You
(You #1)
Author: Caroline Kepnes
Genres: Adult, Thriller.
Published: June 18 2015
Pages: 422 pages (Paperback) (Simon & Schuster)
Read: January 23 2016 - February 1 2016
Rating: 3 Stars
When a beautiful, aspiring writer strides into the East Village bookstore where Joe Goldberg works, he does what anyone would do: he Googles the name on her credit card.
There is only one Guinevere Beck in New York City. She has a public Facebook account and Tweets incessantly, telling Joe everything he needs to know: she is simply Beck to her friends, she went to Brown University, she lives on Bank Street, and she’ll be at a bar in Brooklyn tonight—the perfect place for a “chance” meeting.
As Joe invisibly and obsessively takes control of Beck’s life, he orchestrates a series of events to ensure Beck finds herself in his waiting arms. Moving from stalker to boyfriend, Joe transforms himself into Beck’s perfect man, all while quietly removing the obstacles that stand in their way—even if it means murder.
Book 7/65 - 2016 Goodreads Reading ChallengeThere is only one Guinevere Beck in New York City. She has a public Facebook account and Tweets incessantly, telling Joe everything he needs to know: she is simply Beck to her friends, she went to Brown University, she lives on Bank Street, and she’ll be at a bar in Brooklyn tonight—the perfect place for a “chance” meeting.
As Joe invisibly and obsessively takes control of Beck’s life, he orchestrates a series of events to ensure Beck finds herself in his waiting arms. Moving from stalker to boyfriend, Joe transforms himself into Beck’s perfect man, all while quietly removing the obstacles that stand in their way—even if it means murder.
**To begin I apologize for my language in the following review.**
I picked up You because of the buzz that it was creating in the blogger and booktube community. I also picked it up because it interested me. I was interested in reading a book told in the point of view of a stalker. I was interested in reading the thriller of the year.
But I was disappointed. I was disappointed for a few reasons. To start, a book labelled thriller of the year should have thrilled me but it didn't. I felt that it lacked in that area. Yes, it was thrilling to read something that could so easily happen. Trust me, after reading this book I'll be paranoid around everyone I meet but I still wanted more. Perhaps I wanted more gruesome details, more scheming, more cunning. I just wanted to be thrilled more. That was a major fault for me, was my quiet feeling of indifference.
The other reason that could have led to that feeling though was my hatred for the characters. I know that hating Joe was all part of the plan. He was after all the bad guy and I hated what he did. Like I am one of those people who like a good dark, twisted character but Joe was just a pain in the ass. He was just so sick and twisted but I couldn't like his personality either. From the very beginning my hatred for Joe just simmered and started to grow. But I also hated Beck... God, Beck was such an annoying, brazen character that I just despised reading about. All the main characters in this book were just so, ugh, they drove me nuts! Benji was a drug addicted, whiny asshole and Peach was a self-absorbing bitch! Ethan was basically the only good character in this book.,.
So down to the reason why I actually gave this book three stars - the writing style. I really enjoyed Caroline Kepnes writing style. I found the second person narrative to be very interesting and I felt it allowed me to engage with the story. I also enjoyed how addicting the story was. I just had to continue on to see what would happen even though it was pretty predictable. Honestly if he's going to kill one person, he's going to kill them all. The mention of his obsession Candance and her untimely end should have sparked hints that Beck's future was heading down the exact same road.
As mentioned I was expecting more. From a book being sold as one of the best thrillers, I expected more thrill. Yes, it was dark and violent and twisted but I still expected more darkness, more violence, just more. That darkness could have easily been portrayed in a YA book. It was Joe's way of thinking and explicit scenes that made this book adult, not it's darkness. So I was expecting more of a scare really.
In all honestly, I believe I have sufficed with reading one book of Joe. I can't see myself diving into another book told by him. I just can't see how his mindset will change and how essentially a lot would be different to what I've seen in 'You'. Hey maybe in Hidden Bodies he gets caught. That's just something I'm not going to find out for myself.
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