Helen-Marie Rivera asked Caroline Kepnes:

I'm in the middle of your book "You". I keep cheering Joe on. I absolutely love him! He reminds me of Dexter. In the beginning I thought he was creepy and scary. He totally changed my mind. How did you come up with his character? Did anything in particular influence you? Do you think you will write a third book for 'You' series?

Caroline Kepnes Hello Helen-Marie! I do think I'll go back to Joe. I certainly have plans for him. A few months before I started writing, I had a nightmarish health scare, a freak abscess by my epiglottis (I have blocked out the specifics, but Sarah Silverman just talked about a similar experience). Anyway, middle of the night, I'm in the ER. I could not talk out loud and the doctor did the scan and was like "yes, technically you are dying, your throat is closing". And then another doctor was driving in to do the surgery to keep me breathing. I had just lost my father a couple months before. My mom had just had serious surgery. Brutal times. I think about that moment in the ER of the ultimate dark comedy: dying from a sore throat. Like WTF. And this liberating peace of like, well, we are all going to die. It is the ultimate part of life, like it or not. As you know, I lived (yay!) and a few months later, while going thought voice therapy, I started writing about Joe. It all feels connected, as Joe firmly believes that death is a part of life, which is how he often justifies murder.

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