Hidden Bodies, by Caroline Kepnes

3.5 had second book slump for me stars!

 

Joe always seems to fall for the wrong woman… or they fall for the wrong guy. He follows his latest conquest that wronged him the whole way to LA.  He befriends neighbors and coworkers so that he can trap her.  On his way to trap her he meets a new woman named Love.   He seems to really turn himself around for her.  However when things stand in between him and love what will he do to get everything he wants?? He murders people … that’s what he does. If you read You this should be of no surprise.  However he needs to let Love in on his tangled web of lies to move forward in the relationship.  He’s not sure if he can do this or not.

 

So Joe is back… but not as good as he was in the first book.  Not that this character was ever good per say.  However in this book I felt he lost some of that love to hate character quality.  He almost seemed whiny to me, like a little child not getting his way.  In the first book You his character has more depth and you see the world through his eyes not through everyone else’s.   This book seemed more weighed down by the fact that he was now in a different state and all the social media’s he was using.

The names of the characters like forty and love were a little to corny for LA, or maybe not as I have never been there.  Also the Hollywood name dropping was super annoying.  I really did not enjoy this as much as You, that book blew me away.  Also the ending of this one was a little of a letdown will there be more books?  I don’t want to say this book was awful I just felt it had that second book slump.  The writing seemed a little erratic and I couldn’t tell if that was to make the character look erratic or if the author was just unsure which direction she was going.

I’m going to say while it had second book slump it was still good to read more about Joe’s life. He is quite off his rocker, however you always root for him.  Which is why I think this book floated on the high of the second book.  I will read more by this author, I kind of actually hope she picks up where she left off in You.

Goodreads link here

book blurb…

Hardcover, 448 pages

Published February 23rd 2016 by Atria/Emily Bestler Books (first published January 14th 2016)

Original Title Hidden Bodies

ISBN 1476785627 (ISBN13: 9781476785622)

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…