Reviews with content warning for Stalking - Hidden Bodies

Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

Hidden Bodies by Caroline Kepnes

43 reviews

tmoore65's review against another edition

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

3.75

I enjoyed “You” better, although this was a good sequel. Joe is still an interesting character, he manages to be truly horrible but every once in a while he has a line that is quite funny.

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therese_nook68's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

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

Dnf @ 32%

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liz_ross's review against another edition

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dark reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

Let's put it simple. This book is pointless. You ended perfectly for the kind of book it was; a dark, not completly closed end that left you wondering and I loved it for that. And then Kepnes decides to write Hidden Bodies, trying to add more to a plot and a character that had nothing else to give - they had already been perfectly explored.

The strong advice about the dangers of social media? Lost. It had no impact, because it had already been done. The joy of meeting Joe and getting the chance to be inside his twisted mind? Lost. Joe had given everything he had in the first book, there was nothing new about him and that's exactly what I got - nothing new, just more deaths, revenge, stalking and a toxic obssession to a girl that is nowehere near love.

There was just nothing new and I think Kepnes ended up realizing that as well because for a while all she did was ramble without really adding anything to the plot. It's good Kepnes managed to keep a good pace that allowed the story to flow, otherwise I would still be reading it - and chances are I wouldn't finish it before the end of the year.

And whereas the lack of normal characters was tolerable in the first book, because everything was new and Joe's charm would make up for pretty much any negative thing, it was not tolerable in the second, where Joe is no longer new. Why can't anyone be normal?! Amy has serious issues and I wouldn't be surprised if she was diagnosed with kleptomania, Milo's attempt to win Love back is twisted and wrong in too many ways. Forty should have got himself into therapy. And Love has serious problems and anyone who doesn't see that has problems as well. With characters like these, it's not a surprise you ended up rooting for the psycopath, who in the end of the day is the saner among them.

Full review coming soon!

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gassypoogoblin's review against another edition

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dark funny tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I love the Netflix show and started reading the series. So far I love it! The books are different enough from the show that it’s still a very entertaining read.

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time_travel_tragedy's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Once again, Caroline Kepnes hits it out of the park with another amazing book in her You series. I honestly love this version of what happens with Joe so much better than the TV series season 2 version. If you liked the first book, you should really enjoy the second book.

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greenland's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.0

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jbells7's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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thefoxyreader's review against another edition

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dark funny slow-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? It's complicated

3.0

I’m reading through reviews of Hidden Bodies and it cracks me up that people complain about this book feeling like it was written by a 13-year-old boy who watches too much porn. It’s from the perspective of a narcissistic stalker/sexual predator/now serial killer. What exactly were you expecting?

Now, I’m not going to call Hidden Bodies a good book. It has a lot of issues, but this book is supposed to creep you out and make you uncomfortable. You aren’t supposed to love the main character. And it’s fine to not like the book because it’s gross and makes your skin crawl, but I find it weird that people act like this book was trying to do something other than be off-putting.

Following the events of Caroline Kepnes’s solid debut novel, You, Hidden Bodies follows Joe Goldberg as he relocates to Los Angeles to stalk another woman who in his perspective has wronged him. While living there, he meets the love of his life, who is literally named Love, and her dumbass twin brother, Forty. But with a mug of his urine still sitting in Peach Salinger’s house and more people getting in the way, Joe will do whatever it takes to have his happy ending with Love.

The best thing about Hidden Bodies is that Kepnes roasts the hell out of LA culture. This book is just one giant critique of a city where people’s dreams go to die. So, when Joe is very accurately deconstructing the perils of Hollywood, the anger-inducing traffic, and the hipster grocery stores, I was here for it.

However, this book is over 400 pages long, and making fun of LA isn’t going to fill up those pages. Unfortunately, the actual story doesn’t fill up those pages either. Once Joe gets to LA and meets Love, the story sloooooooowwwwwsss doooooowwwwnnn to an almost unbearable pace as nothing happens except for Joe and Love repeatedly having sex.

And this is where You, the Netflix series, is better than this book. The show realized that Love is equally crazy. Joe, narrating this book, never comes to that realization and Love is just the main object of his obsession. I guess this is on brand because I don’t think Joe would ever give anyone else credit for being his equal, but it still just makes Love an empty character.

So, yeah, I don’t hate this book but I don’t like it either. The writing still manages to be both funny and disturbing. I also thought it was funny that Joe is quick to become a serial killer. His main form of problem solving is to just straight up murder somebody.

I said before that You works best as a standalone novel, and Hidden Bodies does nothing to disprove that.

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kylantis's review

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dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

Honestly, the plot in this book makes no sense to Joe's character. Explanation:

This girl he loves screws him over and runs away and he goes after her across the country to kill her, and then before he manages to follow through, he falls in love with another girl along the way and completely forgets why he's there in the first place? And then he finds out he's going to be a dad and he's suddenly changed for the better?

Most of the book feels like filler and it drags, and the ending absolutely pissed me off also. Don't get me wrong, it was interesting, but Joe's character just ends up not making a lot of sense.

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aeai's review against another edition

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dark sad tense

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

1.0

Honestly, just watch the series instead. They had to add so much plot and character development in the series, not to mention depth to the female characters and just any representation of non-white characters... It's not even funny. Also (still) bothered by the misogynistic voice of the narrator, I really don't like internalizing this toxic stuff by reading it. Having seen the second season of YOU, I powered through in hopes of getting to any kind of interesting turning point, but I ended up very disappointed.

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