#IncidentReport |#BookReview | YOU (You #1) by Caroline Kepnes @CarolineKepnes (18th June 2015, Simon & Schuster @SimonBooks)

YOU (You #1) by Caroline Kepnes
18th June 2015, Simon & Schuster

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.

Okie doke. Where do I even start?! This book has been winking at me on my bookshelf for more years than I care to admit to. It was always one of those books that languished on my seemingly never-ending TBR.

Then on Netflix, this little ball of handsome pops up on my screen!

A Netflix adaptation of said book that’s now shouting at me from my bookshelf; “Yeah! That’s right! You gonna read me now huh?!”. I ignored said shouting until I caved. As much as I want to sit and binge my way through the show – there was no way that was going to happen until I’d read the book.

Wow. This book is….NOT what I expected. I say this in the BEST possible way. I’ve read so many psychological thrillers now that claim to have the biggest twist, and one you can’t put down, etc but YOU is something else.

The first thing to throw me off was the narrative. It’s written in the first person, but as if telling a story to the third party. This style of writing hooked me straight away and then the race was on to gorge on this story as soon as I humanly could!

Second thing about this book….Joe.

I get it now. Reading reviews of both the book and the series and the number of people who were really rooting for Joe was a little worrying. Joe is (this is not a spoiler!) a stalker. There’s no doubting that. He has an unhealthy obsession with a woman and really tries to infiltrate her life in every which way. So why root for him? Well that brings me onto the third thing I loved..

Beck. Ugh. Peach. Ugh. “Dr” Nicky. Ugh. Benji. Ugggggh. These four characters are actually the worst. The kind of people that you probably would do your best to avoid. Self absorbed, selfish, entitled. As the story progresses, I found myself questioning why I cared so much about Joe. Caroline Kepnes, I salute you. I’m still trying to compute my feelings! I cannot get my hands on the follow up novel, HIDDEN BODIES quick enough!

When I put this book down and started writing this review, I stumbled on this gif which pretty much sums up my experience with this book. I agree with you John Stamos, you handsome son of a gun!

You can buy YOU (You #1) from the following booksellers (however, there are MANY more!!)

Amazon (UK) | Amazon (US) | Amazon (AU)

-S.