Book Reviews: “You” & “Hidden Bodies” by Caroline Kepnes

Have you ever read a book that made you go “Whoa! What the heck did I just read??”That’s how I felt when I was finished reading the first book in this short series by Caroline Kepnes. It was creepy and disturbing yet I could not put it down! Once you meet the character Joe Goldberg you will never forget him. He is a chameleon that changes his colors with every mood he is in and to match whomever he meets. If I had to compare him to any other characters I’ve seen in movies or read about, I would say he is part Patrick Bateman from American Psycho and part Tom Ripley from the movie The Talented Mr. Ripley. Joe is charming, handsome and twisted. These books are hard to recommend because they will only appeal to certain readers. There is a ton of sexual content written in both novels along with many murders plus throw in some colorful langue just for fun. If you decide to read these, you may find yourself wondering am I rooting for Joe or do I hate Joe? And if you find yourself rooting for Joe which at times I actually was, you will think…Why?? Why am I rooting for this crazy person to live a happily ever after life?? Am I am crazy too? Haha. But no, Joe has even charmed us, the readers into falling for him and rooting for his crazy butt to escape the police and to continue living his crazy life. I am going to stop talking about these books now and just leave you with the summaries and purchase links. I will say this though, I have recommended the first book in this series before and the reader was not a fan. I was slightly embarrassed having recommended this one because in hindsight the reader was probably not the best candidate to read it. Sooooo….read the summaries and go into these books with an open mind if you choose to read them. I REALLY enjoyed them, but I tend to read books in every genre and don’t get spooked too easily. It takes a lot to offend me and I only grimaced a few times reading these.

Purchase on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2iXpGyQ

“Hypnotic and scary.” —Stephen King

“I am RIVETED, AGHAST, AROUSED, you name it. The rare instance when prose and plot are equally delicious.” —Lena Dunham

From debut author Caroline Kepnes comes You, one of Suspense Magazine’s Best Books of 2014, and a brilliant and terrifying novel for the social media age.

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.

A terrifying exploration of how vulnerable we all are to stalking and manipulation, debut author Caroline Kepnes delivers a razor-sharp novel for our hyper-connected digital age. You is a compulsively readable page-turner that’s being compared to Gone Girl, American Psycho, and Stephen King’s Misery.

Purchase on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2j6YFWZ

“There’s something deeply insidious about the storytelling of Caroline Kepnes. As satire of a self-absorbed society, Kepnes hits the mark, cuts deep, and twists the knife.” —Entertainment Weekly

“Obsessed.” —Jessica Knoll, New York Times bestselling author of Luckiest Girl Alive

“Delicious and insane…The plot may be twisty and scintillating, but its Kepnes’ wit and style that keep you coming back.” —Lena Dunham

“Hypnotic and scary.” —Stephen King

In the compulsively readable follow-up to her widely acclaimed debut novel, You, Caroline Kepnes weaves a tale that Booklist calls “the love child of Holden Caulfield and Patrick Bateman.”

Joe Goldberg is no stranger to hiding bodies. In the past ten years, this thirty-something has buried four of them, collateral damage in his quest for love. Now he’s heading west to Los Angeles, the city of second chances, determined to put his past behind him.

In Hollywood, Joe blends in effortlessly with the other young upstarts. He eats guac, works in a bookstore, and flirts with a journalist neighbor. But while others seem fixated on their own reflections, Joe can’t stop looking over his shoulder. The problem with hidden bodies is that they don’t always stay that way. They re-emerge, like dark thoughts, multiplying and threatening to destroy what Joe wants most: true love. And when he finds it in a darkened room in Soho House, he’s more desperate than ever to keep his secrets buried. He doesn’t want to hurt his new girlfriend—he wants to be with her forever. But if she ever finds out what he’s done, he may not have a choice…