Reviews with content warning for Animal death - Hidden Bodies

I continue to be interested in this series and the shenanigans that Joe keeps getting himself into. While I don't think this was as strong as the original/its predecessor, it was still enjoyable and easy to listen to with Santino Fontana continuing to deliver an eerily excellent performance as Joe.

A change in scenery due to a continuation of the ending of the 1st book was interesting as this book starts closely after the ending of the first book, as we see Joe get into a relationship with Amy and how their relationship ends acts as a trigger for how Joe ends up in LA. Seeing Joe try to integrate himself into this new type of lifestyle and manipulate these people was really interesting and I found that these characters had well more character to them rather than in the first book where most of them are kind of forgettable besides Beck and Peach. I do wish that we had explored more of the hunting/tracking down Amy storyline as it is the main reason why Joe goes to LA only for it to get dropped once, he finds Love and sees Amy once, it does get a resolution later and does add to the delusion narrative of Joe thinking he is a good person by doing the bare minimum e.g. not murdering and/or stalking someone but the storyline kind of gets dropped from most of the book until near the end.

It's kind of hard not to compare this to the TV show and vice versa but while I do prefer the interpretation of Love in the TV show I did still like Love in this book and whether she will be in the next book I don't know but if she is I hope she remains as interesting and dimensional as she was in this. Love is much more outspoken than Beck when it comes to Joe and while she does have personal issues and drama, she's also confident in who she is and what she believes in. I do prefer the killer twist in the show, but this interpretation of Love is still solid, and I hope she's in the next book (Though I have a feeling that she might get the Amy treatment of being the plot device to bring Joe somewhere new so that he can then stalk the new main woman in the book hopefully this will not be the case)

I do feel like at times the book does drag a little bit, there are parts where not much happens and character deaths and decisions only come to be important either in the moment or near the end when everything is going down. I think parts of this book could have been cut down or cut out altogether to avoid a sluggish pace but overall, the book kept me interested and entertained. Overall, again another solid entry into the You series and one that I delayed finishing as I left it with one chapter left to listen to for about a week or so for no real reason whatsoever but I still remembered much of it, I'm interested in seeing how the cliffhanger ending plays out for the next book; will it be the same as the TV show adaptation or something completely different and original?

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kingsteph's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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alicelalicon's review against another edition

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challenging dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

As always, Joe is fucking batshit. I like that there are deviations from the show in the book — it helps keep it interesting. Also interesting is Joe’s reasoning/logic skill. I am fascinated yet terrified by his brain.

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vkitoria's review against another edition

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challenging dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

i loooved the first book, this one i simply liked. the writing and character voice was on par with the first, but honestly? the show wrote joe’s time in LA about a thousand times better. everything that happened in this book just felt messy. not sure if i’ll read the next one, i’ll see!

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idoballet's review against another edition

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Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

I almost didn't read the second book but I was curious to see how much it differed from the tv adaptation so I caved in, I only wish I hadn't. The book isn't always better, the plot was weak and Joe is a creepy/perverted murderer, yes, but the narration is unbearable. I couldn't stand him talking about fucking women and talking about women's bodies every other sentence. (e.g.,

"I make a shitty motel coffee and go on tinder. [...] Jessica salinger, I recognize her from a picture of the family in the article. She's a prettier version of Peach and she's less than a mile away. This is what I needed to know, that she was still here; her fucking Facebook and Twitter are private but her pussy, apparently, is open."

Honestly the only reason I didn't dnf this book was because I was sharing my funny annotations and the creepy quotes with my friends.

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