Skip to main content

© 2026

Donate

Play Live Radio

Next Up:

0:00

0:00

0:00 0:00

Available On Air Stations

The new WAMC app is available to download on iOS and Android! Click here to learn more.

The Roundtable

Caroline Kepnes gives us a look at the character Joe Goldberg's origins in 'You First: A Joe Goldberg Prequel'

By Joe Donahue

Published July 31, 2026 at 11:30 AM EDT

Ways To Subscribe

Long before Joe Goldberg became one of fiction's most unsettling antiheroes, he was simply a lonely teenager looking for love. In 'You First: A Joe Goldberg Prequel,' Caroline Kepnes takes readers back to seventeen-year-old Joe, working in Mr. Mooney's Manhattan bookstore and chasing the promise of romance, only to reveal how obsession and deception first took root. Kepnes, the 'New York Times' bestselling author whose 'You' novels inspired the hit Netflix series, once again blends dark humor, psychological suspense, and razor-sharp social observation. This origin story offers longtime fans—and newcomers alike—a chilling look at how monsters are made.

Tags

The Roundtable book thriller romance psychological thriller

Joe Donahue

Joe talks to people on the radio for a living. In addition to countless impressive human "gets" - he has talked to a lot of Muppets. Joe grew up in Philadelphia, has been on the area airwaves for more than 25 years and currently lives in Washington County, NY with his wife, Kelly, and their dog, Brady. And yes, he reads every single book.

See stories by Joe Donahue

Related Content

The Roundtable

Singer and Actress Heather Headley will be at The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center on 7/31 with 'An Evening with Heather Headley'

Madeleine Reynolds

Heather Headley is known for her prolific career on Broadway, in music, and in TV and film. Headley has a multifaceted career, which she considers a blessing.Headley in 1997 made her breakthrough by being cast as the titular role of Nala in the Tony Award Winning Musical ‘The Lion King.’ She then starred as the leading role of Aida in Elton John’s and Time Rice’s ‘Aida’ where she won a Tony Award for Best Leading Actress. She also has been in the West End’s “The Bodyguard,’ the Broadway Revival of ‘The Color Purple,’ and Encores ‘Into the Woods.’Heather Headley will be at The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center on Friday July 31st with 'An Evening with Heather Headley' at 8pm.
The Roundtable

Michelle Goldberg ad Katha Pollitt will be at the New Marlborough Meeting House on 8/1

Joe Donahue

'New York Times' opinion writer Michelle Goldberg will appear in conversation with essayist, poet, and longtime 'The Nation' columnist Katha Pollitt at the New Marlborough Meeting House on Saturday, August 1, at 4:30 pm. They will be discussing the current political moment and the future of American democracy.
The Roundtable

Chester Theatre Company presents new play 'Amchitka' by Mark St. Germain running through 8/8

Joe Donahue

A New Play by Mark St. Germain, 'Amchitka,' is being produced Chester Theatre Company, directed by Julianne Boyd and running through Aug 8th. The production is taking place in the Chester Town Hall Theatre.In a monitoring station at Amchitka, a volcanic island 170 miles off the coast of Alaska used for underground nuclear testing in the 1960s, three scientists find themselves cut off from the outside world as an event seems to be underway. But what? A new philosophical thriller by Mark St. Germain, author of 'Magdalene' and 'Freud’s Last Session.'
The Roundtable

Cartoonist Bruce Sconzo's new collection is 'Bruce: Three Decades of Cartooning'

Joe Donahue

For more than three decades, Bruce Sconzo has chronicled the world with a cartoonist's eye, blending wit, sharp observation, and an unmistakable drawing style to capture everything from everyday life to politics and popular culture. His new collection, 'Bruce: Three Decades of Cartooning.'