Part of You
First published 2026
Before the bookstore. Before Beck. Before Joe Goldberg became the stalker readers know, he was someone else entirely. This prequel takes us inside young Joe's mind as he experiences the moments that will define him forever. His first crush arrives with all the intensity that will later consume his adult relationships. The kiss that awakens something dark within him. The kill that crosses a line he can never uncross. Caroline Kepnes strips away the layers to show us how a seemingly ordinary boy transforms into a predator. We watch Joe's obsessive patterns take root, his twisted logic develop, his capacity for violence emerge. Each choice pushes him further from innocence and closer to the man who will terrorize women across New York. This is the story of how monsters are made, told through the eyes of someone who doesn't yet know what he's becoming.
Genres: mystery, crime, contemporary, thriller, psychological-thriller
Vibes: dark, emotional, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: dark-protagonist, unreliable-narrator
Setting: New York
Period: 21st-century
416 pages · Hardcover · Random House
Content warnings: violence