Oh this was great! THIS WAS GREAT!

Whatever the opinion and meaning behind Chloe’s character, god I love her. Getting to see behind her mind, her thoughts, her opinions - what a fascinating protagonist.

I was keenly interested the whole time and loved each and every plot twist. All of the characters were fleshed out and played some importance to the story.

A really great thriller I’ll recommend to everyone!

Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian is the story of Chloe, just your average psychopathic First Year Student at Adams University, which has secretly recruited a small group of diagnosed psychopaths as part of a study by its Psychology Department....what could possibly go wrong? Chloe has murder in mind , revenge in her heart and the perpetrator of an awful attack on her in her sights when she finds that she's not the only student with homicidal intentions. Members of the study group are being murdered and Chloe finds herself both the hunter and the hunted.

This is an intriguing read, membership of the psychopathic study group is confidential even amongst the group and given the nature of their condition there are some fairly large trust issues to keep everyone on their toes and one has quite a surprising secret. As members of the group are revealed Chloe has to decide whether they're friend or foe.....her life depends on it,and in the meantime she's pursuing her own prey.

This is a clever read, not many of the main characters are particularly likeable but then psychopaths rarely are. It held my attention up until it started to lose its way a bit towards the end ,which was bog standard B movie stuff rather than a cliffhanger.

Quite enjoyable, I found the "big finale" to be a bit of a let down but that's only my opinion and others are available.

This was our book club choice of read for June. I didn't choose this one but loved the sound of it and was excited to read and discuss it.

Lots of psychos in a thriller book! Perfect recipe for murder, plotting and me being a book detective. 😊🤔

This was a very original plot line where a doctor at a university finds and enrolls several diagnosed psychopaths to take part in his study whereby he claims to be able to help them live a "normal" life. I learnt a bit about psychopaths in this book. I wrongly assumed psychopaths were dangerous. I learnt that they don't feel guilt, empathy or fear and after reading this I think psychopaths are far more common than I believed.

The characters in this book were very intriguing. Obviously I couldn't relate to many ( any) of them of myself but I think that is with they were so interesting to me. You'd think to not feel fear would be a good thing, but then you aren't aware of danger. And when there is a killer targeting students you need to be aware of danger. Our main character Chloe does not fear the deaths around her, she has a mission of her own. The lack of fear is a big part of what made me suspect everyone.

The fact that there are many psychopaths in this book made for quite a guessing game. I did not guess the killer which is a good thing as I like to be surprised with twists and red herrings. The ending to me was a little disappointing, but overall this was a good read with a really original plot.

I think this would make a great film or even a tv series.

3.5 stars.
This was a fresh way of writing a thriller using the much used trope of the psycopath. It adds to the odda when we know that the three people from whose eyes we are seeing the world in the book are psycopaths. I liked the narrative voice as well as the pace of the book.

What didn't work for me was the length of the book. By the time i had reached the 75 percent mark, i really wanted the book to wrap up soon. Towards the end , it felt somewhat dragging and repetitive. It would definitely have worked better if the book was shorter.

Never Saw Me Coming is a complete rollercoaster! I was completely blown away, but our sassy protagonist. She’s bit of a anti-heroine, which I love.
This follows Chloe, a student at an university in America. Her tuition and everything has been completely paid for by the psychology in exchange for her participating in a study. On psychopaths. Because Chloe is one. 😱 Also, she’s after another student called Will. She can’t wait to kill him...😵
Things get complicated when Chloe discovers other participants in the psychopaths study are being murdered. People like her. Will she be next?

This was an intriguing read. I found Chloe a fascinating character. You definitely get a good insight on how psychopaths function, and I like that it wasn’t stereotypical. You have a few other characters such as Andre, a boy student pretending to be a psychopath and getting a free scholarship, who is fascinating.
The prose, especially Chloe’s first person narrative is compelling, and full of sharp voice. There’s lots of suspense, too. I did find the ending lacklustre, and felt certain threads weren’t tied up, such as who was cyber-blackmailing Charles? It wasn’t clear to me. I felt the sub-plots should’ve been tighter.
On the whole this a fun read. Maybe because the characters are so young, it did feel like a YA/new adult thriller. Either that or I’m old 😪

Weird but fantastic! I really don’t want to give much away but I can tell you Never Saw Me Coming is a must read!
5/5

Thanks to #NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for a fair review.

Chloe is a smart, pretty, sociable young woman just starting as a first year student at John Adams University in Washington DC. She's also a psychopath.

Chloe is on a scholarship, due to her agreement to be part of a discreet psychological study program focusing on young non-offending psychopaths run by the Psychology Department.

Chloe is focused on fitting in, appearing normal, and stalking Will Bachman. Chloe plans to kill Will.

Chloe's plans are disrupted when someone else begins to murder other people in the program. Who is hunting psychopaths?

I enjoyed the different perspectives of the characters in this novel, mostly seen through Chloe's POV we also follow two other students in the program. This was a gripping, fast paced thriller with plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader engaged right to the end!

The author finished the story in such a way that there could potentially be a sequel - I would love to read more about Chloe, Charles and Andre!

You know those tv shows that you get on streaming services where you plan to watch just one episode but end up bingeing the entire series and staying up until 3am on a work night? This is the book version of those series.

This book blew me away, like WOW, what a story, what a concept! I could not put it down. It totally engrossed me from start to finish.

I don't often give 5 star reviews....this one was easy

I would like to thank Netgalley and Random House UK, Vintage for an advance copy of Never Saw Me Coming, a thriller set on campus at John Adams University in Washington DC.

Chloe Sevre has chosen to study at Adams University because a) she is a diagnosed psychpath and gets free tuition in return for taking part in a study and b) that’s where Will Bachman studies and she’s going to kill him. Then someone murders two of the group and Chloe has to put her own plans on hold and work with others in the group to identify a killer and save their lives.

Initially I found Never Saw Me Coming a compulsive read with its combination of the psychopathic Chloe, the mystery of the killer’s identity and motive and the secrecy behind Chloe’s deep hatred of Will Bachman, which isn’t revealed until later in the novel.

The portrayal of Chloe, told in the first person for a stronger impact, is powerful. The author is at pain to note that not all psychopaths are criminal, just wired differently to rest of us, notably in their lack of empathy and narcissism, and Chloe has these in buckets. She wants what she wants and is prepared to lie, scheme and manipulate to get whatever it is she wants at the time. She’s unpleasant and it gets wearing as the novel goes on and the manipulation and lack of trust that colour all her interactions gets to be repetitive. The novel is centred on Chloe, her actions and reactions. The author does introduce other characters and give their point of view, notably her fellow “investigators” Charles and Andre, but they pale in comparison to her.

To a certain extent this concentration on Chloe puts the plot in second place. There is plenty happening from murders to cyberstalking, attacks and historical research, but it all seems a bit haphazard and, somehow, ill defined. It doesn’t have the brutal clarity you would expect and the way Chloe is tricked at the end doesn’t gel with her generally suspicious nature.

The author leaves it open at the end to a sequel. I don’t regret reading Never Saw Me Coming as it has a great first half and an interesting premise, but I wouldn’t be interested in more of the same. 3.5*

An absolutely incredible story.

On an American campus there is a secret research program offering scholarships to “psychopaths”, which I’m sure is not the correct title for the disorder.

Soon enough deaths terrorize the campus and the students from the secret program have to solve the case!

Written brilliantly and truly thrilling.

Ooh it is a dark version of 'The Secret History' - which was pretty dark. A campus based college has a secretive scholarship programme for psychopaths - what could possibly go wrong? I did find myself playing 'spot the psychopath' which may not be the most woke pastime but the tale certainly has everyone watching their backs as students are killed, stalked and terrorised. It is down to the dysfunctional team of scholarship students to solve the crime, not the easiest when they are torn between committing the crimes themselves and saving their own skin.

When you put seven psychopaths in main stream college what could possibly go wrong?
Meet Chloe your average 1st year collage student just maybe slightly different from most students as she only wanted to attend Adam's for one reason only to kill Will Bachman!
Chloe and the other six psychopaths on a clinical study programme their lives should never cross.
Until they start getting murdered
.Chloe teams up with two other special students Charles and Andre to find out who is hunting them and why.
And what does the lead psychologist Mr Wyman have to hid?
A fantastically written novel with great characters.

I absolutely LOVED this thriller - it had me from the premise and I was completely hooked from the opening page - it was one of those books that had me snatching moments here and there to read just one more page! I'm a sucker for a campus set novel and the characters in this one were fascinating; I loved the dynamic between the two genuine psychopaths and the 'faker'. A really strong and impressive debut.

I absolutely adored this book - a really most excellent premise in which we follow a group of diagnosed psychopaths, all attending college on scholarship in return for taking part in a study of their behaviour. I mean what could POSSIBLY go wrong?

One definitely has murder on her mind, but when a killer starts stalking the halls, things go a little crazy. The writing is excellent, the story itself is cleverly involving and the outcome never guaranteed

You won't find a more compelling group dynamic in many books and I'm really hoping this won't be the last we hear from them.

Fuller review nearer publication.

Thank you to Net Galley and the Publisher for an advance copy.
On the face of it, this was an odd choice of a novel for an elderly Englishman to read as it is set on an American university campus an area of life so distanced from any of my experience of life. I did however find the plot interesting and enjoyed reading the book although there were bits I found hard to understand due to the age and cultural gap above. The story centers on a group of students who are psychopathic and are enrolled in a study group that has provided them with free tuition. Part of this group is Chloe who has her own reasons for being there and wishes to take revenge for an incident in her past. The plot however broadens out from that premise as students on the study course start to be murdered. Chloe and other members of the group start to investigate the killings while her own revenge plot runs parallel to the main plot and the reader is kept interested throughout.
A very different book from my normal reading but I found it enjoyable enough.

This gripping book is completely different from any other book I've read, because it's told from the view of a psychopath. Following the story of Chloe, a first year university student and psychopath on a mission to kill Will, another student.
As well as studying to become a Dr she's agreed to take part in a covert study on psychopaths at the University, As she navigates starting a new life at university, completing homework, taking part in the study, and making new friends, she also has to work on her plan to kill Will without getting caught. But when people start turning up dead she has to wonder who it is, and if it could be one of the other 6 psychopaths in the study. This is one fast paced thriller that has you wondering just who is the bad guy, and keeps you guessing right until the end. I really can't recommend this book enough, one brilliant book that you just won't want to put down.

Chloe Sevre appears to be like anyone else just starting college but she has a secret; she's a psychopath and she's not the only one on campus.

The premise of this novel sounded very intriguing and I wasn't disappointed. I was worried about feeling connected to the psychopathic characters but they were all so well written (both flawed and likeable) that the novel felt incredibly riveting and easy to read. Although the themes were dark this didn't feel like 'heavy' and I was gripped and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review

The title of Vera Kurian’s Never Saw Me Coming is so true of the book itself - I didn’t expect to be turning its pages as addictively as I did, and it effectively back-seated all other activities until I’d finished it. The writing is gorgeous - just savour ‘A liability turned into an alibi’ for a moment - and our chief psychopath gives CJ Skuse’s Sweetpea a run for her money as a bullet-journaling influencer of the most manipulative kind (and adept at silently tearing Velcro apart in high-octane situations). This is a campus novel with teeth, without conscience (look up Robert Hare), and fuelled by (the gift of) fear.

Chloe is a character I'd never read before, the closest I'd say is to Rhiannon from Sweetpea. She was expertly described and I truly visualised her on her journey to extract revenge for an act of violence from her past. Chloe is a psychopath and in a study at college with six others, all whom don't know each other. Until Chloe does some digging. One by one, they start to get bumped off. Someone is killing the psychopaths from their group and Chloe wants to find out who. I really enjoyed this tale and was rooting for the spiky Chloe from the start. Her relationship with Charles was fascinating and brilliantly written. Thanks to Netgalley and the author for an advance copy. I'm sure this book will fly!

Chloe Sevre seems like any other college girl, focusing on her new friendships and her studies. Chloe Sevre is actually a registered psychopath and alongside upholding her 4.0 grade average she is on a mission to enact her revenge on the one who has hurt in her the past, regardless of who will stand in her way as she gets to him. Chloe is about to encounter a far more pressing problem, however. Two murdered students have been found on her college campus and it seems like one of the killer's next victims might be the face looking back in the mirror at her.

This was a truly twisted thriller with a surprisingly deep and emotional focus present, too. I initially found this deliciously devious and it retained this aspect throughout, but a more heartfelt vein started to appear and run concurrently to it. These seemingly opposing features worked together to craft an absorbing and well-resolved mystery, complete with vivid and nuanced characters who only proved more intriguing for how little I truly knew or could trust about them.