16.4k reviews for:

De vriend

Freida McFadden

3.8 AVERAGE

fatima_alabed's review against another edition

3.75

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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don't know but i enjoyed the ending as it was like two plot twists in a row that made me so schoked in a way like this book was worth it, but i hate the slow burn at the start but overall o have enjoyed it 

mistressnoodle's review against another edition

3.25

fast-paced

bayleylevy's review against another edition

3.0

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3.5* it was okay. Idk I’m not sure I’m the biggest fan of her style. Like the mystery was good and they did get me in the end as my prediction was wrong. But defs my fave read by her

strllaloo's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

read_sleep_drinkcoffee's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

anmoore14's review against another edition

3.0

mysterious tense medium-paced

carlischapters's review against another edition

4.0

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

ce_wilcken's review against another edition

3.5

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

readingrhema's review against another edition

2.0

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This story only “worked” because none of the characters have any common sense.

taradavey's review against another edition

2.0

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⭐️⭐️ 2.5 Stars.

I can summarise my thoughts by saying: I don't know if it's badly written, or I just really didn't like the main characters.

I find our female main character annoying; she seems whiney, ungrateful, and frustrating. She

Spoiler

greets her ex-boyfriend who is a detective disrespectfully when he hasn't caught a murderer within two months, getting angry at him as he "promised"

, she whines at a new man who offered to buy her an expensive souvenir shirt to cover her stained one because he bought a "I Love NY" shirt rather than something less cringey (accept the shirt, you snot). She makes comments like "The last thing I expected was an apology from this man. Or any man, really" which I don't find necessary to build the character or the plot. She has not much character outside of her frustration of being single. That and frustration about her blood clotting disorder - frustration and self-beratement which is extremely exaggerated (unrealistically so) but then this frustration disappears halfway through the book and is barely mentioned. She also TWICE thinks that a doctor should be turned off by her bleeding and then reminds herself "I guess he is a doctor..." which I found very frustrating lines.

She just seems... not very smart. She doesn't pick up on clear clues about

Spoiler

her best friend's murder

- "something is still tugging at me. Something she said, but I can't figure out what it is. I'll figure it out eventually.". And then when she does figure it out, (that there is

Spoiler

a mismatching alibi for the day of her best friend's murder)

she won't report it to police? Despite a

Spoiler

personal connection to the lead detective?

Because she doesn't want to

Spoiler

harm her friend's relationship

? Silly Goose behaviour.

Often I feel that this stupidity seems incongruent with her character. She is so heartbroken, and desperate to

Spoiler

find the murderer of her friend

, and yet takes no clues seriously. Similar to the ending paragraph, it seems incongruent with her character. To be so nonchalant about

Spoiler

having a murder confessed to her? Is she that bad of a person

?

And let's not even get started on the fact that

Spoiler

her boyfriend is a doctor with two phones and the mystery boyfriend of her dead friend was a doctor with a burner phone, she thinks this is a "coincidence" and brushes off his fear when finding out what apartment block she lives in

...

Furthermore, the plot is a little... Cliche? For almost all of the book. I was frustrated with the dual perspective in multiple instances, and to me it felt like a lazy way to tell this story without having to build the Male Main Character's past up organically. I wasn't keen on the

Spoiler

second chance trope

that was clear from the

Spoiler

first introduction of the ex-boyfriend

. Also, I was frustrated that every male in the book was "towering"ly tall. Every. Single. One. Why?

Also, the writing to indicates a lack of awareness of criminal proceedings, in lots of small subtle ways. The detective referring to a person who could be a suspect by saying "He didn't seem like a creep" as one example. It takes very basic knowledge of crime and perpetrators to know that seeming like a creep is rare

Spoiler

when it comes to serial killers

- if they seem like a creep they're usually caught quite quickly. These may have been intentional choices to maintain a broader audience, but for anybody who has consumed True Crime content (never mind worked in the space) this is blaringly clear.

NOW - I did find the twist good! I was frustrated throughout the whole book about how obvious the killer was, but I was led slightly astray. But the twist wasn't worth the frustration and cliches for me, in the build up.

My first Frieda McFadden novel and I am a bit disappointed.