We Were Never Here by Andrea Bartz
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—and a dead body.
Krysten’s Review
There’s a frustrating trend I’ve been noticing more frequently with traditionally published books: They come in pretty packages—gorgeous covers, intriguing titles, compelling premises—but when you crack them open, all you get is stale air.
Given the fact that only 4 percent of authors get a trad-pub book deal, I would expect those books to be the absolute cream of the crop. The best of the best. Top of the line. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But more and more, I’m noticing that this is just not the case. When you pick up a book in the book store, even if it’s on a table of featured books or marked as a staff favorite, it’s honestly a crapshoot as to whether it will live up to the hype—or, hell, just live up to the cover.
But that is a totally different review. We’re here to talk about We Were Never Here by Andrea Bartz. Which, as you might have figured out by now, is one of those such promising trad-pub books that reeks of unmet potential.
That’s not to say it wasn’t enjoyable. I read the book quickly, so it wasn’t like I had to force myself to finish it.
But it felt like Bartz was trying to cram way too much into one book. Was this a romance? A psychological thriller? Women’s fiction? Action adventure? It felt like a little bit of everything mushed into one book, with plenty of drama to boot.
For instance: (spoilers!)
We’ve got dead bodies littered across several countries. We’ve got pedophilia, arson, suicide, sexual assault, and blackmail, with a side of animal cruelty. We’ve got neglectful parents and dead parents and disdainful grandparents. We’ve got buried secrets and psychological issues and a stalkery sociopath and an unhealthy co-dependent friendship. We’ve got characters pushing other characters (living and dead) over cliffs or in front of moving vehicles. We’ve got a worldwide media frenzy and a police investigation.
The end felt rushed and inconsistent, like it was from a totally different novel, and I still have many unanswered questions. I can certainly appreciate a book that leaves the ending open to interpretation, but this was not one of those books. Bartz posed many questions through Emily that are never answered—at least not fully, and not satisfyingly. I’m not sure if I will read another of her books. There are too many amazing books out there waiting to be discovered!
Purchase on: Amazon