Psychologists say that we all know psychopaths in our lives, but that we often have a difficult time identifying them due to their uncanny ability to manipulate and charm, giving back to us what we want to receive in a relationship. Vera Kurian’s debut novel is about those “plainclothes psychopaths,” the ones that you “never see coming.”

Kurian spins a murder mystery around the unique concept of seven psychopaths being invited to participate in a study at a D.C. college in exchange for a full ride at the university. They only have to agree to be evaluated and participate in a variety of “tests” designed to get into their unique minds. Things go astray, however, when someone begins murdering the psychopaths. Is it one of their own or has someone lifted their veil of anonymity, targeting them for what they are?

Never Saw Me Coming is told from multiple POVs, following three students from the study. The star of the novel is Chloe, who specifically chose to attend Adams University because it is where her nemesis Will goes to school. Chloe is clever and arrogant, and she WILL kill Will for what he did to her when they were kids … she only has to find him and manipulate him first. Then there’s Andre, whose parents wouldn’t be able to afford to send him to college if it weren’t for the study. The only problem is he hasn’t actually told him that he is IN the study … they think he won a scholarship to the university, which complicates things when he literally finds himself running for his life. Charles was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. A psychopath with unlimited means born into a toxic family could be dangerous in the wrong hands, but Charles tries to keep himself grounded through his long-term relationship with his girlfriend. When the murders get too close for comfort, Chloe, Andre, and Charles team up to uncover the culprit who is picking off the psychopaths one by one, but will they figure it out whodunnit before their number comes up?

Vera Kurian has a Doctorate of Social Psychology, and she skillfully applies her knowledge to Never Saw Me Coming. Kurian has shared that psychopaths come in all shapes & sizes, and she demonstrates that through the vastly different Chloe, Andre, and Charles, who provide us with a broad scope of psychopathy in multiple forms. Her characters are vivid and intriguing, albeit a bit stereotypical when it comes to race and privilege (Chloe and Charles are white and Andre is black, neither of which is Kurian).

Chloe, the standout psychopath from this novel, quickly steals the show and sucks you into her sinister, twisted world. Because Chloe puts on a charming, smiling face to the world, you “never see her coming,” but we as readers have the unique opportunity to go behind the scenes of a psychopath’s mind and delve into what’s really going on in there. Despite her nefarious intentions, Chloe is darkly humorous and razor sharp in wit. She makes for a highly entertaining protagonist, albeit one who is not quite right in the mind.

Never Saw Me Coming is pretty great up until the point where we start to figure out just who is killing psychopaths at Adams University. The pay off at the end of the novel wasn’t satisfying to me, and I found myself losing interest. I was hoping the ending was as clever as the rest of this book, but found myself disappointed. Nonetheless, the overall reading experience was enjoyable, and I recommend this book to those who love Caroline Kepnes’ You series, due to both works getting into the minds of the unhinged and deranged.

Absolutely tore through this incredible debut by Vera Kurian. In NEVER SAW ME COMING, we get a fascinating look at young sociopaths in a long-term college study. They've been sought out and recruited for this school, and compensated with free tuition, so that the professor in charge can study them for their entire undergraduate career. They're meant to be unknown to one another, but as first one, and then another of the students in the study is murdered, Chloe wants to find out who's doing this. As does the fraternity brother of the one guy Chloe's been quietly plotting to kill. So they team up to investigate, but can they trust each other? It's a fantastic read, and really fresh. Loved it.

4.5 stars
I really enjoyed this. It was creepy as hell, and I actually locked my bedroom door after finishing it, haha.
I loved the different POVs and the aspect of not knowing who I could trust. And also seeing the idea of killing someone through the eyes of a psyhopath. No guilt, no empathy. Bone chilling.
I had a blast.

This fast-paced thriller will appeal to readers who like edgy suspense. The story centers around a chosen group of college students participating in a secret program for psychopaths. As students turn up dead, these students wonder if there is a killer amongst them. On a race to find the killer the students are challenged to trust and rely on each other, traits so far removed in psychopaths. Will time run out and who will be left standing? Thanks to NetGalley and Park Row for this ARC. This is my honest review.

3.5 stars.

Never Saw Me Coming is quite the wild ride. Interested in taking a deep dive into the mind of a vengeful collegiate psychopath? This is the book for you! However, despite the interesting premise, it wasn't a home run for me.

Chloe and Charles were the best part of the book, by far. Both are psychopaths in the clinical study, but they each have unique personalities and motivations that make them stand out. I loved reading from both of their perspectives. The other characters were decent, but they weren't as fun to follow IMO.

The downfall of this book is due to its length and its pacing. I believe it easily could've been edited down a bit to reduce redundancy and improve the pacing. Honestly, the middle of the story is pretty slow-moving, but then the last fourth has too much going on too quickly. Unfortunately, the ending was quite a letdown, and I really didn't like who the killer turned out to be. The motive behind everything was a bit wacky.

However, I can't deny that this was a compelling read and still pretty fun overall. If you're looking for a more unique thriller, I'd say give it a shot. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my ARC of this book. (Apologies for the delayed review!)

A very good debut with a whole host of unreliable narrators (something I love but am often picky about). A really satisfying thriller that I wish I could read for the first time again!

*CHECK TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR THIS ONE*

This is an academic thriller with multiple psychopathic narrators, all attending a school where the professor is studying psychopaths in exchange for a full ride scholarship. A group of psychopaths should be called a chaos, because that's what ensues. Murders of students in the program start happening, and each of our characters is trying to get to the bottom of who-done-it before they end up dead themselves.

It switches between multiple POVs, mainly Chloe, Charles, and Andres. This was a bit confusing at first because the chapters don't have names attached to them, so you usually figure out who's speaking by context and I got a little lost in the beginning.

Chloe is on a revenge mission against Will, who has a video of a crime committed against her and she wants to exact her vengeance for her younger self. I loved being inside her head because she's calculating, precise, and devoid of emotion. It makes the crazy things that happen around her seem larger than life because she's so nonchalant about it all.

Charles is the narcissistic son of a very wealthy politician who is using the program to truly try and better himself. There are many moments he has that allude to the idea that psychopaths can be cured and it makes for an interesting dynamic. There are slivers of care he has for others, and sometimes he acts on them against our preconceived notions of him. I found him the most interesting character of the bunch and def had a soft spot for him.

Out of the three of them, I found Andres the least compelling. He was a non-psychopathic in the psychopath program, using the program to get a free ride. I see what the author was trying to do by making you question whether he was a psychopath in denial or actually sane, but it wasn't as interesting as the actual psychopaths' storylines because being inside his head is fraught with paranoia.

I loved watching all of them grapple with their suspicions of their friends, their classmates, their professors, and each other as this serial killer closes in. One of the better thrillers I've read this year and reignited my love for the genre.

This character driven psychological thriller was quietly clever. I loved the college setting. I loved Chloe's humour. And the fact that she's one of seven students that are at the college as part of a clinical study for psychopaths was very interesting. An impressive read for me!

I absolutely loved this book! I found it hard to put down. I highly recommend reading it! You won’t be disappointed.

A clinical study for Psychopaths tracking their moods with a smart watch. Chloe Serve if offered a college scholarship to participate in the group study and accepts to get closer to Will Bachman. Chloe plans to kill Will Bachman. Before she can carry out her plan someone starts killing members of her psychology group!! Started out good, slow on the back half.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley for an honest review.

I started out really loving this. Chloe was a really interesting character and the revenge aspect against Will was great. It definitely lagged in middle and I was not nearly as interested in the side plot. Thankfully it picked up at the end and had a satisfying conclusion.

This book was creepy as all get out. You think the main character is sort of normal....and then you realize she's actually a complete psychopath. Well done.

I loved this book! I wish I hadn’t waited so long to read it, but it got me out of quite a reading slump. The angle the story took with the characters and the relationship between them was very original. I liked the alternating point of view, this kept the story moving quick.

I received an advanced copy. All thoughts are my own.

Thank you to Vera Kurian, Harlequin, and Netgalley for providing me with this ebook ARC of Never Saw Me Coming to read and review.

Review to follow.

3.5 rounded up to 4

This book had a really interesting concept and kept me guessing the entire read. There are 5 POV which is more than I typically like in a book because it can get a little confusing, especially in a book like this. This covers the story of a group of students that are brought to John Adams University under scholarship. What do these students have in common ? They are all psychopaths being studied on a day to day basis by a professor and his team in the psychology department. They have random tasks they're assigned and check ins throughout the day to rate how they are feeling. Everything is going well until one of the members of the study are murdered. And then another. But who is behind it when this study is private, and only a select group of people know. Chloe is brought to John Adams for more than one reason though. Not only are we following these murders and who may be behind it, but there is also a count down until the day a particular death is planned. Is this all connected ?

As mentioned previously, this is multi POV which got a little confusing at times. We mainly focus on Chloe and following her story which did help connect everything. I enjoyed the concept of this book a lot ! Bringing together multiple psychopaths to be studied anonymously ? Super interesting to me. I wish we got a little more information behind the study because that does fascinate me. I liked how this book was about Chloe hunting after someone, but then also being a target herself. It really kept me questioning everyone's motives. If you like campus thrillers, this nay be up your alley !

Thank you Netgalley and HARLEQUIN for a copy of Never Saw Me Coming in exchange for an honest review. Chloe Sevre is your typical girl next door, leggings wearing, honor student. Who also happens to be a psychopath. Chloe is part of a clinical study at her college for psychopaths. When on of the participants is murdered, Chloe suddenly finds herself in the crosshairs of a killer. This academic thriller kept me in suspense and kept me turning the pages.

Quick unedited thoughts

Just finished and I wanted more detail about Emma and Megan. That all wrapped up too easy. Where’s the backstory on Trevor. That could’ve really been another chapter. Why did you do all the things? Charles and Chloe’s characters were great and really pulled me in and kept me invested. There just wasn’t enough involvement of Andre. We get to know him in the beginning and then during the events he was a dude character. The added black character that fades. We learned what will did, but there was no character development. Was will actions serialized? He seemed unaffected by his heinous actions. The CRD killer wasn’t explained enough. I kind of didn’t really care. It only mattered about the tie in to the overall story. If we were told, in detail, about some of the crimes. Showing instead of telling.. I’m aware what I’m describing would have this book at 50-100 pages more, but I was just that invested.

All my rambling to say I recommend. I read while listening to the audio on Hoopla.

The college campus setting with frat parties, casual sex and excessive drinking is in here. The yuppie rich kid, black boy, pretty promiscuous girl, bad creepy one and the overall cool dude we’re all in here and more.

Thank you to Harlequin and Park row for the opportunity to read and review this title.

I was pleasantly surprised that the main character did not turn out to be as annoying/unlikeable as my first impression predicted. This book was a wild ride - of course, with the whole premise being about a "special college program for psychopaths" it was all a little over-the-top. However - if you as a reader accept that premise, the book is full of twists and turns and is a very fast paced, engaging experience overall.

I really liked this one! Quick and fast-paced, this book will keep you hooked. It’s definitely strange to feel empathy for a character that doesn’t have any. I would recommend for fans of “The Killer Inside Me” and “Wild Things” (yes, the movie).

Never Saw Me Coming is such a hit debut! Chloe is one person in a group study of people identified as psychopaths who are invited to be part of a study at a university together in exchange for a free ride to college. When one of the people in the study turns up dead, Chloe enlists the help of a few other students she finds are also in the program to figure out who is targeting them.
I would give this story three and a half stars. I ended up listening to it on audio and was extremely intrigued by the story line. I found myself wondering about how all of the pieces would fit. I also was extremely disturbed by the amount of hacking one person can do and how nonchalant numerous characters were about it!
I did not love the ending. I felt it a little lacking and jumbled with how it turned out and wish it was a little bit longer, simply to have the ending explained a bit better.
Overall, this one gets three and a half stars from me!
Thank you to Netgalley and Park Row Publishing for the opportunity to read this one in exchange for my honest opinion.