After the heartbreak of losing his girlfriend, Beck, Joe Goldberg thought he’d never love again. But when mysterious Amy Adam begins working for Joe at Mooney Books, he finds himself obsessed with his new employee. Amy is Beck’s opposite—she hates Twitter, she doesn’t even have an email address, she's completely unsearchable online—and she quickly captures Joe’s heart. But just before Joe can ask Amy to marry him, she disappears, leaving a trail of clues in her wake.
Joe is then forced to do something so vile, so awful that he nearly loses his mind: he moves to Los Angeles to find Amy. He is tortured by a series of aspiring Angelenos—an insufferable stand-up comedian, philistine booksellers, a money-hungry nanny, and a slutty ghostwriter—before meeting his ticket to a more luxurious world: a surgically enhanced, social media–savvy heiress named Love Quinn. But Joe can’t stop stalking Amy, despite the world opening up to him with Love on his arm. Will Joe finally escape his sordid past? Or is Love just the latest casualty in Joe’s unrelenting search for the perfect match?
Publication Date: September 8, 2015
Joe is then forced to do something so vile, so awful that he nearly loses his mind: he moves to Los Angeles to find Amy. He is tortured by a series of aspiring Angelenos—an insufferable stand-up comedian, philistine booksellers, a money-hungry nanny, and a slutty ghostwriter—before meeting his ticket to a more luxurious world: a surgically enhanced, social media–savvy heiress named Love Quinn. But Joe can’t stop stalking Amy, despite the world opening up to him with Love on his arm. Will Joe finally escape his sordid past? Or is Love just the latest casualty in Joe’s unrelenting search for the perfect match?
Publication Date: September 8, 2015
Last year’s You was a book that stayed with me for a long
time. I remember reading it and not being able to get the character of Joe out
of my head. Serial killer novels from the murderer’s point of view are usually
sick and twisty, but Joe is scary because he’s just so gosh darn likable.
Joe is such a complicated character that I’m sure if he was
a real, psychologists could develop textbooks based around him. He’s funny and
insightful and has a way of convincingly rationalizing his murders. The tough
thing about Joe is that I couldn’t decide if I wanted him to have a happy
ending or get killed off in an atrocious manner.
The plot of Hidden Bodies didn’t charm me as much as the
previous book. I liked the change of scenery, but I didn’t feel as invested in
the relationship between Love and Joe as I had with him and Beck. Love almost
felt like a caricature instead of a real person, especially when compared to
the rich characterization of Joe.
The pace was good and the end was a nail-biter. There were a
few twists I didn’t see coming and a few that I felt were a little too out
there to believe. I thought the conclusion was well done and I’m curious if
there will be a follow up or not. I love the author’s writing style, so I’m
definitely reading everything she writes from here on out.
Rating: 4/5 Stars
Thanks to the publisher for a copy of the novel for review!
Yay for suspenseful, this one is new to me but good to hear it was enjoyable
ReplyDeleteIntriguing that she rationalizes with a serial killer in such a way that you end up liking him, huh? Totally need to check out that first one LOL! Thanks for sharing :)
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