What Happens Next by Christina Suzann Nelson is a complexly structured novel that explores what happened after a child goes missing. Even with two timelines and three POVs (Heather, Dora, and Faith), I never felt lost within this story. Did I have questions that demanded answers just as the main characters did? Oh, yes! Podcaster Faith spends her summer back in the small town where her childhood took a turn. Faith’s best friend went missing and there are no answers to the mystery until Faith starts asking questions. Dora believes her daughter is still out there somewhere and lives her life waiting for her return. Life has gone on around her, but she is stuck in the past. Both of these characters do not forget the pivotal event that changed their lives. The story shifts between the present day and the summer when Faith went missing. Faith, the missing friend and daughter, tells her story in a first person voice. I loved that. Faith becomes real, not a long gone character that others tell about. Perspectives from adults and children are important to understand just went on that summer. This truly is a story of what comes next after tragedy and loss, even when no answers are to be found.
What Happens Next is an excellent book. Perfect for a book club discussion, you will want to talk about this book!
Highly Recommended.
Great for Book Clubs.
Audience: Adults.
(I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley. All opinions expressed are mine alone.)
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.Â
Christina Suzann Nelson in an inspirational speaker and the 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.
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 the non-profit, Every Child Linn-Benton, 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.
Tags: Christina Suzann Nelson, general fiction
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