Loner by Teddy Wayne

I started reading this book and I was immediately intrigued. I will admit that it was mainly because it reminded me of the TV show “You”. I am obsessed with that show so needless to say I highly enjoyed this book. It was creepy and gross and intriguing. 

The story is told from the point of view of David Federman a Harvard freshman. David was a loner in school and is determined to find a group of people to change that now that he’s at the university. During his orientation he meets Veronica Morgan Wells. He is instantly attracted to her and decides to make her fall for him.  

David knows he is a flawed individual, but his fantastic vocabulary and high intelligence makes him think he is on a higher level than anyone else. 
“I’m an extroverted introvert at best. But everyone says that, right? They want to claim the best parts of each—that they can be charming when they need to, but they really prefer solitude. No one’s ever, like, ‘I have the neediness of an extrovert and the poor social skills of the introvert.’ Sorry” 

He is incredibly pretentious and so privileged. He thinks he is entitled to Veronica simply because he likes her. Never at one point are you rooting for him to win, but that’s the point. It’s disgusting to hear his innermost thoughts. It’s intriguing and awful, but there are people who legitimately think this way. It’s terrifying. 

David has a habit of transposing words and sentences backward. As a kid this made him a celebrity for a bit at his summer camp. He decides to try this with the new people he meets expecting the same result. No one at Harvard is impressed of course, least of all the woman he’s trying to impress Veronica. 

There were some characters brought up that went nowhere. There was a childhood bully that David was surprised to see at Harvard, but otherwise that storyline went nowhere. 

Now come the similarities to “You”. After David decides that Veronica should be his he begins to follow her around and pretends to casually run into her. He also starts dating her roommate in an effort to get closer to Veronica. David totally believes he’s a nice guy who is doing asshole things to win Veronica’s heart. 

The book kept me on the edge of my seat and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. The resolution happened a little too quickly, but I can see David logically reaching his final actions. I wasn’t surprised by his actions because again people like this sicko actually exist. 

The gif above is totally not a spoiler by the way. David’s just a psycho. Anyway, I highly recommend this thrilling novel which is scarier than some horror novels, but for a completely different reason.