‘You’ may be wrapping up, but Goldberg lives on in new book
It's safe to say that Joe Goldberg, with four books and the Netflix hit show “You” built around him, has become one of America's favorite fictional serial killers. It's an achievement he would both love and loathe, but that's the thing readers have come to know about Joe: He's a man of extremes. He's addicted to love, but hate (as in bloody murder) is always part of the journey.
In “For You and Only You,” the fourth installment of author Caroline Kepnes's best-selling Joe Goldberg novels, the formula remains the same: Joe meets girl and immediately starts obsessing. He stalks, charms and lies his way into her life, before it all goes crazy (insert a few dead bodies here), because real women are not a one-dimensional male fantasy.
What changes with every book is the location — this time we're at Harvard — and which slice of society Joe is skewering. After New York, fake-it-till-youmake-it L.A. and small-town Washington state in the first three books, Joe sets his razor-sharp narration on the literati swanning about in Cambridge, Mass. Yes, it's a book about writing books, and yes, it's very meta. But Kepnes obviously knows the world well, so the zingers land with authenticity.
Who else knows that world well? Joe. He's been a bookseller for decades and has finally been crowned a real writer. During the pandemic, he penned a novel called “Me” (of course) and was accepted into a fully funded Harvard writing fellowship run by literary star Glenn Shoddy, author of “Scabies for Breakfast.” In real life, Glenn prefers to drink whiskey for breakfast, boasts about how he's more successful than his novelist wife, Sly — who waxes on about “the liberating fun of removable wallpaper” but lives up to her name — and spends his time biking in a “cycopath” T-shirt. He also sees genius in Joe.
Joe's ego is bolstered by the praise, but what our autodidact quickly realizes is that he's not among other undiscovered, self-educated writers who spill their guts like Glenn advertised. He's surrounded by a nepo baby, a successful thriller writer, an Obie winner and plenty of talk about summer homes. His peers don't want to debate Faulkner, and Joe has “nothing to say about kayaks, cleaning ladies, or fried clams.” With a chip on his shoulder the size of Harvard Yard, things are looking grim.
But this is a Joe Goldberg novel, which means it's time to welcome the pretty girl to the party. This time her name is Wonder Parish, and she's a blue-collar Bostonian with the accent to match. (Yes, her name sounds like some sham church that will take your money and soul, but remember “Peach” and “Love”? Kepnes stays on brand.) Wonder is also an autodidact, and Joe is sure “Harvard is playing matchmaker.” He must know her, must have her, must place his Pulitzer next to hers on their mantel.
When not in class with the other “Shoddies” (Glenn's groupies), Wonder works at a Dunkin', still lives with her family, plays caretaker to her dad and is shocked that she was accepted as a fellow. Joe's not surprised, because he knows how the universe works: She was admitted just for him! And when he reads her book, “Faithful,” he's sure she's a future literary star. Misogynist Glenn, who is happy to talk about Wonder's other assets, doesn't see her talent, and Joe is ready to play the hero — and the murderer — to make sure Wonder rises to the top.
The Joe Goldberg psyche — hopeless romantic who kills in the name of love — will not be new to fans of the series. But what makes “For You and Only You” stand out is how pitch-perfect Joe's voice is when he's “talking” to the Wonder who lives in his head. Not since the first book, “You,” when he knew that “young person trying to make it in New York City ... but with craft cocktails, and the right address” world so well, has his voice felt this assured. “You would loathe this woman in that way that only a woman can loathe another, the way she reeks of self-care and casual jaunts to the market,” he declares to Wonder about Glenn's wife.
After Book 3, “You Love Me” (2021), which took Joe out of his comfort zone, he's fully back in it in Book 4. His voice is so confident that at times Kepnes puts it in all caps, and it feels right. Joe is that good when he's mad — and he is that. His attempt at a murder-free life was left in Washington state; with Wonder and New England's literati, Joe has plenty of reasons to get stressed and obsessed. One of those clever reasons is a new true-crime podcast called “The Body on Bainbridge,” about a dead woman recently discovered in the place Joe just lived. A coincidence? Joe can only use that line for so long.
Netflix announced that the fifth season of “You,” out in 2024, will be the show's last. With “For You and Only You,” Kepnes has made her case that Joe and his bloody romances could easily go on in book form. Yes, it's completely unrealistic that Joe is still running free. Why is he living his life without a pseudonym? He's a writer now! Do these women he's dating even know how to Google? And where are the competent detectives?
It doesn't matter. Joe is an addictively charming antihero, and after four books, he still feels fresh and original. The Shoddies would be so jealous.
Here’s the thing readers have come to know about Joe: He’s a man of extremes. He’s addicted to love, but hate (as in bloody murder) is always part of the journey.