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Confident prose and an intelligent, obsessive and warped protagonist make this debut novel from Caroline Kepnes unforgettable.

 

About the Book

Joe Goldberg knows the diminutive Guinevere Beck is meant for him the minute she walks through the door of his bookstore. Beck is shy, a little flirtatious and she gets him in a way the usual dross demanding the latest Stephen King do not. As a student at Brown, with her wealthy friends and literary aspirations, she’s out of his league, but Joe knows how to deal with that. Just like he knows how to deal with those who get between him and the girl who is meant to be his. Because rare editions aren’t the only things kept in the ‘cage’ below the store.

My Thoughts

YOU is certainly creepy. Joe’s voice is disturbing, mesmerising and completely believable. The use of first person (well, second person, but it feels like first) and present tense gives the tale immediacy, and Kepnes allows us so deep into Joe’s thoughts it’s like being in the room with him. And Joe, as you may have guessed, is not an easy character to spend time with. Early in the novel Joe makes reference to Brett Easton Ellis and I found the vibrancy of Joe’s narrative and the shallowness of the circle in which Beck moves very reminiscent of characters from an Ellis novel. And like an Ellis novel, it was the sheer brilliance of the writing that kept me reading initially. Yet Joe Goldberg and his quest to win Guinevere Beck crawls under your skin and as the truth of Beck’s character begins to emerge the story is captivating.

Kepnes has a wonderfully light touch and YOU is all the more disturbing because of it. This is a beautifully crafted story that proves characters do not need to be likeable to be fascinating. I fully expect some savvy producer to snap up the movie rights to this one.

 

With thanks to Simon & Schuster Australia for my review copy