Do you think therapy can prevent someone from becoming a rapist or a serial killer? If a present day John Wayne Gacy or Albert Fish received a proper diagnosis and regular sessions, could they learn to coexist with others without acting on their evil tendencies? This is the premise behind the advanced psychology study at John Adams University that Chloe Sevre is currently enrolled in. She simply uses her smartwatch to track her moods when prompted and attends sessions, providing exponential raw data for a clinical trial, and is reimbursed with a hefty tuition paid in full. Chloe is your average honor roll college freshman – kind of. When she isn’t attending a frat party with her roommates or doing yogalates, she is perfecting her rohypnol truth serum and her plan to kill Will Bachman.
There are six more students attending John Adams just like Chloe.
Storylines involving academia are not my usual style but I was scrolling to find an audiobook for the week when I recognized the cover of Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian. I had it seen it at Barnes & Noble as a new release, it was published early September so I pushed play. I was not expecting to like this as much as I did. Written in present day and with multiple points of view, I found Kurian’s transitions easy to follow and absolutely loved the underlying political elements of this book. Regardless of views, the diverse narratives were immersive when describing the ongoing civil rights movement and it was difficult not to get caught up in the dorms of John Adams. I constantly found myself cheering for Chloe, the bubbly, legging-wearing psychopath and was strongly reminded of the movie Promising Young Woman with Carey Mulligan. I don’t watch movies often but I HIGHLY recommend this one and have linked the trailer below. I rated Never Saw Me Coming four stars on Goodreads and StoryGraph solely based on the fact that I wanted more, the plot twist was satisfying but the ending was just a little off in my opinion. I will be on the lookout for the next book by Vera Kurian without hesitation.
stephreeds 