YOU - Caroline Kepnes

Synopsis:

"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.

A terrifying exploration of how vulnerable we all are to stalking and manipulation, debut author Caroline Kepnes delivers a razor-sharp novel for our hyper-connected digital age. You is a compulsively readable page-turner that’s being compared to Gone GirlAmerican Psycho, and Stephen King’s Misery."


I read this book in May as part of a buddy read with a friend from Instagram. 

I'm not actually sure if i enjoyed the read at all. It made me feel so uncomfortable a times, especially with the use of graphic language and descriptions of sex scenes/thoughts.  I do however, appreciate that this means Caroline achieved what she set out to do, make a super creepy and realistic character. I'm sure that Joe is supposed to make you feel uncomfortable, i'm just not sure that is what i want to feel when reading a book?

I felt that there were parts, particularly towards the end that felt rushed or that could have held a bit more depth within them. 

The book is actually pretty realistic when you think about how unguarded we are with social media and our phones etc. This could quite easily happen to any one of us, although i'm pretty sure i'm a bit more savvy than Beck, who at times REALLY annoyed me with her actions.

This read left me with mixed feelings overall. I scored the read a 3 out of 5. Maybe it is one to try again in a couple of years time...




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