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Nobody Deserves This: A Novel
Not yet published
Expected 19 Jan 27"Unsettling and addictive ― everything you want from a thriller. A terrific read.” ―Alex Michaelides, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Silent Patient and The Fury
Philadelphia’s elite Main Line is on edge after two college girls go missing in this propulsive debut thriller.
Twenty-one-year-old college dropout Sean Mulcahy is determined to succeed where the police have failed. Since his younger sister, Mia, disappeared four months ago, his family has fallen apart and his reputation ruined, thanks to his being named a suspect in the case. Things get even worse when Sean is the last person seen speaking with Sarah, the second girl to disappear. He’s a suspect all over again, with nobody to turn to, not even his own family.
Sean’s father blames Sean for Mia’s disappearance and for the pain and shame their family has suffered in its wake. When a third girl goes missing, Sean unearths a clue the police missed. Are all three cases connected? Is a serial killer at work? Could this new disappearance contain clues that lead back to Mia? How does the third missing girl fit into this?
With nothing left to lose, Sean sets out to find his sister, clear his name, and repair his broken family. But he’ll need his dad’s help. Nobody Deserves This is a gripping thriller that explores how power, greed, social media, and reputation can fracture a life, a family, and a community.
Philadelphia’s elite Main Line is on edge after two college girls go missing in this propulsive debut thriller.
Twenty-one-year-old college dropout Sean Mulcahy is determined to succeed where the police have failed. Since his younger sister, Mia, disappeared four months ago, his family has fallen apart and his reputation ruined, thanks to his being named a suspect in the case. Things get even worse when Sean is the last person seen speaking with Sarah, the second girl to disappear. He’s a suspect all over again, with nobody to turn to, not even his own family.
Sean’s father blames Sean for Mia’s disappearance and for the pain and shame their family has suffered in its wake. When a third girl goes missing, Sean unearths a clue the police missed. Are all three cases connected? Is a serial killer at work? Could this new disappearance contain clues that lead back to Mia? How does the third missing girl fit into this?
With nothing left to lose, Sean sets out to find his sister, clear his name, and repair his broken family. But he’ll need his dad’s help. Nobody Deserves This is a gripping thriller that explores how power, greed, social media, and reputation can fracture a life, a family, and a community.
- GenresMystery ThrillerFiction
Audible Audio
Expected publication January 19, 2027
About the author
Andy Callahan
1 book3 followersAndy Callahan grew up in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, and attended high school on the Main Line. He has a degree in American studies from Yale and has written for TV and movies. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two sons.
Nobody Deserves This is his first novel.
Nobody Deserves This is his first novel.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
Edelweiss review:
Not to be the friend that’s too woke, but I really care about how women are written about — even in fiction. I was really excited to start this based on the blurb. Unfortunately, this is getting added to the list of 'books that could have been really good but instead choose to demean its female characters.' The title of this, 'Nobody Deserves This', when put into the context of the actual story, theme, and writing feels so hollow and patronizing. In what world do audiences need to be told both on page and in the title itself that these young female characters don't deserve to be abducted and brutalized simply because they... have an Instagram account? The women in this book are written as 'the perfect victims' -- blonde, skinny, beautiful, and for the most part white -- yet the book is too scared (or just simply doesn't care enough) to make any meaningful comment on what that 'perfect victim' archetype (a very REAL phenomenon) actually entails. Instead, it chooses to blame these young women, and every other woman on page, for something or another. Every woman in this book is written about as if she's being persecuted. She is judged for one thing or another. She is either vapid, a burnout, too rich to function, just evil, complicit, etc. The men on the other hand? They all get their redemption arc. The deadbeat father decides he DOES actually care about his family. The drop out alcoholic anger issue ridden son decides to go back to school and gets his fresh start. These main character men are given all of the grace and care the women are not afforded, they are also given all of the agency. The way the women are written about feels like the author is trying to prove that they are WORTHY of being rooted for. "See, don't you want her to live? She's smart! She is proving she has value!" but in reality I want her to live because I don't want her to be killed? These young women don't need to prove that they 'don't deserve this' because it's as simple as they don't. The book doesn't seem to know that. It's all quite ironic. It tries to talk about racism and police but, again, it just doesn't care enough to say anything real about that. It dedicates a single paragraph and the odd one liner about the existence of police brutality and false accusations which just reads as really weird and out of touch. It lacks care across the board. On top of what I feel is harmful rhetoric the pacing of this is peculiar, dialogue and character choices are incomprehensible, and even though it has multiple POVs they all sound the exact same -- they all read as a middle aged man (I don't believe any teenager or 20-something would refer to a Dunkin' Donuts as "the Dunk" and there is a clear misunderstanding of how social media works when the entire plot hinges on social media. No dice.). I was actually really excited for this one, it's a super intriguing mystery, but I was just so upset by the way it talked about these young women that I couldn't enjoy it at all. This book doesn't have many blatantly offensive lines (at one point it refers to a statutory rape victim as a "self-serving harlot" because of said statutory assault and when introducing a group of teenage girls there is a weird emphasis on which were “skinny” vs. their “curvier” friend — this is IRRELEVANT! This is NEVER BROUGHT UP AGAIN — which becomes weirder when you take into account the first two girls being white vs. their poc friend), but the rhetoric is so clear and consistent I actually found it quite upsetting very often. It’s unfortunate that all of these problems stand because the mystery itself was quite intriguing and it was a page turner. I just can’t get over the fact that young women deserve to be portrayed better than this.
Not to be the friend that’s too woke, but I really care about how women are written about — even in fiction. I was really excited to start this based on the blurb. Unfortunately, this is getting added to the list of 'books that could have been really good but instead choose to demean its female characters.' The title of this, 'Nobody Deserves This', when put into the context of the actual story, theme, and writing feels so hollow and patronizing. In what world do audiences need to be told both on page and in the title itself that these young female characters don't deserve to be abducted and brutalized simply because they... have an Instagram account? The women in this book are written as 'the perfect victims' -- blonde, skinny, beautiful, and for the most part white -- yet the book is too scared (or just simply doesn't care enough) to make any meaningful comment on what that 'perfect victim' archetype (a very REAL phenomenon) actually entails. Instead, it chooses to blame these young women, and every other woman on page, for something or another. Every woman in this book is written about as if she's being persecuted. She is judged for one thing or another. She is either vapid, a burnout, too rich to function, just evil, complicit, etc. The men on the other hand? They all get their redemption arc. The deadbeat father decides he DOES actually care about his family. The drop out alcoholic anger issue ridden son decides to go back to school and gets his fresh start. These main character men are given all of the grace and care the women are not afforded, they are also given all of the agency. The way the women are written about feels like the author is trying to prove that they are WORTHY of being rooted for. "See, don't you want her to live? She's smart! She is proving she has value!" but in reality I want her to live because I don't want her to be killed? These young women don't need to prove that they 'don't deserve this' because it's as simple as they don't. The book doesn't seem to know that. It's all quite ironic. It tries to talk about racism and police but, again, it just doesn't care enough to say anything real about that. It dedicates a single paragraph and the odd one liner about the existence of police brutality and false accusations which just reads as really weird and out of touch. It lacks care across the board. On top of what I feel is harmful rhetoric the pacing of this is peculiar, dialogue and character choices are incomprehensible, and even though it has multiple POVs they all sound the exact same -- they all read as a middle aged man (I don't believe any teenager or 20-something would refer to a Dunkin' Donuts as "the Dunk" and there is a clear misunderstanding of how social media works when the entire plot hinges on social media. No dice.). I was actually really excited for this one, it's a super intriguing mystery, but I was just so upset by the way it talked about these young women that I couldn't enjoy it at all. This book doesn't have many blatantly offensive lines (at one point it refers to a statutory rape victim as a "self-serving harlot" because of said statutory assault and when introducing a group of teenage girls there is a weird emphasis on which were “skinny” vs. their “curvier” friend — this is IRRELEVANT! This is NEVER BROUGHT UP AGAIN — which becomes weirder when you take into account the first two girls being white vs. their poc friend), but the rhetoric is so clear and consistent I actually found it quite upsetting very often. It’s unfortunate that all of these problems stand because the mystery itself was quite intriguing and it was a page turner. I just can’t get over the fact that young women deserve to be portrayed better than this.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thriller suspense stories tend to run through the same formulaic patterns. In tearing through NOBODY DESERVES THIS, I felt like I was reading this genre for the first time. I wanted to savor the story, but I also couldn’t flip through the pages first enough. It’s easily cracking my top reads of this year, and dare I say, in *many* years.
This story was refreshing, original, with twists and turns that left me giving up on solving the case, and instead, sitting back and enjoying the crazy ride. Make no mistake, the twists were not for shock value - they were carefully calculated nuggets that exploded on the page, causing me to sit up and exclaim, “WHAT?!” one too many times. This book was fun and I am envious of anyone who gets to read it for the first time.
If I am ever in a situation where I need to solve a crime (knock on wood), I pick Sean. His character brought a sense of levity in his voice-driven narrations in an otherwise serious story. He was the underdog that I rooted for from the get go, urging him on, while also cursing him through some of his boneheaded decisions. Getting a glimpse into the lives of him and his family, as they grapple with an unimaginable loss, you could feel them leap across the page.
Come for the story, stay for the Mulcahy family and those twists. An addictive read that will have your head spinning in those final pages.
This story was refreshing, original, with twists and turns that left me giving up on solving the case, and instead, sitting back and enjoying the crazy ride. Make no mistake, the twists were not for shock value - they were carefully calculated nuggets that exploded on the page, causing me to sit up and exclaim, “WHAT?!” one too many times. This book was fun and I am envious of anyone who gets to read it for the first time.
If I am ever in a situation where I need to solve a crime (knock on wood), I pick Sean. His character brought a sense of levity in his voice-driven narrations in an otherwise serious story. He was the underdog that I rooted for from the get go, urging him on, while also cursing him through some of his boneheaded decisions. Getting a glimpse into the lives of him and his family, as they grapple with an unimaginable loss, you could feel them leap across the page.
Come for the story, stay for the Mulcahy family and those twists. An addictive read that will have your head spinning in those final pages.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
"𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭, 𝐌𝐢𝐚 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞. 𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟*𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞."
When college student Mia Mulcahy disappears, her brother Sean is left dealing with a shattered family and the suspicion that he somehow knows more than he's saying. Then another girl goes missing, followed by a third, and Sean decides he has nothing left to lose by investigating the cases himself. From the premise alone, this should have been a five star read for me. Missing girls, a desperate brother, a family falling apart, and a mystery that keeps widening? Sign me up. Unfortunately, the execution never quite got me there.
There was just something about the writing that kept me at arm's length. I wanted to be completely absorbed in Sean's search for Mia, but I never reached that point where I forgot I was reading a book. The story had plenty of pieces that should have worked for me, especially the questions surrounding the disappearances and the damage they were doing to Sean's family, but the pacing was my biggest issue. No matter how much I read, I kept waiting for that moment when everything would accelerate and I would become completely invested. It just never really happened.
That said, I can absolutely see why this premise will work for other thriller readers. There are some interesting ideas here about reputation, social media, family dynamics, and how quickly suspicion can consume a person when everyone is looking for someone to blame. I also appreciated that this is a debut, and there is clearly a solid thriller writer underneath the pacing issues that didn't quite work for me. This one wasn't a bad read by any means. I just wanted it to grab me harder than it did. Many thanks to Celadon Books for the early read that will publish January 19, 2027.
When college student Mia Mulcahy disappears, her brother Sean is left dealing with a shattered family and the suspicion that he somehow knows more than he's saying. Then another girl goes missing, followed by a third, and Sean decides he has nothing left to lose by investigating the cases himself. From the premise alone, this should have been a five star read for me. Missing girls, a desperate brother, a family falling apart, and a mystery that keeps widening? Sign me up. Unfortunately, the execution never quite got me there.
There was just something about the writing that kept me at arm's length. I wanted to be completely absorbed in Sean's search for Mia, but I never reached that point where I forgot I was reading a book. The story had plenty of pieces that should have worked for me, especially the questions surrounding the disappearances and the damage they were doing to Sean's family, but the pacing was my biggest issue. No matter how much I read, I kept waiting for that moment when everything would accelerate and I would become completely invested. It just never really happened.
That said, I can absolutely see why this premise will work for other thriller readers. There are some interesting ideas here about reputation, social media, family dynamics, and how quickly suspicion can consume a person when everyone is looking for someone to blame. I also appreciated that this is a debut, and there is clearly a solid thriller writer underneath the pacing issues that didn't quite work for me. This one wasn't a bad read by any means. I just wanted it to grab me harder than it did. Many thanks to Celadon Books for the early read that will publish January 19, 2027.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This was such an addictive thriller! *Nobody Deserves This* hooked me pretty quickly with the missing-girls mystery, but what really kept me reading was Sean. I loved having a main character who is not only trying to figure out what happened to his sister, but also trying to prove that he isn't responsible for it.
There are so many layers to the story: family dysfunction, secrets, privilege, social media, reputation, and the way people can decide you're guilty long before they actually know the truth. I especially liked the tension between Sean and his father. Their relationship added an emotional element that made this feel like more than just another missing-person thriller.
Once the connections between the disappearances started coming together, I was completely invested. There were definitely moments where I thought I had things figured out, only to start questioning myself again a few chapters later.
Fast-paced, twisty, and easy to binge, this was a really strong debut. I would absolutely pick up another thriller from this author!
There are so many layers to the story: family dysfunction, secrets, privilege, social media, reputation, and the way people can decide you're guilty long before they actually know the truth. I especially liked the tension between Sean and his father. Their relationship added an emotional element that made this feel like more than just another missing-person thriller.
Once the connections between the disappearances started coming together, I was completely invested. There were definitely moments where I thought I had things figured out, only to start questioning myself again a few chapters later.
Fast-paced, twisty, and easy to binge, this was a really strong debut. I would absolutely pick up another thriller from this author!
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Andy Callahan's debut thriller will leave you breathless with anticipation as you read about missing girls in the Philadelphia area. Buckle in, because the ride is bumpy. Mia disappeared four months ago and hasn't been seen since. The cops are no help, but Mia's brother Sean is determined to find her. When another young woman, similar to Mia, goes missing, Sean is sure they're connected and gains his second wind in the investigation. While he proved to be way more adept than the police, he still has a lot of obstacles to face before he has a chance at finding his sister.
This reads, as well, like a love letter to Philadelphia. So many name checks of different areas. I know I like when things are set around where I live and I recognize them, so in that respect, this book should be a dream for those from the area. Besides that, this was a very fast-paced thriller that absolutely kept me guessing.
This reads, as well, like a love letter to Philadelphia. So many name checks of different areas. I know I like when things are set around where I live and I recognize them, so in that respect, this book should be a dream for those from the area. Besides that, this was a very fast-paced thriller that absolutely kept me guessing.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Thank you Celadon Books & Andy Callahan for an opportunity to ARC read Nobody Deserves This.
Nobody Deserves This is an intriguing mystery thriller involving missing girls and a brother who's desperate to find his sister and prove his innocence. While this story does have a compelling hook and strong character development, the pacing is off, and it made it hard for me to stay fully engaged throughout the book. When the "whodunnit" was revealed near the end of the book, I was genuinely surprised. I really didn't have an idea on who I thought it was, but if I had to guess, it definitely wouldn't have been who it was revealed to be! If you're new to thrillers and like slow-paced books, then this is the read for you.
Nobody Deserves This is an intriguing mystery thriller involving missing girls and a brother who's desperate to find his sister and prove his innocence. While this story does have a compelling hook and strong character development, the pacing is off, and it made it hard for me to stay fully engaged throughout the book. When the "whodunnit" was revealed near the end of the book, I was genuinely surprised. I really didn't have an idea on who I thought it was, but if I had to guess, it definitely wouldn't have been who it was revealed to be! If you're new to thrillers and like slow-paced books, then this is the read for you.
August 16, 2026
This one had me on the edge of my seat. I went back and forth between rooting for Sean, being disappointed in him, empathetic - the whole gamut of feelings. You really felt like you knew the characters and were rooting for them. I hope this author puts out more novels.
September 13, 2026
Started strong (though crass). But this had the lamest ending. Callahan was trying to do way too much thematically. Still, this was undeniably creepy, and it had momentum.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews