"You" Trilogy Reviewed
Today I review Caroline Kepnes' "You" novels (Spoilers)
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Introduction
My name is Ethan Kline, author of the Younger Colors Blog and lead for the band of the same name. Today, I’m going to be doing a deep dive on the You trilogy, a collection of novels following anti-hero Joe Goldberg in his mission for true love. As he travels to every corner of the country, it is still debated whether he has or is just a killer, incapable of love. But we love good old, Joe! I’d trust him with my children. This is a spoiler review of You, Hidden Bodies, and You Love Me, so strap in. Note that the third novel will be nothing like the upcoming season 3 of the Netflix series. Before I get started, sign up for our newsletter! You’ll receive all of my posts in your inbox the moment I upload.
You
Joe Goldberg works at a bookstore in New York and goes back to his regular life after getting dumped by Candace. However, Joe’s journey begins when he meets the perfect Guinevere Beck. While he is convinced she is the one for him, Joe realizes that she is not everything he could ever want and that obstacles lie in their path, one being Beck’s boyfriend, Benji. At this point in the story, you’d maybe expect Joe to lay off, right? But no, Joe does the next best thing and kidnaps and murders Benji. It was for the better, though! He then goes to kill Beck’s best friend, Peach Salinger. And you know what? Beck, totally oblivious to Joe’s murderous tendencies, falls in love with him. I know, it’s like the sweetest thing. Before I begin reviewing the second half of the novel, I’d like to give an honorable mention to a side-character who works at Joe’s bookstore, Ethan. Ethan is the nicest character in the whole trilogy and is Joe’s only genuine friend in the series. He calls liquor “sauce” and is the most wholesome guy in all of literature. Okay, continue.
We’re always rooting for Joe despite his hidden bodies. He’s charming, great with children, and very romantic. He’s also a very humorous narrator, and as he builds up the story he has these little inside jokes with the reader that just tickle me. Things seem to be going perfectly for the couple until Beck, unfaithful Beck, cheats on Joe with Dr. Nicky, her therapist! Joe tries to sort things out with her, but as things settle between the two, Beck discovers Joe’s box of “souvenirs:” Beck’s old phone, Benji’s ashes from his cremation, and a bunch of other goodies. Beck tries to escape Joe, but Joe kidnaps her, locks her in his basement, and kills her as he did his ex-girlfriend, Candace. So, with four deaths on Joe’s hands already, we move on to Hidden Bodies.
Hidden Bodies
Joe meets Love Quinn, a rich heiress, after moving to Los Angeles. The two work together at The Pantry, the Quinns grocery store. As Joe gets settled into his new apartment he meets Delilah, and after they ‘duke it out’, Delilah is falling for Joe. Joe doesn’t see eye-to-eye with Delilah, however, and ghosts her. He attends local comedian Henderson’s party after Henderson makes a joke about one of Joe’s exes. Once the party was over, Joe drugs and kills him. He also picks up some cool loot, a pair of Henderson-sponsored headphones, and puts them in a bag full of things he used to tidy up the murder to stage it like a suicide. On his way to his apartment, Fincher, a celebrity stalker police officer, stops Joe and harasses him and takes his headphones. As the media reports of Henderson’s “suicide”, Delilah and Fincher connect the dots and discover Joe is the culprit, and Joe has no choice but to kill them too and dump their bodies in the ocean. What a silly guy!
Joe connects with Love and they have a romance brewing but face complications when Love’s twin brother, Forty, faces drug abuse issues and manipulates his family for affection. Forty is a screenwriter living in Love’s shadow and gets Joe to help him with his films. Joe realizes he is a great writer and their film gets a lot of offers, but Forty takes all of the credit. To celebrate Forty’s accomplishment, he drives to Vegas drunk and harasses everyone until Joe has to come to pick up the pieces. He drives Forty to a hot spring and tries to drown him, but after driving back to Love he learns that Forty survived. Now, Forty threatens to tell Joe’s secret unless he continues writing all of his films. This offer doesn’t last long, though, because Forty gets hit by a car only days later. Love is free of the burden of an out-of-control sibling but still grieves. As their love story continues, Love becomes pregnant with Joe’s child, and Joe decides this is the time to tell her about his old lover, Guinevere Beck. Love takes the story very well at first and admits she has blood on her hands too. Although, she gets a swat team on Joe at a freaking Taco Bell where they arrest him. Joe forgives Love but faces so many charges that this could be the end of him. This is where You Love Me begins.
You Love Me
A long while after being in jail for the murder of many, Joe is bailed out by Love Quinn but is forced to sign a contract agreeing to move to Washington and to stay away from their son who is a year old as the novel begins. Joe has no choice but to move to Bainbridge, a small island near Seattle. To prove he is a different man, he begins volunteering at a library where he meets Mary Kay DiMarco. Joe is head over heels for her but tries to win her over the old-fashioned way. You know, by not murdering all of her loved ones. However, he quickly learns Mary Kay is married and has a kid. He scopes out her house but is ambushed by Mary Kay’s best friend, Melanda, who thinks he’s after Mary Kay’s daughter, Nomi. The fight results in Joe knocking Melanda out and locking her in his basement. He knows something needs to be done about her but doesn’t want to kill her, but Melanda kills herself before Joe can make his mind up.
Joe is still trying to stay old-fashioned in winning Mary Kay’s love, but as we read on we realize Joe is just the same old Joe. He breaks into her house and plants drugs in her husband Phil’s drawers resulting in his death and Mary Kay’s friend, Seamus, dies at the hands of one of Joe’s friends. One long and winding plot point in the novel is when Love and Joe meet to discuss their child. The dispute ends up with Joe getting shot in the head and Love killing herself. Joe recovers, fortunately. While Joe does not kill anyone in the entire novel, he is surrounded by death. In the epilogue, Joe has moved to Florida after the doctors pull the plug on Mary Kay. She was in a coma for almost a year after Nomi, her daughter, pushed her down a flight of stairs. Throughout the entire series, Joe has a kill count of twelve. With a fourth book on the way and the third season of the series releasing on Netflix, there’s so much more Joe can do from here.
Here are stills from the first two seasons of the Netflix show:
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