What Never Happened: A Thriller

It's murder in paradise as a woman uncovers a host of secrets off the rocky California coast in a gripping novel of suspense by New York Times bestselling author Rachel Howzell Hall.
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.
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Collette is set go back to help take care of her Aunt Gwen who is living in Cocoâs childhood home. In 2001, Cocoâs family relocated to Catalina Island. When Coco decides to sneaking out, she returned and found her father, mother and younger brother had all been murdered.â¨â¨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 Obituaryâs for the paper. Gwen was on the one who raised Coco after the brutal murders. â¨â¨Through Cocoâs 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.Â
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Thank you to Thomas and Mercer, Rachel Howzell Hall, and Netgally for the ARC!
Rachel Howzell Hall takes us through Catalina's hillside, as Collette returns to the small town, where her family was murdered, to care for her aunt. As if that wasn't enough trauma and PTSD to sort through, Collette is tasked with writing the obituaries for a string of old women who start falling like flies when she returns.
I'd give the character development a 7/10, we learned about Collette but many of the side characters lacked depth. I would have loved to get more backstory to Noah, Flynn, and Maddie...but it all stayed pretty surface-level.
I took a trip to Catalina Island for my first wedding anniversary, so I enjoyed revisiting the island through the story. Makes me wonder if the small sleepy coastal town really has some dark secrets.
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