We Were Never Here: Summer Sisters Meets Single White Female

Andrea Bartz' latest novel starts out like a Judy Blume novel, before descending into Single White Female territory.

We Were Never Here
We Were Never Here

I think we all know that travel can be stressful, but in Andrea Bartz’ We Were Never Here, a girls trip to Chile takes a nightmarish turn when two best friends find themselves trekking to the middle of nowhere to bury a body. Emily, who is the protagonist of this story, finds her best friend drenched in the blood of a man she murdered in self-defense. Or so she says. Kristen doesn’t seem to have any defensive marks, and at times is remarkably calm for someone responsible for a man’s death.

Bartz is incredibly skilled at making you feel and understand their fear of being caught in a situation like this in a foreign country. With the language barrier at play, and many frenzied stories in the media of how individuals are unable to extricate themselves and make it home to America, I can understand the hesitance to turn to law enforcement, even when you know that should be your next step forward. I have seen the Amanda Knox documentary, and more recently, HBO’s The Flight Attendant, so all these scenarios were buzzing around my mind as the two wrestled with what to do.

What makes things even more strange, besides burying a body with your best friend, is that this isn’t the first time Emily and Kristen have gotten rid of a body in a foreign country. During a previous trip to Cambodia, Emily was involved in a violent sexual encounter, and Kristen killed the man in defense of her friend. It was hard enough dealing with and overcoming that first situation, but now that the bodies are pilling up, Emily is relieved to put some distance between her and Kristen after their trip comes to an end.

Only it doesn’t happen that way.

Kristen decides to move back to Milwaukee to be closer to Emily, and while it’s all sunshine and rainbows for Kristen, Emily feels differently. The events of both Cambodia and Chile swirl between them every single time the two are together, a palpable tension that signals things have changed. The guilt over her part in the deaths of two men spills into every waking moment of her life, and while Emily has high hopes in the burgeoning romance she has with the new man in her life, how can she ever truly let him in with these secrets building walls between them?

This is the third novel of Bartz’s that I’ve read (the previous two being The Lost Night and The Herd), and I always appreciate the focus on female characters, spaces and friendships. What is so incredible is how distinctly different all three novels are in terms of style and narrative, which is a rare feat for a mystery writer.

Writers usually have certain narrative beats they lean towards, a formula that works for them and their readers. As opposed to usual mysteries, which reveals the antagonist at the end, Bartz is brilliantly bold to dangle the antagonist in plain sight, and still have me backtracking, just like Emily does, every time I question Kristen’s intentions. Is Kristen really an obsessive friend, or is she a red herring for the real perpetrator? Is Emily an unreliable narrator, tricking herself into believing certain truths when she herself is the real evil?

Much like how it was in Bartz’ previous novels, the past never stays where it is, and is slowly unearthed over the course of the novel. While most of the novel is paced perfectly, I do think there is too much information dumping at the end, and somehow wish these breadcrumbs could have been spread out a little better throughout the book.

We Were Never Here also explores the need for boundaries in friendships; your best friend shouldn’t have carte blanche over your life, intruding on romantic relationships or weaseling their way into other friendships if you don’t want them to. A good friend listens to your relationship woes and can offer advice, however, it is essential that you remember that it is you who steers the ship and makes the decisions, so you need to be firm on where things stand. Emily has always felt the need to impress her friend, or be apologetic for the aspects of her life that she loves, like her job and her desire to settle down with someone, and this shouldn’t be the case in a good friendship.

Still, as the years add up, it becomes difficult to walk away from someone you spent so many years building a friendship with, even when it becomes clear that you should. Emily has to bear the price of that, but as with all friendships, toxic or not, we get to discover things about ourselves along the way, and hopefully, become a better version afterwards.

Review copy provided.

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