Stephen King for the avocado toast generation: dark, twisted, hilarious and unmissable.
In 2008, 13-year-old Jon Bronson disappears on his morning walk to school. After even his parents give him up for dead, only his best friend, Chloe, remains certain that he would come back.
Four years later, Jon returns with no memory of anything after the day he disappeared. But something’s different about him. His presence seems to cause spontaneous nose-bleeds in those around him. When he hugs his father, the older man passes out. The family dog disappears.
Jon’s only clue to his missing four years is the battered book left behind by the man he believes abducted him. And he and Chloe are determined to figure out what happened to Jon… before his presence does more than cause a couple of bloody noses. They’re sure they can solve the mystery and save Jon.
But this is a Caroline Kepnes novel. You know that the worst is yet to come.
With her trademark flair, precision eye for detail and acerbic wit, Caroline Kepnes will bring the suspense thriller to a whole new level with PROVIDENCE – a story of loss, horror, redemption and the love that binds us all.
*** PRAISE FOR CAROLINE KEPNES ***
'Intense and deeply disturbing, You is a dark story told in a fresh voice, and an addictive read from beginning to end... Both a thrill and a nightmare, and yet I didn't want to wake up' Jennifer Hillier, author of THE BUTCHER on YOU
'Both original and compelling. If you only read one new thriller this year, make it this one. It will stay with you long after you have put it down' Daily Mail on YOU
'Hypnotic and scary...never read anything quite like it' Stephen King on YOU
'I am RIVETED, AGHAST, AROUSED, you name it. The rare instance when prose and plot are equally delicious' Lena Dunham on YOU
'YOU is superb. So funny, apart from anything else, and properly clever. It is: different, hot' Sophie Hannah on YOU
'I can’t remember the last time I felt so guilty for enjoying a book so much' S Magazine on HIDDEN BODIES
'There’s something deeply insidious about the storytelling of Caroline Kepnes. As satire of a self-absorbed society, Kepnes hits the mark, cuts deep, and twists the knife' Entertainment Weekly on HIDDEN BODIES
'So brilliant, we reckon it’s invented its own genre: hipster thriller, anyone?' Glamour on HIDDEN BODIES
Providence is Kepnes’ first novel not to feature the brilliant Joe. It’s also her first dip into a bit of sci-fi and while it reads well enough and I enjoyed it, I did finish the novel and wonder what the point of it actually was? There was no resolution or answers.
There is so much Kepnes could have explored with Jon, and it just all fizzled into this romance with Chloe. The most interesting storyline was Eggies. His was the narrative I was always keen to get back to and even that died a death.
I just don’t know what Kepnes was going for. It felt like 300 pages that just went nowhere which was incredibly disappointing. She is such a good writer, but it’s like she didn’t want to delve properly into what happened to Jon and so it all fell very flat.
