You: Obsessive and Chilling

Reached in perfect condition thankfully and is a great read overall.

A good twist too it’s prequel, more chilling creepy and a justice to the main character. Don’t miss to get hold of this one.

We’re back with Joe Goldberg, our charming neighborhood psychopath and serial killer. The first book in this series, ‘You’, was all kinds of terrifying and yet, we couldn’t look way. Joe was just too darn likable and funny. Don’t you hate it when serial killers do that? In this sequel, Joe has a new girlfriend. Amy Adam. He’s learnt his lesson with Beck. Amy is different. Amy is amazing. Except when she robs him and scoots off to Hollywood. Bad move, Amy. So of course, Joe must follow her there and exact his vengeance. Hollywood is no New York and Joe’s distaste is apparent as soon as he sets foot there. His hunt for Amy will take him into the razzle dazzle of Hollywood and into the line of sight of Love (both literally and figuratively). Joe is smitten. He’ll do anything for love after all. The trail of bodies in his wake proves it.Now to the review. I did not enjoy this as much as the first book. In the first book Joe was likable and full of snarky opinions. When he wasn’t killing people in cold blood he was actually quite charming. In this sequel, Joe still has some of his trademark snark but is less likable. He comes across as whiny, aggressive and very pathetic. There’s nothing charming about him. I wasn’t a fan of the Hollywood setting. Everything screams FAKE in Hollywood. I’ll take New York any day. One of the things I liked about Joe in the first book was his ardent love of books and that he was a bookstore manager. A regular ‘Joe. Here we have Joe getting seduced by the Hollywood elite and hobnobbing with big names. The never ending name dropping of stars was quite annoying. Character motivations aren’t very realistic and the plot is all over the place. The ending provides no closure which probably means there’s another book in the works. I’m not sure I will pick that up.My advice: Stick to the first book and pretend it’s a standalone.Rating: 2 stars

A bit of a You hipster, I fell in love with Kepnes’ first book two years ago and was so excited to read the second after becoming truly enamoured with Joe’s character. However, Hidden Bodies is arguably the worst book I’ve ever read - and the only one I actually threw in the bin rather than donated/ held onto. The story is sloppy, it’s fantastical and too far fetched for words. The beauty of You is the realism. You fully believe the characters and what is happening, but Hidden Bodies reads more like a bad soap opera with too much drama and unbelievable things happening. None of the other characters have been at all fleshed out and Joe, dare I say it, is tiresome. It appears that Kepnes was writing the sequel to a tight deadline - it has none of the depth or clever, thought out plot of its predecessor - it’s just a rushed story that barely makes any sense. A real shame, and a huge disappointment as the potential for Joe as a series is staggering. I just hope that this book isn’t what Netflix are planning on basing season two of the tv series on as it’ll leave a lot of fans sorely disappointed.

After loving the first book and being thoroughly gripped from beginning to end, this was soooo disappointing! I couldn't even finish it I was so bored. Seems to be a comment on Hollywood and the acting and celebrity circuit, rather than about getting into Joe's psyche. Completely shallow and beyond boring.

Ok so we all know Joe Goldberg either from the first book, You, or from the Netflix series of the same name. So we know Joe, who he is, we've lived inside his head, we know how he thinks and we've seen what happens to those around him but knowing all this doesn't deter me from wanting to climb onto his lap, Joe Goldberg is my bookworm crush.I loved this sequal just as much as I loved book one, I literally want to stand on my balcony and scream to the author to hurry up and finish book three because I just HAVE to know what happens next.I have barely put this book down the past two days, I've been on the edge of the pool totally absorbed in every thought that goes on inside Joe's head, I can not wait to meet up with this guy again.5 solid Goldberg stars.

Though I finished this book, and enjoyed many parts of it, it felt unconnected to the first book, and totally unnecessary.The character Joe feels like he was picked up and dropped into a different world, and not in the way intended given that he moves to LA.He comes across a number of different characters, a lot are very clichéd stereotypes of what you might expect to find in Hollywood. But this works in the books favour. They are characters that you either love or hate and in comparison, makes you want to either love or hate our lead character.One thing I will say, the writing reminds me of Chuck Palahnuik. I strong positive in my opinion, just a little long winded, with a very quick round up to the story.

Hidden Bodies has none of the impact that You did, but I didn't really expect to as we already know the main character and we know the style of narration already and, sadly, it was those that made You so fresh and enjoyable. Already, Joe is beginning to become an annoyance to the reader and his manipulations this time around are far less subtle and he is clearly nowhere near as clever as he thinks he is. This is in stark contrast to the first novel so it comes as quite a shock to the reader as you do expect, nay anticipate, more of the same.By moving Joe to California there was such a lot of scope to move in a different direction with him, not to rehabilitate him but just do something other than the stalker guy with a penchant for murder. About half way through it actually felt to me like Joe was suffering from locked in syndrome and that everything was merely playing out in his head rather than in reality, that somehow murdering Beck in the previous book had caused a psychotic break and now he was lying drooling in a bed somewhere and this was his fantasy. To be entirely honest this unfounded thought actually made the rest of the book moderately enjoyable and is solely responsible for the middle of the road 3 stars I have given it.The story itself is bitty and far more incredulous than You ever was. I expect to have to suspend a certain amount of belief when reading any book and although I was looking forward to this book I was not expecting it to have any real leaning on reality. Unfortunately it has no relationship to reality at all. From drugged up talk show hosts, to a pair of bizarre twins, to Joe suddenly becoming a genius in his new field it all has a sheen of surreality about it, then again the bulk of the book is set among the uber rich of Hollywood so maybe I shouldn't have been that surprised.You and Providence are great books by Caroline Kepsnes but this one definitely doesn't live up to either of them. I wouldn't advise you to avoid reading it but I would warn you that you may it find it ultimately disappointing.