It’s another freezing cold winter in rural northern Minnesota, and the town’s residents are keeping warm by visiting local coffee shops and bars. The older residents at Oleander Terrace are searching for new hobbies to occupy their time, and the days pass uneventfully until a brutal crime leaves one local resident fighting for her life and another missing in NOTHING EVER HAPPENS HERE by Seraphina Nova Glass.
Shelby Dawson stops at her friend’s diner late at night to retrieve a lost toy for her daughter, but she inadvertently interrupts a crime in progress and finds herself thrust into a nightmare with a masked intruder, barely surviving. Mackenzie and her husband Leo own the diner, and now Leo is missing. Did Leo attack Shelby and flee? Fifteen months later, Mack still wonders as she stumbles across surveillance footage taken from a local bar. The footage is broadcast on TV, putting the case and Shelby back in the spotlight. Shelby starts receiving threatening notes, her security system is cut, and the people she loves are being targeted, including the residents at the assisted living facility she manages in town. Those residents include Florence and her gang, who decide to help Shelby and create a podcast, but although well-meaning, this places Shelby in even more danger. As Mack races to uncover her missing husband’s secretive life, she questions whether he is still alive and whether he is Shelby’s attacker. Who in this small, sleepy Minnesota town is playing games, and will they end Shelby’s life before the truth comes out?
NOTHING EVER HAPPENS HERE has a lot going on in this fun, entertaining, and thrilling novel. From a brutal attack to the secret life of a missing spouse to the senior citizens who have turned into mystery sleuths, all the elements combine to make a fast-paced, well-plotted, twisty mystery. Told from three different viewpoints, the narratives intermingle effectively. Readers feel Mack’s desperation as she uncovers her husband’s secrets and Shelby’s terror as someone targets her family. Florence and the other sleuthing members at the assisted living facility are a hoot. Their camaraderie and interactions are endearing, laugh-out-loud amusing, and effective. This snowy, sleepy Minnesota town holds a lot of secrets, and the atmospheric chill that runs through the story is elevated by the setting's cold landscape and freezing temperatures, making some endeavors physically more difficult. All the layers add up nicely, just like the falling snow. NOTHING EVER HAPPENS HERE is a great suspenseful read on a dark winter night.
When Shelby Dawson survives a harrowing attack that should have left her dead, she tries to move past it—for herself, and for her family. Fifteen months later, with the help of her best friend, Mackenzie, she finally feels safe again in the snowy Minnesota town she calls home. But when an anonymous note appears on her windshield bearing the same threats her attacker made, Shelby realizes that her nightmare has only just begun.
As new evidence surfaces, and a group of well-meaning senior citizens accidentally makes the case go viral online, the situation quickly goes from bad to worse. And with suspicious accidents targeting those closest to her happening all over town, Shelby can’t shake the feeling that she’s being watched. Fighting to stay one step ahead of disaster, she finds herself asking the question on everyone’s lips: Who attacked her that night?
But Shelby isn’t the only one with questions. Mackenzie’s husband, Leo, vanished without a trace on that terrible night, and over a year later, no one knows why. Until a deep dive into his finances reveals a history of debts, mismanaged funds, and hidden accounts—one of which is still active. Their suspicion that Leo is still alive only complicates things further, though, and when another person connected to Shelby goes missing, she’s caught in a race against time before her attacker becomes a killer.
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