PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Working in a library gives me access to tons of great books. Over the past year, I’ve read The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell, The Troop and The Acolyte by Nick Cutter, Scythe by Neal Shusterman, Horrorstör and My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix, We The Animals by Justin Torres, Scowler and Rotters by Daniel Kraus and even Spending The Holidays With People I Want To Punch In The Throat by Jen Mann. But the one that stood out the most to be was the 2014 book titled You: A Novel by debut author Caroline Kepnes.
Labelled by Stephen King as “Hypnotic and scary… Totally original,” You: A Novel speaks from the POV of the seemingly innocuous Joe Goldberg, a man with a devoted, obsessive streak who lovingly stalks the beautiful Guinevere Beck after she walks into the bookstore where he works. I have no words to describe the intensity of Joe’s fanatical, laser-sighted thoughts as the author draws her readers down the rabbit hole of his mind. Instead, let me offer you a few lines from the opening paragraph of the book so you can see what I mean.
“You walk into the bookstore and you keep your hand on the door to make sure it doesn’t slam. You smile, embarrassed to be a nice girl, and your nails are bare and your V-neck sweater is beige and it’s impossible to know if you’re wearing a bra but I don’t think that you are. You’re so clean that you’re dirty and you murmur your first word to me – hello – when most people would just pass by, but not you, in your loose pink jeans, a pink spun from Charlotte’s Web and where did you come from?… Look at you, born into my world today. I’m shaking and I’d pop an Ativan but they’re downstairs and I don’t want to pop an Ativan. I don’t want to come down. I want to be here, fully, watching you bite your unpainted nails and turn your head to the left, no, bite the pinky, widen those eyes, to the right, no, reject biographies, self-help (thank God), and slow down when you make it to fiction. Yes.'”
From the first page, Joe thinks of Beck as his, an object he raises up on a pedestal and devotes his life to protecting… even if that means lifting her name from her credit card, tracking her social media accounts to find out where she’ll be so he can bump into her again, breaking into her apartment by faking a gas leak and logging into her computer to learn how to make her love him, and maybe even knocking off a friend or two that he deems unworthy of her time and devotion. But isn’t that what love is? Doing everything in your power to make sure your beloved is the best that they can be, as happy as humanly possible?
This is where the book snags you. You follow Joe’s stream-of-consciousness as he studies Beck and molds himself into her perfect boyfriend, and you can’t help but downplay his crimes and keep turning those pages, hoping he gets the girl. Who wouldn’t want someone to be completely devoted to them? You can see his point, and you know why he takes these actions… you even begin to agree with the things he’s doing. He’s not a stalker because stalkers don’t love, not the way Joe Goldberg loves. He’s an antihero you can’t help but root for.
Of course, You: A Novel also made me realize how much trouble one can get into by being polite and friendly. Playing nice with the wrong person can flip an irreversible switch in their mind, turning a smile and some trivial conversation into something they deem as so much more extensive. With the internet being what it is, hunting someone down through clues in their social media is something even the least tech savvy person can figure out. Nothing posted ever really goes away, and even the most innocent selfie can become the one picture that speaks to someone unbalanced on a their own deep, off-kilter level. I almost want to flush my phone down the toilet and chuck my computer in the garbage, just to make sure some creeper isn’t checking me out. Excuse me while I slap a strip of duct tape to my laptop camera.
And that, my friends, is what makes You my favorite read of last year. I’ve never in my life felt such relatability and fear all at the same time before. I can’t recommend this book enough.
I’m not the only one to feel this way. This past fall, Lifetime premiered a 10-episode series that was created by Supernatural’s Sera Gamble and Riverdale’s Greg Berlanti. (Strangely enough, I hadn’t heard of the show before I picked up the book, and it debuted two weeks after I finished it) It stars Penn Badgley (Dan Humphrey on Gossip Girl) and Elizabeth Lail (Anna on Once Upon A Time) as Joe and Beck, and I couldn’t have picked two better actors for the job. If you’re interested, you can watch all ten episodes here. Keep your eyes peeled, though, since season 2 of You will be shown as a Netflix exclusive. If you want to find out what else Joe Goldberg is up to, check out the sequel to You: A Novel, titled Hidden Bodies. If you’re anything like me, you won’t be able to help yourself.
