We Were Never Here

Genre: Psychological Thriller / Suspense / Mystery

Book Type: Audio

Author: Andrea Bartz

Narrator: Becca Tobin

Pages / Length: 352 pages / 11 hours and 9 minutes

Publisher: Ballantine Books (July 5, 2022) / Random House Audio

Book 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?

Thoughts: This was a great suspense book - although somewhat gruesome at points, had lots of twists and turns. I loved the way it had you questioning who you could trust, if what you recalled about a night was accurate, and how your mind works to protect you - both good and bad. This was definitely one that leaves you on the edge of your seat.

While I don't normally do mystery genre on audio, this one kept my interest and I really enjoyed it! Sometimes mysteries I need to physically read and miss things when doing the audio, but that wasn't the case with this one and highly recommend either option.

Favorite Quotes:

🎒 I'd heard once that TV news hits airports on a delay, so they can cut the stream if a story involves a hijacked plane or an active shooter in a terminal. Edit the feed to limit mass hysteria. [...]

Edit the feed to limit mass hysteria. Was this something I could do, for internal hysteria?

🎒 The irony: I'd been thrilled when Aaron noticed me, and when, tonight, he called me his girlfriend. But on the street, I tried to creep past any other male gazes, ghostlike. That's womanhood, I suppose, both craving and feeling repulsed by attention.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️