We Were Never Here - Andrea Bartz

 

Genre: Thriller | Mystery | Crime Drama 

Release Date: 12th August 2021

Publisher: Penguin Michael Joseph

CW:  Sexual Assault, Murder, Violence, References to suicide and self-injury. 

You might've said at some point that you'd help your best friend hide a body ... even kill for them. But when it comes down to it, could you actually do it? 

Emily and Kristen have been best friends for over a decade, despite Kristen moving halfway across the world. Reunited for their yearly trip, they embark on their dream trip to Chile together looking forward to wine, fun and sun. But soon enough, their dream turns into a nightmare when Emily finds herself in an unsettling familiar situation - covered in blood with a dead man at her feet.

Kristen claims she killed him in self-defence, that he was going to hurt her. She had do it. 

After getting away with murder, it should be over. But Emily can't help but relive that night over and over, and she's got a feeling something even worse is coming. 

"I breathed deeply. I chose to believe her. Maybe were were never here."

Wow. This story literally dove straight into the action and then somehow kept it simmering away slowly throughout the rest of the pages. I could feel the ache in shoulders from the tension I was feeling during this sinister tale. There were definitely some wordy sections that broke the flow a little bit, but it was easy to get pulled back in. 

Emily and Kristen were strange characters. They were the standard introvert/extrovert pairing you've seen a million times over but with something very unique about them. While Emily was plagued with anxiety and nightmares, Kristen was the bright light in her cloudy life whether she wanted it or not. Their relationship was crafted expertly - toeing the line between loyalty and ownership, between love and toxicity - and kept my head spinning. 

The blood and murder wasn't the only unsettling thing about this story - it was about friendship, about possession and obsession in it's most beautiful and dangerous forms and left me looking over my shoulder far too many times. 

Twist after twist, with an ending that felt like a handbreak during a car chase, this explosive thriller will definitely leave you reeling. 

"You know how they say the opposite of love isn't hate, it's indifference? ... I think it's the same thing with fear. The opposite of fear isn't safety. It's Power." 

RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to Andrea Bartz, Penguin and Netgalley for this ARC in return for an honest review.