Never Saw Me Coming is the perfect definition of a page turner. This is a book that had me sneaking pages in when I should have been doing something else.

Chloe is about to start her freshman year of college in DC. Just like many other students - only there’s something different about Chloe. She’s attending on a full scholarship because she’s a psychopath. She agreed to be part of a program where she would take part in a study and in exchange her school was fully paid for. Sounds great! Until one of the other students in the program is found murdered.

Where are all my Jane Doe fans?? If you loved that book, you need to meet Chloe! I loved this book that had me questioning everyone.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance reading copy.

I really, truly wanted to love this book. The concept is fun, and the author clearly knows her stuff about DC and (presumably) psychopathy, However, the characters felt underdeveloped - maybe it was one character being a first-person narrator and the others third person? - and the writing could have been tightened up. Knowing DC, I wish there had been more description and not just naming places around DC. And not that every book has to meet a checklist of diversity, but it felt weird that in a major city, at what did not seem to be an Ivy-standard university, most of the characters read white unless they were characters directly in contact with the one Black character.

This book fell flat for me.

The concept was very appealing because it flips the script of having someone diagnosed with psychopathy trying to figure out who the killer is. However, I think this book aims very high in its attempts to destigmatize mental illnesses and in some ways actually stigmatizes them more?

The narration generally switched between three different perspectives (though there were randomly other perspectives thrown in for no good reason) and none of them were fully developed because of it.

Unfortunately, since none of the characters felt like real people, it leaves little room to connect with the characters and reach that destigmatization point.

On top of that, the book is unnecessarily long. There were many scenes that didn’t further the plot and most of the action was crammed into the last 30 pages.

Overall, not the exciting thriller that I was hoping for.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4058353191

I had a good feeling about this book and it didn’t disappoint. Very twisty with multiple points of view and compelling characters - they are a bit stereotypical until you throw psychopathy into the mix. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who misses Dexter..

Thank you to NetGalley for this advance copy of They never Saw me Coming by Vera Kurian in exchange for an honest review.

Dark Academia with a hint of a psychological thriller is MY JAM. The darker and more mysterious the better!

This is a very interesting concept,where a university is seeking actual psychopaths in exchange for social experimental physical
readings. Enter Chloe Sevre....an honor student, super hot freshman, and an actual PSYCHOPATH. Her favorite hobby is hunting, stalking and plotting to kill her childhood friend, Will Bachman for an ultimate and unforgivable betrayal..

When a student winds up murdered in the Psychology lab, everyone now paranoid. It could be any of the 7,...SEVEN! of her follow psychos. Now there is a target on all their backs. Who did this and why? Will Chloe become the hunted now? Side stories that I believe still need to be fleshed out, but overall amazing debut. The last quarter became a bit confusing and muddled for me, but overall a solid ending. I really enjoyed the fast pace and dread I felt throughout. I know that many will appreciate this at time darkly funny, thriller. Don't sleep on this one!

This is a book sent to me by Netgalley on Kindle for review. It is a dark mystery with some language. The characters are psychopaths...that in itself tends to make the reader wonder what is real in the story. It is told in too many voices to keep them straight. However for those who enjoy the macabre, this might suffice.

I have to be honest, I didn't think I'd like this book in the first few pages, but I ended up reading it compulsively by the end. It's twisty and interesting while also being full of characters you can't help but love/hate
This is the story of a group of young adults who have all been diagnosed with psychopathy and who are part of a study at a college in the Washington DC area to see if these kids can be "socialized" into being productive, non-harming adults. The group is barely into the first days of the school year when one of them is murdered and the story takes off from there. None of the characters are particularly likeable, so if that's something your patrons require to enjoy a book, this isn't the book for them, but the story is excellent and the characters are all interesting, at least!

College. Chole Sevre couldn't wait. She has a plan - and it isn't to get good grades, it's to get back at another student who ruined her life. As an incoming Freshman, she is a tad different than most of the students around her, Chloe has been clinically classified as a Psychopath you see and is part of a study the University is conducting for kids just like her. All seems well, until a few days in, when a student is found murdered. One of the kids in her program. Then another body is found. Though Chloe went to college for one reason and one reason only, things change rapidly and now, Chloe's life may be in danger.

Sounds interesting right? The premise was highly intriguing... and I was all in, until I cracked open the book. The writing here is stilted and sophomoric and left me wanting for well, something else entirely. Unfortunately, the bottom line here is that this book simply wasn't for me. This novel gets stellar reviews thus if this sounds like it's up your alley, check it out as this may be the case of my being the wrong reader for this novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Park Row for the arc.

We have a college putting together a research program for psychopaths. The idea is to monitor the students to help them control their illness and be functioning members in society. Seems like cool idea right? But then the student in the program start dying these awful deaths, which puts all the students in the program, and all the kids on campus on full alert.

Chloe was my favorite psychopath. She came to Adams strictly for a revenge that she has been plotting since she was 12. She is cunning and smart and a 5-star actress. She has so many plans in place in her bullet journal that you know when one thing’s falls apart, she has tons more and will bounce right back into action. She is such a strong character, mentally and physically. She had a fun, flirty and witty personality that took shape immediately following her introduction.

Then we have Charles. Charles has been apart of the program the longest, clocking in his time at 3 years. He likes to think he is in control and that the doctor and him are close. He is wealthy, with a beautiful girlfriend who seems to really love and understand him. He didn’t join the program for anything other than to become a functional member of society. His family drama adds to the depth of his character.
Lastly, we have Andre. Andre is a phony. He is a troubled kid with a traumatic past whose behavioral problems opened up the door for him to be labeled as a psychopath. He is a fraud who ends up in the middle of the murder investigation with the real psychopaths. He was my least favorite character because his intentions were always so pure and genuine. He struck me as the least interesting. Just a smart kid trying to connect some dots along the way.

I have a few issues. The first, and I’m assuming this will be worked out once the book is actually published, is that my ereader copy had so many errors as far as spacing is concerned. There were errors all over the book where there would be random spaces between words, or one sentence would stop and continue on another line even though there was plenty of space. It made it hard for me to follow along with dialogue and the plot.
The other thing I didn’t like was the tone of the book. The writing felt so juvenile. It felt like a YA read and I was expecting a little more maturity since we are dealing with highly intelligent individuals in the program.
Also, there were WAY too many characters with way too much stuff going on all over the place. It felt sloppy and rushed. Nothing seemed to be explained in great detail and there was not much time spent on creating an atmosphere in the story.

It is a really promising premise. I was interested as soon as I read the synopsis and there was no way I was not going to try to get my hands on this one.

This title is utterly compelling!

Several diagnosed psychopaths are admitted to John Adams University with full scholarships in exchange for participating in a psychological study aimed at helping psychopaths avoid dangerous behavior to themselves and others. Shortly after the term begins, students in the study start getting murdered. A few of the students team up to discover why and find the "hunter". Meanwhile, the Dr . in charge of the study testified at the trial of a famous serial killer. Does this connection have something to do with the murders?

This book in impossible to put down. The mystery is intriguing, the therapy sessions eye-opening, and the characters fascinating.

The moment I read the premise for this book I was all in! I knew I had to read it. I saw some amazing positive reviews and that just solidified my decision.

If only the book had lived up to my expectations. There was so much potential for an amazing read with the seven psychopaths attending the same program at University. But I didn’t feel any of the characters were well developed, and I found myself getting frustrated and even worse… bored.

It wasn’t the thrilling ‘psychopath’ book I had been hoping for.

I won’t be leaving any reviews on social media sites or my blog as sadly I have no positive thoughts to share.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this ARC.

i received a copy of never saw me coming from Harlequin, through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.
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never saw me coming is a one of a kind book. it was so fun to read, and so well thought out. never saw me coming follows a group of diagnosed psychopaths as they get hunted down by a serial killer. just that summary alone is what made me want to read this book.

i don’t have any prior knowledge about psychopaths, so i can’t comment on the accuracy of the portrayal, however i felt that the main characters were humanised well. there were some obvious differences between the psychopathic characters and the regular ones, but they weren’t portrayed as murderers. i liked how the author kept reinforcing the idea that these people can we high functioning “regular” people of society.

i only have 2 points that i felt worth acknowledging in regards to the negatives of never saw me coming. the first is that somewhere around the middle, the book began to drag. i think this is because there was a bit of a routine going on: college, party, research on who could be hunting them. i understand this is important, as it shows that they’re working hard on figuring out who the killer is, but it became so boring and tedious. luckily, this doesn’t last too long, about 10% or so. (i wish it was less but oh well).

and secondly, i felt that the ending was too quick. i was left with a few unanswered questions, mainly about the murders. never saw me coming has three murders before the “big” ending. two murders were under mysterious circumstances, and one we know who did it. the one that we know, got blamed on the killer despite the fact that it wasn’t them. because of this, i was left wondering: did the killer actually kill those other two or was it someone else (who just got lucky and managed to blame it on the killer?) i know i’m probably overthinking it, but you never know!

overall, i was pleasantly surprised by never saw me coming. as i’ve never read anything by this author, i had relatively low expectations. this is definitely the kind of book that i would recommend to anyone who likes a good mystery!

1.5 stars. Sorry, I really wanted to love this one.
The blurb had me so excited. I was ready for an epic cat and mouse thriller full of lies and deceit and feeling conflicted about rooting for a killer protagonist. Instead, I am left thoroughly disappointed and relieved I finally got through the whole book. This felt predominantly like a young adult genre. So if you are after the excitement and tension of a mystery/thriller, I would not recommend this book.

Plot
The story was told from multiple perspectives: Chloe in first person and everyone else (mainly Charlie and Andre) in third person with inner dialogue as well. l usually love the alternating format because we get more insights into characters and some chapters tend to finish with a cliffhanger. Unfortunately in this case it did not provide additional complexity, tension or suspense/mystery, if anything it made it clearer who the killer was not.
I couldn’t immerse myself in any of the characters as the different perspectives didn’t add any value other than show us scenes that Chloe wasn’t part of. There was no contrast in tone or personality, they felt the same across the board.

The actual plot gets lost in the excessive and repetitive dialogue of the everyday life of these few college/uni students, where every scheme eventuated to nothing exciting, maybe some minor and incredibly anticlimactic reveals at most. In fact I don't remember the majority of the book and their investigations. I was expecting there to be backstabbing and lying as the blurb suggests but Charles, Andre and Chloe got along just fine. There was nothing more than some inner dialogue about their minor suspicions amongst each other.

The twists had potential but they fell flat. Really flat. Considering there was a countdown to kill Will, the build up and tension was non-existent and the showdown was incredibly anticlimactic and too easy. Followed soon after by the final reveal of the murderer, again, I wasn't feeling shocked as the suspects were narrowed down and I had already lost interest.

Characters
I was so excited to be in the mind of a protagonist psychopath and to feel conflicted for cheering them on. But I didn’t get enough psychopathic vibes.The main characters were not quite your normal college/uni students, but they didn’t hit the mark either. In fact, the clearest indication that they were psychopaths was the fact that they kept on referring to themselves and others as psychopaths which got old and irritating.

I liked the idea of Andre but his involvement was bland. He could’ve been an exciting character, having to hide his secret. But it wasn’t an issue.
I also liked the idea of Charlie, being in the mind of another psychopath. He had a lot of information. What a position to be in, he was set up really well to be able to exploit that information and cause the friction and tension between them. But instead, he did nothing with it and was very helpful....

This book had so much potential. The premise and the twists are on point, but the over-promised blurb and execution left a lot to be desired.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Never Saw Me Coming has one of the most unique plots I have ever read! It's hard to find books with plots you've never seen before so stumbling on this one was amazing! Vera Kurian has shocked me, made me DEVOUR this book, and kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time! I really enjoyed this one!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! The characters were uniquely interesting, not only in that we were reading a story told through the perspective of psychopaths, but also in that the plot itself was clever and fast-paced. It was almost impossible to guess what would happen next, and also impossible to decide whether or not the narrators were being honest with the reader (they are manipulative psychopaths, after all). This was a fast read that was hard to put down. Thank you to Net Galley, and to the publisher, for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was fast paced and very entertaining to read. Chloe was somehow likable yet a total psychopath. Just like seven more people in her college program. Liked the plot even tho highly implausible but that probably why it was so fun to read. Made getting away with murder look easy and you almost explained it away as the right thing to do. Vera Kurian develops characters well and kept me intrigued all the way to the end.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc

Chloe Sevre is your typical college freshman girl. She likes to party, hang out with friends and plot to kill Will Bachman. So maybe she is a little different because she is a psychopath who is in a secret program at John Adams college. She is one of seven students in the psychopath program being studied in exchange for a free college education. Her ultimate goal though is to kill Will who committed a crime against her when she was younger. When another student in the psychopath program is murdered she has to work with others in the program to solve the mystery so she can get back to exacting her revenge on Will. But can you really trust a psychopath?

I can’t believe this is Vera Kurian’s first novel! This book was amazing! It had an original storyline that had me wanting more and more of this book. I was sad it ended and hope to read more from her in the future, maybe even a sequel?!?!? The deep dive that was taken to understand what goes on in a psychopath’s mind was phenomenal!

7 diagnosed psychopaths. In a campus clinical study where they monitor their moods and activities in exchange for free tuition. Never Saw Me Coming has such a unique plot line, told through multiple perspectives. The students are not who they say they are and when a murder occurs, you don’t know who to trust.

Never Saw Me Coming has an unreliable narrator trope, well narrators, with charming psychopath antiheroes. This psychological thriller is fast paced and you won’t want to put it down. You are kept guessing throughout the entire book with twists. Fans of Psychological thrillers will devour this original story.

Thanks to Harlequin, Park Row, and NetGalley for the arc in exchange for my opinions.

Original unusual premise had the potential to be an interesting story. The characters were psychopaths and it was difficult to relate to them. Interesting to read some of the thought processes the character go through but not for any length of time. They were so detached from the events occurring around them there was no excitement or feeling in the narrative.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

If you give 7 psychopaths a free ride to college would could possibly go wrong? Murder, that's what! Interesting plot and you are guessing up to the very end.