Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐⭐️️
Sin rating: Clear ✅

This book was a wild experience and I truly never saw it coming…!

Chloe is a freshman honour student. She’s clever, beautiful, she likes yoga and parties… and she’s a psychopath on a rampage to kill the man who wronged her years ago…

The book is captivating and some frankly scary moments had me properly worked up. You know that moment in a scary movie when the camera travels behind a character and gets closer and closer until something makes them jump? Yeah… I love it…

Not only entertaining, the book provided a great insight into what it feels like to be a psychopath: a word that is often overused for emphasis, but describes an actual medical condition.

Plot twists and academic claustrophobia provide a deliciously slow burn that kept me in my toes until the last chapter.

Thank you @netgalley for the copy!

This turned out to be yet another 'premise sounded right up by street but then didn't deliver enough'.
A psychopath student in a university study, while plotting to kill someone?
I couldn't wait to start this audiobook and it started off really strongly. I was invested, I was gripped, and was so excited to see where it went.
For me, it seemed to not go anywhere for a lot of the middle section, and I would frequently lose my concentration while listening and had to start the chapter again. I seemed to like the narrator's voice, so I'm thinking the plot was just too slow during those middle sections.
I just wanted so much more from this!

I loved the idea but for me the book sadly did not deliver. There was too much ‘noise’ of moving around the campus and I found the main character not believable. The whole book felt very amateur and perhaps it needs to be marketed as YA. The narrator’s voice was a little irritating.

I loved the idea of a female psychopath so the description of this book really appealed to me. However, i just couldn't get into the story as none of the characters were particularly likeable. Also, I wasn't a fan of the narrator as her voice just seem to grate on me. Perhaps I would have been better with a written copy of the book. Then the main character wouldn't have been associated with the narrators voice. Unfortunately I stopped listening at around 25%.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to listen to this book.

This book has confirmed for me that I don’t like high school (particularly set in America) books set in high school. I don’t particularly like to series or movies set there too. It’s taken me a while to realise this: maidens, the girls are all so nice here etc. But this confirmed it for me. The 2 stars is not at all because the book is bad just definitely not for me. I know that now and I won’t pick up anything in this setting again. Saying this, the idea in this book of clinical study with psychopaths is a really cool idea and is definitely what drew me in

With its intriguing set up of a university programme analyzing psychopathic minds, Never Saw Me Coming is an excellent thriller, with a dark and twisting plot and one of my favourite protagonists ever in Chloe. Read via audiobook, I really got a sense of how her dry and witty personality colours the first person sections of the books, as she manipulates situations to her advantage. This kept me guessing throughout, reminiscent of How To Get Away With Murder. Trigger warnings as it can be fairly graphic for gore and open door sex scenes, but this was one of my favourite Net Galley reads so far, due in part also to the excellent narration by Brittany Presley.

Never Saw Me Coming is a curious read, and one which I was lucky enough to get an audio copy of. This lent a real sense of reality to the characterisation for me, and I felt like I got a clear understanding of our protagonist (which I assume will also be the case with the print copy). Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to get access to this in advance of publication.
The book is not a topic that I went into lightly. Our main character, Chloe, is a psychopath. Her label does, and this is part of the fun, come with certain prejudices. I found it interesting to see how these were challenged/explored as we read.
Chloe is part of a clinical study, but her incentive for participating in the program goes much deeper - she wants the opportunity to get her revenge on someone who she feels wronged her. As the details come out, I found myself agreeing with and supporting Chloe's feelings - and this was not at all what I was expecting.
What was unexpectedly entertaining was the developing story. Someone appears to be killing off the students in the study. When psychopaths is being investigated, how do you know who to trust? This element of thriller was great, but it also allowed us to develop a more insightful sensitive exploration of the characters than I was expecting.

Absolutely LOVED LOVED LOVED Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian.
A brilliant depiction of a teenage psychopath. Chloe is all kinds of wonderful as a character. Love the writing and voice. If you’re looking for a sublime crime read this September then I can definitely recommend this.

What a gripping thriller.

This was a very disturbing but good read.

Thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish and could not get enough of.

This is a must read for anyone who enjoys a good thriller!!
Absolutely loved the characters, the plot, the tension -  impossible to put it down.
Certainly recommended!

This book is a perfect demonstration of how a book can have unlikeable characters but still be highly enjoyable.

Chloe is seemingly your typical student unless of course you realise she's a psychopath. Chloe has come to college seeking vengeance on Will, her sworn enemy. Before she can focus on college life made up of parties, socials and coursework deadlines she must eliminate him for good. It just so happens she can do it all for free with the help of a psychological study to help psychopaths to fit in.

Never Saw Me Coming had such an interesting premise that I hadn't read before. It flipped the switch on what it means to be good and bad. Chloe isn't likeable in the slightest and does awful things but you can't help but root for her

I adore the selection and variation of characters, even those diagnosed with the same condition. It added credability to the idea they were psychopaths and each manipulated people in the way that best fit their personality. That is to say I didn't 'like' any of them as people except maybe Andre. I feel the author definitely achieved the right balance with this as I still continued to be gripped.

It was also pleasant as it's rare to read a book about psychopaths who aren't mass murdering, mentally unstable individuals. Charles is an excellent example of this with his ability to fit in and interpret others emotions in an urge to make them like him and appear 'normal'.

Though not marketed as such it reads like a YA or new adult. This is both in the setting and language used. The characters being roughly eighteen and up also makes it more relatable to a younger audience.

I listened to the audiobook and have to commend the excellent narrator. Brittany Pressley was the perfect choice for Chloe as she sounded exactly as I imagined Chloe to be. This gave the audiobook an imersive feel as if Chloe was telling you the tale at a later date.

Overall I really enjoyed this book and would 100% read and recommend it again and again. The only reason for the 4 stars is the second half/ending of the book. I didn't find it satisfying and felt it deserved to be more than what it was.

This was such an interesting concept and I really enjoyed it. It’s about a group of psychopaths who are enrolled in a clinical study program at college, where they each wear a smart watch that record their feelings, locations etc. In time they come across one another because certain members end up getting murdered. Main characters are Chloe, Charles and Andre who have to team up to save themselves and work out who the killer is whilst having to guess whether if they can trust one another. Brilliant read with some dark funny lines, highly recommend.

Many thanks to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you so much to the publishers and Netgalley for an audiobook copy of this arc, i appreciate it so much! Unfortunately this book was a DNF for me, i dont like DNFing arcs at all. I requested this book as i loved the premise, ive never seen that kind of plot before with psychopathy being a main theme. The reason i couldnt get on with it was because it was so juvenile, the writing read like they were young kids and not college students that were 18+. I got to chapter 9 before i fully gave up. Such a shame!

I went into this book blind, knowing very little about the plot and was immediately intrigued. It has an incredibly unique and compelling premise and the first two chapters really pull you into the action.

Overall I really enjoyed the story. The characterisation was brilliant and I loved the complexity of Chloe’s character. She was more unlikeable than most characters and yet I still cared about her.

I did figure out the final twists but I still really liked the execution of them in the final chapters. The pacing was great and I feel like the ending had a great mix of action and rounding up the story.

I’d definitely recommend to other crime fans! I’ll need to get my hands on a physical copy. Review coming soon.

Never Saw Me Coming is a YA thriller with a great premise. Perhaps I am just too old for this genre but I would have liked more insights into a mind of a psychopath and less juvenile dialogue. The story is told from multiple POVs and even though some are in first person and the others are in the third, at times I struggled to differentiate between them. The narrator wasn’t bad but didn’t really add anything to the book.

I really enjoyed this book and fell in love with our anti-heroine, Chloe, immediately! She is so bad, it's good! The story was great although I felt it went on at times and could have been shorter, but a great story that kept me guessing the whole way through! The narrator was perfect too!

What happens when you put 7 diagnosed psychopaths into a clinical study while they all attend the same college? A whole lot of fun and a fair few murders apparently. Give me a well written psychopath in a book and I'm there for it. It's a fascinating concept to see how an authors minds work with that of a psychopath. Throw 7 of them into the one book and it's like Christmas.

Going into the opening chapters I was a bit apprehensive that it may not work out, surely Kurian couldn't write 7 well fleshed out psychopaths with differing elements to their personality all within the same book. Turns out I had no need to worry. These 7 psychopaths are perfect! Or are they?

What I particularly loved was that rather than follow your stereotypical trope where the psychopath goes killing people for shits and giggles Kurian looks at some deep seated motives for the events which occur. She also goes further by showing the cases where psychopaths aren't just what you see in the movies. Charles is a perfect example of this and is probably one of the strongest characters in the book.

There are plenty of neck breaking twists to keep you guessing through out with several little smaller storylines woven into the main plot. I switched between audio when I was driving and my kindle at home and both worked perfectly. Brittany Pressley had the perfect amount of sass and often whininess when needed.

A gripping and dark read that pushes the boundaries of the psychological thriller genre.

Wow. This book!! I was truly intrigued by the synopsis of the story and thought it sounded like an entertaining read. And boy was it!

I loved the academic thriller angle of this, with the characters apart of a psychopathy study in exchange for financial aid and fee waver for college. A great idea, but putting so many psychopaths together in one place is surely a recipe for disaster? You would be correct. It starts with Chloe in her scheme for ‘getting rid’ of a presence from her past - Will, who she has been planning to murder since she was 12. But plenty of unforeseen circumstances plot to get in the ways of her plans..

It was such a clever plot and one that literally had you on the edge of your seat. The main characters of Chloe, Charles and Andre aren’t your usual lovable innocents, but all with their own motives and despite being psychopaths, you love them anyway! They are the lovable psychopaths who you really start rooting for.. not something I thought I’d say!

The scheming, the plotting, the twists and turns and the suspense make this for such a brilliant book. The audiobook I listened to was performed brilliantly and was so enjoyable to sit down and listen to.

This has definitely been one of the audiobooks I’ve enjoyed most so far this year!

I liked the premise of this book and thought it sounded interesting. Seven psychopaths are given a fully funded scholarship if they take part in a clinical study. It’s kept very hush hush and the only real identifier is the smart watches the students have to wear.

I listened to the audiobook of this story and I found the narration was pretty good and clear to listen to.

The story is mainly told from the point of view of Chloe, a psychopath with an ulterior motive. She has murderous plans of her own, but is interrupted when other students on the study are murdered.

I’m not sure if it’s because I listened to the story, rather than reading it, but I found it tricky to follow at times. It flits about from one character to another and as more were introduced I found it confusing trying to remember who they were and how they were connected.
I felt that this affected the flow of the story for me and I wasn’t as gripped as I could have been.
Some of the characters were quite two dimensional and I didn’t like many of them. I imagine this was deliberate on the author’s part.

I thought the word ‘machinations’ was really overused, unless I missed something, it was quite distracting.

The youthful descriptions of lust and shenanigans didn’t add much to the story for me and I felt it made it feel more like a young adult novel at times, rather than a gripping thriller.

At times I felt the story dragged but this could be because I found it quite choppy and confusing.

In keeping with the times, there are many references to social media, and specific iPhone models. I wonder if this could prematurely date the story.

Overall, the idea behind this story was promising, but it fell flat for me. I expected to be gripped and intrigued by the characters and the story and I just wasn’t.

2.5 stars rounded to 3.

Thanks to Penguin Random House UK Audio and NetGalley for a copy for review.

Aaaaaargh-mazing

💛 There I am just requesting a psychological thriller on NetGalley, as I am wont to do, vastly underestimating what a fantastic listen this would be. Because it is. Fantastic.

💙 Firstly, the concept is inventive and intriguing: Oh, we’ll just pump this college campus chock full of psychopaths and see what happens. (Grabs popcorn). But it’s the execution I can’t get over. It’s a whodunnit campus killer mystery with unreliable characters aplenty, an entrancing revenge storyline and a few extra crimes peppered in just for good measure. In other words, all it lacks is a dull moment.

🖤 My understanding of psychopathy is somewhere on the a-little-knowledge-dangerous-thing side of the expertise scale. But Vera Kurian’s approach to the subject seemed incredibly well-researched and intelligently nuanced (which totally tracks because she’s a scientist as well as a writer). Each psychopath is different, each is unique and well-rounded. And they’re likable! Well… mostly. Their motives were believable, their stories fascinating.
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SOUNDBITE

🎧 This was my first Brittany Pressley listen and she was perfect for this. The performance was expertly modulated to keep the ears on their toes. You get the sense she’s planned out every character. When reading as Chloe, I imagined a sly smile on her face. And her interpretation of Chloe as slightly bored, condescending, dry and playful is deliciously mischievous.

🎧 I thought she was brilliant at differentiating characters. I do think this deserved a male narrator for Charles and Andre – because it’s worth it – but Pressley did a great job with male voices. Her approach reminded me of Julia Whelan.
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SHALL I COMPARE THEE TO…

Jon Ronson’s The Psychopath Test meets Alice Feeney’s Sometimes I Lie meets Scream (shout out 1996).
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A quick thanks: This honest review was written after listening to a NetGalley ALC from Vera Kurian, Penguin Random House UK Audio and Vintage Digital.

A renowned psychologist acquires funding for a college programme for students identified as psychopaths with the intention of schooling them to disguise and amend their behaviour - what could go wrong? All too soon we find out, as not everyone things that having a group of psychopaths around is a good idea. Before you know it, the hunters become the hunted.

We have multiple POVs: Chloe, Charles & Andre, all 3 are part of the programme but have very different reasons for joining it. What is really interesting is the way that the author balances the desire for the reader to like the protagonists with the desire to remind us that they are the most unreliable of narrators. It’s all too easy to sometimes forget just who and what we are rooting for until suddenly being brought up short by a total lack of normal response and some horrific behaviour.

This is an unusual take on a familiar trope, placing it within a university setting and targeting a YA market. In some respects it follows similar themes to things we’ve seen before, eg, if you were to combine Dexter with The Hunger Games but it works very well as it’s own sub-genre and it is really easy to get hooked by the storyline.

If this is intended to be part of a series I would definitely be tempted to look out for the next instalment.

Finally, I listened to this as an audiobook and was impressed by the narrator, Brittany Pressley, who sounded suitably young but managed to differentiate the narrative voices well.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an audiobook arc of this novel in exchange for an honest review.