Caroline Kepnes

You by Caroline Kepnes is a thriller story about an obsessive stalker who poses as a Manhattan bookstore employee but is really living as a predator, hunting and tracking his victim. The book is unusual in that it is told entirely from the stalker’s point of view. The reader gets deep into Joe’s thoughts which are all involving the “You” of his current stalk. He meets Beck when she comes into the bookstore, but something about her attracts him and then they bond over literature.

Joe show more sees Beck as his perfect match, but his way of worming into her life, leaves no doubt that this is not a romance, but deeply disturbing psychological behavior that is going to eventually implode. Joe uses technology to stalk Beck, and I don’t mean that he follows her on Twitter. He hacks into her e-mail, lifts her cellphone and monitors her text messages. He methodically removes anything or anyone that he sees is an obstacle all the while telling himself this is for her own good.

The author excels at placing the reader firmly into Joe’s head and as he works through various situations the sense of impending doom heightens. You is a dark, twisted story that kept me totally engrossed and reading well past my bedtime. show less

Providence is a unusual novel about a middle school misfit named Jon who is abducted from the woods near his home and returns four years later with strange supernatural powers that drain the life force from anyone within his general proximity. It’s also about Chloe, his best friend [and possibly more] and Charles DeBenedictus, a detective who becomes obsessed with solving the mystery around the string of deaths by “natural causes” that Jon leaves in his wake. While most of the show more publicity around this book seems to focus on Jon and Chloe, the story really explores two complex and troubled relationships – Jon and Chloe and DeBenedictus (aka Eggs) and his professor wife, Lo.

Upon his release, his kidnapper gifts Jon with a copy of H.P. Lovecraft’s short story, “The Dunwich Horror,” with the handwritten note, “We did good work down here.” It probably isn’t necessary to be familiar with Lovecraft’s story, but it’s easy enough to find the complete text online (or the Cliff Notes version on Wikipedia) so I took the time to read it myself. At first I thought the reference was a bit of a McGuffin - more of a gimmick than anything else - because, in the context of the story, it’s not only irrelevant but actually doesn’t make any sense at all. I mean why would someone whose goal it is to produce a master race liken his experiments to a horror story? But in terms of its symbolic meaning, it’s much more germane.

It seems that DeBenedictus has a son with autism so severe he’s been institutionalized since he was a toddler (do they even really do that anymore?). He convinces himself that he’s emotionally incapable of seeing the boy and instead dives deeper into investigating closed cases, in direct opposition to the wishes of his superiors. Over the course of the story, he and Lo drift further apart as he nearly loses himself (and risks his job) in his quest to bring Jon to justice. Both men, Eggs and Jon, have something that drives a wedge between themselves and the women who care about them. And the similarities between these two relationships are at the heart of the novel. Like in the Lovecraft story, each man is harboring a monster that seeks to destroy everything he holds dear. Jon’s condition is his monster while for Eggs it’s the psychic weight of the son who (like the monstrous child in the Dunwich Horror) has been hidden away but looms large over his every thought and action. And through it all, both Chloe and Lo suffer the collateral damage while still managing to love and believe in them.

While ostensibly a supernatural horror novel, Providence actually addresses much more earthly, commonplace and universal themes. It’s about what connects us and what divides us; it’s about love, patience, compromise and staying the course. show less

Joe Goldberg is living an average New York life, working at a book story in the East Village tending to customers who pretend to be well versed in the classics, when in reality they're just there for the latest Dan Brown or Stephen King. His attentions are immediately peaked when a stunning, aspiring author breezes through the store one day. Wanting to know more about this perfect woman, Joe does what anyone in today's times would do and Googles her. Sure he only knows her full name because show more he read it on her credit card, but what's the harm in that?

As luck would have it, there's only one Guinevere Beck living in New York City and her life is an open book across her social media accounts. Through her public Facebook profile and active Twitter account, Joe learns that Beck is a student at Brown University, living in a house paid for by the school through a contest she won, and that she's going to be reading some of her work at a local bar. What could make for a better spot to bump back in to each other? Joe's plan is a success and soon he is a part of Beck's world, but his role isn't quite as he would like to have it and in order to make their relationship perfect Joe starts stalking Beck. Joe's motivation is simply to become the perfect boyfriend for Beck, but things soon spiral out of control. Just how far will Joe go to have Beck in his life?

Caroline Kepnes blew my socks of with YOU! The minute I opened the pages and stepped in to Joe's mind, I knew I was going to be hooked. Joe is one of the most fascinating characters I have ever had the pleasure of getting to know. He might be a crazy stalker, but the guy has some valid points on the way society works. I found myself more disturbed at times with Beck's behavior than Joe's, which is not to say I in any way condone stalking! It's hard to go in to too many details for this one because I want the reader to go in as blindly and unassuming as I did. Just know that Joe is waiting, he's plotting, and he's about to make you say "Did he really just do that?". I cannot wait to get back in Joe's world and will be adding the follow up, HIDDEN BODIES, to my summer TBR. Caroline Kepnes, you are a genius! show less

I had a pretty difficult time figuring out how I feel about this book (I'm not sure I even know, still) but in the end, this is closer to a five star than to a four star.

First off, I ended up really loving the writing and structure of this book. I felt the author really mastered the pacing and atmosphere and the cadence of Joe's frantic brain. I know some people really dislike second person narratives, but I actually don't mind it. And call me basic, but I really loved how Kepnes wove show more somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond into the fabric of the story. The repetitions also enhanced the feel of Joe's obsession.

I'm sure this would have been easier to dislike, if there were more characters that weren't in some way despicable or at least annoying. It was easy to stay detached when Joe's perspective ensured that while no one really deserves to get murdered, the deaths don't really make you sad either. And don't get me wrong, I really don't get the people who root for Joe, because Jesus Christ. I just think he's a pretty well written little psychopath that I love to hate.

The one character I felt empathy for was Mr. Mooney. show less