Comprehensive Study Notes on Hidden Bodies by Caroline Kepnes
The Transition from New York and the Ghost of Rhode Island
Joe Goldberg begins his narrative by reflecting on his relationship with Amy Kendall Adam at Mooney Rare and Used. Joe describes himself as a good boyfriend who chooses violets for Amy because roses are for those who have done something wrong. Joe values Amy because she lives in the moment rather than in the computer. He recounts his history in Rhode Island, specifically Little Compton, where he was lovesick and terrified for his ex-girlfriend Guinevere Beck—referred to as R.I.P. Guinevere Beck—due to her unstable friend Peach Salinger—R.I.P. Peach Salinger. Joe reveals a critical error from his past: while hiding in a closet at the Salinger house, he urinated in a ceramic mug and left it on the hardwood floor. This mistake haunts him and drives his new commitment to precision and detail. Joe recalls Amy’s arrival five months prior with her untamed blond hair and a résumé full of lies. She appeared for her first day with a notebook, a list of rare books, superfruits for longevity, and latex gloves to protect the inventory. Joe and Amy developed a partnership, traveling together to estate sales and library clearances. Their relationship deepened on the Upper East Side when Amy convinced Joe to spend dollars on a signed edition of The Easter Parade by Yates. The two bonded over their favorite book, Portnoy’s Complaint, eventually amassing a yellow wall of copies in the basement. Joe’s immersion in this love led him to give Amy the keys to the shop, pink and flowery. However, Joe’s world shattered when he found the shop robbed. Amy had stolen approximately dollars in rare books, including every copy of Portnoy’s Complaint and the Yates edition. In her wake, she left a copy of the children's book Charlotte & Charles with a note stating that they were the same because they both had secrets. Joe discovered Amy had erased only an hour of his computer history, allowing him to see her searches for UCB classes, Ben Affleck, and sublets in Hollywood. Fuelled by rage, Joe decided to leave New York to hunt her down in Los Angeles.
Assimilation in Franklin Village and the Hunt for Amy Offline
Joe arrived at LAX and immediately joined Facebook under his real name to integrate into the Hollywood social scene for surveillance. He settled in an apartment building called Hollywood Lawns in Franklin Village, managed by an aspiring comic named Harvey Swallows. Joe’s new neighbor, Dez, warned him not to sleep with Delilah, a gossip reporter and ghostwriter who lived upstairs. Joe secured a job at Counterpoint Books, working with Calvin, a writer-director-actor-producer who worshipped the talk-show host Henderson. Joe used social media to track celebrities and monitor Amy's potential movements. He created fake casting calls on Craigslist to lure her, citing specific requirements for a stunning blond lead. During a trip to a local grocery store called the Pantry, which Joe described as a modern art museum of food, he encountered celebrities like Adam Scott and Joshua Jackson. He learned from a clerk named Stevie that Amy had been in the store eating blueberries and running out without paying. Joe later discovered Amy was on the Window of Shame at Birds Rotisserie Chicken Cafe & Bar for a similar beverage-related theft. While stalking her through the Village, Joe met a girl named Gwen on Tinder but found himself distracted by a candy-haired girl at a bar. A mishap at Gwen's guesthouse in Los Feliz caused Joe to miss Amy when she finally visited the shop to sell a Portnoy’s Complaint screenplay. Joe mistakenly broke into an apartment on Bronson seeking Amy but instead encountered Nanny Rachel, who beat and restrained him with resistance bands. Rachel, an SAT tutor and self-defense instructor, did not call the police because she lived in an apartment owned by her wealthy, paranoid employers. Delilah eventually confronted Joe about his pill usage, having learned from Dez that Joe was buying Percocets.
The Execution of Henderson and the Disposition of Robin Fincher
Joe eventually found Amy through a video of Henderson’s show, F@#k Narcissism, where the host boasted about "Amy baby" and her preference for superfruits and blueberries. Joe infiltrated a party at Henderson's house in the hills, bringing a bag of tools including rope, duct tape, and Percocets. He discovered Henderson’s box of secrets, which contained memorabilia of his ex-wife Margie. Joe drugged Henderson’s water with four Percocets, Xanax, and sleeping pills. After Henderson fell into a drug-induced sleep, Joe restrained him with cable ties. To gain Henderson's iPad password, which was "Margie19," Joe interrogated him about Amy. Henderson confessed that he never slept with Amy; she rejected him after he sent her a dick pic. Joe eventually hydrated Henderson with more Percocet water and smothered him with a plastic bag. He staged the scene to look like a DNA sex party orgy gone wrong. Leaving the house, Joe was detained by Officer Robin Fincher for jaywalking. Fincher, a bitter failed actor who used his badge to stalk celebrities, snatched Joe’s Beats headphones and threatened him. Fincher eventually followed Joe to the set of Boots and Puppies in Palm Springs, revealing that Delilah had gone missing. Delilah had discovered Joe’s murder kit in his apartment after they slept together. Joe had killed Delilah by smashing her head against a bathtub and dumping her body at sea from the Donzi boat. To eliminate Fincher, Joe created a fake e-mail from Megan Fox to lure the officer to a soundproof recording studio in Axl Rose’s Cabo estate. Joe trapped Fincher in the studio, where the officer accidentally died by crashing his head against the glass in a fit of rage. Joe buried Fincher and his Rolodex of celebrity addresses under a cactus in the Zen garden.
The Quinn Family and the Professional Betrayal
While hunting Amy, Joe fell in love with Love Quinn, the daughter of the wealthy owners of the Pantry empire. Love is a twin to Forty Quinn, a self-destructive aspiring screenwriter. Joe was embraced by Dottie and Ray Quinn, who treated him like family at Chateau Marmont. Love’s childhood friend Milo, the "third twin," also competed for her attention and directed Love in a film called Boots and Puppies. Joe worked as the "Professor" on the set, assisting Forty with his scripts, including The Third Twin and The Mess. Joe discovered that Forty had sold their collaborative scripts to Megan Ellison’s Annapurna, but Forty took sole credit, erasing Joe’s contributions. Forty’s ongoing drug benders and entitlement tortured Love, driving Joe to take drastic action. Joe attempted to drown Forty in an alkali spring in the Nevada desert after drugging him with Percocet water. Although Joe believed Forty was dead, he later learned that a girl had saved him and he was recovering in a Reno hospital. Forty used his knowledge of the murder attempt to blackmail Joe into being his ghostwriter as the "Professor." However, Forty was eventually killed in a freak accident when he was hit by a Honda Civic driven by Julie Santos while jaywalking in Beverly Hills. Joe delivered a masterfully manipulative eulogy for Forty at the Beverly Hills Hotel, citing Ronald Dworkin’s Life’s Dominion to praise Forty's potential.
The Return to Little Compton and the Permanent Union
Joe’s past resurfaced when the Salinger family reopened the case into Peach’s death. Joe traveled back to Little Compton to retrieve the mug of urine, but Love followed him. In a Rhode Island motel, Joe confessed his history of murder—including Peach and Beck—expecting Love to abandon him. Instead, Love revealed she had already retrieved the mug by infiltrating the Salinger house under the guise of Peach’s secret lesbian lover. She also revealed that she was pregnant. Joe realized that Love was his perfect match, a person who could forgive and facilitate his nature. Just as the couple planned their future at a Taco Bell, the police surrounded the building. Joe was arrested for the murders of Guinevere Beck and Peach Salinger, as Officer Nico had identified Joe as "Spencer Hewitt" by tracing his license plate on a Facebook photograph. Despite his arrest, Joe remained confident in the strength of the Quinn family's legal resources and the lack of physical evidence against him. He spent his time in jail meditating on his future as a father, convinced that Love would wait for him and that he would eventually be free to raise their daughter.