Joe Goldberg, narrator of You, writes directly to his object of desire, Beck in the novel. But when you're listening to an audiobook, it's like he's talking directly to the listener which makes his already creepy and sneering narration that much more shudder-worthy. I suppose part of that lies in the talents of Santino Fontana who reads the audiobook (and now I may never see his character of Greg Serrano on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend in the same way again...), but certainly Caroline Kepnes knows how to write a slithery asshole.

At the same time, the book is hilarious? The plot twists handled by Joe and the cast of characters are pretty great--at one point I may or may not have said out loud in my car laughing, "Joe, you're such an idiot!" And the pop culture references rival Bret Easton Ellis (also name-dropped), but are used to much better effect than just listing things. Witnessing Joe fall in love with the Barden Bellas in Pitch Perfect because the woman he's obsessed with loves the movie cracked me up. (Also, Ryan Adams belt reference? Rewound 15 sec to make sure I heard that gem right.)

The novel is highly entertaining and completely disconcerting in terms of stalking, manipulation, and social media. It was fun to listen to, but Joe's the bad guy, right? The (vicious) end was not where I hoped this book was heading, but I see there's a sequel, so maybe it wasn't really the end yet...