You by Caroline Kepnes

From debut author Caroline Kepnes comes You, one of Suspense Magazine’s Best Books of 2014, and a brilliant and terrifying novel for the social media age.

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 Girl, American Psycho, and Stephen King’s Misery.

I recently finished reading this book and found it riveting.  So much so that I bought the sequel, Hidden Bones, which I am reading now.  You was a frightening look into the mind of a stalker, a pyschopath really.  Actually he was much more than that.  Joe Goldberg could be any man you might meet out and about with friends or in a random retail or grocery store.  What drives a person to be so fixated upon another?  And if so, would you, your friends or your family be safe?  Not if Joe Goldberg (or someone like him) has his sights set on you.  Love - that's all Joe wants.  Why is it so hard to find?   

Caroline Kepnes is a natural with her quick wit and fluent writing style.  She is hip and blunt and her characters dance around on the page.  Joe is scary as heck and Beck, she is self-absorbed and plays games of her own not knowing that Joe can read every word she types, texts, emails and tweets.  Joe's hope of finding romance turns into a deadly obsession.  As Beck's world slowly closes in on her, growing smaller and smaller as the novel progresses, will she realize in time that her relationship with Joe Goldberg is really not good for her or anyone around her?  Hopefully I've piqued your curiosity just enough to read it.  If so, let me know what you think.