When I Am Through with You

by Stephanie Kuehn

A gripping story of survival and the razor’s-edge difference between perfect cruelty and perfect love.
 
“This isn’t meant to be a confession. Not in any spiritual sense of the word. Yes, I’m in jail at the moment. I imagine I’ll be here for a long time, considering. But I’m not writing this down for absolution and I’m not seeking forgiveness, not even from myself. Because I’m not sorry for what I did to Rose. I’m just not. Not for any of it.”
 
Ben Gibson is many things, but he’s not sorry and he’s not a liar. He will tell you exactly about what happened on what started as a simple school camping trip in the mountains. About who lived and who died. About who killed and who had the best of intentions. But he’s going to tell you in his own time. Because after what happened on that mountain, time is the one thing he has plenty of.
 
Smart, dark, and twisty, When I Am Through With You will leave readers wondering what it really means to do the right thing.
 

• ISBN10: 1101994738
• ISBN13: 9781101994733
• Publish Date: 1 August 2017
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Out of Print: 2 March 2022
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: E P Dutton & Co Inc
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 304
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781101994733

Reviews

[Joséphine]

Audiobook rating: 2.5 stars
Book rating: 2 stars

Initial thoughts: To be fair, When I Am Through with You isn't a book I would've picked up if not for a Popsugar Reading Challenge prompt.

I was a bit disappointed at how unoriginal I found it? I don't read a lot of YA thrillers to begin with but this one came with the tropes I've seen the most: venturing into the woods, groups get separated, people die. Given that the tragedies in this book could've been entirely prevented if not for a couple of ridiculously stupid guys, I couldn't empathise with their situation. I did feel bad for the victims but that wasn't enough for me to overlook the generic plot.

The audiobook narrator was good though, which made this book at least decently entertaining.

[llamareads]

Intriguing, but somewhat flat. All the characters except Ben felt superficial, and I found Rose incomprehensible and annoying. Honestly, by the time they started the trip I was rooting for Ben to just get it over with and off her already. The frequent chapter breaks (51 chapters in a sub-300 page book!) made the whole story feel disjointed and knocked me out of the story.

I was provided a ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

[shannonmiz]

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight

4.5*

This book was good, friends. I have always enjoyed Stephanie Kuehn's writing in the past, but for me, this book took it to a whole new level. I consumed it in one night, which is rare for me, but I basically needed to keep reading. Like the author's other books, it will be hard to do a proper review, simply because I want to give nothing away. You need to read this for yourself, to experience the plot points as they come.

One of the themes of this book (and a theme I am an absolute fan of in general) is survival. I loved the way that the author mixed the survival aspects of the mountain with the more mystery/thriller elements. It made for a quite well rounded story, and the action was fabulous. In addition, I really cared about the characters in this one. I found them complex and well fleshed out, and it made the stakes even higher as a reader.

And, the elements I'd come to expect from a Stephanie Kuehn novel were all present: Incredibly captivating writing, and a big dose of eeriness. The author doesn't shy away from the strange, or from the horrifying, but that is what makes this book so flat out engrossing.

Bottom Line: With a fresh twist on a survival story (or perhaps, a survivalist twist on a thriller), this book will undoubtedly have you turning the pages wanting more.

*Copy provided for review