#YOU

You by Caroline Kepnes

I have waited long and hard to own this book, alas thank you Amazon for your 3 for £10 paperback sale! 

You is the story of Joe Goldberg a sales assistant in an old quirky book shop. Although his age is never disclosed my guess would be mid to late twenties. Joe appears to be your average guy (at first) he lives alone and seems t be dedicated to his job, the first real that something is off is that there is no mention of friends really and his family arent discussed much.

When Guinevere Beck enters the book shop one day the story takes off. Joe become obsessed with her due t one relatively meaningless conversation they had over the transaction of a book they had both read and enjoyed.Joe becomes completely and utterly obsessed with Guinevere or Beck as shes usually known. He hacks into her email, steals her phone, memorizes her posts on social media and stalks her every move.

Beck who by and large is just as messed up with her self proclaimed daddy issues among a plethora of other issues to boot, plays Joe hot and cold throughout and seems to really enjoy having someone obsess over her in order for her to then in turn toy with them.

This would make a great movie as it is so utterly believable. Unfortunately it does not get a full 5 stars from me as i felt that some parts were dry and others dragged on a bit.

Things that were done well: The characters was probably the stand out feature for me, both leading man and lady were clearly defined and were realistic.Some parts were full of action and kept me up reading way past my bedtime. I brought this book everywhere with me whilst i was reading it even places such as work where i would never get the chance to read it, i just wanted to have it with me at all times, which is testament to how much i enjoyed it.

Things that werent done that well:Background characters and sub-plots, did i care about any other character that was not Joe or Beck? No, no i did not. Peach was so overly melodramatic and pretentious that i found myself skimming all the parts with her in it. The same goes for Ethan and Blythe, Chana and Lynn, i really couldnt have cared less. Also the ending felt a little rushed and ever so slightly predictable.


Overall: I have never read a book about a stalker from the stalkers point of view, so brownie points for originality. I cant help but compare this to other psychological thrillers that i have read such as the work of Gillian Flynn and The Girl on the Train that i read earlier this year. This can proudly take a place with these great works of fiction as it is just as powerfully written and compelling. I would highly recommend this book but it is not for the faint hearted, its a tough read in parts and has many many many sex scenes.

4 out of 5 stars. I shall patiently await the sequel.