You

Amazing, gripping, fascinating! The narration is excellent so the book is unputdownable. The plot is so good that you can't believe that somebody made it up. Loved it!

The main character is a literal monster. But I still couldn’t put this book down. This Joe is very different from the Joe on Netflix. Can’t wait to read more!

I picked up You thinking I’d read a few chapters before bed—big mistake. I devoured this book in one straight sitting, completely sucked into Joe Goldberg’s twisted, obsessive mind. Caroline Kepnes has crafted a psychological thriller unlike any other, pulling you in with her disturbingly charming narrator and leaving you unsettled long after the final page.Joe is the kind of character that shouldn’t be likable—but somehow, in his warped, delusional way, he keeps you hooked. His narration is so unsettlingly intimate that it feels like he’s whispering directly into your ear, making his obsession with Beck all the more chilling. The way Kepnes writes is sharp, witty, and uncomfortably realistic, making every page pulse with tension.And let’s be clear—this book is WAY scarier than the Netflix adaptation. While Penn Badgley does a phenomenal job in the show, nothing compares to being inside Joe’s mind as he rationalizes every terrifying, predatory move he makes. The book’s psychological depth and relentless unease take the story to another level.

I approached this book without much in the way of expectations. I knew the gist of the plot from reading the description and thought it sounded intriguing, and the book came highly recommended by enough people that I gave it a try even though I'd never read anything by this author before. Right from the start, I found it quite gripping.Not only does this book tell the story of an obsessed, lovestruck stalker, but it's written from his perspective. Furthermore, it's written in the second person, as the narrator directly addresses the object of his affections. Were the author less skilled, this could easily be a mistake, but in Kepnes' hands, it actually makes for a fascinating literary experience. Not many authors would want to write a book in the second person, and fewer could pull it off. For that alone, this book is worth reading. But that's not all it offers. Indeed, You provides a fascinating peek behind the curtain of a severely disturbed (if not actually monstrous or evil) person. The opening chapters promise a book unlike anything you've ever read and the rest of the book delivers on that promise, particularly the ending, which I'll not spoil but will say is satisfying.You boasts a unique cast of characters, from the narrator (Joe) to the object of his affections (Beck) to all of the side characters who come and go throughout the drama. Almost to a person, these characters alternate, sometimes quite rapidly, between being completely sympathetic and utterly unlikable. The narrator himself is clearly a disturbed individual but the reader is prompted regularly to find him more pitiable than evil, and occasionally even to find him more admirable than terrifying--at least until he does something to remind the reader that he is a card-carrying member of the Crazy Folks Tribe. Because the other characters are all viewed through his perspective, one could write at length about unreliable narration (though I suspect anyone who ever sat through an undergraduate creative writing course has had his or her fill of conversations centered on unreliable narrators, and I think Joe the Crazy Narrator would probably agree with me), but more interesting is the thought (and the correct one, I think) that Joe's narration actually is fairly reliable and that the other characters really do also oscillate between being likable (or at least normal) on the one hand and quite contemptible on the other. The result is a novel populated not merely by realistically human characters but by a fascinating cross-section of the dysfunctional.Unfortunately, while the book opens and ends quite powerfully, it did drag for me a little bit during the middle third. While there was always some interesting event taking place, I couldn't help but feel that the novel's tension wavered slightly. I was never really bored with it and I never considered putting it down, but I do think it's probably a little longer than it needed to be and that it could have just as much impact for the reader if some of the middle were left out.Still, despite some flaws, it *does* pack a punch. I have found this book on a lot of lists of the supposedly scariest books in print. I respectfully disagree. I didn't honestly find it scary at all. But I did find it thought-provoking and emotionally-loaded in other ways that make it quite a memorable read.

Wow this book was really good and it got into my bones and it really reeled me in and now I am typing in compound compound sentences so great was its effect.Lol.I came to this book via the Netflix (via Lifetime) show. Late in season 1, I discovered the show was based on this book. To my very pleasant surprise, I discovered I own this book on my Kindle (gasp). Kindles are so noveau and fashion forward and snotty and snooty and books should be touched and caressed and creased and written in. Books transfer germs.Don't mind if I reminisce a moment. I bought this Kindle book when it came out. I don't remember doing so. I had only owned my Kindle for 1 month. How did I find it? This author had just written short stories before. My Kindle was VIRTUALLY BRAND NEW and I was mostly using a site to find free books at that time. I just don't know. But I own it and so I finished episode 9 and before watching the finale, I read this book.It is difficult and frankly much less fun reading the book AFTER seeing the show/movie. In fact, I hate it. Had I planned my life more carefully, I would've checked to see if there was a book. But how to do that? Bored one night, I just semi-randomly picked this show on Netflix. What am I supposed to do, research every show on Netflix to see if there's a book, and if so, read the book? How do I know whether the show will be any good? I already read a lot of books. Watching shows is my non-book veg out time. Can these worlds actually coexist? I need some ice cream.Well, once the genie is out of the bottle, you cannot put her back. Unless she is Barbara Eden. And even that is difficult. She puts herself back. When she wants.So I know what Joe looks and acts like and I know what Beck looks and act like and how can I enjoy this book with the MENTAL IMAGES ALREADY IN MY HEAD???? Developing mental images (after all, life is really just a series of visuals, words mean nothing without visuals) while reading a book is really what it's all about. And I couldn't do that because FREAKING NETFLIX ALREADY DID IT FOR ME.So as I began I was perturbed and not a little disturbed and somewhat consternated but thank god not constipated and on my merry way I went, though not merrily.The book is a bit choppy and things skip forward and you get a feel for that but I was not ready for that because the TV show seems more linear and connected. So my first thought was that I didn't like the book that much and THANK GOD FOR THE SHOW.But around 25% the book really dug its claws in and I began analyzing various things, like why did they change certain characters' names and races? Why does the show have a whole set of key characters (Joe's neighbors) that are not in the book? Why do TV writers feel the need to change so many things? I get that TV is different than books and some changes are helpful but anytime I compare a book and a show i ALWAYS see unnecessary TV changes. Alas, alas.Read the book. It's interesting and it's fascinating and it's not the greatest book ever written but it's pretty darn good and I gave it 4 stars and not many books get 5 stars from me.This is a very very long review for me but I broke out my laptop and I'm having fun, even if you're not. Get some ice cream. Normally I write reviews on my phone and the PRIMARY if not ONLY point of writing them is to create a record of the books I've read (which Alex Cross did I read last?) and to record a quick snapshot of how I felt about the book, for posterity, if not posteriors. Now that we have lovely Goodreads (whose reviews don't link to Amazon unless you write them ON YOUR KINDLE, even though Amazon owns Goodreads, shut down its discussion board and pushed us to Goodreads, GRRR), I don't need to write a review on Amazon to remember that I read a book. Goodreads does it for me and I like that very much. But I've been doing it this way for 5 years and i'm just going to keep on doing it. And now I'm copying and pasting my reviews to Goodreads since that is now where I manage my reading habits and what are our kids going to do with our digital products and our digital footprint when we die? All this becomes nothingness but who gets all the Kindle books? Should I include that in my will? And the URLs of all my online accounts and the related user IDs and passwords so they can stop all online subscriptions and get whatever music, books and other content I own???Why does Amazon give us a small box to type reviews in? This box holds about 5 lines and it's not convenient and maybe Amazon is encouraging short reviews but it seems every Amazon box to type in is too small and in fact it seems that's a phenomenon across the whole WWW. Come on, when is Generation Z or whoever is in charge now going to RISE UP and MAKE TECHNOLOGY BETTER??? So many advances to be made.I liked the book.The end.