Book: You
Author: Caroline Kepnes
Pages: 433
Read on: Kindle
Read in: 5-6 hours
Plot Summary: 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.
General Thoughts: We've had You on our Kindles for almost 3 years now! But for some reason or the other, this book kept slipping through the cracks, which is very, very odd when it comes to us and thriller books. Last week, the first episode of the TV adaptation of You was aired and after watching it (it's good!), we simply had to go back and read the book!
Things I Liked:
- This is a creepy, creepy, creepy book! Stalking is creepy all on its own! Now add to that, this crazy guy, who will go to any lengths to insert himself into one's life! *shudder* Just the perfect amount of creepiness that one seeks in a book like this!
- Joe Goldberg- our resident stalker and psychopath- is an interesting voice. He is a classic narcissist, who thinks he is better than most people even though he has a lowly white collar job and not even a full high school education. He looks down on most people- judges them based on their wealth, reading preferences and pretty much everything about them! Like a typical psychopath, he does not like anyone! So, it is quite interesting to see how once he fixates on 'Beck', he finds many things about her that he dislikes and thinks of himself as someone who can 'fix' her!
- Beck is an interesting character as well. We get to see her and interpret her actions through Joe's biased and, often, deranged lens, but even then, since actions speak louder than words, we get an interesting enough perspective on her. She is not your typical 'victim' or even a 'romance/ love story' heroine. She has her share of flaws and she is indecisive about her life, career and, even, Joe, but no one deserves the attentions of a stalker! Not even flirty, flawed girls!
- The kinds of things Joe does to get Beck to like him and, later, to keep her interested in him are quite, morbidly, interesting as well.
Things I Didn't Like:
- There are some murders that Joe manages to commit with great ease and he also gets away with them! Those murders don't look like suicides or death due to natural causes, but he still manages to get away with it! I hate crime writers who don't do basic research on police and forensic procedures! And that's a huge let down in this otherwise engaging book.
- The book meanders a lot! Joe and Beck hook up at, I think, the 40-45% mark, but after that the story pointlessly meanders through Beck ghosting Joe and Joe dating a nursing student and just endless amounts of blah that is just not required in a story like this! This book could've been 100 pages shorter for greater impact!
- The ending of the book is predictable but a few things are a bit out of the left field, so to speak. We, finally, get to see Beck from her own perspective and, somehow, she is much worse than even Joe made her out to be! How convenient! The reader, almost, feels no remorse for poor Beck, who, for almost all of the book, is at the receiving end of tremendous manipulation!
Rating: 3/5
The book is not bad, but if you're interested in a story such as this, watch the TV series! Much grittier!
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