About the book: Joe Goldberg is no stranger to hiding bodies. In the past ten years, this thirty-something has buried four of them, collateral damage in his quest for love. Now he’s heading west to Los Angeles, the city of second chances, determined to put his past behind him.
In Hollywood, Joe blends in effortlessly with the other young upstarts. He eats guac, works in a bookstore, and flirts with a journalist neighbor. But while others seem fixated on their own reflections, Joe can’t stop looking over his shoulder. The problem with hidden bodies is that they don’t always stay that way. They re-emerge, like dark thoughts, multiplying and threatening to destroy what Joe wants most: true love. And when he finds it in a darkened room in Soho House, he’s more desperate than ever to keep his secrets buried. He doesn’t want to hurt his new girlfriend—he wants to be with her forever. But if she ever finds out what he’s done, he may not have a choice…
About the author: Caroline Kepnes is from Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Her first novel YOU was translated into 19 languages and shortlisted for a CWA New Blood Award. Her second novel HIDDEN BODIES is a sequel that Booklist describes as ‘the love child of Holden Caulfield and Patrick Bateman’. Caroline earned a BA in American Civilization at Brown University and worked as a pop culture journalist on Entertainment Weekly and a TV writer on 7th Heaven. She now writes full-time and lives in Los Angeles. A 10 episode TV series based on YOU will premiere on Lifetime Network in 2018.
My Review: I read YOU, Caroline Kepnes’ debut novel in December 2015 and thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought Joe Goldberg was one of the best psychopaths I’ve read about and loved his warped sense of humour. I downloaded the sequel Hidden Bodies and then forgot all about it until Netflix new 10 part drama called YOU, which I binge-watched in a DAY and then I needed to read more about Joe and what happened next….
I think I loved Hidden Bodies even more, especially as I was now imagining the rather tasty Penn Badgley playing the role of Joe which let’s face it – is pretty easy on the eye.
Hidden Bodies follows on almost immediately from where YOU finishes and Joe Goldberg is still desperately searching for love, despite being hurt and betrayed by his previous girlfriends. It’s hard not to feel empathy for Joe even though he has a strange way of showing his affection (murder, kidnapping, stalking) and it’s not his fault he keeps getting mixed up with people who don’t see the real Joe underneath.
Without spoiling the book for you, Joe finds himself on a mission to Hollywood to search (track down and kill) another ex-girl friend and this is when the fun really starts (and the bodies start racking up).
Another hilarious, dark and deeply disturbing love story and I can’t wait to read more from this author.
Hurry up Netflix and start filming this one.
