You by Caroline Kepnes

Author : Caroline Kepnes
Title : You
Published : 2015
Publisher : Simon & Schuster UK
Genre : Thriller
Pages : 432

     When aspiring writer Guinevere Beck strides into the bookstore where Joe works he is instantly smitten. But there's more to Joe than Beck realizes and much more to Beck than her perfect facade. And the obsessive relationship quickly spirals into a whirlwind of deadly consequences ...

     I found out about this book through a friend, we exchange book recommendations and this was her latest. I jumped into this book with very little knowledge of what it was all about. I suppose the first thing that struck me was the second person narrative. It is not something you come across so often and I know for a lot of people this is very off-putting, I have to say it took me a few pages to get into the flow of it. But once there I found it to be an interesting way to tell her story. You find yourself locked in with Joe, and it is only through what he chooses to tell us do we learn his story and also that of his obsession Guinevere. 

     Joe's tale is one that takes a turn for the dark side very quickly as what he believes to be love overcomes him. I have only read maybe a couple of books that take this path and it is one that at times is hard to read. There is no stopping to take a breath away from our delude lead, everything he feels and the way he sees the world comes rushing at you. You can see that what he is doing is so wrong a twisted version of Romeo and Juliet. He is so driven by what he believes is right that nothing and no one will stop him from completing his big-screen romance. It all adds up to a very unsettling experience. But the more we start to learn about Joe's obsession Beck's the clearer it becomes that she is also not all Joe thought she was. This is a woman perfectly capable  of playing her own games with people and just maybe she shares a little of Joe's darkness. 

     Having looked about a bit I have seen this book compared to Gone Girl, yes yet another.  And I think it would be very foolish to believe going in that this is what you are going to get. With this said I can see one major similarity that being that both books have lead characters that are not all that likable. As I have said in reviews of other such books this should never deter you. It gives you a different point of view and will take you way out of your comfort zone. I felt the whole point of this book is to push the reader off balance. It is a book that will make you check over your shoulder to see just who is walking behind you. It also makes you realize just how vulnerable we all are in this world of social media. It is alarmingly easy to find out so much about anyone these days. We have voluntarily put all of our lives out there for anyone to read and watch. This is also a very explicit story from sex to violence there is no shying away from this dark world the author has created. 

     This book is definitely a slow burner and a weird one at that. I feel this is a book that you will either love or hate. For me, I think the author did a great job in putting us into the mind of a stalker and bearing witness to his twisted logic.