📚 Finished listening to You by Caroline Kepnes.

This is the book behind the TV show “You”. And, at least from my slightly distant memory of the show, it’s pretty much the same story presented in the same style in a different format. So here again, our protagonist narrates his thoughts and dreams as he instantly falls in love with, and becomes ever more dangerously obsessed by, a young lady who visits his bookstore.

Where it goes is not exactly unpredictable. Not much of a spoiler to say that the story contains sex and violence, perhaps a little more graphically than necessary. Shades of the classic “women as perpetual victims” genre and a couple of other tropes are on display. But, to be fair, the girl in question here is integral to and features throughout, the story, and the first / second person narrative style that made it so compelling to me probably makes this unavoidable. It’s not like the guy doing the talking is presented as either a reliable narrator, let alone a sympathetic character.

It’s the sort of thriller that’s all the more chilling for being somewhat plausible. If nothing else, the story might encourage folk to lock down their Facebook a bit.