True crime podcaster and mother Faith Byrne is newly and unhappily divorced.
She’s even less happy when her ex wants to take her two daughters to Hawaii for the three whole months of summer, not just the short holiday she’s originally agreed so they could attend their father’s wedding.
But that does mean she’s free and unencumbered when she gets a strange request from the sister of a childhood best friend. Back when she was ten, she’d spent a summer at her grandmother’s house in Deep Valley, Oregon, where she’d befriended Heather, the girl next door.
Despite their promises to write, Heather never replied to any of Faith’s letters. Now Faith finds out why: Heather disappeared a matter of days after Faith left Deep Valley. And her parents never told her.
That got me hooked.
The story itself was told from three points of view: Faith, Dori (Heather’s mother, who is still grieving for her lost daughter and can’t understand why everyone else – including her husband – has moved on), and Heather herself, from 1986.
We therefore saw Health and Faith becoming friends at the same time as we saw Faith searching for her lost friend. It was an effective way to unravel the mystery and show Faith’s investigation.
While I enjoy a good crime novel, I’m not a fan of true crime novels (or nonfiction). True crime has real victims, and I’d much rather engage my imagination with make-believe than dwell on something that actually happened to someone … and which left behind mourning family and friends.
I think this is why I liked and appreciated Faith’s take on true crime: because she wasn’t focusing on the crime.
She was focusing on the people.
Her listeners expected stories of hope and healing, of people who fought through loss to come out stronger and still maintaining compassion and wholeness.
I’d describe What Happens Next as dual timeline women’s fiction with a touch of mystery. We did find out what happened to Heather, although I didn’t think the mystery was the main focus. It was more a story of relationships, particularly marriage, and grief.
Recommended for those who enjoy well-written novels with great characters.
Thanks to Bethany House and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.
About Christina Suzann Nelson
Christina Suzann Nelson is an inspirational speaker and Christy award-winning author. Her first novel, If We Make It Home, was honored as one of Library Journal‘s top five inspirational novels of 2017, and her 2021 novel, The Way It Should Be, won the Christy Award for general fiction.
In 2017, Christina was named the OCW Cascade’s Writer of Promise and received a Cascade award for her novel Swimming in the Deep End. Her stories have been published in the Cup of Comfort for a Better World, Cup of Comfort for Adoptive Families, as well as other publications.
Christina is over-the-top about her passions, including the stories created somewhere in the twists and turns of her less-than-focused brain. When she’s not writing, Christina serves on the board of Every Child Linn-Benton, a nonprofit where she has the opportunity to influence the lives of families and children in the foster care system.
On a typical day, she chases escaped farm animals, reads, hikes with her dog, and enjoys her husband and six kids.
Find Christina Suzann Nelson online at:
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Twitter
About What Happens Next
Popular podcaster and ex-reporter Faith Byrne has made a name for herself telling stories of greatness after tragedy–but her real life does not mirror the stories she tells. While her daughters spend the summer in Hawaii with her ex-husband and his new wife, she must manage life on her own. But all that changes when she’s asked to spotlight her childhood best friend’s missing person case on her podcast.
Dora Crane has never accepted that her younger daughter could be dead, keeping her home looking the same as when her daughter disappeared. But when her husband leaves her, and her older daughter intervenes, she agrees to counseling and to pack up her missing daughter’s belongings under one condition: Faith Byrne comes to Deep Valley and sheds light on the cold case.
As the investigation moves forward, the two women uncover desperate secrets, and Faith and Dora must face the long-hidden truth before they can begin to move forward.
Award-winning author Christina Suzann Nelson masterfully leads readers on a journey of discovery, healing, and friendship in this suspenseful and poignant tale.
