We Were Never Here

We Were Never Here by Andrea Bartz is a highly recommended psychological thriller.

Emily and her best friend Kristen are taking their annual trip, this year in Chile, when Kristen kills the backpacker she brought back to their room. Kristen says he was attacking her and she had no choice. The whole nightmare scene is similar to what happened during a previous trip to Cambodia, only that time Emily was being brutally beaten and Kristen killed the man, saving Emily. The two struggle to dispose of the body and head home, Emily to Milwaukee and Kristen to Australia. Emily, who was still trying to deal with the trauma from her attack previously, struggles greatly with this new murder and the similarities in the attacks. How could that happen show more twice? Once home, Emily decides to distance herself from Kristen, concentrating on her job and her new relationship with Aaron, hoping to put the traumatic experience behind her. But then Kristen shows up at her door, and Emily begins to question their relationship and Kristen's motives.

Emily, as the narrator of this novel, is clearly a troubled woman, but she is devoted to her best friend - until she isn't so sure she should be. At first, Kristen is portrayed as an overly cheerful but perhaps untrustworthy woman, and you will wonder why Emily is so devoted to her. But you may also want Emily to get a backbone and stand up for herself and her choices. The interaction between the two and Emily's emotional reactions are the basis of the novel.

The beginning of this novel is gripping and unputdownable, however, the middle of the novel is a slow moving spiral of new information and disclosures. While trying to create an atmosphere of distrust and dread, it goes on a bit too long and could have been tightened up. Kristen is increasingly portrayed as a dangerous character, although it was obvious in the beginning that something was off with her. Emily also becomes more unreliable. The creepiness increases and the drama escalates when you get to the ending, which is unexpected and riveting.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Penguin Random House.
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https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4116673838 show less

The whole bestie snogfest is making me gag. Are all millennials this needy? This unable to do anything by themselves? It's nuts. So smothering. Stand up for yourselves already, on your own two feet. Perhaps you need Adulting for Dummies.

And duh! K is BLATANTLY manipulative. E can't see this at all? Really? I thought the kids of this generation were masters of manipulation. I guess it's only when it's not happening to them.

Stuck with it to the end. No one got any smarter, really, but there were a couple of unexpected developments and I think it ended fairly well. I'm so done with this writer though. Ugh. I weep for the future.

"desperate souls stop at nothing to get what they want."

This is a wonderfully dark story. While traveling abroad and on their own, two best friends bump in to a fellow traveler. One of them decides to head back to the hotel room with him and suddenly, he goes from a nice guy to violent quickly. With the help of her friend, they get him off of her.

But. . . he also dies in the midst of it. It's a huge nightmare. Foreign country, frightening systems and jails - two girls traveling alone, who would believe them?

Right from the get go, this story is heart-racing. The feeling of menace and feeling trapped is etched on every page. I loved trying to see the layers and try to anticipate the next turn. I loved how the two girls played off each show more other and it was hard to tell where one ended and the other began. I didn't see the end coming, completely jaw-dropping. This was such a dark, satisfying read. So glad I gave it a try! show less

College friends Kristen Czarnecki and Emily Donovan have not seen each other in a year. For Emily, that year was pockmarked by panic attacks, nightmares, and screaming. Emily shares all this in a first person narrative; she talks to readers as if talking to a good friend, a confidant. She shares her evaluations, expectations, and fears about the world around her, and she has a lot to be afraid of, or at least she thinks she does. Bartz sets the stage as Emily reviews her past, how it changed the course of her life, and how it brought her to this untenable situation. Emily’s admiration for Kristen oozes from her heart like an egg’s soft yolk. They have experienced a lot together, things good, bad, and, well, criminal. Kristen has show more adapted to her new job and has recovered from their past “unfortunate travel” problems. Emily? Not so much; all those “things” haunt her and interfere with her ability to get through each day.
There is a disconnect, a contradiction, between what each woman communicates to the other and what Emily recounts to the reader. Readers wonder about Emily’s credibility and memory. Is she simply unlucky, being manipulated, or truly delusional? For Emily; life is jerky and unnatural, like an old black-and-white film. Yet, the evidence accumulates; the bodies pile up, and the pieces come together in a surprising way.
Bartz shocks readers with a story that is like stepping into a mine shaft where the only path is downward into the chilly dark. Reading this book is like riding a wooden roller coaster clicking and clattering as it ascends and then plunges wildly down the hill. I received a review copy of “We Were Never Here” from Andrea Bartz, Ballantine Books, and Random House publishing. The book is filled with contradictions, suspense, and beautiful language. Here is an example:

“The day cracked open like an egg, sunlight nosing against the windows and then pushing inside with sudden vigor.” show less

This was a page turner for sure, I was all about it for 99.9%. But WHY is there this trend that goes something like - on the last page we’re gonna make you question EvErYThINg.

It is very clear Kristen is not well and not a good friend, she’s manipulative and wants Emily all to herself. She has a bad past and multiple deaths in her wake. Emily comes from an abusive family situation and feels like she needs nothing else but Kristen, and that’s how Kristen likes it. The last page - paragraph - sentence? It doesn’t fit. We don’t need the rug pulled out from us on this story and it does not work. If you are going to try to tell me that Emily was the one orchestrating this, I don’t buy it. Also why on earth would her new show more boyfriend be like “this is fine”. We don’t need that big “twist”, it’s so overdone and unnecessary, and also completely goes against Kristen’s history, which is given to us from a third party perspective so just staaahhhpppp.

If you just remove that last part I’d say 4 stars but I’m so annoyed by it I’m being gracious by giving it 3. Literally it loses at a minimum a whole star because of one page. show less

I wasted time getting to page 90 in this book. The premise was ridiculous, the characters were unappealing and the repetitive writing was wearying. Not sure what I missed when I read some of the glowing reviews, but I had to put it down before I found out why.

What happens when a friendship turns toxic? This is another book that has been on my TBR for quite a while and I finally found time to read it.

Best friends for ten years, Emily and Kristen head to Chile for a vacation that goes terribly wrong. There is an assault, a murder, and a cover up. Seems the same thing happened on their last trip a year ago to Vietnam. Upon their return home, guilt consumes Emily, the relationship begins to unravel, secrets about Kristen’s history and personality are revealed, and danger lurks.

The story is a bit over the top, but it is a fast paced, engrossing read. There is gaslighting, manipulation, obsession, toxicity, some naivety on one friend’s part, and pathological behavior on the other’s.