I know what you’re thinking. “Ava, you know this show is like ten years old and way past its relevance, right?”

First off, why are you being so rude?

Second, this post is culturally relevant now- like a month after I read the first book, Caroline Kepnes announced a new novel in the series: a prequel before the events of book one. (EDIT 6/11: This post took me so long to compose that You First has now been published, so I’ll be covering it as well in this post!)

So there.

I saw this show everywhere back when it was first a hit. Everyone was talking about it, and I resisted for a while (that dumb hanger-on tendency from middle school to eschew popular media), but I did get around to checking it out.

And I really liked it! But it was one of those situations where you really like the show and watch the first three or four episodes, but then something new catches your eye or you don’t have time to watch stuff for a while and you just forget about it, even though you were really enjoying it. So I watched, I think, the first three or four, then forgot about it. I heard vaguely about it again when season two came out, but then it faded from my memory.

Fast forward ten years!

We read The End of the World As We Know It in book club late last year, and one of the first stories (it might even have been the very first, I can’t remember) was by Caroline Kepnes. I knew I’d heard that name somewhere before, and after really enjoying her story set in the universe of The Stand, I decided to check her out. And that’s when I saw she wrote the Joe Goldberg books, and I went “ooooooh”. Because I remembered really liking that show before I forgot about it!

So what’d I do?

I checked out the audiobook for You.

Note: I will not be giving any specific spoilers, but I will go over general plot points, so if you haven’t read/seen this series and want to go in totally blind, maybe come back to this post later.

Book One: You (2014)

He’s the narrator of all the Joe Goldberg audiobooks, and he is massively talented. His quick, dry, sultry voice is the first step toward endearing readers to this psychopath. Fun fact- he’s a Richland High graduate!

Even without Fontana’s amazing narration, You was a huge success for a reason. Kepnes handed us a clear villain capable of horrible things, but made him attractive, fiercely intelligent, and funny. She created such a unique character that while he is morally an antagonist, he works beautifully as the story’s protagonist. The book is written in second person, addressing Beck, and we are privy to all of Joe’s thoughts the moment they’re happening. There are so many great exchanges where Joe is absolutely seething with hatred for the person he’s talking to, and these little jabbing thoughts are intermixed in the dialogue in a way that made me laugh often.

My rating: 5/5

Season One of the Netflix Show

This is really what skyrocketed Kepnes’s characters to fame. This show was all people were talking about for a while, and I understand why.

Penn Badgley.

Yeah, just take a moment to appreciate him. These casting directors knew exactly what they were doing. Not only does Badgley sit in the collective cosmos as adorable boy-next-door Dan from Gossip Girl, he’s the literal perfect casting for Joe. His voice even sounds the same as Santino Fontana’s. He gives us vulnerable, smart, shy, and also sexy. He’s Joe personified. And his performance is incredible. I really believe no other actor could’ve done what he did with the character.

So what did they change? First, the character of Paco was created for the show. And that’s something they really did right. Some adaptations change things around for seemingly no good reason, but these writers knew what they had to do. While the book would primarily appeal to readers used to darker stories, they wanted this show to be just a little bit more accessible to a wider audience. So what did they do? They created Paco.

Not only is this kid adorable, but he serves a very important function: he makes Joe an unquestionably “good guy”. While Joe is clearly sick in his mind and literally murdering people, he sees this kid being abused and neglected and goes out of his way to help him, whether by giving him extra food or lending him books so he can escape his harsh home life, Joe is absolutely, impeccably, a good guy for Paco. He makes us believe, as Joe believes, that Joe really only hurts “bad” people (i.e. pretentious douchebags and people who upset Beck), making him a twisted sort of vigilante. The use of Paco makes it much easier for an everyday person to feel like it doesn’t make them a bad person to root for Joe.

Another big adaptation change was the featuring of Candace.

We knew Candace from brief mentions throughout book one, but (as far as I remember) we’re never told explicitly what exactly happened to her. We do know, mild spoilers, that according to the book cannon, she is dead by the time of the first book. So it was a bit of a surprise to see her so heavily featured already in season one when again, spoilers, we never hear her entire detailed “story” in the entire existing book canon (although I’m assuming that’s coming in You First, it only makes sense).

So it was a bit of a surprise when I saw her not only mentioned in, like, episode one, but actually with an actress casting and flashback sequences. Now, they’re not doing anything wrong here by fleshing out this element, but they do eventually go against book cannon in the last episode of season one. A strange choice, and we’re left hanging right after it happens. I guess I’ve got to see how Netflix handled book two.

Ratings

As an adaptation: 4/5

On its own: 5/5

Book Two: Hidden Bodies (2016)

Hidden Bodies changes things a bit. Joe leaves his home city of New York and goes to Los Angeles to chase someone down. While he’s there, he almost accidentally gets involved in the production industry, falling into a fast relationship with a wealthy sibling pair of producers. Chasing the person he followed there becomes secondary as he falls in love, makes friends (some real, some purely for the benefit they bring him), and gets into situations that really only appear to have one way out- more murders.

While it’s a departure from the cozy bookstore in New York with few characters to keep track of, it’s still a pretty good story that kept me engaged. Seeing Joe internal-monologuing all the fake and irritating LA people was a real treat, and the story has plenty of twists and turns to keep you going all the way to the end. It’s the only book in the series that isn’t in second person, but I think it works best that way. It’s not a letter to his love, it’s a telling of the events that happened when he moved to LA. The ending is pretty unexpected and really makes you ready for book three.

My rating: 4/5

Season Two of the Netflix Show

Knowing that we started to stray from the canon at the end of season one, I was a little primed for some more heavy-handed changes from the source material with season two. I was very interested to see who Victoria Pedretti played, too- I’m a big fan of her Flaniverse work. So I went in nervous but optimistic.

Also, watching the first episode, I feel a little stupid for not knowing Jenna Ortega was in this.

It was very apparent halfway through episode one that we are going very off canon here. The way Joe meets Love is not even trying to pretend to be close to the book. I will say, though- I’m a big fan of the actor they cast for Forty. He does douchebag without being outright irritating.

The fact that we’re seeing flashbacks from Joe’s childhood means we’re really just throwing the book out the window. One thing I appreciated about book Joe was that he didn’t try to justify his pathology with anecdotes from his childhood.

But I need to remain calm. Just because an adaptation is different from the book doesn’t mean it’s outright bad.

Right?

Well, I wouldn’t know. After watching the first episode of season two and not being able to find the time/motivation to keep going for a few weeks after, I realized something. I don’t want to watch this entire show.

Sorry.

You can call me a quitter if you want, but I’m a full believer in the idea that we only have a certain amount of time allotted in our lives to enjoy media, and if we’re not feeling a book, show, movie or video game, we should be able to drop it and move on without guilt if we’re not having fun.

Don’t worry, though! I did read all of the books! Those were good!

Book Three: You Love Me (2021)

You Love Me came about after a pretty significant hiatus for Kepnes. There was only a two-year gap between You and Hidden Bodies, while You Love Me took five years to cook. I’m not sure why it took longer, Kepnes was probably just busy with other projects or had some life events, but if I had been following the series as it came out, You Love Me would’ve felt like a comforting return to form.

Here, we follow after the events of Hidden Bodies. Joe has now moved on from his fast-paced LA life to hide away on an island in the Pacific Northwest called Bainbridge, only a ferry ride away from Seattle. I call it a return to form because we’re back in second person POV, and because we’re following Joe as he fixates on a girl and does anything he can to eliminate the obstacles keeping them apart. I thought of it as You but on hard mode- not only has Joe left a considerable wake of bodies in his path that could catch up to him at any time, but the love interest in this one starts out considerably much more unattainable than Beck ever was. She’s married and has a child, and she’s much older and more mature than Beck, so she proves a lot more difficult to manipulate.

The plot is still quite different from You, but it was engaging and there were, again, lots of twists that kept me listening way past my bedtime. The ending was even crazier than the last one, and you wonder where the heck we’re going to go from here.

My rating: 4/5

Book Four: For You and Only You (2023)

Until the new prequel comes out this spring, this is the latest entry in the Joe Goldberg saga. It follows many of the standard hallmarks that I like- second person POV, obsession with a woman and doing anything to win her, and Joe hating all the pretentious pricks around him. This time, he’s at Harvard participating in a writer’s fellowship, trying to work toward publishing his novel manuscript. This is a good character callback to Hidden Bodies, where Joe spends a considerable amount of time working on writing a screenplay. Of course, there’s a girl in the fellowship and he’s back on the obsessive track.

I feel bad for this book, because it seemed like I should have enjoyed it as much as You Love Me, but for some reason I had a bit of a hard time finishing. It didn’t have as many twists, and most of the action just followed these pretentious writers Joe was surrounded by in the fellowship. We didn’t have really any outside influences aside from one guy, who’s pretty much cast aside and never really important again after the 25% mark. While I did really appreciate the raw insight that came with Joe’s experiences trying to get people to read and pass along his manuscript (obviously applicable to my own life), it just didn’t keep me addicted like the other three books did.

Our ending was more open-ended than the previous three, much less of a shocker or bang, so I’m interested in where Kepnes is going to go from here in the timeline. As the next installment is a prequel to You, it seems that question won’t be answered for a few years. Do I want to see Joe live happily ever after, this psychopath we’ve all been somehow rooting for for ten years now? Or do I want that wake of bodies to finally catch up to him and land him either dead or in prison, where morally, he belongs? I don’t know, but I’m interested to see if Kepnes does.

My rating: 3/5

The Prequel: You First (2026)

Hey, it’s Ava from like four months forward in time! I took so long to finish this post that You First came out before it was done, so of course I had to include it as well. Fun fact: this is the first (and probably the last) audiobook I’ve ever pre-ordered. As a rule, I don’t like to support Amazon if I can help it, but I really, really wanted to put some money in Kepnes’s pocket and hear Santino do a young Joe.

I had a lot of fun with this book. We’re with Joe at age 17, which is a very fun and fresh point of view. I was surprised to find that his first love wasn’t Candace, given that she’s often referred to with reverence. Although we do end this book in a place that seems like it’s setting up his meeting Candace, which makes me think (and hope) that there will be a second prequel. Maybe we’re even doing a separate era! I would really like that.

I really enjoyed the early-2000s setting here (although there were a few phrases that felt modern and out of place, such as “negging” and “I hate that for you”). The image of Joe visiting internet cafes and obsessively checking the Missed Connections page on Craigslist is so in-character and fun.

Something that really stood out in this installment was Mr. Mooney. He’s not present at the bookstore in any of the other books, so this was the first time we really got to learn about his character and understand how he helped shape Joe into the sexy psychopath killer we know and love. It’s notable that Mr. Mooney almost seems to have Joe brainwashed- there are many moments where Joe calls back to admonishments he often makes regarding Joe’s self esteem and place in the world. It’s actually quite enlightening for Joe’s character. Same with his parents- we actually get real memories of them described to us for the first time here, and together these adult influences on Joe really paint a picture as to how his psyche became so damaged.

This book had the usual amount of fun twists and unexpected developments, and the plot moved just fast enough to keep me engaged the whole time. Also, I would like to say, Santino does a really impressive job of making young Joe sound like a naïve, lovesick teenager who really shouldn’t be left alone to make his way in the world. It’s very “kitten taken from its mother too soon” energy.

Definitely check this one out if you’re a You fan. Also, you don’t need to have read any of the other books aside from the first. There aren’t references you’ll only get if you’ve read all of them or anything like that. It’s really just a hilarious (seriously, I was laughing out loud in the shower) and kind of heartbreaking peek behind the curtain of Joe Goldberg.

My rating: 4/5

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In Summary

So, after reading every entry in this series and becoming vaguely familiar with the Netflix show, what’s my verdict?

I recommend at least reading the first book and checking out the first season of the show. The cliffhanger at the end of season one isn’t canon to the books so you can kind of just pretend those last five seconds don’t happen if you want.

But overall, the entire series is a good time and there aren’t any bad books. Kepnes has crafted an iconic and memorable anti-hero that we can’t help but fall for even as he does terrible things. If you’ve got the space on your TBR, I recommend the entire series.

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Monthly Writing Goals Update

22,546 / 20,000 words

You guys will have to wait til next week to learn how I managed to crush that word count goal. In short, I scheduled out my writing like a class schedule and it’s working.

In exciting news, eagle-eyed Instagram followers might have noticed a post on my story last week featuring a microphone and a kindle on a music stand. I’ll confirm to y’all now that yes, I am in the process of recording my own audiobooks. I’m working on Losing Air right now, and I’m anticipating having Cobwebs done by release date. Yay me!

Speaking of Cobwebs, I’m sure you’ve all been anxiously awaiting news on the physical pre-order status (sarcasm). As of right now, I’ve got everything set to go on that front except one final thing- I’ve got to go sign up for a PO box at the post office this weekend (so I don’t have to put my home address on the packages when they go out in September). But we should be all set for that by my next blog post. Here’s something fun- all physical orders get some little goodies shoved in there for free since I’m fulfilling them myself (also, they’ll all be signed, of course). So there’s your incentive to order a physical copy!

I did receive my physical proof of Cobwebs from Minuteman Press yesterday, and they’re looking great! So much easier and more pleasant to go through an actual human-run press than to fuck around with KDP’s god-awful cover formatting program.

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