Reviews with content warning for Murder - The Inmate

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Inmate by Freida McFadden

204 reviews

alizee_'s review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I absolutely loved it, and she's slowly becoming one of my favorite authors. I love how her books are thrillers and tense and you feel like it's gonna end badly but the ending is always super satisfying and disturbing. This book gave me so many theories to think about and I was on the edge of my sit the entire time. Truly a gem

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shania_siobhan's review against another edition

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dark sad tense medium-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

2.5

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lilymaexx's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

such a good read, enjoyed this book so much. i love freida’s style of writing and i highly recommend this book. felt on edge the whole time

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izphi's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

5.0

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boba_nbooks's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

3.0

Spice Rating: 🫑 / 5 🌶️

I've really enjoyed Frieda's books, but this one was the epitome of *meh* to me.

Brooke decided to move back to her childhood home and started working as a nurse in a high-security men's penitentiary. She's not supposed to be friendly with or get to know any of the inmates, but Brooke already knows one of the inmates pretty intimately. Shane is Brooke's ex-boyfriend... and the man she sent to jail 10 years ago for murdering her friends and attempting to murder her. Brooke has kept a secret from Shane all these years: they have a son together whom Shane knows nothing about. As she's reconnecting with Shane, Brooke also starts to reconnect with her childhood friend, Tim, who was also there that fateful night. Tim warns her to stay away from Shane, but Brooke can't help but wonder if she put the wrong man behind bars all those years ago.

The Inmate had one plot twist and then ANOTHER plot twist. That's what really kept me going--I wanted to see how everything turned out at the end.

I felt like some of this was a little unbelievable and that Brooke was a little too oblivious at times, but overall it wasn't a bad read. Definitely not Frieda's best but nothing to turn your nose up at, either.

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wordsgirlie's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes

4.0

🔪 psychological thriller.
— slow-paced, dual timeline

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

another masterpiece from my favorite psychological thriller author, freida mcfadden! the story follows brooke, a single mother who returns to her hometown in the aftermath of her parent’s death. but memories of her past begins to haunt her when she takes a job at the federal prison where shane, who once tried to kill her, is serving a life sentence.

first of all, out of all the books i’ve read so far, this one has the most unique setting. the plot was unpredictable and confusing in the most beautiful way, and i love the fact that i really do not have any idea on what’s going to happen with the story. i did not see some of the twists coming, and the epilogue is what shocked me the most. it was very hard to read the characters’ personalities at first, which adds up to the mystery of the book. plus, i am very pissed off with the fmc—brooke, everything she does is frustrating.

to be honest, the first few chapters of the book were too slow and boring for me, but i kept reading because it’s freida mcfadden’s, and i know for sure that she will not disappoint me. overall, it was really an amazing read and i will highly recommend this book to all psychological thriller readers out there.

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kristinistic's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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cassidy_rain's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

“I close my eyes and I can still see his ruggedly handsome face. His eyes looking into mine. I love you, Brooke. That was what he said to me just a few hours before he tried to kill me. And that’s not even the worst thing he did.”

The Inmate follows Brooke who is a nurse. She’s recently taken a new nursing job at a local prison. The kicker is that one of the inmate’s she’ll now have to treat is her childhood sweetheart, and he’s in prison because of her testimony.

I loved the premise of this one. I overall had a good time with it, but did find the writing and character’s dialogue a bit lacking. This was very much written in a “tell not show” manner and I felt like a lot was repetitive. The main character Brooke is a little insufferable. She was constantly putting herself in compromising situations. 😫 Final reveal was a bit far fetched but for a quick thriller it was good! Ending leaves it open for a possible sequel 👀

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abanana101's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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bookshelfalice's review against another edition

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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? It's complicated

0.5

So awful. I don’t know how it has so many stars. The main character is beyond stupid and spends the entire book ignoring any and all warning signs no matter how many times this gets her hurt.

She comes across as incredibly pick-me ‘she looked like a clown, luckily I wasn’t wearing as much makeup as her’ ‘I thanked my cheerleading for keeping me so skinny so I could fit through this gap’

Every plot point of the book is transparent and boring, the author lays out every possible avenue in the MC’s internal monologue like she has no respect for her audience or their critical thinking skills. The only slight mystery comes in the last ten minutes which I only reached because I can’t bring myself to leave a book unfinished.

Spoiler below that I just had to get off my chest.

Doesn’t think once about what’s beneficial for her or her son - ‘hey let’s bring this guy into my sons life - oh he’s killed someone? Huh, let’s get another guy out of prison and immediately invite him to stay with us instead’

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