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A review by monitaroymohan
The Inmate by Freida McFadden
3.0
This is the third book I've read by this author, and it's the weakest one yet. The plot is terrible and the protagonist is ridiculous. The book is trying so hard to make the twists work, but the protagonist gets thrown under the bus for the twists to work.
Brooke is a single mom who returns to her hometown after her parents die in an accident. She takes up a job in the only place that'll have her - the prison. This would be fine, but one of the inmates in the prison is her ex-boyfriend, the father of her son, and the man who tried to kill her. I thought I was in for some exploration of domestic violence among teens, but this is just a silly, twist-heavy crime thriller.
Brooke is so dumb and she jumps to conclusions without cross-checking any facts and details. She also refuses to listen to anyone. She's told time and again not to trust her ex, Shane. But she keeps on falling for his tricks. The man didn't just try to kill her, he successfully murdered three other people. And she decided to keep his child? At 17? This makes no sense.
When she meets up with her old neighbour and former bestie, Tim, she almost immediately strikes up a romance with him. Like take a breath, already. Brooke having trust issues because of the incident makes sense, but why does she keep barrelling forward into her relationship with Tim when she has misgivings?
The way she immediately believes he killed a woman and was the true murderer a decade ago, was so contrived. And it makes you worry about Brooke's sanity. What's worse is, Tim is hardly in the cop car when Brooke is telling her son, who loves Tim, that Tim did something bad and is now going to be gone forever. Again, take a breath before you end up having egg on your face.
If you thought that was bad, get this - Brooke gets Tim incarcerated and Shane gets out. She picks him up and lets him stay at her house, with her son! Shane may be the father of her son, but she hardly knew him when she thought he tried to kill her and the man was in prison for a decade; he's a stranger and she lets him stay in her home with her child in there? And somehow the author makes things even more unbelievable because Brooke and Shane proceed to get down and dirty. Let me repeat - she was once so certain that he was a killer, he spent 10 years in jail. And now, poof, everything changes the moment he's out? Innocent people getting out and reuniting with their families and reacting emotionally and physically makes sense, but Shane is essentially a stranger. Brooke is 28 at this point, surely she should have some preservation skills, if not for herself, at least for her son.
The twists continue though - Brooke gets it into her head that Shane and Tim were in cahoots 10 years ago, and only tries to act after Shane already has ahold of her son in some unknown woods. But none of this is true - Brooke loves making stuff up and revels in conjecture. It's such a bizarre way to write a character. In fact, the truth is that Shane and his mother killed everyone, even though Brooke was their actual target. Somehow, 5 different innocent people over 10 years were killed just so Brooke would pay for the fact that her dad cheated on her mom with Shane's mom, and then promptly abandoned them for his OG family. Y'all, this book just ties itself in knots.
So Shane and Brooke are half-siblings, which means Josh is the product of incest, which means he could have genetic issues. This is not brought up at all. And somehow, the story concludes with us being told that Tim still comes back to Brooke and Josh despite the hell she's put him through.
The one bit I liked - liked is a strong word, more like was impressed by - was the epilogue where we learn that Josh didn't escape Shane because of a lucky accident. Instead, Tim had tipped him off about being wary of a guy named Shane and Josh picked up on the vibes and... bludgeoned Shane to death. And he'd do it again, because like Shane, Josh will do anything for his mom. Very dark and very clever. Wish the rest of the book had been so smartly written.
This book is a hard pass, but I'll keep trying the other books by this author. If the others are just as bad, I will have to give up.
Brooke is a single mom who returns to her hometown after her parents die in an accident. She takes up a job in the only place that'll have her - the prison. This would be fine, but one of the inmates in the prison is her ex-boyfriend, the father of her son, and the man who tried to kill her. I thought I was in for some exploration of domestic violence among teens, but this is just a silly, twist-heavy crime thriller.
Brooke is so dumb and she jumps to conclusions without cross-checking any facts and details. She also refuses to listen to anyone. She's told time and again not to trust her ex, Shane. But she keeps on falling for his tricks. The man didn't just try to kill her, he successfully murdered three other people. And she decided to keep his child? At 17? This makes no sense.
When she meets up with her old neighbour and former bestie, Tim, she almost immediately strikes up a romance with him. Like take a breath, already. Brooke having trust issues because of the incident makes sense, but why does she keep barrelling forward into her relationship with Tim when she has misgivings?
The way she immediately believes he killed a woman and was the true murderer a decade ago, was so contrived. And it makes you worry about Brooke's sanity. What's worse is, Tim is hardly in the cop car when Brooke is telling her son, who loves Tim, that Tim did something bad and is now going to be gone forever. Again, take a breath before you end up having egg on your face.
If you thought that was bad, get this - Brooke gets Tim incarcerated and Shane gets out. She picks him up and lets him stay at her house, with her son! Shane may be the father of her son, but she hardly knew him when she thought he tried to kill her and the man was in prison for a decade; he's a stranger and she lets him stay in her home with her child in there? And somehow the author makes things even more unbelievable because Brooke and Shane proceed to get down and dirty. Let me repeat - she was once so certain that he was a killer, he spent 10 years in jail. And now, poof, everything changes the moment he's out? Innocent people getting out and reuniting with their families and reacting emotionally and physically makes sense, but Shane is essentially a stranger. Brooke is 28 at this point, surely she should have some preservation skills, if not for herself, at least for her son.
The twists continue though - Brooke gets it into her head that Shane and Tim were in cahoots 10 years ago, and only tries to act after Shane already has ahold of her son in some unknown woods. But none of this is true - Brooke loves making stuff up and revels in conjecture. It's such a bizarre way to write a character. In fact, the truth is that Shane and his mother killed everyone, even though Brooke was their actual target. Somehow, 5 different innocent people over 10 years were killed just so Brooke would pay for the fact that her dad cheated on her mom with Shane's mom, and then promptly abandoned them for his OG family. Y'all, this book just ties itself in knots.
So Shane and Brooke are half-siblings, which means Josh is the product of incest, which means he could have genetic issues. This is not brought up at all. And somehow, the story concludes with us being told that Tim still comes back to Brooke and Josh despite the hell she's put him through.
The one bit I liked - liked is a strong word, more like was impressed by - was the epilogue where we learn that Josh didn't escape Shane because of a lucky accident. Instead, Tim had tipped him off about being wary of a guy named Shane and Josh picked up on the vibes and... bludgeoned Shane to death. And he'd do it again, because like Shane, Josh will do anything for his mom. Very dark and very clever. Wish the rest of the book had been so smartly written.
This book is a hard pass, but I'll keep trying the other books by this author. If the others are just as bad, I will have to give up.