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Hello, fellow readers! I put off writing this review, mostly because I am a procrastinator, but also because I couldn’t put in to words how disappointing Hidden Bodies was for me.
Possible spoilers ahead if you have not read You.
Plot
Hidden Bodies picks up where You ends with Joe hiring the obviously lying Amy to work in the bookstore. After a few chapters of what feels like the perfect match for Joe, something happens, and he is suddenly dropping everything to follow her across the country to LA. Joe makes some new friends on his quest to find Amy and immerses himself in the lifestyle of someone trying to “make it” in Hollywood.
Review
Honestly, I didn’t like much about Hidden Bodies. The beginning of the book captured my attention, but beyond that, I hated the direction that this book went in after Joe moved to California.
There were so. Many. Pop. Culture. References. Literally one every other sentence. I was hoping that would improve once Joe was finally settled in California, but it never got better.
The setting was awful. Joe is not a character that is meant to be in sunny California. Joe is meant to be brooding in New York, working in the bookstore with the creepy cage in the basement.
The book is misleading. Joe follows Amy to California…and then that plot is essentially dropped and never revisited until one of the final chapters of the book when you are too tired and bored to care anymore.
Nothing happens. Literally NOTHING happens. Once I made it to the 200 page mark, I started skimming pages and skipping to where it seemed something interesting might be happening.
Final Thoughts
I am a big fan of the first book and the TV adaptation, but I am happy that it seems the TV show will be following a different story in season 2 because I would not be interested in seeing this plot play out on a weekly TV show. This is one instance where I wish I had stopped reading at the first book and pretended a sequel did not exist. Hidden Bodies earned a two star rating from me.
Have you watched the Netflix show? Let’s talk in the comments!
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