Andrea Bartz’s We Were Never Here is the latest pick for Reese Witherspoon’s popular book club.
The actor and entrepreneur made the announcement on her Instagram account, writing, “All right, here are the facts: this book is every suspense-lover’s dream and it kept me up WAY too late turning pages. [It’s] a novel with crazy twists and turns that will have you ditching your Friday night plans for more chapters.”
Bartz’s novel, her third, follows a woman whose best friend kills a man during a backpacking trip to Chile, claiming he tried to attack her, in a similar situation to an event a year before. A critic for Kirkus called the book “a slow-burn thriller that gradually suffocates both the protagonist and the reader—in a good way.”
Bartz reacted to her novel’s selection on her Instagram account, writing, “Wait. That’s @reesewitherspoon. Holding my book and saying nice things about it and announcing it as the @reesesbookclub August pick. Is this real life?! So thrilled to finally share this truly transcendent news! I love this book and can’t wait to share it with the #reesesbookclub community. Grateful beyond words!”
The book shot up Amazon’s bestseller charts after Witherspoon’s announcement. As of Wednesday morning, it was ranked No. 3 among all books on the retailer’s website.
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
