The Inmate, by Freida McFadden, is a murder mystery filled with unexpected twists. While this one grabbed my attention from the beginning and kept me reading well into the night, it fell a bit short regarding everything being believable. Even with all that had happened, the mom seemed to be way too trusting, all the way to the end. Thanks, NetGalley and the publisher, for providing me with the ARC ebook that I read and reviewed. All opinions are my own.

The Inmate, by Freida McFadden, is a fast-paced psychological thriller, with short chapters.

I got this book on NetGalley, as an ARC, but from what I see, it's actually an old book that's been republished. So I'm a little late to the game, but here I am! Hahaha

It's not the first Freida McFadden book I read, and like the others, it reads very easily. The writing is nice and keeps you entertained.

I enjoyed the book overall, but I guessed most of the plot twists. Not all of them though, that's why it's still a 3.5. BUT, I have to say that some plot twists were unrealistic and a bit far-fetched. Even if I didn't get all the plot twists right, it wasn't all that surprising.

The main character was super naive, and may I even say, stupid 😅 I really didn't care much for or about her.

Brooke moves back to her hometown after her parents death along with her 10 year old son. She takes a job at the local prison, even though her son's father is in prisoned there and she is the one that put him there. She runs into her old best friend Tim, and they begin to date even though Shane from prison told her not to. When things start to turn around and Shane is released from prison and Tim is put in prison, is she safter than before or not.

This is a fast page turner that keeps you guessing. It is my first Freida McFadden book, but will definitely be reading more from her.

3/5 ⭐️s
The Inmate by Freida McFadden is a twisty murder mystery/thriller. It kept my attention for sure and just like all of Freida’s books, I wasn’t able to figure out “who did it” from the get go. The MC was pretty dumb and the situation was definitely unrealistic. It’s a fun read, but don’t expect to be blown away.

So good! This was like popcorn- I couldn’t put it down. The Inmate was twisty and turny and just went I thought I had it figured out bam!

Although this book was written in McFadden's typical rudimentary writing style, it did make the book easy to read. So many questions with how a protagonist could be so unbelievably naive. Some things just didn't make sense with the character relationships and twists in the plot, other things added up a little too perfectly. Overall a quick, entertaining read.

Oh Frieda, another good one! Following her hit formula Freida takes us on a trip to max security prison where a killer is incarcerated . Our narrator knows this as she was the survivor of the murderous encounter as a teenager. Mix in twists, turns and surprises and you can read this one in two or three elongated sittings and feel weirdly satisfied at the end.

I was a little let down by this one, I have to be honest. I found it very obvious, and there wasn't much of a plot twist. I practically guessed this book from within the first 50 pages, which is a shame as I'm not normally one for being able to guess how it will end. I found the fmc a little naive for my liking, and the story as a whole read more like a YA thriller. That being said I really enjoyed the pacing, as with all Freida books it was fast paced and I flew through it relatively quickly. Overall I did enjoy it for the most part but not one of my favourites of Frieda's books.

What can I say? I love Freida McFadden. But this book? Slightly disappointing. There are some books by this author that I cannot put down, but this book wasn’t the case. I think the plot was kind of predictable. The main character Brooke was simply dumb and very naive, which made her unlikable and it was hard to get by when reading. I would, despite some drawbacks, recommend this book to others who want to get into the mystery and thriller genre. The short chapters and writing style are bonuses that make reading McFadden novels so addicting!

Thank you so much @PoisonedPenPress for giving me this ARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased review (Release Date | 05 March 2024)

SYNOPSIS | Brooke is a nurse practitioner who has recently returned to the town she grew up in with her 10-year-old son (Josh). She is working at a men's maximum security prison, but what she failed to disclose when she accepted the job is that her ex-boyfriend (Shane) is also there serving a life sentence for murder.

WHAT I LIKED:
- this author knows how to write a good bingeable popcorn thriller
- red flag after red flag after red flag
- fast pacing throughout kept me flipping the pages
- the epilogue!

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
- Brooke just didn't seem very intelligent & kept making the same naive terrible decisions. She was a very frustrating perspective to read from & ultimately really hampered by ability to enjoy this story.
- the flip flopping between who was the murderer
- overall the plot felt quite farfetched compared to some of her other stories

Entertaining in a trashy TV kind of way. Compulsively readable but not a lot there to sink your teeth into. And the main character’s gullible-ness had me face palming several times throughout this one.

Brooke put her high school boyfriend away for life after he tried to murder her. Eleven years later she’s back in their hometown after the death of her parents with her secret ten year old son in tow, having recently gotten a nurse practitioner job at the same prison Shane is housed in. As she starts getting closer to the only other living witness from that night, her childhood best friend Tim, she starts to question her recollections of that night — and which man she should trust. Both are telling her the other is dangerous and choosing the wrong one could have fatal consequences.

A fine read if you don’t need your FMC to be the smartest tool in the shed and you don’t dwell too long on some pretty big plot holes.

I could not put this book down... Brooke moves back to town 10 years after the most horrible night of her life. Her high school boyfriend attempted to murder her (or so she thinks) and when she gets a nursing job at the jail where he is, everything she thought starts to change. I don't want to give anything away, but I read this book in 24 hours- could not put down. And what a twist at the end!! So good.

I love Freida McFadden books and this one did not disappoint! This book had me hooked (like all of her books) and I couldn't put it down. If you like books with lots if twists and turns you'll love this one.

Thank you to the Author, Publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to review this book.

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

There are three rules Brooke Sullivan must follow as a new nurse practitioner at a men’s maximum-security prison:

1) Treat all prisoners with respect.

2) Never reveal any personal information.

3) Never EVER become too friendly with the inmates.

But none of the staff at the prison knows Brooke has already broken the rules. Nobody knows about her intimate connection to Shane Nelson, one of the penitentiary’s most notorious and dangerous inmates.

And they certainly don’t know that Shane was Brooke’s high school sweetheart—the star quarterback who is now spending the rest of his life in prison for a series of grisly murders. Or that Brooke's testimony was what put him there.

But Shane knows.

And he will never forget.

• Thanks Netgalley & publisher for the ARC •

While this book wasn't badly written, the story didn't cut it for me. As a seasoned thriller reader, I spot the twist-untwist a mile away, and that soured my reading experience.

Another problem I personally had with the story is that the main character isn't a complex, realistic person. That, paired with the unrealistic decisions made by the other characters, turned reading this book into a chore for me. I could spot the "Scream" and "Friday the 13th" rehashed, re-cooked references a mile away.

Hopefully, other people with fewer expectations might enjoy it more than I did.

Brooke is nearly murdered by her high school boyfriend. Fast forward 10 years her parents are killed and she moves back to her hometown with her son. She wants a fresh start and her parents left her their house. Unable to find work as a nurse practitioner in the area she takes the only job she can find. This happens to be working the jail where the x boyfriend is incarcerated. She’s forced to see him again. Another old friend comes back into her life. It’s unclear who’s manipulating her and what really happened all those years ago. It takes a very unexpected turn. I love her books as always. Very fun, easy read. I really wanted to get to the bottom of what happened to Brooke and who was really the bad guy here!

I feel like the very beginning of this was a bit of a slow starter; however it very quickly picked up pace! after a bit of a slump I managed to read the last two thirds of this in one sitting!

I questioned every single character multiple times, changing my mind about who did what. I definitely didn't see a couple of the twists coming - and there were a lot of twists! Kept me gripped.

I really enjoyed this book. This book was impossible to put down, I had to read to know who the killer was. Did not expect that it would Shane's mother at the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

This was a rollicking thriller and it kept me gripped from the first page. The story was great, and I really did think that I picked the twist from that first bit of the book, but I was pleasantly surprised. It took a turn that I don't think anyone would have expected, and I really enjoyed the approach that the author took to the whole story.

The characters could have been a little bit better, particularly the main character as her voice was a little off-kilter. I expected her to be a bit more assertive, a little more sure of herself, and I was disappointed that that wasn't the case. There was no real motivation given throughout for her to be moving home, and I was a bit disappointed by that side of things.

With all that said though, this was a definite page-turner, with highs and lows, and a thrilling ride throughout. It's definitely one of those excellent thrillers to curl up with a cuppa for on a rainy day and get stuck right into it.

The last chapter and the epilogue of this book, produced a true jaw-dropping gob-smacked exclamation of “WOW” from my lips. I’m not kidding.

The story goes back and forth from 10 yrs past to the present, and repeats that cycle throughout the book as details and conversations emerge. Six teenagers got together at Brooke’s boyfriend Brandon’s house, to spend the night (3 boys - 3 girls) on this particular night. It was dark and stormy, terrible rain, no electricity, no phone service, and then…there were 3 murders with an attempt on Brooke’s life that someone tried strangling her with her necklace, but she got away from the attacker. The other 2 victims of this party were injured too, one clobbered in the head with a baseball bat, the other stabbed with a knife in the stomach.

Fast forward 10 yrs. On that night, Brooke conceived a child, a son named Josh from Brandon. Brandon happens to be the boy she put in prison by aid of her testimony. She believed Brandon committed this horrendous crime of 10 yrs ago and was the one who tried to kill her too. She has never told Josh who his father was.

So now, the 3 lives of the “survivors” intersect in the present. Brooke is a nurse practitioner who is desperate for work and can only find a job in a all men’s penitentiary, the exact same one where Brandon is. Tim who was present also on that fatal night, and who was her childhood best friend, her first practice kiss, and now her son’s school principal, renews his friendship with Brooke and the more than casual interest that he had in her…( he claims he has always loved her).

Fingers are pointing galore! The two men hate each other and each tells her to be weary of the other. Along the lines, Brooke really gets confused. She begins to wonder if her testimony put the right man in jail. She’s sure of it, and then she’s not. She never did saw the actual face of the one who tried to kill her all those years ago! She never saw the murderer that night at all, the one who killed her friends. Was she right about Brandon? Wrong about Tim? Things are really confusing about both their present behaviors and the details of their personalities and present actions.

I so thought I had this figured out. (I’m usually not wrong very often), but I was so wrong - hence refer to my first sentence.

Kudo’s to the author for writing a brilliant story WITHOUT foul-language. 👍👍 I found some of the story a little repetitive through parts, but the story itself was overall fascinating and engaging and I needed to see this confusion resolved.

First time reading this author, but won’t be the last.

This gets 5 shiny STARS ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I've read a couple of other Frieda McFadden books and am a big big fan of her writing, so when this book came out on Netgalley I knew I had to request it.

Something I absolutely loved about this book was the flashbacks that constantly showed us a little bit more about what happened previously in Brooke's (the fmc) life.

Halfway through the book I called out—full of certainty—who the killer was, and was completely flabbergasted when it turned out I was wrong. Now, I love being proven wrong when it comes to mystery/thriller books, so I was happy with this.

BUT the twist at the end that showed us who the actual killer was, didn't have quite the big impact on me that it needed to have. We, as the reader, also didn't get any hints that this could've been the killer, which is a real bummer.

Definitely a nice, fast-paced and suspenseful book though, so I'm very happy I read it.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC