I've been promising myself I would pick up Hidden Bodies by Caroline Kepnes when I got a break in my review books. And I've been pushing it off, picking up other books instead. Then, the other day, I found myself in the situation where I had a break and I picked it up, and I am absolutely KICKING myself that I didn't pick it up sooner.
This is the sequel to You by Caroline Kepnes and first of all, if you haven't read that book, what are you doing with your life?! Anyways, this is a sequel, not a companion novel, so you definitely need to read that book before this one.
Also, just to pre-warn, this review may contain some spoilers for You, as it is the review for the sequel. It's pretty much spoiler free in terms of this book though.
Again with this book, we get the typical slightly sociopathic tendencies of everyone's favourite murderer, Joe Goldberg. I read You as a physical book first, and then listened to the audio book and it was really great to hear Joe, and get a feel for the pacing of his narrative. It's very much a run-on sentence, running out of breath writing style, and the audio book exemplifies the pacing perfectly.
This story follows Joe and his journey through Los Angeles, specifically Hollywood. I won't say too much on how he ends up in LA, other than the fact that it doesn't exactly have a happy reason. Anyways, he gets there and ends up getting a job at a bookstore, and befriends an actress named Love Quinn. Joe is pretty much accepted as one of the Quinn's own.
All the while however, links to Joe's past are bringing him down. New investigations are ordered on the deaths he caused, and of course, the infamous Mug of Urine he left behind haunts him. As much as he's trying to move forward with his new life, he is constantly dragged down by his old one.
In a twisted sort of way, I actually felt bad for Joe. I mean, yes, he's a murderer, but at the same time, he's been "clean" for a while and is trying to be better for Love and their relationship. I felt like in this book, his relationship with Love was better than with Beck's, more genuine. He had to kind of corner Beck, while Love came willingly.
I think compared to You, I liked You better. While it was great to see Joe again, and what he's been up to, I just think that the first book has so much more power because you don't really know what Joe is capable of. In this book, you know he has killed before, that he is capable and willing, if the occasion arises where it is necessary. So once you get to this book, it's pretty much expected that he would kill anyone who crosses him. And I think that took away a little from the story. There were definitely some times where he questions whether or not it is necessary to eliminate a person, once he gets more involved in his relationship with Love, so I suppose it gets a little more uncertain as the story progresses.
The whole time I was reading this book, I was thinking that he was going to get caught. A couple of one off murders, of people who were depressed, or there was some sort of possible motive for another person, he pulled those killings off easily, and, for the most part, cleanly. Once he gets to LA, he starts to get sloppy. He makes stuff up, he is new, and automatically people are suspicious of the New Yorker. I also found he was more remorseful. In You, all the murders were almost clinical. These had more emotion in them. And I think this was part of the reason why I was so sure he would get caught this time around. Obviously, I am not going to say what happens, but it's definitely what I expected and not what I expected, if that makes sense.
Overall, I am really loving this series and I hope that Caroline Kepnes has at least one more book planned for Joe because I cannot have it end this way!