Hidden Bodies

November 2, 2015
Joe Goldberg, the narrator of Kepnes’s dark, quirky sequel to 2014’s You, is a serial killer who otherwise leads a normal life as a New York City bookstore manager. Joe’s relationship with M.F.A. student Guinevere Beck, whom he pursued in You, ended badly, and he’s devastated when his current girlfriend, Amy Kendell Adam, mysteriously disappears. By tracing Amy’s computer search history, Joe discovers that she has registered for an acting class in Hollywood. He vows to go there, find Amy, and make her pay for deserting him. Once in Hollywood, he continues his murder spree, all the while hoping to find Amy. In his search, he meets many well-drawn characters, including an L.A. policeman and a rich, drug-addicted playboy. Meanwhile, Joe undergoes a surprising personal transformation, and remarkably, the author convinces the reader to empathize with her killer protagonist. Agent: Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, WME Entertainment.

In this stand-alone sequel to YOU, smart and droll listeners are reintroduced to Joe Goldberg, a full-on sociopath with an incongruous tendency to fall in love. Unfortunately with Joe, love inevitably leads to murder. Joe is unlikable, yet, as portrayed by narrator Santino Fontana, he's also transfixing. Fontana spends most of this lengthy revenge narrative with a hardened voice that is sharp and forceful--even during lovemaking scenes. Normally this would wear on the ear, but for Joe, it sounds precisely right. Listeners get some respite from Joe, as the story is littered with other characters, all having their own quirks of accent and temperament. These provide ample evidence that Fontana is not a one-note narrator; he just knows how to stay true to character, hour after vengeful hour. K.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2017 Audies Finalist � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine