You by Caroline Kepnes

 

You

by Caroline Kepnes

Joe Goldberg seems innocuous. He works in a bookstore, lives in a crappy apartment, and lives a quiet, albeit eccentric, life. At least, that's what we're supposed to believe.

When Guinevere Beck (just Beck) enters the bookstore, Joe becomes enamored with her flirty style and her taste in books. He learns her name and uses it to stalk her on social media. When he steals her phone he gains an all-access pass into Beck's life and uses it all to become the perfect man for her. Slowly and methodically, Joe positions himself to have Beck fall for him, reluctantly because of her own issues with men and sex. Eventually, when they are together at last, Joe manipulates her life and scrutinizes every nuance of anything she says in the digital world until Beck's secrets make Joe see her in a different light.

There are casualties along the way. Beck's sometimes-boyfriend Benji and Peach, her secret-lesbian best friend who has her own agenda for Beck's life, end up in the cross-hairs of Joe's ultimate goal; they are in the way and have to be dealt with, so that Joe can prove to Beck that he is the only one she needs.

The story is intense and there is an unsettling undercurrent running throughout the book, and it kept me turning the pages. Joe is selfish, narcissistic, and controlling, and we are in his head for the entire read. He takes us on a journey through his twisted logic. We are led to believe that Joe wants to be perfect for Beck, but really he wants her to be perfect for him. When things don't turn out as he expected, the blame for everything is shifted onto Beck (who, let's face it, is not a good person, either), and we understand that Joe wants compliance in his perfect girlfriend. When he doesn't get it, Beck suffers her ultimate fate.

This was a page-turner from the first. Joe Goldberg would be the perfect boyfriend if he wasn't such a lying, manipulative creep. In some ways I empathized with Joe. Who doesn't want to be loved after living such a lonely existence? But the empathy only goes so far. All of the characters in You are deliciously flawed. Joe says the things about them that we would think as well. We can connect with Joe, and that's what's most unsettling to me about his character. Identifying with someone like him makes me question who we are, really. The book will have you questioning everyone's motives.

You gets 4 stars from me. Kepnes has a punchy, contemporary style and she doesn't hold back. I have to withhold a point for Joe's obsession with wanting to have sex with Beck. I was more connected to his intellectual need for her than the physical. I get that sex is an important element in the stalker mind, but it wasn't the most interesting part. I felt like the word "fucking" was on way too many pages. All in all, though, it was a fun thriller with a compelling point of view. Highly recommend!