Gripping, unpredictable, engaging and completely impossible to put down.
Just some of the ways I’d describe this book. I have loved how it has been written and have been completely caught up in the pages. I have loved the characters and the way this is written. Definitely a book I’ll be recommending.

I have to admit that I did struggle through this book, and had to push myself to finish it. It's not terrible, but I just didn't connect with it.

The premise is interesting. A group of students identified as psychopaths are enrolled on a research program to better understand the nature of psychopathy.

One of these students is Chloe, intent on wreaking revenge on another student, Will, for a wrong he did to her years ago.

The other two main characters are Charles and Andre, also on the program.

Then students start being murdered.

A stalker is messing with them.

And nobody knows who they can trust.

The plot just became too convoluted and complex without any really clever or shocking twists. I didn't care about any of the characters, and the ending was just dissatisfying.

Not terrible, just not for me.

This story has captured the public’s enthusiasm for psychopaths by placing the main character, Chloe, a highly intelligent psychopath on a revenge mission, on a University campus and participating in a scientific study of student psychopaths. When a series of murders takes place, the reader is taken on an intriguing journey where, like Chloe, not only do we know she is not the only psychopath in the room capable of such crimes, but also, recognising the role of the unreliable narrator, can never be completely convinced that she is uninvolved. Very cleverly plotted, this has plenty of twists to keep the reader engaged. With thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review.

I tend to enjoy stories in an academic setting, and Never Saw Me Coming was no exception! The premise behind this is really intriguing, with seven students attending college in Washington DC being part of a clinical study for psychopaths and finding themselves tangled in a series of murders, not knowing who to trust.

I liked the story being told from multiple POVs: Chloe, Charles and Andre couldn't be more different from each other and following the three of them was delightful. Chloe in particular, while not being always likeable, was extremely compelling as a character, and I could almost sympathise with her for wanting to kill her former childhood friend Will Bachman when her reasons for this became clear (although they were fairly easy to guess early on).

The characters were easily the best part of this as the plot was a bit thin for me. Two main plotlines are followed: Chloe's planned murder of Will Bachman and the investigation into the murder of a student in the psychopathy programme. While both were rich with potential, having both of them run at the same time ended up thinning them out somewhat. The endings for both felt very anticlimactic when they rolled around, and at times the narrative dragged a bit, feeling as though there was a fair bit of unnecessary padding in between.

That being said, I still found this to be a very compelling book. The characters were well-rounded and interesting, and I appreciated the attempt at providing a less stereotypical view of psychopaths (even though I can't judge how accurate this was). The plot could have used some tightening, and I could have easily done without the romance side-plot, but the whodunnit was still interesting enough with plenty of red herrings throughout.

I loved the actual writing in this, and especially all the dark humour, which worked really well. I thought this read more as an upper YA/NA in tone if not themes rather than an adult book, but I enjoy reading those as well, so I didn't mind too much.

Overall, a perfectly enjoyable book recommended especially to anyone loving an unreliable narrator.

Talk about a juicy premise for a whodunnit: a study involving a group of psychopaths is taking place on a university campus, and one of the group seems to be murdering them one by one. If nothing else, it sucked me back down the rabbit hole of psychopathy, what psychopaths are and are not, and do and do not.

DNF @ 70%.

OMW, I just couldn't do it for a minute longer! I got so far and it feels terrible to DNF a book with only 100 pages left but this one was putting me into a serious reading slump and so I decided to cut my loses. I didn't care about the characters or the story. The whole thing was drop dead B-O-R-I-N-G!

I found the plot put me to sleep, with nothing much actually happening, the writing was choppy which meant that the story didn't flow and I found it didn't hold my interest. The characters didn't fascinate me in the slightest (as I thought they would), even though the concept of them being psychopaths was right up my alley. Nope, this story just didn't deliver.

This story definitely read like a YA novel, and I don't read YA, which may also explain why I disliked this one so much.

I really hate giving a 1-star review, and I apologise to the author, but I need to be honest. Better luck next time.

Never Saw Me Coming is a thriller in an academic setting, and I am often drawn to books like this. It’s a really interesting premise – psychopths are enrolled into a secret study at an American University where they’re observed by a pyschologist running the programme. There are eight in total, and they don’t know who the other psychopaths are. One of them, who we follow throughout the novel, is Chloe – she is very intelligent and very determined to kill a fellow student at the unviersity, Will Bachman. We also get to know Andre, who actually faked his diagnosis but is in too deep to admit.

Students start being murdered at the university, but who is killing them? And are Chlose and Andrew – and their ‘friends’, in danger? The novel feels less about this question at times and more about getting to know the characters as they navigate their time at university. Chloe is a really entertaining character. She’s not necessarily likeable but she is fun to read about!

The book isn’t necessarily fast paced but there is enough intrigue and mystery to keep me wanting to read on. There’s also plenty of dark humour which I didn’t expect but really enjoyed. I did feel the book could have been cut down a bit, as some parts felt a little long or unecessary.

However, overall, I feel Never Saw Me Coming is well worth a read.

I really tried but in the end this one just wasn’t for me and, after coming back to it twice, I left it unfinished. I just couldn’t get involved with the story or the characters and found I didn’t care whodunnit or why. I know others have given very positive reviews so you may have a different experience.

Thank you to netgalley for this free ARC in exchange for my review.

Sadly, this book was a little too slow for me, we were just seemingly too incompatible. I was super excited when I had been approved to give this very interesting synopsis to read however, I'm not sure if by some mad way, I managed to whip up some expectation that was a little too high to what the book was actually about.

I expected to enjoy this and rave about the brilliance of this book but for me it just never came, I mean sure it had a good gripping premise, the pacing was good, characters may have been a little duff, there were too many as well, the writing was a bit choppy but I'm sure it would all curb back on itself.... but no.

It was tiring, slow, unbalanced and I guess we were just incompatible together. I also think that somewhere in the writing the plot took a turn but not for the good, a thriller doesn't really have much room for a flirtatious nature with a touch of romance just dropped in and to be honest I couldn't really see any need or relevance, it just didn't work for me.

The intriguing premise of the book is that a university offers seven psychopaths full scholarship in return for physiological monitoring and some psychological tests. No-one will know who these seven students are apart from the professor running the experiment and his staff. Not even the students will know who their psychopath peers are.

Admittedly a big ask of the book is that you submitted to the idea that an ethics committee would give the go ahead for this type of programme. However, if you can get on board with the idea, and keep going with it, you will find yourself enjoying a hugely entertaining thriller. Chloe is a brilliant anti-heroine. Her motives for wanting to destroy a fellow student did make me feel protective towards her, but just as I would start to like her there would be a brilliant line that would remind me of her callous nature:
"<i>Why bother?</i>(talking about raising funds for hurricane victims).<i>Another hurricane is going to come anyway-we should be teaching people to swim."</i>
Again, the characteristics and actions of Chloe and the other members of the programme perpetuate the media portrayal of a psychopaths nature, but for the sake of a good story I was prepared to forgive this. It's quite the wild ride; fast paced, gory and filled with devious characters. I did not guess the murderer as there were plenty of red herrings scattered throughout the pages.

My thanks go to the publishers and NetGalley for the advance copy in return for an honest review.

I absolutely loved the premise of this book. So original, and I was really excited to get stuck in.

I guess it will always be hard to write from the PoV of a psychopath because, by nature, they are not sympathetic characters. So I have to commend Vera Kurian for creating a narrative that kept me reading despite the main characters being a psychopath and wholey unsympathetic.

It read a little young for me, more like a YA or New Adult than a grown-up fiction book. It could be the fairly fantastical plot (it really does get quite unrealistic at the end) or the inner voices of the characters themselves. Or, perhaps the romance B-plot, which did feel very New Adult. It's not a bad thing, I love YA and NA. I probably would have given it more stars if it was marketed as such!

A small, cynical part of me thought that the book peaked at the first line (this is almost certainly what got the publishing deal, and it really is a cracking first line).

Loved the premise of this! The voice of Chloe works really well and the book is engaging and intriguing.
A fascinating mystery thriller.

Very entertaining if rather gruesome book. It manages to rise above the annoying (to an ancient UK reader) US College campus setting and provide some interesting insights into the world of psychopaths (no idea if they're accurate though).
Some fascinating characters and well written but a bit of a cheat to keep some of the suspects hidden until near the end.

I was really looking forward to this as it's a very different premise for a book and it does start off well, with the lead character ingratiating herself with her fellow freshmen as she settles in to college life. However, she is also attending a study for psychopaths along with a number of fellow students. Then, there's a murder and Chloe takes on the role of sleuth, keen to solve it.

It starts off really well and then loses something in the middle and the last part of the book is a tad outlandish, but, decent. Overall, I'm wondering if this is best as an audio book as I may have found it easier to stick with.

For me, a 3* Good Read and thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to preview.

This intrigued me. The premise was something I hadn't read before. In the sense of a programme for psychopaths.
One of my issues is we follow two main plots. The students in the programme being murdered and Chloe plotting murder of someone else.
The Chloe part felt lacking at times. Even when it reaches its conclusion it was underwhelming. Almost as if it all came together a little too easily. Which when the book is partly a countdown to this moment I expected more then how it was just brushed under the rug and moved along like it wasn't that important.
The other plot did interest me the most. But again I felt it was lacking some details. I wanted more on the programme itself. I feel if this just focused on one plot it would have worked better because all the focus could have been on this mystery here.
I felt the reveal was given away a little easy for me. Although I did still really enjoy the story. Seeing how the characters interacted and how they tried to solve who the killer was.
Charles was my favourite character. He felt as if he didn't want his diagnosis to control his life. I could be wrong I just got the feeling he wanted to be better. But also he cared about people I felt.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book / although it did have a bit too much of a young adult vibe for me - nevertheless an original abs well executed idea - I can’t say I like any of the characters except perhaps Andre - but recommended.

Never Saw Me Coming is a thriller set on a US university campus where 7 psychopaths hide in plain sight, studying their degree courses whilst at the same time undertaking a programme of psychological study aimed at helping them function fully and normally in society.

As a programme of murders begins on campus, the secret psycopaths unite to try and uncover the identity of the murderer. They're led by Chloe, who has a murderous revenge agenda of her own.

The idea of the psycopathy programme was really interesting as a premise for this novel. The characters of Chloe, Andre and Charles are genuinely engaging at times. Charles is an intriguing character, genuinely sympathetic at times in his attempts to'learn' how to function like other people.

However the book is somehow not quite the sum of its parts. It needs some editing to make it tighter, and to bring more drama to the main events. It is a terrific premise, but felt like a work in progress.

I was looking forward to this one and was completely sold by the book description.

7 students take part in a clinical study led by renowned psychologist in a college in Washington DC. All seven students are psychopaths. When one of them is murdered , a game of cat and mouse ensues, as members of the study life comes under threat as the main character also plots a revenge murder. I liked the premise of this one and the first third of this book was a good read and then it kind of dragged, I thought it was too long but interesting idea for a book and well written. Would read another by this author.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. Great premise with a strong female lead character. Dark and gripping, it grabbed me early on and I was hooked to the end! Recommended!

Took me a while to really get into it but glad I persevered! A female psychopath in collage is definitely a unique story line but utterly fascinating. One for fans of Dexter!