Never Saw Me Coming is kind of two books in one. A teenage psychopath looking for revenge and a serial killer slowly picking off the psychopathic participants of the research program.

Chloe got a full scholarship to Adams just for being who she is - a psychopath. That’s not her prime motivation. She’s a girl with a plan for revenge against a boy who wronged her. She quickly finds she has another problem - being a target of a killer who’s killing the other psychopaths in her program.

There are many twists and turns in the book as she is trying to meet her goal and not be a victim in the process.

Charles and Andre are other main characters in the book. Both program participants with interesting back stories. It does get a little confusing here and there with jumping from POV of characters but what it brings to the story is worth it.

I enjoyed the book. It was a fast paced read.

I don't know if I just had too high of expectations, but this was kind of a flat read for me. I was intrigued about a book with a group of diagnosed psychopaths college students at the core, but I was really just bored for most of the story and I didn't connect with the story or characters at all (a fun bit of irony, at least). Three primary characters got focus: Charles, Andre, and Chloe and were distinct enough, but the narrative was unbalanced, with Chloe - the least interesting to me, getting the most focus. The pacing did a good job of propelling the story, but I didn't really care who the killer was, so it didn't make me want to keep reading.

I received a copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian: this psychological thriller is about Chloe, a first year university student who has ambitions just like any other freshman, except with an added twist- she plans to kill Will, an old “friend” who wronged her many years ago. She is also one of 7 students who are diagnosed psychopaths and are a part of a clinical study designed to understand their mindset. However, as members of this group start getting murdered, Chloe’s plans to kill Will become just as important as identifying the killer that’s after her…but who can she trust? We all know you can never trust a psychopath…
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This was a wild ride! It has such an interesting premise- a group of diagnosed psychopaths all together in one campus and I mean, of course there’s going to be murder! It was so interesting being in the minds of these students…who feel no remorse, sadness, disgust….it’s psycho! (Get it, get it?)
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While I feel the book my have been a teeny tiny bit too long for my liking (it diluted some parts of the story that I wanted to know more about) I think it’s a great debut novel and one that thriller lovers (or even people new to the genre!) would enjoy.
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Thank you @ for this advance copy!

Chloe is a psychopath. She is also a beautiful college student on a free ride because she has agreed to participate in a study of psychopaths. It’s just so happens that she now goes to college with Will, the very guy she hates lost in the world and wants to kill. Whole Chloe is plotting against Will she meets other people in the study and together they have to figure out why people around them keep dying and who is responsible. Can you ever really trust another psychopath?

As a person who loves psychology and learning about the way people think, this book was right up my alley! Add in a good mystery and some aspects of thriller and I am all in! This was a page turner from beginning to end!

I really enjoyed this book and it was such a fast paced read. The story is unique. It focuses mainly on Chloe, a diagnosed psychopath who’s taking part of a special study at a university. But Chloe has schemed her way into this program because she has an ulterior motive to commit murder. The mystery was solid throughout and I couldn’t figure out who the true villain was. I love unreliable narrators and Chloe definitely was one. Although this is told mainly from Chloe’s POV there are a few third person chapters from other characters as well. I highly recommend this if you’re looking a fast paced, unique, gripping thriller.

Chloe gets a free ride to college-the catch is she’s basically an experiment involving other psychopaths. Her and six other psychopaths have to wear watches that track their emotions and report for sessions within the psychology department. She is also here to stalk out and ultimately kill Will, a guy from her childhood.

Unfortunately this was a real chore for me to read. The main narrator Chloe was really juvenile sounding. One line in particular that really bugged me for some reason was when she thought she saw a hot guy in class, but then he turned around and she saw his “horse face.” I didn’t think this was pitched as a young adult book but that would make more sense if it was so.

There’s a lot of names to keep up with which was confusing at times, but some of the psychopaths in the study were more interesting to read from in their POV than Chloe who just seemed immature. I think if this wasn’t set in a college setting but with older adults working around a psychopathic personality I would have enjoyed it more.

Thank you to Park Row Books for my review copy and letting me take place in this blog tour.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Premise: a group of students diagnosed with psychopathy attend a DC university for free to be a part of a psychology study on functioning psychopaths.

Plot twist: someone is murdering members of the study, and several of the study members are trying to solve the mystery of who-done-it

Things I liked:
•The psychopath study, it’s what drew me to the book to begin with
•The 3 focal characters: Chloe, Charles, and Andre. Andre was kind of a meh character, he didn’t really belong and only existed to further a plot point that didn’t come to play until MUCH later in the book. I loved Chloe because she’s determined to murder this kid she grew up and when we finally learn why, I’m totally on her side. & finally a Charles… He’s just great 🤣

What I didn’t like:
•The additional characters and the extra POVs… like why?
•The murderer… This is where Andre comes into play, his love of true crime brings to light who the murderer is, which is fine, but the person is literally in like 2 chapters until the big reveal… Which leads me to…
•The ending—it felt like the author wasn’t sure where to go with it and threw a dart and chose the ending that way. Plus the final chapter… Is there more to come of these two characters? Will they end up together? What now?

Overall I really enjoyed the book until the last 75-80% and that’s when things got muddled.

What a fun, dark academia, thriller. Twists and turns throughout. The title is aptly named. It didn’t take me long to read this one. It was the page turner I had been craving. Highly recommend to anyone who has an interest in psychology, psychopathy, and all that entails. It will definitely keep you on your toes

The premise of this book intrigued me from the start - a college based clinical study with psychopaths. Chloe, a college freshman, is new to the program and she mainly came to the college to get revenge on Will, a guy that wronged her in the past. But when one of the other students in the study is murdered, she starts to feel like someone may be stalking her and possibly others in the study. As Chloe discovers others in the study, they decide to work together to figure out who is hunting them... but as psychopaths, can any of them really be trusted?

If you like stories set on college campuses and psychological thrillers, this is definitely a book to read. It has some long, drawn out parts that slow down the pace of the book, but overall a unique story.

Fast paced page turner!!!
Psychopaths at college but it’s not what you think. These kids are trying to fit in but someone is murdering them. Great characters, creative plot. This novel will have you keep turning pages to find out who’s behind the murders.

posted on Goodreads:

This book is a fun ride! Lots of turns and twists, and I was guessing until the end. I love the concept too--a pyschopath on the hunt with a serial killer on the loose--and Chloe/Michelle as a pov character is a gas. If you're a fan of thrillers and campus novels, pick this up!!

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC!

"Never Saw Me Coming" by Vera Kurian was a wild ride and exactly what I look for when I am looking for something new in the suspense/thriller genre. Main character, Chloe, is a freshman that has received a free ride to college.... for being a psychopath. She, along with six other diagnosed psychopathic students, are enrolled in a program by the school's psychology head in order to study them and try to ensure that they will become productive members of society while maintaining what appears to be an ordinary college lifestyle. Yet, Chloe's main goal is to enact a perfectly timed murder at the college. When another psychopath student is murdered before she gets a chance to enact her schemes, everything slowly starts to unravel.

Having a cast of unreliable, confident, and arrogant college students made for an interesting book. For every time that I thought, "wow, what horrible, unlikable people"- I was also reminded that that was the point of having a psychopath as a main character. The book is told from a few different perspectives, which helps get into the headspace of a few different characters when trying to solve the mystery.

For mysteries/thrillers, I think the most important aspects are to have good pacing and a plot that is well-formed and finishes without loose ends. I felt I got both of those things with "Never Saw Me Coming," and more because of the interesting interactions between characters. I read this book in a day- forget sleep!- I needed to know how the story would end!

Thank you to Netgalley and Park Row books for an advanced copy of this e-book in exchange for an honest review. "Never Saw Me Coming" will be published on September 7th- this is a great choice as a book club read and I hope to see more from this author in the future.

An excellent addition to the crowded thriller genre. A recommended purchase for collections where suspense is popular.

I loved the concept of this one.
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Chloe is your average college girl. She’s the hot girl next door who carefully calculates her looks. She’s an honors student and also a Psychopath. You did not read that wrong. She’s a psychopath. Her and six other students are part of a program at a DC college that provides full tuition if they participate in a secret study. The psychologist gives them all smart watches that track their movements and moods.
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When one of the participants are murdered Chloe asks the age old question can you really trust a psychopath. Spoiler alert you cannot.
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This book gave me a bit of #Dexter vibes as she tries to act normal just as he did. The ending was not what I was expecting. I think this would definitely make an interesting tv series.
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Thank you @netgalley and @parkrow for an arc in exchange for an honest review

I was not a fan of this book. The premise sounded good, and the beginning started off well, but then I lost interest.

Rec'd arc from Netgalley.

Chloe Sevre, is headed to college. She’s premed and just like any other college student, except she’s on an full ride scholarship that is dependent upon her taking part in a clinical study for diagnosed psychopaths. When her fellow study members begin ending up dead, Chloe along with two others from the program are in a race against time to uncover the murderer.

I highly enjoyed this book and felt that even though it’s a fiction book, it’s perfect for true crime lovers. I really loved that Kurian gave us psychopaths as our POVS, but didn’t try to make them hide. You know from the beginning that they can be unreliable and lack emotions other people/characters might have. I also felt that I learned a bit about the term itself and how it’s been warped to mean ‘serial killer’.

Character wise, I enjoyed the character but did find them to be a bit annoying at times. Given that they are diagnosed psychopaths though, I felt that Kurian wrote them true to who they are. She didn’t make them extra creepy or unnecessarily sadistic. You also see how even the term psychopath is fairly broad and how easy it is it assimilate with those around you.

Plot wise, we’re both looking for a murderer hunting the psychopaths and following Chloe as she plots a murder herself. We jump quite a bit back and forth between the two, which I thought made the book just a little too long. This is the main reason it’s on a four star for me.

While I never expected I’d be cheering on a group of psychopaths, I also never though about the concept of hunting them either. It was an unique twist on a thriller and kept me turning pages. Highly recommend if you’re looking for a fast paced story.

Never Saw Me Coming comes out September 7, 2021. Huge thank you to Park Row Books for my advanced copy for my honest review. If you liked this review please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my Instagram @speakingof_books.

Never Saw Me Coming is a twisted novel about a group of physiological college students. The intent is to study them and find a way to help them feel normal feelings.

Reading a book like this lets you into the mind, a little bit, of the characters. You see them acting as they think they should act but still have bad intentions. In the end you wonder what will happen with the study participants in the future.

Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian is a thriller novel. Some have this one as young adult and others as adult, technically it is new adult with the characters being college students. The point of view in the story will change between a few of the characters who by the way are psychopaths!

Chloe Sevre considered it destiny that she is attending John Adams University having applied to all the colleges in the D.C. area. You see, Chloe has a plan, a revenge plan, that she intends to see through to the end against the boy who did her wrong when she was only 12, Will. The fact that Chloe is now on a full ride scholarship courtesy of the psychology department only makes her more determined to see out her plan.

Chloe obtained her full ride to the university because Chloe has been diagnosed as a psychopath. She is now part of a study carried out by a professor at the university, a renowned psychologist, who had brought in six others like Chloe all on scholarships. As Chloe is activating her mission however one of the other students in the study is murdered bringing attention to the campus.

The first thing that comes to mind with Never Saw Me Coming is that these aren’t very likable characters. Well, we are talking a book on some cold and calculating psychopaths so I didn’t expect cheery and delightful either. I also couldn’t help but think what does it say about me that I enjoy reading about these characters? However, I do have to admit I was fascinated by Chloe and her mission as much as I was with finding who was the murderer on campus and I did keep flying through the pages all the way to the end so I did enjoy reading this one.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

A secret school program for psychopaths? Whoa! Who thinks up this stuff? Vera Kurian does! I’ve never read anything by this author before. This is one psychological thriller you won’t forget! It started off good then got a little slow in the middle because I was having a hard time connecting to these psychopaths which I guess is a good thing I could not understand why they did what they did! Right? Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this early release in exchange for my honest review. To be published September 2021.

Chloe Sevre is a diagnosed psychopath. She attends John Adams University as a freshman and has joined a special clinical study there with other students that are just like her, they all lack empathy and emotions. Chloe, however, has an ulterior motive for attending this college and that is to kill Will Bachman. Will did something really terrible to Chloe when she was 12 years old and she is out for revenge. Things take a turn for the worse when students in the clinical study start turning up dead. Chloe decides to investigate with the help of fellow students in the program, Charles and Andre. The problem is can they trust one another? Will Chloe be able to successfully execute her plans for Will Bachman or will she end up being a victim of the killer?

Vera Kurian has created a very interesting spin on the psychological thriller genre with NEVER SAW ME COMING. I really enjoyed this book! I found myself quite engrossed in the storyline and always trying to guess the killer’s identity. This one really stumped me. If you're looking for a quick-paced thriller with a unique twist, I would recommend it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and HARLEQUIN – Trade Publishing (U.S. & Canada) for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This review will be posted to my Instagram Blog (@coffee.break.book.reviews) on September 2, 2021.