This was a fascinating premise about a group of students identified as psychopaths and “studied” at a college. The chapters have differing points of view, and my favorite chapters were those narrated by Chloe, an intriguing psychopath. Chloe has a particular psychopathic mission at her chosen college relating to vengeance, justice and payback. I particularly enjoyed the way Chloe’s chapters were written. I’ve read a lot of books with narrators who might be psychopaths whose narration is charming, emotionally rich, and otherwise NOT psychopathic. Here, Chloe’s narration has a certain unusual remove and callousness to it while still being fascinating, To me this was a perfect and much more innovative way to depict a psychopathic character than the charmers we often see in this genre. I also really enjoyed the character of Charles, who had a very different inner life and logic than Chloe. I really enjoyed the contrast and interplay between the two characters.

Though I enjoyed this book, there were a couple of negatives. One was that due to the college atmosphere, the emotional immaturity of the characters, and the casual narration styles, this felt more like a YA book to me. This isn’t necessarily a problem for me because I like a good YA thriller, but if you don’t like YA books, it’s something to note. The other thing to note is that the book is super long for this genre. This is more a testament to how good the mystery was — I wanted to get to the resolution sooner than we did.

It’s hard to believe this was Vera Kurian’s first novel. Well-written and entirely creative. If you have the fortitude for the length (here I should mention I have a notoriously short attention span and yet I still enjoyed it!) and are a fan of mysteries, this is a great one to check out. I’d also be really interested to see what this author could do with a fully adult psychopathic character,

Thanks to Harlequin, NetGalley and the author for this interesting and promising debut ARC!

There’s an interesting study going on at John Adams University in Washington DC. Seven diagnosed psychopaths are attending on full-ride scholarships in return for logging in occasionally with their smart watches and doing a few weekly experiments. What could possibly go wrong?

Our main student is Chloe, she’s in the program, but she has her own agenda, and it is all about revenge against Will. In between the usual college student activities, she’s plotting just how and where to get her revenge.

When a student is murdered on campus, things take a darker turn. Chloe teams up with a few others in the program – can any of them trust each other though? Will Chloe be able to follow through on her plan or will she be one of the next victims?

The book started off strongly and I was barely able to put it down. But as the plot progressed, some storylines didn't feel fleshed out or were dropped completely. The ending was a bit underwhelming. But the overall story is unique and entertaining.

This book steps into the life of a psychopath.

Chole at 18 years old is attending John Adams University as a freshman in DC with a scholarship based on joining a program with six other psychopaths. That's right...psychopaths that have a reputation of aggressive and violent acts of behavior at times. In this special program, these students are monitored with smart watches and occasional questionnaires. With an estimated 8,000 students at this school, their guess is that 300 are probably psychopathic. But with this evaluation, the directors hope to learn how to help these participants learn to adjust without violence - and hopefully assist others like them as well.

Quickly into the book, there are two deaths within the group of seven psychopaths. Chole escaped an attack and is now trying to use all of her resources to track down the killer. She said, "Maybe they thought they were hunting me, but I was also hunting them, thinking two steps ahead to their high-profile arrest." She also has a target set out for another student in her group, Will, who raped her when she was just 12. She is searching for a video that was made and trying to figure out which friends are trustworthy.

This is a story that most likely has most people on the edge of their seats with suspense. Yet, for me it was a little too long, too slow with too many character names to keep track of. It's probably geared more for YA readers.

My thanks to Park Row Publishers, Vera Kurian and NetGalley for allowing me to read this advanced copy with an expected release date of September 7, 2021.

A DELICIOUSLY inventive thriller, this one is about a group of diagnosed psychopaths who find themselves under attack on a college campus, by a serial killer. A campus novel featuring a serial killer where the victims are psychopaths? COUNT ME IN.

This was refreshing and fast-paced in the best possible way. I loved reading about the psyches of our characters and trying to guess who was out to get them. With some great little nods to Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley, the literary easter eggs in this one were also fun to pick up.

Thank you to netgalley for providing an egalley for review. This book was front-loaded with red herrings! A psychologist doing a study on psychopaths in college setting. For most of the book, even the characters do not know who is in the study and who is not, so who is a psychopath and who is not. This was a dark, twisty book who's end you do not see coming.

WOW, caught me at the beginning and held me until the end.

Chloe is a college freshman. She is also a psychopath, and she knows it. She has been plotting to kill Will for a very long time...and for a very good reason. She is also a chameleon that can make herself out to be anyone you want her to be. She's dangerous.

Andre is also a college freshman. Posing as a psychopath (wouldn't you for a completely free ride to college).

Charles is not a freshman...but he is a psychopath. One who works hard to NOT appear like a psychopath.

They are just three of the seven students that are getting a free ride to college by being part of a study of psychopaths. When someone starts to murder students in the program they get together to figure it out. But can you ever believe a psychopath? Or someone pretending to be a psychopath? Especially when they each have their own agenda.

The concept interested me. The characters and writing kept me reading. Couldn't put this one down!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Take a group of students with identified psychopathology, lure them with completely paid college tuition, and enroll them in a study to monitor their feelings and behavior-what could possibly grow wrong? Quite a bit actually. Told from the perspectives of Chloe, a genius with anger issues, Charles, a narcissist who just wants to project normality, and Andre, who is not too sure that the free tuition is worth the agitas; and what we we know is that the group is being hunted by someone who is bent on shutting down the study by permanently eliminating the participants. Nobody trusts anyone else, vengeance is served with a matter-of-fact certainty, and manipulation is the only hard and fast rule of this game.
This psychological thriller turns the genre on it's head. It was well-written, impossible to put down, and utterly original. Plus, we may have a new Lisbeth Salander to root for!

Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian was an enticing novel about how a psychopath thinks and acts. You get the viewpoint of several psychopaths in one story. Great read.

EEK! Well this book sure was unique! I have never read anything quite like it and I thoroughly enjoyed reading "Never Saw Me Coming", by Vera Kurian !

I do not think I had expected this book to be as wild as it was and I am still left with goosebumps!

Chloe is a freshman in college, participating in a bizarre clinical study for psychopaths. The group is formed by 7 students who are being studied to see why they lack empathy, guilt and fear. Chloe is out for blood and revenge on a childhood friend who had wronged her in the past.

One of the students in the group is found murdered and we are led on a wild goose hunt. Chloe has went from hunter to prey over night. As Chloe tries to hunt a murderer she soon learns, you can never trust anyone, especially a psychopath.

I absolutely adored Chloe and found her to be wildly entertaining, I was rooting for her the whole time!

This was a super exciting, un-put-down-able read. I absolutely loved everything about this! Vera Kurian, has become an instant favorite and I can not wait to see what she comes up with next.

The premise of a college program studying psychopaths is so crazy cool that I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this book and believe me it did not disappoint. Chloe, Charles, and Andre form a group from the program intent on finding out who has been killing off their peers while also trying their best to stay alive! None of them is able to trust the others fully as lying, deceit and manipulation are second nature to this Trio. This book was so much fun, exploring the personalities of these three; I am so looking forward to what this author is planning next!

Interesting idea for a novel. I enjoyed the relationships between the main characters. Since they were psychopaths, it was interesting to see things from their perspective. A great whodunit!

Never Saw Me Coming, by Vera Kurian, is a new thriller about a group of known psychopaths at college, and possibly someone hunting the psychopaths on campus.

The story takes place at a college with a scholarship program for psychopaths. They’ll be asked to answer psych surveys and take tests, which leads to seven diagnosed psychopaths attending the same college. (Just roll with this part to get to the good story. No need to think too much about the school admin who said, yeah, free tuition for students? No problem! for psychopaths on campus, sure! what could go wrong? and then went on to approve unlimited photocopies for teaching staff, in the true fictional-school dream.)

Freshman psychopath Chloe arrives on campus carefully plotting a murder, but her victim is the man who raped her, so I’m not exactly concerned about him. In another book, this would be a massive spoiler, but here it’s just a little background info. That’s not even the major drama in the story or the biggest mystery or anything! And even as the major drama unfolds in this pageturner, with mysterious deaths on campus, so much of the book’s tension comes from the idea that there are other psychopaths who look like they’re living typical student lives.

My <a href="https://www.thefictionaddiction.com/never-saw-me-coming/">full review</a>

I really enjoyed this one. Requires some slight disbelief. (How did this professor locate and recruit all these psychopaths? What are the odds that someone who wronged a psychopath years earlier would choose to go to this school, which would then recruit said psychopath to attend?) Regardless, I found the themes of morality/amorality added some complexity to a fairly straightforward whodunnit.

I enjoyed reading this book for the most part, unusual subject, interesting characters and some humor thrown in, It had a strong start but dragged some in the middle, could have used some tightening up to make it a stronger story. It also was confusing when the characters switched, it was unclear who was speaking part of the time and i would have to read into the chapter to figure it out

SOO GOOD!! I haven’t read a book written about psychopaths before (at least not one like this). This one pushes back on the stereotype that all psychopaths are dangerous.

A group of students comes to John Adam’s University for a secret psychology study. None of them know each other, just that they aren’t the only ones there. Throughout the school year, they begin putting together who else might be in the program, but someone else is, too, and the students know they are in danger. On top of that, Chloe agreed to be a part of this study simply so she could be closer to Will Bachman, a guy she grew up with and now holds a grudge against.

This was a page-turner to the very end. While the plot twist wasn’t a total surprise, I was only able to guess a part, but absolutely not the whole! You HAVE to read this twisty, suspenseful thriller.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin for the advanced copy.

Complex Story With Interesting (But Unnecessary) Commentary In Finale. This is a particular idea that I didn't really know I was drawn to until reading Victoria Helen Stone's Jane Doe books, about a slightly more mature psychopath than these college students here. So when I saw the premise here, I pretty well *had* to check it out. The overall story works well and will keep you guessing - and you're most likely not going to guess right until the final reveal. The various aspects of psychopathy shown work well, and work well to show that *everyone* can lead a fairly normal life - thus helping (a bit) to destigmatize the condition. Including the romance that at least a few other reviewers panned - I enjoyed it for showing that even true psychopaths are capable of it, though admittedly this isn't a romance book and thus that element is never a core focus of the tale. The switching from character to character was usually abrupt and could have used a bit better editing, perhaps naming the character at the top of the chapter and even breaking into a new chapter (with character name) when a perspective jumps mid chapter. But that is perhaps something that could be seen at the beta/ ARC level (and this book is still almost two months from publication as I write this review) and *perhaps* corrected. So if you're reading this review years after publication, know that this particular issue may or may not exist any longer.

The commentary in the finale, about the doc and his perspectives, wasn't really necessary but did provide an interesting, rarely seen wrinkle. One I happened to know about outside of this book and largely agree with, so it was refreshing to see it both discussed and discussed in such a positive light here. But again, it was ultimately unnecessary for the tale and thus a bit of a momentum killer in the final stretch. (Though fortunately it *is* fairly brief, so there is that at least.)

Overall a truly enjoyable read with a fairly rare and possibly unique premise. Very much recommended.

3.5 college psychopath stars

There’s an interesting study going on at John Adams University in Washington DC. Seven diagnosed psychopaths are attending on full-ride scholarships in return for logging in occasionally with their smart watches and doing a few weekly experiments. What could possibly go wrong?

Our main student is Chloe, she’s in the program, but she has her own agenda, and it is all about revenge against Will. In between the usual college student activities, she’s plotting just how and where to get her revenge.

When a student is murdered on campus, things take a darker turn. Chloe teams up with a few others in the program – can any of them trust each other though? Will Chloe be able to follow through on her plan or will she be one of the next victims?

This is a new author, and I enjoyed this first book. It could likely have been edited to be a bit shorter, but overall an entertaining thriller!

Meet Chloe. She is a freshman honor student who got accepted into college because she is a P S Y C H O P A T H. Do I need to go ON?

If you are a book detective like me, I was on the edge of my seat trying to figure out who actually committed the crimes. The he said she said was bit redundant for me. The plot was EXCELLENT yet the story telling- meh. All and all a great debut novel.

I did not finish this book. At 50% I finally put it down. It felt like I'd been reading it for ages and it was starting to go nowhere. When I saw I still had 3+ hours to read, I gave up.

The story is really interesting, but the execution didn't work for me. I didn't love the switch between first-person POV (Chloe) and third-person POV (everyone else). There also seemed to be a lot of subplots going on that weren't connecting clearly for the reader at 50% in (CRD killer connection).

Never Saw Me Coming doesn't have a single character I could root for. Still, I enjoyed reading about the lies and slick manipulations psychopath Chloe Sevre breezed through in her single-minded campaign to murder Will Bachman. Chloe, along with six other psychopaths, is getting a free, all expenses paid education in return for her cooperation in a grant funded research project. When two of the students are murdered, Chloe realizes she isn't the only killer on campus, and begins to feel like prey instead of hunter. She doesn't let that slow down her relentless pursuit of Will.
The setting is Washington D.C., and Chloe takes advantage of the frequent protests and marches to mask her wicked plans. Some parts of the plot are a bit improbable, but this is a fast, mostly fun read. Don't expect to learn any deep truths about psychopaths or mental illness in general.