Hey, it’s Diego.

I just finished reading We Were Never Here by Andrea Bartz.

And it has an extremely controlling character. This is a trope I enjoy when done well.

So I made a list of my top ones to share with you.

The review of the book is below.

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Controlling Character Thrillers

On a Quiet Street by Seraphina Nova Glass

In an exclusive Oregon coastal community, three women's lives intersect: Cora suspects her husband's infidelity, grieving Paige investigates her son's death, while mysterious neighbor Georgia harbors dark secrets.

On a Quiet Street by Seraphina Nova Glass, the controlling character is very sneaky, and you don’t seem to notice their manipulations until you are deep into the story. I really liked the payoff in this one. It’s my best read of the year so far.

Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris

Behind Closed Doors tells the story of Grace and Jack Angel, the picture-perfect couple with a too-good-to-be-true marriage. Grace is beautiful, Jack is charming, and together they seem like a dream. But as the title suggests, their reality behind closed doors is far from idyllic.

Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris is one of the top-regarded books with this trope. I won’t say much more than that.

Don't Let Her Stay by Nicola Sanders

Joanne lives a seemingly peaceful life with her husband Richard and their baby in a quiet village. But things take a dark turn when Richard's estranged adult daughter, Chloe, moves in with them. From the moment Chloe steps into their home, it's clear she has sinister intentions that threaten to unravel their family.

Don't Let Her Stay by Nicola Sanders takes this trope to the extreme. If you are into this trope, you’ll love it.

And the newest addition to the list:

We Were Never Here by Andrea Bartz

Emily is having the time of her life in the Chilean mountains with her best friend, Kristen. 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.

We Were Never Here by Andrea Bartz is a psychological thriller set in multiple locations across North and South America.

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Bartz’s writing is mixed. The internal dialogue of the character is very well laid out. The paranoia is a central point of the book, and along with the discoveries the character goes through, I really empathized with Emily. But, Bartz is also into similes, which, if you’ve been reading any of my newsletters, you know I’m not a fan of (“her smile was like a slice of lemon”, “the rain drops were like bullets”, etc.), and we do get this sense that the character is going through big revelation after big revelation, but when everything is shocking, then nothing really is.

We follow Emily in a single timeline as she navigates the aftermath of finding her best friend standing over a dead body in a hotel suite in Chile. The story starts quickly as we are introduced to the event early in the story. The problem is that there is a moment when the story doesn’t really know where to go, and the pacing slows down around the middle, before the “plot” picks up in intensity as we near the end.

The biggest problem I had with the book is that Emily is a reactive character: things happen to her, and she reacts to them, instead of her influencing the plot. As such, it makes for a less engaging read. This is why the book feels like it doesn’t have a direction through the middle portion of the book, because Emily has very little agency.

There is romance, Emily has a new boyfriend, and we go through the early stages of them dating while she’s trying to keep it together. Which I’ll admit was a pretty fun read. There is no swearing, and although the murder scenes are only alluded to, the aftermath of death is vividly described, especially the handling of dead bodies.

So, what about the ending? (No spoilers, obviously)

The ending was fine. After the time I spent with these characters, I got what I expected. The denouement was long enough and welcomed. I would have wanted more answers but still closed the main plot line.

We Were Never Here by Andrea Bartz is a weird beast. I felt the emotions Emily was going through and felt very connected to her. If you are into this kind of psychological thriller, you may enjoy it even if the plot meanders somewhat.

Latest Updates

• It’s Not Her by Mary Kubica dropped on February 3: Two families vacationing at a secluded lake resort are at the center of a chilling crime and mysterious disappearance.

• Not much is going on in February in the psychological and domestic thriller adaptation space. As I mentioned before, January and February are quiet on that front.

• I did binge the latest adaptation mini series of Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials on Netflix, and it was… alright.

That’s all for this week. See you next time.

— Diego Dunne

P.S. Let me know how I did today by replying to this email.

P.P.S. I would love to hear your recommendations for thrillers you loved. Reply to this email, and I’ll add them to my TBR list. Thanks!