Book Review: Providence (Caroline Kepnes)

Synopsis: 

Growing up as best friends in small-town New Hampshire, Jon and Chloe are the only ones who truly understand each other, though they can never find the words to tell one another the depth of their feelings. When Jon is finally ready to confess his feelings, he’s suddenly kidnapped by his substitute teacher who is obsessed with H.P. Lovecraft and has a plot to save humanity.

Mourning the disappearance of Jon and facing the reality he may never return, Chloe tries to navigate the rites of entering young adulthood and “fit in” with the popular crowd, but thoughts of Jon are never far away.

When Jon finally escapes, he discovers he now has an uncontrollable power that endangers anyone he has intense feelings for. He runs away to protect Chloe and find the answers to his new identity—but he’s soon being tracked by a detective who is fascinated by a series of vigilante killings that appear connected.

Whisking us on a journey through New England and crashing these characters’ lives together in the most unexpected ways, Kepnes explores the complex relationship between love and identity, unrequited passion and obsession, self-preservation and self-destruction, and how the lines are often blurred between the two.

My Thoughts: 

Well, I made a mistake with this one.

It happens to the best of us.

You see an author that your LOVE and you dive into a book expecting it to give you all the same feels.

Unfortunately, I didn’t consider (even after reading the synopsis) that this novel would NOT contain Joe Goldberg.  The anti-hero from YOU and Hidden Bodies that I have come to know and (pretty much against my free will) love.

This novel is COMPLETELY different from Kepnes’ prior novels.  It is like comparing apples and oranges; and that, my friends, was probably my first mistake.  I went into this one thinking I would get the dark and twisty vibe that I have come to know and love, but Providence is really a hodgepodge of all different types of genres: a little bit paranormal, a dash of coming of age, a pinch of YA thriller.

I think Kepnes is fearless for doing something SO different, but, it wasn’t for me. I didn’t understand all the Lovecraft references and I don’t really love YA (I teach high school students- I get enough teen drama on the daily).

Overall, I would probably recommend this to my students or add it to my classroom library.

I’ll continue waiting for more Joe.