ARC Review--You Were Never Here by Kathleen Peacock

Cat hasn’t been to Montgomery Falls, the town her family founded, since she was twelve years old. Since the summer she discovered she could do things that no normal twelve-year-old could do. Since she had her first kiss with Riley Fraser. Since she destroyed their friendship.

Now, five years later, she’s back and Riley has disappeared.

For the last three months no one has heard from or seen Riley. And while there are all sorts of conspiracy theories about where he went, neither the police nor his parents are any closer to finding him. When Noah, Riley’s brother, asks for help in discovering what happened, Cat is torn between wanting to learn the truth and protecting the secret that she’s been guarding ever since that summer she and Riley stopped speaking.

But then a girl is discovered floating in the river, barely alive with no knowledge of who attacked her or why. With the possibility that someone out there is hunting teens, Cat must make a choice: Use her unusual ability to discover the truth and find Riley or keep running away from a power she can’t control. Only one choice will put her in a killer’s sights…

I received this ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest and voluntary review. I was in no way compensated for this review.

Kathleen Peacock returns to the world of YA writing wither her debut thriller, You Were Never Here! I was most excited when I saw Kathleen was writing again, and though it’s not a book about werewolves, a thriller is the next best thing! This was an exciting and eerie mystery that was near bone-chilling in its darkness. The mystery really grabbed hold of me and did not let up until I reached the very end!

After an untold event that was BIG, Cat is forced to spend her summer with her aunt in Canada while her writer father goes off to another conference. She isn’t exactly thrilled with the turn of events, but there’s no reason for her to stay home where her best friend, and nearly everyone else hates her for what happened. We eventually learn what this event was around the halfway point of the book, but it’s a tad minor in the grand scheme of things and really only serves as the basis for Cat to be sent on her “Adventure.”

Cat comes back to the place she spent much of her childhood, her aunt’s boarding house that’s a bit empty since it’s summer and usually has college students for the school year. A few tenants remain, like the charming Aidan, but Cat is more of a loner these days and doesn’t like getting close to people, for more reasons than one. The reason Cat always holds herself back from people is that when she touches them, she sees things, things that the person hides from others and these aren’t always good things either.

Cat reconnects with her old best friend, Riley’s, brother, Noah during this trip. She hasn’t seen Noah since her last visit to Canada when Riley learned of her secret and withdrew from her. But Riley is missing, has been missing for months now and Noah wants Cat’s help in trying to find him. He doesn’t know the exact extent of her gift, only that with her, he can find out where his brother is or where he went, the rumor is that he ran away, but Noah doesn’t believe that. Things really shake up when a girl who was missing turns up with a trinket that belonged to Riley.

This was quite the mystery, let me tell you. I will say that it does get drawn out a bit. I wouldn’t say there are too many moments of normalcy, thankfully, just that mystery isn’t a quick one. Granted there are scattered moments where the focus isn’t on clue finding and what not, but I felt like Kathleen did a very good job of drawing the story out without losing this reader’s interest.

Things definitely get a bit bone chilling as Cat looks from one person to another as a potential suspect. At one point I considered a suspect on a technicality but then dismissed it later on, but then ended up being right after all. Kathleen has a nice pool of whodunits and honestly I was ready to believe that any or all or a combination of them was “the guy,” so to speak.

There was also an added romance element, and a love triangle of sorts to boot. While Cat could easily see herself falling for Aidan, she can’t help but feel a spark between her and Noah as well. It’s a complicated love mess to say the least. Though there are sparks and moments here and there between her and both guys, I was happy to see that the romance was not a strong factor for the story. Merely, a side element to add a bit of tension.

Another thing that I loved about Cat was that she wasn’t your typical heroine. I feel like your standard heroine is always some thin girl either who’s really short or just of average height. Calls herself unremarkable, blah blah blah. We’ve all seen it. Here Cat is more of the heavier set and for some reason that just made it really relatable. She has her self-confidence issues like any teenager, but I don’t know how else to describe why I liked seeing a more realistic heroine in this novel, but I did.

As I might have mentioned the ending and BIG reveal was nothing short of mind-blowingly amazing! I did suspect the culprit but as I said, I thought it was too easy. Well, apparently I need to stick to my instincts! Lol. But what I also liked about the reveal was how it was still pretty shocking even as more and more clues were fed along the way. Little clues that can be easily discounted at first glance. The marks of a great mystery are when everything comes together in a natural way and you’re left stunned! I guess in some sense I didn’t really care for the reasoning behind all the crimes committed, I was hoping for something MORE, but at the same time they felt utterly believable so it works in a sense.

You Were Never Here was a spine-tingling good read! It’s the perfect kind of read for a cold winter’s night right before drifting off to sleep. It’s a read that will keep you guessing until the very end. Kathleen is a natural at the thriller genre for her first take at it and I hope to see more reads from her in the near future!

Overall Rating 4/5 stars

You Were Never Here releases October 20, 2020