Growing up in a small town, Jon and Chloe are the only ones who truly understand each other. Jon doesn't fit in and is bullied. Chloe doesn't seem to care what her friends think when she hangs out with Jon. They each have feelings for each other that are more than friends, but neither expresses their feelings.
Jon finally gets up the courage to tell Chloe how he feels about her, but he never gets the chance because he is kidnapped on the way to school by his substitute teacher. Mr. Blair, who is obsessed with H.P. Lovecraft, has given Jon some kind of power in his plight to save humanity.
Chloe carries on and tries to live a "normal" teenage life even though her best friend is missing. She continues to mourn Jon while trying to fit in and gains popularity with the in crowd.
Four years have passed and Jon wakes up from a coma. Jon realizes that he possesses an uncontrollable power, and that is life threatening to anyone he has any kind of feelings for. To protect Chloe, he runs away, but not before he has attracted the attention of a detective who is obsessed with a string of deaths that appear to be connected.
This was a mixed bag for me. Obviously Kepnes can write, the hook had me until the four years later part. I'm not sure if it was the supernatural element that didn't quite work, but something had me skimming.
So the positive was the writing, as I mentioned. Kepnes explores complex relationships that deal with the multi facets of love/relationships (Jon and Chloe, Eggs and his wife and son), how we struggle with identity, how passion can be dangerous when ignited, and how the lines of all of these things blur into one another. There was some really incredible stuff here. But...for some reason I just couldn't stay invested and engaged in the story.
And now for the negative. I'm not understanding the purpose of the depth of the sub plot with Eggs (yes, that was his name). It was too complex and it was like reading two books at the same time. Eggs' story was about his relationships with his passive-aggressive wife, his non-existent relationship with his severely handicapped son, and his in denial relationship with his own self and his health. There's a lot to unpack here.
I also felt a disconnect to the story because of the H.P. Lovecraft references—fans of his works will definitely enjoy this book more than I did since this was completely lost on me. Again, this was the tie-in to the supernatural elements that really threw me. This book was not what I expected.
All that being said, I have heard amazing things about You. I will definitely pick it up, I'm not done with Caroline Kepnes yet.
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