Never Saw Me Coming by Vera KurianMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I received an ARC of this book from Netgally.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book! It was fun, refreshing, different, and engrossing. That might be hard to believe if you've just read the synopsis, but it is true.
Chloe is a freshmen ready to tackle her first year of college and all it brings: new roommate, new friends, challenging classes, and...killing Will Bachman. It turns out Chloe is one of seven students participating in a study of psychopaths and their behavior. Chloe doesn't mind participating in the study--hey, her tuition is paid for!--and has learned to live quite well with her diagnosis. But she is not going to let anything get in the way of her most important goal: ridding the world of Will. When another student in the study is murdered, Chloe wonders if she now needs to watch out for another murderer on campus. Could it be another psychopath? Can she trust any of the other study participants?
When I began reading this book I thought it would be more angsty, very dark, full of unreliable narrators, and disturbing. But I was wrong. While it definitely has its dark moments and Chloe and her fellow psychopaths do often engage in questionable behavior, the more lighter "normal" moments really serve as a wonderful contrast. Told mainly from Chloe's perspective, the matter-of-fact way in which she describes and relates things that are completely normal to a psychopath and yet completely strange and shocking to someone without that diagnosis can be jarring, but in a good way. Chloe has definite rooting value, even as the reader questions if Chloe's actions should be worth rooting for. Charles and Andre and great counterpoints to Chloe, and make an amazing trio that I wanted to read more and more about.
The plot moved along well, and I had really no idea what was going to happen next. I was completely drawn in and did not want to put the book down. I wanted to keep reading because I could not wait to see what would happen next, but at the same time I did not want the book to be over, because I enjoyed Chloe, Charles, and Andre so much.
The book--while it feels a bit bizarre to call this a fun read, and to me this absolutely was--also does raise some questions that will really make the reader think. Are all psychopaths destined to be criminally "bad?" Is it alright to make assumptions about people, even if it is based on "science?" How safe is our digital and social network infused world? Does the public's obsession with true crime dehumanize the people involved in those crimes? I don't want to give away any spoilers if you haven't read the book yet, but towards the end, Dr. Wyman's attitudes and beliefs about whether or not criminals deserve the chance to be rehabilitated was very interesting, considering Chloe's attitudes. It created a fascinating dichotomy.
This was a great book. It had all the fun, soapy young adult things you'd expect in a book about college students, the suspense-filled elements of a thriller about a murder, and some very thought provoking elements you'd expect in a book about people with different psychological issues trying to function in "normal" society. I will say that there was one climactic moment that wasn't quite as climatic as I'd wanted, but it definitely did not ruin the book for me. I would absolutely recommend it. And I really hope we can get more adventures with the "Scooby Gang." I loved them (even while questioning if I should love them or not)!
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Chloe is a freshmen ready to tackle her first year of college and all it brings: new roommate, new friends, challenging classes, and...killing Will Bachman. It turns out Chloe is one of seven students participating in a study of psychopaths and their behavior. Chloe doesn't mind participating in the study--hey, her tuition is paid for!--and has learned to live quite well with her diagnosis. But she is not going to let anything get in the way of her most important goal: ridding the world of Will. When another student in the study is murdered, Chloe wonders if she now needs to watch out for another murderer on campus. Could it be another psychopath? Can she trust any of the other study participants?
When I began reading this book I thought it would be more angsty, very dark, full of unreliable narrators, and disturbing. But I was wrong. While it definitely has its dark moments and Chloe and her fellow psychopaths do often engage in questionable behavior, the more lighter "normal" moments really serve as a wonderful contrast. Told mainly from Chloe's perspective, the matter-of-fact way in which she describes and relates things that are completely normal to a psychopath and yet completely strange and shocking to someone without that diagnosis can be jarring, but in a good way. Chloe has definite rooting value, even as the reader questions if Chloe's actions should be worth rooting for. Charles and Andre and great counterpoints to Chloe, and make an amazing trio that I wanted to read more and more about.
The plot moved along well, and I had really no idea what was going to happen next. I was completely drawn in and did not want to put the book down. I wanted to keep reading because I could not wait to see what would happen next, but at the same time I did not want the book to be over, because I enjoyed Chloe, Charles, and Andre so much.
The book--while it feels a bit bizarre to call this a fun read, and to me this absolutely was--also does raise some questions that will really make the reader think. Are all psychopaths destined to be criminally "bad?" Is it alright to make assumptions about people, even if it is based on "science?" How safe is our digital and social network infused world? Does the public's obsession with true crime dehumanize the people involved in those crimes? I don't want to give away any spoilers if you haven't read the book yet, but towards the end, Dr. Wyman's attitudes and beliefs about whether or not criminals deserve the chance to be rehabilitated was very interesting, considering Chloe's attitudes. It created a fascinating dichotomy.
This was a great book. It had all the fun, soapy young adult things you'd expect in a book about college students, the suspense-filled elements of a thriller about a murder, and some very thought provoking elements you'd expect in a book about people with different psychological issues trying to function in "normal" society. I will say that there was one climactic moment that wasn't quite as climatic as I'd wanted, but it definitely did not ruin the book for me. I would absolutely recommend it. And I really hope we can get more adventures with the "Scooby Gang." I loved them (even while questioning if I should love them or not)!
View all my reviews
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