This Never Happens Here (A Novel)

From Wanda M. Morris, award-winning author of All Her Little Secrets, a riveting new thriller following two detectives investigating a baffling string of murders and child abductions in the wealthy suburbs of Atlanta.

Tom and Olivia Henley settle in for a cozy evening at home in the sort of suburb where “nothing ever happens.” The next morning, the young couple is found dead. What seems like a run-of-the-mill gas leak accident raises grave concern when police discover that the couple’s six-year-old daughter is missing.

Detectives Temp Marshall and Bella Wilkins are called in to investigate. Temp feels guilty abandoning her daughter’s piano recital, always caught between her demanding career and her family’s needs, while Bella sees the urgent call as the perfect distraction: She’s attempting to piece her life back together after the untimely death of her husband.

With no clear suspects, the only lead is a tip from a neighbor who saw a “suspicious” Black woman parked on the street the day before. As similar cases begin to crop up—parents dead, children missing—and pressure from the community mounts, the case takes a disturbing turn the detectives never saw coming, and they realize they’re up against a frighteningly powerful adversary.

Taught, twisty, and laced with searing social commentary, This Never Happens Here showcases "the sharpest new voice in thrillers today"(Amy Gentry) at the height of her game.