Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

The Inmate by Freida McFadden

33 reviews

victoriasutherland's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Murder, Stalking, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Gun violence, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Death, Death of parent, and Gore

Minor: Car accident, Confinement, Chronic illness, Abortion, and Alcohol

book_reader_lover's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Holy Crap on a Cracker!  Unbelievably good book.  Freida McFadden is such a good psychological thriller writer.  There were some hints in this one that were great red herrings.  How she came up with those twists, I will never know.  I read this book in half a day.  So good!  Not much else I can say because I don't want to give anything away.  If you like psychological thrillers, I highly recommend you read this book.  Heck read all her books!  They have been good the ones I read.

😊 Happy Reading 😊

#carlislepubliclibrary #lonokecountylibrarysystem #freidamcfadden #theinmate 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Blood, and Death

Minor: Bullying and Stalking

brynhayes's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Blood, Gaslighting, Murder, Death of parent, Alcohol, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, and Gun violence

stephybooks_007's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Bullying

Minor: Stalking and Abortion

katlikesreadingbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Another great book. I was truly immersed in the story. I read this book in less than a day because I could not put it down. I really thought I knew what was going to happen, but I was shocked. Just like in this author's other books, there are many shock factors, twists, and turns. I am still recovering from that ending!! Definitely worth the read!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Gun violence, Murder, Stalking, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

yvo_about_books's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

4.0

Finished reading: February 22nd 2024

"Sometimes people do exactly what you think they’re going to do, and they still manage to disappoint you."

*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***

I'm aware that Freida McFadden is a very popular psychological thriller author, but somehow I had never actually picked up one of her books before. It seemed like a sign that just when I promised to myself to change this in 2024, an ARC of previously published The Inmate popped up on Netgalley. Of course I couldn't resist this opportunity, and especially since I always love a good thriller with a prison angle... And I definitely understand why so many people seem to enjoy her books now!

The Inmate uses a dual timeline structure, where we switch between the present and eleven years earlier when the murders happened. As often with dual timeline structures, I did prefer one over the other, as the flashbacks just had a bit too much teenage drama for me. That said, once Brooke and the rest are at the farmhouse, things get intense enough to keep your attention. The present timeline is mainly your typical psychological thriller with a main character with unreliable narrator vibes... The last especially once she starts questioning her own memories. It was this present timeline that kept me on my toes, as I was fully invested in discovering the whole truth about both past and present events.

This story is definitely more character driven, and the main characters are all flawed. I had mixed feelings about Brooke, who could behave in an incredibly stupid way in parts... But I can't deny that the manipulation, gaslighting and building up of doubt and confusion are really well done. This is one of those stories that makes you think you have everything figured out, only to drop a plot twist bomb on you that makes you question everything... Not every twist is completely credible, but it does make for a very engaging story. And that ending! I definitely didn't see that last chapter coming, and it was a great way to end things on a high note.

I'm keeping this review short to avoid possible spoilers, because The Inmate will have so much more impact if you go in blind. While this story is mainly a character driven psychological thriller, there are also plenty of moments of tension and things can get pretty graphic especially in the flashbacks. I enjoyed the prison scenes, and I loved how this book made me doubt everything I thought was a given fact. Recommended if you enjoy the genre! I will definitely be diving into Freida McFadden's backlist ASAP. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Emotional abuse, Stalking, Medical content, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Police brutality, Confinement, Kidnapping, Car accident, Grief, Bullying, Gun violence, Death of parent, Death, Gaslighting, and Violence

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

    Brooke moves back to her hometown with her son after her parents die. She gets a job at the prison where her ex-boyfriend/son's father is incarcerated after she accuses him of a massacre the night of her son's conception. But did he do it? Or was it the boy next door she's now falling in love with?
    This was a good thriller. I was bouncing back and forth between who could have done it. It was one of the guys, but I wasn't 100% sure who it was.
     And the final twist with the son was interesting, though I'd figured out something was up with that little hint someone dropped.
   The characters however weren't very likable for the most part, which made it a bit harder to enjoy.

Narrator Rating: 3.25 stars
   The narrator was decent but pronounced some words oddly. Her voice was harder to tune out which was good. She just didn't make the book come alive as much as I would have liked.

Elemental Levels:  Fluff-NA   Heartfelt-4/5   Helpful-NA     Horror-1/5    Inspiration-NA  Love aka Romance-2/5   Mystery-4/5    Predictability-2/5   Spice-0.5/5    Suspense-3/5   Tear- 2/5  Thrill-4.5/5 Humor-0.5/5 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, Medical content, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Gun violence, Bullying, and Alcohol

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Infidelity, Child death, Classism, Mental illness, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Gore, and Cursing

Minor: Ableism, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Car accident, Fatphobia, Abandonment, Body shaming, and Abortion

heather_harrison's review against another edition

challenging mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Addictive and twisty. Some events were a bit predictable but there were still enough that threw me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Minor: Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, and Stalking

nyquillll's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This was my second Freida book that I read and because I read Never Lie first, I had super high expectations. While I was pretty captivated the whole story and was invested in finding out what happened, it very much felt like a love-triangle where you don’t know who she’ll pick until the very last page - and that’s not really my style.

I was trying to make guesses and predictions on who did it, and it was basically impossible to make an informed guess (in my opinion) because both the MMCs were viable options. 

I also thought the twist(s), while intriguing and shocking, kind of came out of nowhere, at least the first one, in that I don’t think if I reread the book I’d be seeing things from a different lens. It didn’t feel like something I would’ve guessed just by reading versus making abstract, wild guesses. 

That said, I was invested in figuring out who did it and was curious how the whole teenage pregnancy, mom moved away, who’s the dad issue would resolve itself. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder and Violence

Minor: Medical content, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, and Stalking

medini_l's review

dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Gore, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Car accident, Death of parent, Drug use, and Stalking