Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Length: 320 pages
Audiobook Length: 10 hours and 49 minutes
First Published: 2021
View in Goodreads
Buy on Amazon
Rachael’s Review
On their annual girls’ trip, Emily and Kristen are having the time of their lives in Chile. On the last night, Emily comes back to the hotel to find Kristen with a dead body. Kristen claims she killed him in self-defense. Except, the same thing happened last year to Emily. As Emily’s guilt over the cover-ups reaches a boiling point, Kristen makes a surprise trip to visit her and Emily has serious doubts about their friendship.
After a long streak of less-than-satisfying thrillers, We Were Never Here was just what I needed to read this month. The story starts off with a bang as lightning strikes twice with Emily and Kristen’s disastrous trips abroad. Bartz did just enough to keep up the suspense through the middle of the book as Emily begins to question Kristen’s motives. Although the ending was on the predictable side, I thought We Were Never Here was an all-around fun thriller to read.
Publisher’s Description
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?
About Andrea Bartz
Andrea Bartz is a journalist and author of We Were Never Here, The Spare Room, The Lost Night, and The Herd. She currently lives in Brooklyn. Visit the author’s website →
Featured In
