Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian

Meet Chloe Sevre. She’s a freshman honor student, a leggings-wearing hot girl next door, who also happens to be a psychopath. Her hobbies include yogalates, frat parties, and plotting to kill Will Bachman, a childhood friend who grievously wronged her.

Chloe is one of seven students at her DC-based college who are part of an unusual clinical study for psychopaths—students like herself who lack empathy and can’t comprehend emotions like fear or guilt. The study, led by a renowned psychologist, requires them to wear smart watches that track their moods and movements.

When one of the students in the study is found murdered in the psychology building, a dangerous game of cat and mouse begins, and Chloe goes from hunter to prey. As she races to identify the killer and put her own plan into action, she’ll be forced to decide if she can trust any of her fellow psychopaths—and everybody knows you should never trust a psychopath.

Never Saw Me Coming is a compulsive, voice-driven thriller by an exciting new voice in fiction, that will keep you pinned to the page and rooting for a would-be killer.

Paperback, 389 pages

Published September 9, 2021

Park Row Books

3.5/5 stars

“You should never trust a psychopath”

This book confirms that to be a true statement.

First introduced to Chloe who is a freshman in a DC college she appears to be somewhat normal (whatever normal is) one would not suspect her to be a psychopath until she shares her plans to take out someone from her past who has wronged her.

"I know revenge is supposed to be a dish best served cold, but no one ever told me what it was like to wait those last few minutes when the dish is on the cart right next to the table, steaming"

This is a complex story with many characters, many characters like Chloe. The first half  was awesome, it was intense, it was dark and it kept me reading. But the last half of the book just slowed down and with many POV changes, even side stories that didn’t seem relevant, my attention started to drift.

While the mystery about Chloe's revenge doesn't stay hidden for long, what follows are threads that wrap around said mystery into the world of psychopaths.  The ended was satisfying but also left a taste of creepiness making me crave a rom/com for my next read.

I received this book as part of my Halloween 2021 SweetReadsBox.

This book was part of my 2022 Reading off my shelf challenge (#30 )