Caroline Kepnes burst onto the scene rather dramatically with you. in a sea of clichéd thrillers, she managed to stand out with her intense, propulsive tale of obsessive love and occasional murder, giving us a notably memorable protagonist who will love YOU to death.
It was fun, it was dynamic, it got made into a TV show–success by any measure. Then, as if to prove, she’s no one trick author, Kepnes wrote Providence, which used a lot of then same techniques less successfully, which apparently discouraged her enough to return to Goldberg, over and over again. And sure, that romantic lunatic IS where the money’s at, but how far should one sell out for a paycheck? In this case, book four in YOU series serves a resolute reminder that the author has gone too far. Which at this point, is embarrassingly so, because the books are by now outdone by their own TV adaptation. And yes, this has happened before, and more than once, but YOU had potential to outperform all that noise. The initial adaptations were very close to the books and then the distance began inching in, proportional, it seems, to the declining uality of books. Granted, both book 3 and season 3 left a lot to be desired, but wherein the TV show rebounded awesomely with a tight whodunit turnaround, book four failed, failed, failed. Details, you ask? Sure, here you go. I read the book first, because that’s how you do things. The book sees Goldberg’s yet another attempt to go legit and swear off love by conning his way into a prestigious writer’s group in an Ivy League school. Goldberg doesn’t belong with all the pretentious twats around him, but he finds a kindred spirit in another “scholarship kid” who immediately becomes his new YOU. So the formula is there, but the execution is garbage. The romance (which is Goldberg’s sole raison d’etre) doesn’t work here, it’s too weak, too rushed. Of course, Goldberg’s romances are never right, that’s kind of the point, but here it never even seems right. The man comes across desperate and bitter, his famous narrative snark goes flat, tinged with angst and resentment in a way that obscures wit and charm and humorous social observations he used to specialize in. Kepnes has done it, it seems. She’s beaten her golden pony to dust. Used him all up and turned him into a sad caricature of himself. Wherein in season four of the TV show (at least the first five episodes since Netflix annoyingly divided them up), Goldberg is fun, fun, fun. Back to form and rocking it. Which is why the TV show is now billed as “inspired” by Kepnes’ books and she is no longer an executive producer. Outdone by TV writers. Outperformed by her own creation. Sad. So, hopefully, Kepnes can now leave Goldberg alone and maybe, just maybe write something new, and maybe it’ll be good and maybe not, but at least it’ll show range and versatility. Because right now her writing is only reflective of good business sense and marketability. The books are getting longer not stronger. Sad, again. Book four will make Goldberg’s fans annoyed. Maybe skip and stick with the TV show. Thanks Netgalley.
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