We Were Never Here caught my attention from the first page. Emily, a nearly-thirty woman, has takes annual trips to some exotic locale with her friend of ten years, Kristen. In Quiteria, Chile, Emily has a momentary vision of pushing Kristen off an elevated wooden patio. I immediately wondered what would prompt this reaction, and—over the course of the book—learned what was going on.
The previous year, while they were in Cambodia, Emily took a young man back to their room and was attacked. Kristen came to her rescue, but unfortunately killed the man to protect her friend. Incredibly, on their last night in Chile, Kristen takes a cute backpacker back to their room. When Emily arrives, Kristen states he attacked her, and she had no choice but to kill him in self-defense. What are the odds that such alarming events would occur to them two years in a row? But Emily steps up to try to help her friend.
When the women return home (Emily to Wisconsin and Kristen to Australia), Emily suffers PTSD symptoms from the two episodes. She decides to bury the incident and get involved in a new relationship. Kristen surprises Emily with a visit only days after they left Chile and reveals she’s been fired from her job. Emily starts to question Kristen’s motives and must confront their past. The two women jockey for position as “the bad guy” through the book, and the shifts are fascinating. The characters are well-developed and the book rapidly paced in Bartz’s best book yet.
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