You First: A Joe Goldberg Prequel

You #0

by Caroline Kepnes

“The most distinctive voice in thrillers is back.”—Lucy Foley, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Guest List and The Midnight Feast

How did Joe Goldberg become Joe Goldberg? What led to his first love . . . first obsession . . . first kill? Find out in the highly anticipated prequel to New York Times bestselling author Caroline Kepnes’s hit You series, which inspired the blockbuster Netflix show.

Joe Goldberg is ready for his life to start. He’s seventeen years old, working in Mr. Mooney’s bookshop, falling in love with every girl on the subway all while wondering who will be the one. He knows what he A woman who will force him to get his GED, go to night school, and make something of himself. But who would ever fall in love with him?

Then he spots MISSED CONNECTION, NYC Bookstore Babe.

Someone is looking for Joe. And that someone is Vail Gunderson, a production assistant with a passion for rom-coms. The only she’s twenty-four, which means that Joe has no choice but to lie about his age…and, naturally, nearly everything else in his life. Joe thinks he’s found true love, but when Vail needs more convincing that Joe is her happily ever after, he’s determined to convince her…no matter what it takes…

With her incisive and darkly comedic prose, Caroline Kepnes captures Joe poised on the edge of manhood, entering the vicious, dog-eat-dog New York dating scene for the very first time, and buffeted by forces that will determine what kind of man he will become—and how he will write his own twisted love story.

Genres: Thriller, Audiobook, Fiction, Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Horror, Romance

576 pages, Paperback

First published June 9, 2026

About the author

Caroline Kepnes is the New York Times bestselling author of You, Hidden Bodies, Providence and...

You Love Me. Publishing in the US on Aril 6, 2021

(You know You Netflix? That's based on my Joe Goldberg books! You can read You3 before Season 3)

Her work has been translated into a multitude of languages and inspired a television series adaptation of You, currently on Netflix. Kepnes graduated from Brown University and then worked as a pop culture journalist for Entertainment Weekly and a TV writer for 7th Heaven and The Secret Life of the American Teenager. She grew up on Cape Cod, and now lives in Los Angeles.

Reviews

[emma · Rating 1.5 out of 5]

unfortunately it appears i will read these books as long as they keep coming.

even though it does not make sense to have a prequel to this series, where we have already heard about 900 versions of the joe goldberg origin story.

so this just serves to frustrate.

it's a love letter to continuity errors and hate mail to character development. for something that supposedly exists to show us how a character became who they are, it both showcases a fully fledged joe indiscernible from the one we see today and makes literally no sense.

it's also long. with gross euphemisms.

so.

bottom line: see y'all for the next one.

(thanks to the publisher for the e-arc)

[Shelley's Book Nook · Rating 2 out of 5]

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⭐⭐1/2
You First: A Joe Goldberg Prequel (You #0)
Caroline Kepnes
Publication Date: June 9th, 2026
Random House
416 Pages
Amazon | Bookshop.org
Genre: General Fiction | Mystery & Thrillers



Just no, Joe! This one is set in New York in the Y2K era, and Joe isn't quite as confident as he once was. He is a mere 17 years old and is desperate for someone to love him. (I was 34 in 2000, but my oldest kid was 16.) He was such a loner teenager while working for Mr. Mooney at the bookstore. He rides the subway, daydreaming about finding "the one" who he feels will fix everything wrong with his miserable life.

That's where Val comes in. She is 24 years old, and because she is so much older than Joe, he starts his web of lies (isn't that what Joe does best?)—even about his age. Of course, this isn't going to go the way Joe plans.

This was a huge missed opportunity; I was hoping for a true origin story. I was so disappointed that the book is about Joe at 17 and not as a kid still with his mother, because that's truly where all this began. The adolescent desperation and the way he tricked Val for so long got on my nerves. I know the author was trying to be funny in a dark way, but Joe got on my nerves with his Sex and the City obsession and talking to his named penis.

Because we know who Joe eventually becomes, the storyline has no tension. And because this is before his violent streak comes about, it's more like a sick coming-of-age story than a psychological thriller, which disappointed me to no end. By book five, the internal monologue of Joe feels repetitive. It's just the same repetitive bullshit without offering any new insights into Joe and his obsession with finding a mate.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

[Nilufer Ozmekik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay but…who gave Caroline Kepnes permission to drag me BACK into Joe Goldberg’s twisted little mind like I don’t have emotional stability to protect?? Because here I am again…willingly spiraling. 😅

Let me say this first: saying yes to more Joe is never a calm, rational decision. It’s chaos. It’s curiosity. It’s “this man is unwell but I need to understand WHY.”

And this time? We go all the way back.

Seventeen-year-old Joe.

Seventeen. Years. Old.

Excuse me while I process the fact that we are witnessing the origin story of obsession itself.

I went into this book with one very specific hunger: I wanted answers. I wanted to peel back the layers and see exactly what cracked, what broke, what shifted to turn a lonely, damaged boy into…well, Joe Goldberg™. And yes—his past, his abandonment, the emotional wreckage? It’s all there, quietly shaping him, like a ticking bomb you already know will explode.

And then…enter Vail.

Oh Vail…you have no idea you just walked into a psychological thriller.

The dynamic? Immediately uncomfortable in that “this will not end well for anyone involved” kind of way. Joe, of course, decides she is The One™ within seconds (classic Joe behavior), and what follows is a beautifully disturbing cocktail of lies, reinvention, desperation, and that signature internal narration that makes you laugh one second and question humanity the next.

Because that’s the thing—Joe’s voice is still that voice.

Sharp. Funny. Completely unhinged.

You catch yourself nodding along and then suddenly you’re like—wait…no. NO. What are you saying?! Why does this almost make sense?! And that, honestly, is Kepnes’ greatest trick. She doesn’t just write Joe—she traps you inside him.

Did it fully reinvent the character? Not entirely.

Joe is still Joe. The patterns are already there. The obsession, the rationalization, the need to rewrite reality so it fits his version of love. If you’re expecting a radically different version of him, you won’t find it. This is more like watching the blueprint come to life rather than a shocking transformation.

But for me? That wasn’t a dealbreaker.

Because seeing how early it all begins…that quiet, creeping realization that this was never just a phase…that hit.

Hard.

Also, can we talk about how I could NOT stop picturing a young version of Penn Badgley the entire time?? Like my brain was casting, de-aging, rewriting scenes—fully producing the prequel season in my head. Netflix, call me. I have notes.

Overall, this felt like slipping back into a familiar, dangerous rhythm. Not the most groundbreaking installment, but still addictive, still unsettling, still impossible to look away from.

Because let’s be honest…

We don’t read Joe Goldberg for comfort.
We read him to understand the monster—and question why a part of us does.

A very huge thank you to NetGalley and Random House for sharing this highly anticipated prequel with me in exchange for my honest thoughts—I truly appreciated the opportunity to dive back into Joe’s disturbingly compelling world.

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[GCR | Book Realm]

I received this ARC through NetGalley.

You First was a mixed read for me. I really thought this was going to dig more into how Joe became who he is, but instead it was another story about Joe obsessing over a girl, just with seventeen-year-old Joe. I was disappointed because that deeper character angle was what I was most interested in.

The pacing also dragged more than I wanted it to, and the Sex and the City references were a big part of that. I got why they were there, but they just kept going on and on and ended up pulling me out of the story. I’m sure that may work better for readers who love the show, but for me it was more annoying than interesting since I’ve never even seen it.

I still think there were parts that worked. The character dynamics were enough to keep me reading, and it did get somewhat better toward the end, just not enough to save the beginning or middle or really change my overall feelings.

I would recommend this more to readers who are already very invested in Joe as a character and do not mind a slower, more Sex and the City-heavy reference story. If you’re going into this hoping for a stronger psychological dive into how Joe became Joe, you may end up wanting more.

[Debra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh Joe! You sick, sex obsessed, twisted sicko; I thought that you and I were done. I broke up with you after the 4th book but couldn't resist the lure to be back in your dark, manipulating, scheming, and sick world. I have to say, you are a hot mess. This time Joe is seventeen years old, working for Mooney, and pretending to be in his mid-twenties so he can woo Vail, who came into the bookstore one day. Joe is doing whatever he can to impress Vail because even depraved sickos want to be in a loving relationship.

You First: A Joe Goldberg Prequel not only shows us Joe as a teenager but also as an individual trying to get by on his own, while listening to some not to healthy people in his life. He is a wee bit obsessed with Sex and the City and this book is saturated with his thoughts on the characters on that show. We also see him and his love interest interacting.

Those who have read this book series know all about Joe and how he falls in love fast and well, let's just say, things don't always work out for the best. This book takes readers back to the beginning and shows a younger less experienced Joe doing what Joe does best....

I could have done with less Sex and the City references and Joes talk of his penis. This book felt a wee bit long to me but otherwise I can say that I liked this book but didn't love this book.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

[chantalsbookstuff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a prequel about Joe, told from his point of view, like in the rest of the series. He becomes obsessed with a girl who is very self absorbed and clearly doesn’t care about him.
For me, this book was just okay. It gave some insight into his mind and showed how things started for him early in life, but it didn’t capture my interest as much as I had hoped.

[Dee (in the Desert) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up for the latest episode of the "You" book series, "You, First" which is about 17 y.o. Joe Goldberg and his "first" love & kill. (The book series varies from the show but still I saw "Gossip Girl" Penn in my head) Set in post-9/11 NYC, there's a lot of early 00's references - way, way too much "Sex & the City" for instance, but the references to Giuliani and early days of the internet & cell phones did make me smile. Joe's mix-tape was a thing then (think I was burning CD's though), but I found 80's songs an odd choice for the teen of that time (I still remember how they though New Order's "Crystal" video was a hot new band - IFKYK) Like all the books this is a whole lot of Joe's inner thoughts & monologues and a lot of it is way OTT (calling his member "Portnoy" was just ick). And the bottom line was that I felt the pay-off was weak - I expected to get more of the "why" than the "who", though I did like that it was a fast & easy read. Since the show's over, perhaps it's time to just leave Joe in the cage and move on.

[Dutchie · Rating 4 out of 5]

We’ve been through a lot, Joe. We have been together from New York to Washington to California and finally to Massachusetts. To return to your hometown of New York makes the circle complete. I liked seeing you back at the bookstore working with Mooney. You were just minding your business until Vail caught your attention. She just didn’t seem to appreciate you as much as you appreciated her. And we all know that never goes well.

This prequel felt very similar to the first installment, and I really enjoyed it! The premise was back to the original formula of focusing on Joe and his new girlfriend. It was also good to see the dynamic between him and Mooney. My only complaint would be the amount of Sex and the City references. There was a point that I had to skim a bit as it became too much near the middle. I personally have only watched one or two episodes and wasn’t a big fan of it, so to have it included to the extent in the novel didn’t work for me. Other readers who are a big fan of the show might feel otherwise. A few references, I wouldn’t have minded, but it definitely was distracting.

I usually find prequels unnecessary and just added fluff, but in this case, it worked really well. For those not familiar with the series, it would be a great starting point. For those of us who have gotten to know Joe quite well along the way, this was a good backstory. After being disappointed with the fourth installment, this was a welcome return to a character that is hard to forget.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh, Joe! A character you can always love and hate. He's his own worst enemy, but each time, Kepnes shows his vulnerability and makes you root for him to control his compulsions. Yet he fails. He trusts the wrong mentors. Loves the wrong women. Caves to his need to manipulate and test. I feel like he would be someone you love having in our life as much as you fear. He could snap at any moment, for the smallest of reasons. But deep down, he needs to be loved and he will never be able to trust someone. All that said, I enjoy reading more about his live, and in this installment, he's 17 and pretending to be mid20s to secure the love of his life, or one of the many he eventually claims to love. But sometimes the writing style is over-the-top, brining in so many comparisons to movies, music and tv characters, it's hard to separate reality from excessive commentary on the world around us. Joe lives in a fictional place inside his head, yet he has all of NYC as his playground. I wish he would be a bit more realistic, tangible, and not so microscopic in his views. I could do with a little more action and less author commentary through the likes of Joe, but it's still integral to the story, and if you love these Joe chronicles, don't miss this one.

[Jim C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual rating is 2.5 stars.

This book is part of a series and is a prequel to all the other books. Even though the events of this story are first in the timeline I would not recommend this as a starting point. In this one we visit Joe again. This time we get his first serious girlfriend adventure. If you have read these books you know the affair will not be smooth.

As you can see I am split right down the middle with this story. If I was reading this as another Joe story it is fine. We know that story by now. Joe meets a woman, becomes fixated, and goes batshit crazy. Meanwhile the woman while not being on the same level of Joe's craziness is playing games and can be considered a miserable work also. All those elements are here. I liked that we go back in time so Joe does not have the social media tools at his disposal like we see in the other books. I expect this kind of story from these books. But the problem I have is that we did go back to the beginning. I was hoping for the cause in the cause and effect equation with Joe. I have seen the effect in all the other books. I wanted the incidents and the influences on why Joe is a sociopath. Yes we get the first murder but I feel like we never really dived into why Joe is Joe.

As another Joe adventure story this book is fine. It follows the basic formula that this author has used in all the other books. Joe meets girl. Joe instantly falls for girl. The relationship takes crazy turn after crazy turn. The issue for me is that this book could have been so much more. I would have liked a little more character analysis instead of another boy meets girl story. Overall it is a fine story to read but not even close to the best in this series.

[Linda · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was way too much of Joe Goldberg’s thoughts and not enough story. It is rare for me to DNF a book. But, this was a waste of my time.

[Erin Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, you.

[Sabrina · Rating 1 out of 5]

A prequel to You. I loved You and hated the second book and never continued with the series so I'm not sure why I thought the prequel would be more like the first book and less like the others. This was horrible. There was literally 35 pages of Joe watching and recapping Sex in the City. I'm not exaggerating. The rest of the book involved Joe talking about how he wanted to be like Big and his girl like Carrie. He referred to his penis as 'My Portnoy' almost every single page. An absolute waste.

[Jared · Rating 0.5 out of 5]

My fucking portnoy was not fucking pleased with this fucking book.

[Erin Dunn · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

✨✨✨Joe, Joe, Joe…😂 ✨✨✨

I really love the first You book and the show, so of course this was one of my most highly anticipated reads this year. I was so excited I actually got approved for this arc!! 🙀

You First goes back to when Joe Goldberg is 17 and we get to see his first love. How sweet and romantic… and dread inducing!! 😆 This one is just like you would expect it to be if you’re a fan of the series you know what I mean!

The writing is spectacular and the atmosphere is definitely on point. I absolutely loved going back and seeing some of Joe’s beginnings!! It did get a bit slow toward the middle. Also, I absolutely hated all the Sex and the City references (there were A LOT and I’m not a fan of the show), but other than that, I really enjoyed it!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free ebook copy in exchange for an honest review. This book is expected to be released June 9, 2026.

[Char]

I’m setting this aside for now. I want to love it because I love Caroline Kepnes’ work, but I find myself reluctant to go back to it. Maybe I’m Joe’d out, or maybe it’s my state of mind?
DNF for now. Maybe I’ll come back to it, maybe I won’t.

DNF @17%

[Jaelyn Guiton · Rating 2 out of 5]

9/11 plays a bigger role in this than you would think. And, as always, Joe's talking about his portnoy again.

I fear that I can't help but pick up every installation of this series when I know that I only ever liked the first one. I was hoping that this would be an origin story about Joe's childhood with his parents and Mr. Mooney. This book starts after that, starting when Joe was 17 and during his relationship with Vail.

I didn't like a single character in this story. Not one. I love an unreliable narrator, but I think we were stuck in Joe's head a little too much. It was long as hell for absolutely no reason. It wasn't as boring as For You and Only You, but it still dragged a lot. Few things have made me want to watch Sex and the City less.

Unfortunately, if Ms. Kepnes releases another addition to this series about Joe's childhood, I will be the first in line.

[Laura Wonderchick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This might be my favorite Joe yet! Again, he’s demented and a lot screwed up but in a f’ed up likeable way. Fast paced chapters and the wit kept me reading it quickly! And I will never look at Pop Rocks the same ever again. IYKYK

[Charity Bowen · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF - I tried, I really did. Absolutely disgusting and unreadable, at least for me. The author is capable of better and needs to let this series die.

[Cassie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I met you because of the same reason you met me. We cannot become the main characters that are Big and Carrie on our own. We can only become Big and Carrie through each other.

I was pumped when I heard that Caroline Kepnes’s next Joe Goldberg book would be a prequel. I’ve enjoyed all of Joe’s adventures to some degree, although starting around book three I began to find Joe kind of exhausting. I liked the idea of a villain (antihero?) origin story for Joe – especially one that would take place right around Y2K, when Joe and I were the same age (17).

It probably goes without saying that Joe Goldberg and I were very different people at 17 years old.

Anyway, in You First we meet Joe as a teenager working in Mr. Mooney’s bookshop. He hasn’t become a stalker yet, but that swiftly changes when he meets Vail through a Missed Connections post on Craigslist. And…you know how the rest of this goes.

Unfortunately, I don’t think Kepnes brought much new material to the saga of Joe. We only learn slightly more about his past and his relationship with Mr. Mooney. I was hoping for a deep dive into Joe’s younger years to kind of help me get a sense of his trauma and what made him so desperate to be loved that he became a psychotic stalker. But You First really is just about Joe’s first time stalking his love interest, except this time there are lots of early-aughts pop culture references.

One of those pop culture references is Sex and the City, which Joe binge-watches as a way to feel closer to Vail (she works on set). I’m not exaggerating when I say that at least 30 pages of this book are dedicated to Joe summarizing SATC episodes for the reader. At first, it was interesting getting his very Joe-specific perspective – he is a Big sympathizer from the start – but it was waaay too much SATC.

And there was also way too much Portnoy, which is what Joe calls his penis. God, it made me cringe-gag every time his Portnoy twitched. *shudder*

I do want to be clear, though, I did have a good time reading this. Even though he exhausts me, I find Joe to be kind of an addictive character; being inside his brain is so fascinating and exciting. At the sentence level, no one writes like Caroline Kepnes; her construction, cadence, and pacing are nothing short of brilliant, and it makes her writing so engaging to read. Honestly, I don’t know if there’s much more she can do with Joe at this point – but I’ll continue to read every attempt she makes. Thank you to Random House for the early reading opportunity.

[Ness (Vynexa) · Rating 3 out of 5]

nothing triggers my anxiety like being in Joe Goldberg’s head.
surely doesn’t help that I listen to the audiobooks at 2.5-2.8x speed, but it helps make it be more believable.
did we need this novella? in my opinion, no, but after listening to the author’s note/acknowledgement, I understand why Kepnes worked on this project.

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kepnes girl you let me down.

[Kristen Petet · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was not what I expected from a prequel. This was just the same story with a different girl, but the first girl this time. I still don’t fully know what made him who he was which is what I was hoping to get from this book. I struggled to get through this one. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

[Nena Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a great origin book. I loved seeing a deep dive into his first obsession, it gives you an insight into his character and see what makes him tick. In with alot of the other reviewers, that there was too much of Sex in the City in this book. Other than that I thought it was great

[Melanie Belson (melanielovesbooks) · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75

Oh man I wanted to love this so much, I anticipated it since it was first announced.......sadly it fell flat for me. It took me forever to read because I just didn't have any interest in picking it up and hearing about Sex and the City and the word Portnoy over and over was just way too much. I get that Joe is only 17 in this and I can see where these would come into play but it was excessive (which I do realize is the point of Joe), it just pulled me out of the story.

Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for access to an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

[Bellamy Grundstrom · Rating 0.75 out of 5]

This genuinely took years off of my life. Why do we need to know that vail has six toes on one foot?? Why must it be referenced every four pages?? Why do we reference sex and the city every other sentence??? Genuinely.....a horribly uncomfortable read. It literally reads like a millennial woman trying to figure out what it's like to be a 17 year old boy as she's writing! Also.......leave 9/11 out of this! As if it weren't tragic enough...😭

[Angela 🦈 · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

I actually don’t expect to like this as much as I did. It gave American psycho vibes but, more modern. I listened to the audiobook so it felt fast paced for me which I enjoyed. It was nice getting a glimpse at Joe in his younger years. I hope I like the rest of the series just as much.

[MildaOnTheCase · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tikiuosi siai knygai dar vieno serialo sezono nesukurs. 😀
Knyga nebloga, bet nieko naujo. Puse knygos rasoma apie tapati, o toliau rutuliojasi tas pats Joe Goldberg scenarijus. 😀

[Tiffany Schulz · Rating 4 out of 5]

ARC review
Oh Joe. Dear Joe Goldberg how I missed you. From the opening page to the closing line we have our Joe back. The familiar speech, book and sing references and general inability to connect with the people around him leaves you charmed and a little bit disgusted.
This story is set when Joe is 17, before Beck. Before Love, before it all. The prequel to the delicious stories of “You”. Stalker, obsession, madness, and the fumblings of a young man who had been let down his whole life by people. It is slow, and fast, maddening and cringeworthy. It’s Joe Goldberg.
The first love, Vail, her own issues abound meets our Joe, and these two feed off each other with games and trauma and trying to navigate New York and each other Neither one wants to be truly genuine, or don’t realize what that even means.
Joe once again dos so many things that make a reader cringe, but the nostalgia of having Joe back supersedes all that. It’s like hearing the voice of a long dead loved one. A bit wordy, but that’s Joe. A bit too much in every chapter. But that’s Joe.
Happy to have you again Joe.

[Lindsey Domokur · Rating 5 out of 5]

The nostalgia! Going back into the world of YOU always sucks me right in and I can't stop thinking about it until I am done. Seeing Joe at 17 and being back inside his head was wild. You can see the way that he evolves and learning more about his past really had me hooked. He meets Vail, a little older and not a lot wiser. Joe isn't good with people and that is nothing new, but he also doesn't choose the best people to surround himself with.
He is forever searching for his YOU and his obsessions always take him too far. I have to say, Vail was my least favorite of his interests, but I understood why he chose her. She was really awful and toxic, but so is Joe so it tracks.
I think this book hit home so hard for me because of the time period. This brought back so many feelings I had from when I was in my early 20's and experiencing all of the things he talked about. The throwback to all of the things I grew up with was done so well and it captured me and put me right into the story. These books are written so uniquely that it is hard to know where Joe starts and I begin, which is scary, but also so entertaining. 4.5 stars.
Thanks to Random House, Netgalley and Caroline Kepnes for an early copy.