YOU , yes just YOU

You (Kepnes novel)

I bet many of you where vacillating between any number of Shakespeare's classic works.

And surely any priceless work from William Shakespeare would somewhat fit into the broad description given in the first post.

But as it happens I was alluding to a more recent work, and certainly less historically important.

YOU by Carolines Kepnes truly captivated me.

SPOILERS AHEAD...

At first glance it's not much more than a run-of-the-mill weekly fiction filler to sell at airports around the globe.

But the main characters, all two of them,  despite their few human qualities , stir something inside the reader.

The bad guy is a stalker out to do harm and rationalizing his behaviour as he turns more evil by the chapter.

The good guy, or girl in this case, is nearly just as  morally  corrupt but at least refrains from outright murder.

Despite these highly imperfect  protagonists, for  some reason, which I speculate might be due to the author's fluent writing , the reader somehow cares.
The reader cares about what they do and about  what happens to them.

When discussing the book, many fans have expressed hope that the anti-hero  would get away with everything he'd done.

I guess with the right lawyer attitude almost any action can be justified .
And when it's pure fiction, perhaps there's no harm in playing the devil's advocate.

On the TV series based on the book the writers introduced another character.
A teenage boy whom  Joe (our anti-hero) protects from an abusive stepfather.

Apparently the writers or the network executives found it necessary to make Joe  more human after the unexpected almost hero like status bestowed upon him.

While I recommend this book, I advise you to enjoy "YOU" before dusk and after having taken a karate class.

No reviewer I've seen online  so far,  sums it up as well as Emma Oulton:

"despite being thoroughly creeped out, I couldn’t put it down even for a second."