This was a stellar debut with an interesting concept. A group of psychopaths is brought together on a college campus for the purpose of a scientific study, when suddenly, participants in the study appear to be targeted by a murderer. We primarily follow three perspectives in this story, all of which are participants in the study. As they race to figure out who is behind the murders for their own protection, they also all have their own agendas that are determining their behaviors. They all struggle with the same question: can you ever really trust a psychopath? This book was well-written, with multiple plotlines coming together smoothly and an appropriate amount of information about psychopathy without sounding too much like hard science. Readers won't be rooting for any particular character, as they all have some pretty significant flaws and prove themselves to be unreliable for a variety of reasons, but readers will be invested in how it all turns out. There are plenty of viable red herrings and subplots that could be impacting events and readers will want to make it to the end to see how it all shakes out. There are some gruesome scenes and the reading experience was very similar to watching an episode of criminal minds (without the police perspectives). I will definitely be recommending this one to fans of thrillers and psychological fiction and will be looking for more from this author in the future.

This was a fun, fast read with unexpected twists. This says a lot because it's hard to surprise me. Dark, snarky, and fast-paced, this thriller will have you wanting to turn the page. Though structurally conventional, telling the story from the psychotic's PoV made it feel fresh throughout.

I enjoyed this book but found the end to be more interesting than the beginning. Our main character is Chloe and she is interesting as she perceives things. They are in a school and 7 psychopaths are involved in the story, Chloe being one. They are taking part in a study, however one of Chloe's main goals in life in ending the life of Will. She and Will have a past. The book was good but tended to ramble in places.

Chloe Sevre is not your typical college freshman. Yes, she likes frat parties, leggings, and the local coffee shop. Chloe chose John Adams University for two reasons, she got a full-ride scholarship to take part in a program for psychopaths and it would give her easy access to Will Bachman, the man she wants to murder. Chloe is one of seven taking part in the program for psychopaths. She is not supposed to know who the others are in the group, but she has figured out at least two other participants. Charles is an upperclassman from a wealthy, connected family who has learned how to live with his diagnosis. Andre was from a working-class DC family who saw his full-ride scholarship as the answer to their prayers. And then members of the program get murdered. Any of them could have done it, but who is responsible, and what happens when they go after Chloe?



I wasn't sure what to expect from Never Saw Me Coming, but I got a fast-paced thriller with a unique premise. Remember, Chloe is a psychopath. Knowing that gave me permission to not like her. She is a pretty unlikable character. Andre was the only one that I kind of liked, but the reasons are revealed later. You can see the evolution of psychopaths in the program by seeing how different Chloe and Charles are in the way they handle their diagnosis. I am not sure if the big surprise ending was ironic or just shocking. CLICK HERE FOR SPOILERS



Bottom Line - Never Saw Me Coming was better than I expected from a new author. I look forward to seeing what she does next.



Details:

Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian
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Pages: 400
Publisher: Park Row Books
Publication Date: 9/7/2021
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Thanks to NetGalley for the book in exchange for a review

A mystery/thriller narrated by psychopaths makes for a wild ride. You can see that the author, who has a PhD in Social Psychology, is trying to show that not everyone with a psychopath diagnosis is a killer. Yet, the characters are complex and feel like untrustworthy narrators. There are murders and you get a feeling that any of the characters could have done it (I was even suspicious of the psychology professor or his grad student). You have one narrator who is plotting a revenge death (and part of the plot is why on earth is she after this guy?). This book held my attention from beginning to end and it felt fresh in the thriller genre.

Dark and edgy book. I haven’t read a thriller like this in a long time. I couldn’t put the book down for the last half!

Not really sure what to think of this one. Having 7 people who apparently qualify as psychopaths isn't going to end well no matter what. The story didn't really just grab my attention like I thought it would.

Interesting premise, but I didn't finish it because I was too busy to give it the attention that it needed.

I absolutely loved the premise of this book! It was so interesting and I liked how the characters interacted with one another. It was a little confusing with the changing viewpoints, but overall a pretty good and quick read!

The synopsis sucked me in immediately and overall, the premise was good. It was a little slow in the middle, which is why I would give it a 3.5 ⭐️ but the twists were overall good. The main character is definitely unlikable, but since she is a diagnosed psychopath I think thats the point. I would say this is worth especially for the twists at the end!

Never Saw Me Coming had such an interesting plot! Several diagnosed psychopaths are part of a study with their schools psychology department and they start being targeted? Yes please! Such an interesting concept. This book had several POV (which I always love), a game of cat and mouse, a tiny bit of heat, and a race to find the murderer before they get murdered first.

Was it interesting? Yes. But it did not keep my attention very well. I think the book was a little too long and I kept getting lost in chapters that I felt weren't necessary to move the story forward.

Overall, this was an okay read for me.

I am disappointed with this book. I was expecting one thing and received another. It had potential but it was not well written.

Chloe Sevre, a freshman in college, seems like your average student but little do they know that she is plotting revenge for something that happened in her past. Chloe was excepted into a study at her college for psychopaths, but no other students know that is why she is there. The group of students in the study aren't supposed to know each other either, but when one of them is found murdered they start to suspect that someone is out there to kill the psychopaths. Chloe uses the murders to her advantage to get some revenge on a fellow college student who ruined her life when she was younger. But she has to be careful because all of the students in the study have to wear smart watched to track their moods and their movements. Follow along to see how she get her revenge without being caught.

The premise of this book is incredible. I think there's something to be said about books that can create a protagonist that's not a "good guy." The You series really revolutionized those types of stories, and created a space for authors to write stories that are a bit unorthodox but oh, so interesting.

I was frustrated by so many pieces of the book. The story could've been great, and I was surprised by the ending. But there were many places where I was very underwhelmed, and there were many pieces that were lacking or things that I felt were rushed or not fully explained.

The biggest issue was the timeline and pacing were all very weird. I didn't understand many of the jumps in the story and how things would go from one time to the next so suddenly - again, very frustrating.

I did like that overall idea of the plot, and I'm very interested in reading books from the POV of psychopaths and/or sociopaths.

I've been hesitant to read and request thrillers as of late because I've pretty much given up on them. The market is so saturated with the same ol' tired tale of an unhappy marriage or a seemingly perfect marriage gone awry. If I do end up reading a mystery/thriller these days I want there to be some substance to it, some thing that makes it unique and special.

With this novel, I felt the premise was unique enough to keep me reading and wasn't wholly bad in terms of characterization and plot. However, you can definitely tell this is a debut and the writing isn't quite there. But I found the twists to be developed enough to keep the pace fast (which is the point of a thriller) and the fact that all the characters were unreliable and you have no clue who you can trust.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Quite a different story that had me creeped out when a group of psychopaths enrolled in a study, Chloe was all set for revenge. This had many side stories and different POV which at times were difficult to stay focused on. The book did drag out a bit, but the cold characters and the increased body count would interest many. A

Had such a fun time with this story. Could the characters have been more developed? Yes. Did I care? Not really. I had a blast.

Such a unique and fairly ridiculous premise, and so much fun. Perfect for those who are tired of the same characters with the same motives in practically every thriller and are willing to shelve their disbelief for a while and just go with the fast-paced plot. There will be many times while reading that you'll say, "sure......that seems plausible" and "well, okay........we'll go with that" but you'll never think "this is boring".

I first heard about this book through a book buzz with the publisher and was immediately intrigued. Psychopaths aren't typically the subject of novels and when they are, delving into their lives isn't done. I don't read a ton of thrillers, and the twist definitely surprised me. This is one of my favorite books of the year.

Posted on The Storygraph: https://app.thestorygraph.com/user_reviews/scriptationist

"Psychopathy is defined as a mental (antisocial) disorder in which an individual manifests amoral and antisocial behavior, shows a lack of ability to love or establish meaningful personal relationships, expresses extreme egocentricity, and demonstrates a failure to learn from experiences and other behaviors associated with the condition."

Walking in the minds of psychopaths, hearing their thoughts and reasonings, was quite a different way to experience a story. With this multiple points of view story, we get to read this book almost as we would watch a murder mystery play out in a movie. The suspense of not knowing who the killer really is or whether it could be one of the characters we are seeing the story play out with, makes this even more intriguing to read.

For me, I could not fathom the reasoning of Chloe and Charles most of the time. They don't see the world in emotional colors, nor can they empathize with the people around them, justifying their motives much more easily than I ever could.

The characters each have a distinctive voice, easily discernable from one another. And I definitely did not see the ending coming, the small details that I both saw and missed. An impressive debut novel from Vera, an author to watch!