Book Review: Hidden Bodies by Caroline Kepnes

“The real horror of my life is not that I’ve killed some terrible people. The real horror is that the people I’ve loved didn’t love me back.”

― Caroline Kepnes, Hidden Bodies

The suspense book Hidden Bodies by Caroline Kepnes was released in February 2016. It is a follow-up to her 2014 book You. The second and third seasons of the Netflix thriller series You were largely adapted from it. On September 9, 2018, it made its debut. Before the first episode of the season aired, on July 26, 2018, Lifetime said that the show has been renewed for a second season. The second season, which debuted on December 26, 2019, included Hidden Bodies' concepts.

Synopsis from Goodreads...

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.

My reaction to this novel...

After reading its precursor, "You," which left me feeling incredibly startled, I was eager to start this novel. Because the first book was such a surprise, I had such high expectations. Throughout the first four chapters, I felt worried. It was quite remarkable how everything worked out. Actually, I had forgotten all about the "mug of urine" from the first book, which terrified me for Joe. I also pondered what Amy would do if she found out that Joe was capable of murder after I witnessed how she deceived him.

After the first four chapters, Joe went for LA to seek revenge on Amy and leave his pasts behind, and the action slowed down and became quite monotonous. I think there were far too many extraneous scenes and characters included. specifically the moments with Henderson. I grew irritated because of Love, who I find unbelievable considering that she was fully aware of what Joe did in New York yet continued to adore him, and Forty, which is quite difficult to deal with. In any event, maybe she really did love him. And after finishing this book, I realized that Joe's only real desire was to be loved; in other words, she found love via Love. Unfortunately, by the end of this book, he finds himself behind bars, leaving us to wonder how he will manage to get out and find Love once more.

With this novel, Caroline Kepnes failed to satisfy or make me happy. There are many disagreements and quiet intervals. I'll be waiting for her third book of "You," but I genuinely hope that she will be able to honor the storyline of the novel.

My Overall Rating: ⭐⭐(2/5)

“We all get our hearts broken. We get fucked up and throw up and we cry and listen to sad songs and say we’re never doing that again. But to be alive is to do it again. To love is to risk everything”

We anticipate the unexpected in love. If you love someone, you won't just experience happiness; occasionally it may also result in anguish and tears. Sometimes it seems like a fairy tale or you're in a magical place where all you can see are fairies and prince charmings, but other times you have to risk everything for love, overcoming the monsters and evil characters that populate most fairy tales, and other times there are no happily ever afters at all. 

“People are so lonely, they spend their birthdays on the Internet, thanking people for wishing them a happy birthday, people who only know it’s their birthday because Facebook told them.”

While it's true that Facebook informs our friends of our birthdays, which might be upsetting, for me, the effort in how they greet you on that day still makes it worth it, even though Facebook just reminded them of your special day. It still takes effort to compose greetings and think of appropriate words to convey to us since, even though Facebook tells them that it is a special day, some of our friends don't even bother to put a simple "happy birthday" on our wall or feed.