Never Saw Me Coming
BY vera kurianpark row2021Query Letter
Chloe Sevre, a social chameleon with an IQ of 135, is about to enter John Adams College in DC with an unusual scholarship. It includes tuition, room and board, and a smartwatch to track her moods and movements. But her scholarship isn’t based on good grades—just her diagnosis as a psychopath.
The Multimethod Psychopathy Panel Study based at Adams gives seven undergrads a free ride through college in exchange for donating their time and bodies to science: therapy sessions, MRI scans, experiments—anything to help the field of clinical psychology study the little-understood diagnosis. While most associate the condition with hardened criminals and serial killers, many psychopaths fly under the radar, their misdeeds and lack of empathy hidden by manipulative charm.
Chloe joins the study because it puts her at the same school as a childhood friend, Will, who grievously wronged her and has no idea that Chloe has spent the past six years planning her revenge.
But college is tough. There’s grades to worry about, nosy roommates who don’t understand dark urges, and the handsome, broody junior who unfortunately has a perfect girlfriend (at least for now…) The plot to kill Will gets complicated when other bodies start showing up on campus. Someone is tracking down the students in the study and trying to kill them. Chloe definitely doesn’t want to die, and she sure as hell isn't going to let anyone stand in the way of her plan.
With Teeth is a 99,000 word multiple POV psychological thriller that would appeal to fans of Meg Abbott and Gillian Flynn. My literary fiction has appeared in Glimmer Train, The Pinch, Juked and elsewhere (see verakurian dot com) and I have studied fiction at several competitive workshops (Sewanee, Breadloaf, VONA, etc.) I’m a DC-based writer with a doctorate in social psychology and am a person of color. Thank you for your consideration.
About
Age Range
Adult
Genre
Thriller
Word Count
114,000
Book Link
https://bookshop.org/a/21809/9780778333241
Agent
Rebecca Scherer
Query Stats
Number of Queries Sent
64
Number of Full Requests Received
9
Number of Offers of Representation
1
Number of Months Spent Querying This Novel
8 months
Years Spent Writing Before Getting an Offer
30
Number of Manuscripts Queried Before This One
2
Publication Status of The Book Queried
Published (Big 5)
Years Spent Writing Before This Book was Published
30
Note to Querying Writers:
I queried two other books before in completely different genres. I also had solid short story publications and acceptances from literary conferences. (this didn't matter- ultimately it was the book that did).