We Were Never Here: Reese's Book Club: A Novel
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?
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?
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Community Reviews
What would you do if somewhere along the line of an important friendship you found out that your friend isn’t who you believed them to be? This seems to be the case for Emily and Kristen. They have been friends since college, but when the story begins Kristen has been living in Australia and Emily has her life in Milwaukee. They meet up once a year for a get together around the world. They’ve gone to Vietnam, Uganda, Cambodia, and their current adventure has them in Chile. During their trip to Cambodia things took a turn for the worst and everything went downhill from there. Friendships are often tested, but this story took a turn for the unbelievable. What I’m not sure I understand is how this author decided that their readers were that dense enough to believe that they could get away with what happened, not once, but twice! I liked how character driven this book was and trying to figure out whether or not the reader could trust what they were being told. However, for a book based on the topic it was how does the author know so little about it? I understand that the story was fiction, but even so We Were Never Here stretches beyond what fiction is. My book club was fortunate enough to have a video made by the author answering some of our questions. I liked her approach to storytelling, and I think I might enjoy a different book by her. Emily was written as if she idolized Kristen and couldn’t seem to find herself unless she was away from her and the memories. I’m not sure what message the author was trying to send with a character like that. Yes, events can change a person, but this type of change was too much. The power of manipulation is strong, but at some point, Emily was at fault for her reactions throughout the book. I honestly feel like while the ending was justified more should have come from it. This was my first book by Andrea Bartz, and though it wasn’t exactly what I was looking for, I won’t say I won’t read her again. The way We Were Never Here was written made it fit to read better by adults. While I don’t doubt teens might enjoy parts of it, they may get too frustrated with the lack of certain elements. It was definitely a thriller, but not the right type for me.
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