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00827754-71FE-49D3-981A-F0CAA8380C0B

Thanks to NetGalley and and Gallery/Scout Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: October 13th, 2020

352 Pages

Synopsis: Scarlett Clark is an exceptional English professor. But she’s even better at getting away with murder.

Every year she searches for the worst man at Gorman University, and plots his well-deserved demise. Thanks to her meticulous planning, she’s avoided drawing attention to herself—but as she’s preparing for her biggest kill yet, the school starts probing into the growing body count on campus. Determined to keep her enemies close, Scarlett insinuates herself into the investigation and charms the woman in charge, Dr. Mina Pierce. Everything’s going according to her master plan…until she loses control with her latest victim, putting her secret life at risk of exposure.

Meanwhile, Gorman student Carly Schiller is just trying to survive her freshman year. Finally free of her emotionally abusive father, all Carly wants is to focus on her studies and fade into the background. Her new roommate has other ideas. Allison Hadley is cool and confident—everything Carly wishes she could be—and the two girls quickly form an intense friendship. So when Allison is sexually assaulted at a party, Carly becomes obsessed with making the attacker pay…and turning her fantasies about revenge into a reality.

After reading The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, I was suffering from a book hangover and needed something completely different yet still enjoyable, and I found it in They Never Learn. The chapters alternate between Scarlett and Carly, and while there’s obviously a connection between them, there’s a surprise revelation about halfway through the book that blew me away. Scarlett is an antiheroine who I found myself rooting for. As the layers of her backstory are peeled back, I could understand how she set upon the road she did. Some secondary characters are a little stereotypical, but the important ones add much to the unfolding twisted tale. While there are aspects of the story that defy believability, the characters and exciting plot make this a compulsive read. With its mix of entertainment and thoughtful look at campus sexual assaults and misogyny, They Never Learn undoubtedly will attract a wide audience. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for an edgy and addictive read with a surprisingly likable and relatable antiheroine.