Book Summary and Reviews of What Happened Next by Edwin Hill

What Happened Next by Edwin Hill

What Happened Next

A Novel

by Edwin Hill

  • Published:
  • Apr 2026, 317 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

A young man investigating his father's crimes is determined to uncover the truth in a gripping novel of suspense about family secrets, betrayal, and the weight of the past.

What do I remember about the murder on the lake?

Charlie Kilgore was too young to remember anything, really, about how events on the lake unfolded twenty-five years ago. He just knows what he's been told: that his father stabbed a man to death, left Charlie's mother critically wounded, and then disappeared, never to be seen again. Now Charlie believes there must be more to what happened.

Using the shards of the story he's uncovered so far as the heart of a true crime podcast, Charlie returns to his hometown in the foothills of New Hampshire's White Mountains. Old friends, family, authorities, and even collateral victims have moved on, and no one wants to dredge up what's long forgotten. Except Charlie. He wants to know what could have transformed a quiet man into a monster. And what happened next.

But when Charlie starts asking questions of people with so much to hide, getting to the truth becomes dangerous. Because on this lake―in this family―the past isn't dead and buried at all. In fact, it's back with a vengeance.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Hill takes things in surprising and inspired directions, and populates the action with remarkably well-shaded characters. This is an absolute treat." ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)

This information about What Happened Next was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

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Author Information

Edwin Hill

Edwin Hill is the Edgar and Agatha Award–nominated author of the stand-alone thrillers Who to Believe and The Secrets We Share, as well as Little Comfort, The Missing Ones, and Watch Her in the Hester Thursby series. He has been featured in Us Weekly; received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, and Library Journal; and was recognized as one of Six Crime Writers to Watch in Mystery Scene magazine. Edwin lives in Roslindale, Massachusetts, with his partner, Michael, and his favorite reviewer, their Lab Edith Ann, who likes Edwin's first drafts enough to eat them. For more information, visit www.edwin-hill.com.

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