I work for an independent bookstore and on my most recent shift, I asked my coworker about their recent reads. She told me about Kate William’s Never Coming Home, which she described as a modern-day take on Agatha Christie’s novel, And Then There Were None. I was sold. Never Coming Home was sitting on our break room ARC bookcase, a perk that I’ve previously avoided, as I have million book commitments, but the concept of Never Coming Home was intriguing, so I borrowed it for the weekend.
Never Coming Home starts with ten social media influencers, all under the age of twenty-one, who are invited on an all-inclusive vacation to a island resort called “Unknown Island.” For months, “Unknown Island” had been heavily advertised on social media and each of the influencers feels that they are very special by being the first chosen to have this experience.
When they arrive on the Island, they find the last of the staff leaving and the hotel in disrepair. It is far from the promised luxury experience. With the exception of a creepy computer in the main lobby that provides updates of the island and its guests, the influencers have their internet access cut off. At breakfast, they are each given an envelop with a message, calling them each out for being a murderer. Paranoid and upset, the influencers are confused about how to proceed, when the first among them dies. One by one, they are picked-off in ways that are foreshadowed by the computer messages. Can they figure out the culprit, before the all are killed?
Never Coming Home definitely has shades of Christie’s And Then There Were None, and if you are familiar with Christie’s work, it’s fun to see it all play out, including being able to guess the murderer. The modern updates with social media influencers worked well and this is squarely a YA novel. I don’t often read YA and when I borrowed the book, I didn’t realize that it was YA, but as a bookseller, I found it to be a good opportunity to read a new novel in this very popular genre.
The story isn’t quite as seamless as Christie’s version. Especially as the story progresses, I found an increasing need to utilize suspension of disbelief. Although I love the island setting, I think a simpler setting would have been more believable. Also, some of the murders worked better than others, seemed more plausible. This said, I sailed through book during a snowy afternoon and I enjoyed the ride. I suspect that my teenage stepchildren would find Never Coming Home appealing and I could see this being turned into a feature film or limited series.