So entertaining, so pulse pounding, so unputdownable!

Chloe Sevre, a freshman honor student, is one of seven students at her Washington, D.C. college is part of a furtive clinical study of psychopaths, which is to help the participants become a productive citizen in society. While Chloe is delighted for the scholarship, she is covertly intending to execute her own plan against a childhood friend. But, as Chloe lays her traps, it seems someone has other plans for the study participants, which could interfere with Chloe’s plan. Now Chloe and the other participants have to decide can they trust each other and becoming victims. What can go wrong (or right) when a group of psychopaths set their minds on a plan.

This is an expertly plotted storyline and the tensions builds to an almost unbearable point. I so enjoyed the clues and figuring out the puzzle that is cleverly laid before the conclusion to see how right (or wrong) was in solving the mystery.

Readers will zip through this book with delight.

And I am interested to know will there be another Chloe book?

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Never Saw Me Coming

Author: Vera Kurian

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 2/5

Recommended For...: thriller, mystery, suspense

Publication Date: September 7, 2021

Genre: Thriler Mystery

Recommended Age: can’t recommend, DNFed

Explanation of CWs: can’t recommend, DNFed

Publisher: Park Row

Pages: 400

Synopsis: Meet Chloe Sevre. She’s a freshman honor student, a leggings-wearing hot girl next door, who also happens to be a psychopath. Her hobbies include yogalates, frat parties, and plotting to kill Will Bachman, a childhood friend who grievously wronged her.

Chloe is one of seven students at her DC-based college who are part of an unusual clinical study for psychopaths—students like herself who lack empathy and can’t comprehend emotions like fear or guilt. The study, led by a renowned psychologist, requires them to wear smart watches that track their moods and movements.

When one of the students in the study is found murdered in the psychology building, a dangerous game of cat and mouse begins, and Chloe goes from hunter to prey. As she races to identify the killer and put her own plan into action, she’ll be forced to decide if she can trust any of her fellow psychopaths—and everybody knows you should never trust a psychopath.

Review: Had to DNF at 32%. The book was confusing and clunky. I also wasn’t connecting with any of the characters and it was just not worth getting through the text for me.

Verdict: It’s ok, just wasn’t for me.

Dude.... I feel like this is going to be such a polarizing book. There were quite a few aspects of it that I literally didn't care about at all but even so I was obsessed with the book? Like I couldn't wait to get back to the audiobook every time I stepped away from it. I think that has a lot to do with the audiobook narrator, too. She did a really amazing job and gave the story an extra layer of life.

But a lot of that has to do with the actual book's voice, too. The story is about psychopaths, literal diagnosed psychopaths, not the kind you call someone who you just don't agree with. And you would think that would make you immediately dislike them. But part of what some psychopaths do (as far as I, the non-psychopath expert, know) is manipulate their actions or the way they're perceived into something that's super likable. So throughout the course of the book, I found myself rooting for people to die, for people to get broken up with or even cheated on, for people to lie or steal or basically just do anything you'd never want your typical book characters to do.

Our story starts with Chloe. She joined this scientific program that's studying psychopaths at a DC college. She even gets her tuition free because she's agreed to be a part of it. She's one of seven students in the study, and the rest of them are anonymous to her. She gets a smart watch that will send her random mood tracker alerts to see if there's any links between anything she feels and anything she does. But she doesn't care about any of that. She only had interest in the school for one reason: finding Will. The rest of it was just a catalyst to get her there. She wants to find Will for a simple reason - she wants to kill him. Will is someone she knew as a child, who did something awful to her, and someone she's been planning getting revenge on for a LONG time. And what's interesting about the way she feels about him is that while what happened to her was really horrifying, she's so detached from it in comparison to getting her revenge. She wants him to pay so badly that it feels like she doesn't even fully remember the why. I think it's an interesting way to show the focus and sheer rage that can lie inside a person, especially someone with a personality disorder like that.

So Chloe starts befriending people in Will's frat to get closer to him. One of them is Charles, called "Terrible Charles" by his friends, but who doesn't seem that terrible to Chloe. In fact, he doesn't really seem like anything but just another frat bro. Until one night he witnesses Chloe enacting one of her stages of revenge on Will, and she finds out he's a psychopath, too. They bond a little over that, but soon get a lot closer when they realize people in their program are being killed off, and have to find out who's doing it, who's even in the program, and who's next to die.

Enter Andre. Andre is also in the program, but he's special. He's special because he filled out the application as a sort of joke, and somehow faked his way into the study. He got approved and got a full ride and couldn't find a way to turn it down without crushing his parents. So now he's doing maybe one of the most psychopathic things a non-psychopath can do: faking being a psychopath. It is totally not a good time. He feels the guilt, the fear, the insecurity, all the bad feelings that the truly psychopaths don't really have the capacity to process fully. But, regardless of his true status, he's now part of the group being hunted by someone.

The three of them make an unlikely trio. Charles doesn't trust Chloe, Chloe doesn't trust Charles, and Andre is terrified of both of them. Despite that, they all have a great dynamic together, and even form a really fucked up little found family. Chloe can't believe how GOOD Andre is at faking emotions (hint: he isn't faking them at all). They dive into their research on who the killer could be and who their fellow program students could be, and they do it quickly, before any of them are next.

There are some definite near misses, where some of them are attacked or have their houses broken into or just are violated in some way. Times like these are when I'm in love with the voice of the novel; Chloe gets caught in all this drama and physical violence and only ever gets mad that she's caught off guard, or even impressed by the wile of the other people involved. She takes literally nothing seriously except for her rage, and I think that's what makes her so relatable. She makes jokes in any situation and it's fun to see the flippant way she maneuvers such stressful moments.

The storytelling style is interesting because only Chloe gets a first-person view, and the rest of the story is told in third-person, like the parts about Charles or Andre. I don't quite understand why this is, but I don't really mind it, because being in Chloe's mind is fun but I think being in 2 (and a half) psychopaths' minds might be a little overwhelming. You still get a description of how the boys feel but it's nowhere near as personal as it is with Chloe.

Charles is in a long-term relationship and that's another part of his characterization that's cool. She knows about his diagnosis and you get to see the way he sometimes puts on a front with his girlfriend and performs like he would for anyone else, but there's also times when he's a little more vulnerable. He even sometimes feels little bits of emotions the way he feels is "normal" when he's with her. But there's things he does that makes it obvious that his relationship isn't always enough.

And Andre is Black, so there's also things that he experiences differently. He is the sole witness to one of the program student's murders, and he has such a fear that he's going to become the sole suspect because he was alone with the victim. He only even found out about the program because he was diagnosed with a personality disorder as a kid, not even a year after his sister died unexpectedly. It's not blatant on-page, but I feel like he, as a Black male teen, would have been a lot quicker to have been diagnosed with something that he didn't have instead of just brushing it off as "oh, he's just acting out because he's upset." Ya know? He believes he's being followed at one point, and runs home, and people he encounters treat him as if he's the scary one. There's just quite a few moments where you see how his experience would differ even if he was a psychopath, and especially because he isn't.

The ending of the mystery didn't really do anything for me. I didn't like it, but I just didn't care much. There were basically no twists in this novel, which I feel is a pretty rare choice for a thriller these days, and honestly it was refreshing. It was tough to imagine all the twists that could have been, and I cared about the characters so much that I was glad that none of them turned out any other way than how I expected.

The actual ending of the book is probably going to piss folks off. It's sort of frustrating, but it's sort of symbolic. Genuinely it just made me want a sequel with the same characters, which for me is so funny to feel after a thriller. I was actually sad that it ended. I just was addicted to the way the characters were written.

With ALL that being said, I don't actively recommend this to anyone. It's just one of those ones where I don't know peoples' minds well enough to know how they'd react to it, and I don't like to recommend books people end up hating lol. If morally grey characters laughing off literal murder attempts sound fun to you, and if you're a character-based reader rather than a plot-based one, you might want to give it a try. But even then I don't know if you'll like it lmao. Just pretend I didn't say anything and do what you want. :-)

3 STARS

Never Saw Me Coming is a compulsive, voice-driven thriller by an exciting new voice in fiction, that will keep you pinned to the page and rooting for a would-be killer.

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Ok, I really wanted to love this one...but I just couldn't. Maybe it was the formatting of my #arc, maybe it was just the authors voice. Maybe I just hated the characters. Either way, this didn't work for me. However, I did finish it...so there is that.

Interesting premise, slightly drawn out execution (no pun intended.) Thank you to Netgalley for my review copy.

A Murder mystery with psychopathic main characters? I love it! Seven college students join a clinical study for psychopaths. But when the participants start turning up dead, three students decide to take matters into their own hands and find the murderer. Especially since one of the participants can use these murders for their own gain…
This book was so innovative and refreshing. It hooked me from the first page because I’ve never read anything like this before and I’m so happy that I have now! The characters were so interesting. Who would’ve thought that an author could make me like psychopaths? Well, Vera Kurian did! And the writing was so engrossing, it was so hard to put this book down!
I only had a couple of complaints about this book. The first one is that the description of the book was a little misleading. This is a multiple point of view book, but I had no idea from the description. I think having multiple points of view definitely added to the story, and I think each one was important. However, you should be able to tell from the description that the book isn’t just told from Chloe’s narration. The other points of view are just as important as hers. And my only other complaint, which is what kept the book from being a five-star read for me, was that the big reveal didn’t excite me. The story kept me guessing and I had several theories on what would be revealed. But I feel like the least interesting thing happened. The final reveal left a lot to be desired for me.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book! The narration and characters were amazing! The pacing, the writing style, the suspense, all of it was great. I will definitively be reading more from Vera Kurian in the future!

Thank you to Harlequin-Trade Publishing/Park Row and NetGalley for this arc. All opinions are my own.

TW: Murder; rape mentioned; suicide; adult/minor relationship; stalking

“I’m not like that… I’m like a good psychopath.” Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurlan

3.5 stars. This was so interesting! Told from the point of view of 3 young adults who are in college and are diagnosed as psychopaths.

Well, actually, it should’ve just been the POV of Chloe, as she clearly is the lead character here. But we see into Charles’ and Andre’s head too. So wish the the author just stuck to Chloe but having Charles and Andre does move the story along and adds to the general did-he/she-do-it?

Chloe, Charles and Andre are part of a study of psychopaths. And people are being killed in a rather brutal manner. And though they are supposed to be anonymous, the 3 kinda come together when it turns out the people murdered are part of the program too.

So which one of them in the program did it?

I enjoyed this book, and enjoyed the adventures of these 3. Adventures. Ha! What Chloe did wasn’t an adventure but…not going to spoil it. And I like that I didn’t guess who did it till near the end.

I’m kinda hoping now we see more of Chloe, Charles and Andre. it’s that fun to read.

Thank you Park Row and NetGalley for the arc. I enjoyed it.

I was given an advanced reader copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This was a definite page turner and will appeal to anyone who loves a good mystery!

This book was wild and very unique. Chloe appears to be any other girl next door when she starts her freshman year at college. In reality, she is a psychopath enrolled in a clinical study in exchange for a full scholarship. Members of the study begin to die in chilling and mysterious ways. Chloe and the other students in the trial have to figure out what is happening while trying to keep themselves safe.

This story has a creepy vibe from the thriller element but it is also a look at how personality disorders are viewed and addressed in our society. Each character is brilliant and different in their own ways but it’s hard to tell who is capable of what. This was a fast read and I was captivated the whole time. I also loved the campus setting, it allowed for a wide variety of characters to add to the mystery. I can’t wait to read more from this author!
Thanks to Vera Kurian, Harlequin, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book held my attention from beginning to end. I think Chloe is my favorite psychopath of all time. She's an adorable psychopath.

The concept is actually rather interesting. It's a controlled experiment in whether or not you can help a psychopath function normally by learning correct situational behavior. I like how it points out not all psychopaths are killers. They walk amongst us as anyone who has ever worked in a government office knows.

The storyline was fabulous, as are all the characters, but it would be an honor to be killed by Chloe.

What a page-turner! I fell asleep reading this three nights in a row. Not because of boredom- but because I kept reading until I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore. This thriller will keep you guessing until the end.

4 stars 🌟🌟 🌟🌟

I loved this book! It was a super fast paced, can’t put it down read. I loved the psychopath element and found all of the characters to be quite interesting. Definitely recommend if you like murder mysteries!

Big thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin - trade publishing for the ARC in exchange for my review!

Never Saw Me Coming should’ve been a book I loved. The main character, Chloe, was a psychopath. That in itself was very interesting. She was also apart of a clinical study, studying psychopaths on her college campus. Oh, and she also wants to kill another student named Will, but things get complicated when people from the study start getting murdered. Tell me, what is not to love! But yet again, I found myself getting impatient.

Thank you to NetGalley, Vera Kurian and Harlequin for the free e-book in exchange for an honest review.

This book has such a unique premise and I adored it! The idea of having a bunch of psychopaths go to the same school for a doctor to do tests on and suddenly murders start happening to said psychopaths - who isn't interested?? I loved the characters and how different they were even though they are psychopaths and how interesting they were. They all were better at faking feelings and I thoroughly enjoyed it! It has the most surprising ending and I can't wait to see what Kurian's next novel is about!

Even though this is a serious subject, the author's sense of humor is wonderful! Aside from that, it's a great campus thriller with memorable characters. Charles was particularly interesting and gave me hope that those with personality disorders can be treated. This was an intelligent book that was a wild ride for me. I'm not particularly good at solving good mysteries, but then I really don't try to as I like to go along for the ride, so it was a surprise to me who the actual murderer was.
The sand filtration site was fascinating and I'd recommend looking up images to get a good sense of what it looks like.
I'm looking forward to future books by this author.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.

#NeverSawMeComing sucked me in right away and I devoured it. I really enjoyed the unique plot and short chapters. I wanted a little more from the ending but this is definitely my favorite #campusthriller book I’ve read so far!

There have been so many campus themed books this year that I’ve all campused out. I really love the premise of this but the execution didn’t really work for me.

What a truly refreshing thriller! Not your normal overdone plot. For me, this book was a little long but I loved being in chloe’s head! The story started off strong, but Ended up lagging a bit in the middle. Overall a well done thriller w a great main character. This one is a fun read for sure!

Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian has an interesting premise. A university in DC has a program for diagnosed psychopaths to attend the school, tuition free, and in exchange take part in their research program. This requires wearing a tracking bracelet at all times and participating in numerous surveys at any given time. The participants are not allowed to know who else is in the program and this info is kept very confidential.
Chloe, a freshman, has been accepted into the program but has ulterior motives. She is there to get revenge on someone who wronged her when she was younger. She sets about trying to track this person's every move and come up with a plan to destroy him.
The story is also told from the perspective of Andre and Charles, two other participants in the program. Andre grew up in a working class family and desperately needed the scholarship. Charles is the rich kid whose dad is a politician. Everything comes easy to him. He has it made--perfect girlfriend, perfect life, etc. At least that is what he portrays.
When Andre finds another participant murdered in the Psych building and another murder soon follows, everyone is on edge. Is someone out to get the psychopaths? Or is there another motive? Andre, Chloe, and Charles are brought together due to these murders and figure out they are all in the program. They decide to figure out who the killer is.
The story started out one way (Chloe's desire to enact revenge) but soon went off on another storyline. The first part seemed to get lost. I did enjoy the story and it was an original plot. The characters were likeable even though they were psychopaths.
Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own. (3.5 stars)

I read the blurb of this book and it sounded right up my street as I love anything to do with true crime etc. On paper the premise works, actually in the book it doesn't work all that well. I felt the whole book was a drag, I actually struggled to finish it, I almost didn't at one point as it was almost painful. It was also really farfetched at the end when we discovered what was going on, which at that point I actually didn't care who or what was happening. I found the whole Will story just abruptly stopped after half a book of build-up. I also felt like it didn't know whether it wanted to be a thriller or a comedy. The saving grace for me was the character development, I started off thinking that all of the characters were really unlikeable but by the end they had actually started to grow on me, even though they were still rather questionable. I feel this could have been so much better than it actually was.

*Thanks to NetGalley, HARLEQUIN and Vera Kurian for the copy of this book. All views are my own.*

Psychopaths are among us and we may never even know!
Thank you to HarperCollins Canada for my eARC for review!
The premise of Never Saw Me Coming explores this idea at a Washington DC university with a program to study such clinically-diagnosed students.
Chloe Sevre and six others are in the program, largely unaware of each other and their tendencies until one such student is murdered. Then another. Chloe has a goal set to kill Will Bachman - can she avoid her own murder before getting to Will?
Yup, this is quite a unique academia thriller! I probably should have enjoyed it more than I did, but that's on me as it took longer to read than usual. I was also more interested in Chloe's story than others so things felt a bit weighted down. But again, that's me!
I do still suggest reading it for an intriguing storyline and twists, and solid writing! Recommended!
Released on Sept. 7.