We Were Never Here by Andrea Bartz

Meet Author Andrea Bartz:

"Andrea Bartz is a Brooklyn-based journalist and the author of the forthcoming WE WERE NEVER HERE. Her second thriller, THE HERD, was named a best book of 2020 by Real Simple, Marie Claire, Good Housekeeping, CrimeReads, and other outlets. Her LA-Times bestselling debut, THE LOST NIGHT, was optioned for TV development by Mila Kunis. It was named a best book of the year by Real Simple, Glamour, Marie Claire, Library Journal, Crime Reads, Popsugar, She Reads, and other publications. Her work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Women's Health, Martha Stewart Living, Elle, and many other outlets, and she's held editorial positions at Glamour, Psychology Today, and Self, among other titles." ~Amazon

"NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK • “This book is every suspense lover’s dream and it kept me up way too late turning pages. . . . A novel with crazy twists and turns that will have you ditching your Friday night plans for more chapters.”—Reese Witherspoon

A backpacking trip has deadly consequences in this “eerie psychological thriller . . . with alluring locales, Hitchcockian tension, and possibly the best pair of female leads since Thelma and Louise” (BookPage), from the bestselling author of The Lost Night and The Herd.

A Marie Claire Book Club Pick • Named One of the Best Books of the Year by NPR and Marie Claire

Emily is having the time of her life—she’s in the mountains of Chile with her best friend, Kristen, on their annual reunion trip, and the women are feeling closer than ever. But on the last night of the trip, Emily enters their hotel suite to find blood and broken glass on the floor. Kristen says the cute backpacker she brought back to their room attacked her, and she had no choice but to kill him in self-defense. Even more shocking: The scene is horrifyingly similar to last year’s trip, when another backpacker wound up dead. Emily can’t believe it’s happened again—can lightning really strike twice?

Back home in Wisconsin, Emily struggles to bury her trauma, diving headfirst into a new relationship and throwing herself into work. But when Kristen shows up for a surprise visit, Emily is forced to confront their violent past. The more Kristen tries to keep Emily close, the more Emily questions her motives. As Emily feels the walls closing in on their cover-ups, she must reckon with the truth about her closest friend. Can Emily outrun the secrets she shares with Kristen, or will they destroy her relationship, her freedom—even her life?" ~Amazon

Numeric Breakdown:

1: didn't like it/skip it
2: it was okay/it wasn't for me
3. liked it/worth a read
4. really liked it/loved it
5. it was amazing/must read!

Unexpected

We Were Never Here by Andrea Bartz is a standalone novel revolving around the friendship of her two main characters Emily and Kristen. Having met in college, the girls formed a solidarity to their friendship and kept in touch long after graduation. Even after Kristen moved to Australia for her job, they kept in contact and managed to plan fun vacation getaways together. Now, they're on another trip, and this one isn't turning out the way either of them thought it would - especially Emily. 

When we first meet Emily and Kristen, they're in Chile for their annual get-together. Clinking glasses and admiring the mountain view, the reader is introduced to a beautiful setting and two best friends who seem to be having the time of their lives. However, it doesn't take too long for things go downhill and old wounds haunt Emily. 

For Emily, it's a struggle to not to tell Kristen about her new relationship. Her boyfriend Aaron has passed all her tests, and she thinks he'll even stand up to Kristen's scrutiny. Hesitant, she waits until the last night to bring him up to her bff, and it turns out to be a mistake. 

Kristen doesn't take the news well and abandons Emily to chat up a handsome backpacker. A few hours later, Emily finds a nightmare awaiting her in their shared rooms. It takes her back to their last trip in Cambodia. When an accident of this magnitude had last happened, and she's not sure she can go through it all again. Yet, Kristen isn't going to let Emily distance herself from this problem and its many ramifications. 

As Emily tries to be there for Kristen, she begins to note subtle inconsistencies. Kristen doesn't seem at all bothered by the events and begins showing up everywhere Emily is. As the story escalates, Emily finds out things about Kristen that she didn't know. Her new information makes her wonder if Kristen can be trusted, and the end result turns tragic. 

The story is eerie and familiar. It reminds you of buried secrets and truths from which you can't hide. And it begs the question, do you really know the people to whom you're closest? Thrilling, creepy, with notes of panic and disbelief, We Were Never Here gives a startling plot, incredible escapes, inconceivable horror, and a plethora of sympathy. Its ending left me wondering one question: Did I get it all wrong? 

Author Andrea Bartz does a great job of making the reader second-guess themselves, creating a resolution that doesn't feel quite as satisfying as it should, and making a story you can't forget. I recommend giving it a read and give it a 4/5 for panache and perplexity. 

Thanks for joining me, and as always, Happy Reading!

~Rebecca Reddell, Author