that I’d not seen done before. The idea of someone sending you your own obituary sounded creepy and something that I needed to know more about. Overall, this one was a fun to read, unnerving domestic thriller which focused on some noteworthy and realistic characters. I liked the setting of Catalina Island which gave this a closed small town vibe where everyone could be a suspect. The past meets present crimes are attention-grabbing and draw you into the bigger story about what really happened to the main character’s family all those years prior. Rachel Howzell Hall is an excellent thriller author and this one is not to be missed.

I tried to get into this book but unfortunately was unable too, I’m sure many other will. That is the beauty of books and readers. Thank you for allowing me the advanced copy :)