We Were Never Here by Andrea Bartz

Synopsis:

We Were Never Here tells the story of an annual backpacking trip that has deadly consequences in a chilling new novel from the bestselling author of The Lost Night and The Herd.

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 their trip, Emily enters their hotel suite to find blood and broken glass on the floor. Kristen says the cute backpacker she’d been flirting with 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 head-first into a new relationship and throwing herself into work. But when Kristen shows up for a surprise visit, Emily is forced to to confront their violent past. The more Kristen tries to keep Emily close, the more Emily questions her friend’s motives. As Emily feels the walls closing in on their coverups, she must reckon with the truth about her closest friend. Can she outrun the secrets she shares with Kristen, or will they destroy her relationship, her freedom–even her life?

Edition:

Book of the Month Club Hardcover

Trigger Warnings:

My Thoughts:

We Were Never Here was my first time reading Andrea Bartz – I do admittedly have The Herd on my e-reader, but along with the other (literally) 1,000 or so books hanging out in there, I haven’t gotten to it just yet. But I might have to bump it up. Although We Were Never Here seems to have been really polarizing to readers (there are some pretty serious naysayers out there), I enjoyed it a lot. Although the story isn’t breaking any new ground, I thought the writing was solid. The story itself has shades of Single White Female and, I don’t know, maybe Sharp Objects? I mean, the beats are there. Lots of unreliable narration going on. But that’s cool. I like that, provided the story is entertaining. And I think that here, it very much is.

Right from the start it is obvious that Emily has a pretty serious case of hero-worship where Kristen is concerned. She believes that Kristen embodies all of the qualities that she wishes for herself. She’s outgoing, brave, smart, and comfortable in her own skin. And Emily sees herself as mousy, timid and more than a little pathetic. I think we’ve all at one point or another lived one of these roles in a like friendship – but hopefully we all eventually moved on from them because THEY’RE FUCKING TOXIC.

But Emily doesn’t move on. She idolizes Kristen no matter how many times Kristen does things that might make your average human being sit up and take notice that there might be something a little suss about their friend. But nope, not Emily. She’s just happy to have such a bubbly, supportive friend. Even if said friend is sometimes a little pushy. Or seems a little bit too far down the highway to Kenny Loggins’ Danger Zone. Know what I mean?

“I envied men’s indifference to personal safety—how they could amble through a dark alley without thinking twice.”

See, Kristen makes Emily feel a little safer. And for women, especially timid sorts like Kristen (I don’t mean to pick on her, I’m sure she’s lovely, but she is written as a bit of a doormat), safety isn’t a common feeling. Hell, it’s not a feeling most women get to experience with any sort of regularity. Kristen seems to have the sort of power Emily can barely bring herself to dream of, and I imagine that for Emily that’s intoxicating.

The level of codependency in We Were Never Here is absolutely staggering. Emily and Kristen’s relationship is so astoundingly toxic. Emily’s relationships with everyone around her, honestly, are something to behold. She is a really…interesting person. I can’t quite put my finger on it – is she really codependent on absolutely everyone she meets? She is like one of those bopper things. You know the things with sand in the base that no matter how many times you knock it down it just keeps popping up, ready to get smacked down again?

Rating:

Do you like twisty, not super easy to pin down thrillers? Then I’d suggest giving We Were Never Here a shot.

We Were Never Here
By Andrea Bartz
Ballantine Books
ISBN: 9781984820464
Published: August 3, 2021
Hardcover, Paperback, E-book, Audio
304 Pages