This book was ah-mazing! There, I've said it, You by Caroline Kepnes is going to be in my Top Favourite Books of 2015, I'm sure of it.
Joe works in a bookstore and falls in love with a customer, Beck. He stalks her on social media and becomes obsessed with her, going to extraordinary lengths to control her life without her even realising it.
Joe is the sole narrator and we experience their relationship through his eyes in such a light-hearted (and often amusing) manner that it's easy to forget that what he's doing is an invasion of privacy and against the law.
This is uber creepy, and should make us all think twice about what we share on social media and be aware of our online footprint. What sends shivers up your spine though is just how matter of fact and upbeat Joe's activity is. You isn't a dark and foreboding novel in the way that Into The Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes is (another crime thriller with a creepy stalker); however it still packs a punch, trust me.
One minor word of warning though. When I was about half way through the novel, I was hoping - and perhaps even expecting - the narrator to shift and give the reader Beck's point of view. I was so convinced of an impending twist similar to that in Gone Girl, that I was surprised and disappointed when it didn't happen.
What I realised later though, was that You works so much better from Joe's perspective, and I'd wasted too much effort trying to anticipate the plot developments before they happened. So, let me set you straight, there is no twist in You. There doesn't need to be; this story is creepy and thrilling enough on it's own and doesn't need any tricks from the author to set it apart from those within the genre.
You by Caroline Kepnes is easily the best psychological crime thriller I've read in ages, and I can't wait to read the next in the series Hidden Bodies and follow Joe into his next obsession.
My rating = *****
Carpe Librum!
