Kelly (and the Book Boar)'s Reviews > What Never Happened

Here’s your friendly reminder that if you are a person like me who has sold your soul on a monthly basis to . . . .



Don’t forget to check out the First Reads available each month. I rolled the dice on this Rachel Howzell Hall since it was offered up as a freebie, but it certainly will not be my last time reading her.

Twenty years ago Colette’s entire family was brutally murdered. She moved away as soon as she was able and made a name for herself as an award winning obituary writer. Unfortunately, she has to return to Catalina Island to help care for her aging aunt (and to get some distance/closure from her ex), but luckily the local paper is owned by her college bestie and she is actually the owner of the house where her aunt has always lived. And it’s not like she won’t have plenty of obits to write with the aging population on the Island . . . . but why are the deaths all so similar?

In a sea of whodunnits that are marketed as so thrilling and twisty and end up not being anything of the sort I REALLY appreciate the ones that assume readers are not idiots and give you a plot where you are pretty certain right from the beginning you know what’s going on and the enjoyment level comes from quality storytelling rather than shock and awe. That was the case here and the social thriller is quickly becoming my favorite type of thriller.