You First

I’ll admit it: I *liked* Joe Goldberg by the end of *You First*, and that’s what makes this audiobook so dangerously good. Santino Fontana’s narration is a masterclass in manipulation—his voice is warm, almost vulnerable, when Joe’s playing the wounded romantic, then icy and detached when he’s justifying another boundary violation. There’s a scene early on where Joe ‘rescues’ a woman’s abandoned diary, and Fontana’s delivery makes his invasion feel like a grand gesture. That’s the magic (and the horror) of this performance: it forces you to complicate your own morality. The story itself is a slow-burn descent, but not in the way you’d expect. Kepnes doesn’t rely on jump scares or gore; the terror is in the mundanity. Joe’s first kill isn’t a dramatic showdown—it’s a quiet, almost clinical act, framed as an act of love. The pacing drags slightly in the middle as Joe spirals into self-loathing (a deliberate choice, but one that tests patience), and I wished for more tension in the second act. That said, the payoff is worth it. The production is flawless—no distracting edits, no awkward pauses—just Fontana’s voice, Kepnes’ razor-sharp prose, and the creeping realization that you’re rooting for a monster. My only real critique? The ending feels a touch rushed, like Kepnes knew we’d seen enough of Joe’s justifications and needed to rip the bandage off. But maybe that’s the point: some origins are better left half-told. If you love unreliable narrators who make you question your own sanity, or if you’ve ever wondered how far ‘nice guy’ entitlement can curdle, this is your audiobook. Just don’t listen to it on a first date.