The Inmate by Freida McFaddon

OMG This is the best psychological thriller I’ve read in years! I knew I was going to be a fan of author Frieda McFadden after reading Housemaid, but this book is even better! NO spoilers…

Brooke returns to her family home in her home town with her 10 year old son and gets a job as a nurse practitioner in a maximum security penitentiary.

However this prison is home to the convict that Brooke herself put behind bars – for attempted murder. And, as you may imagine, Brooke does end up meeting him, and does so time and again.

In the meantime, Brooke takes her son Josh to start his new, where she bumps into her former best friend Tim.

At first Brooke lets Tim believe that her son is in kindergarten, because she doesn’t want to let on when the child was conceived.

The book goes back and fore between present day and the fateful night that got Shane locked away.

And it turns out that Tim was also there that night. And although Brooke felt sure that Shane was the one who tried to kill her, numerous certain things give her reason to start having doubts.

Tim has a big crush on Brooke, and Brooke eventually starts to see him as more than a good friend, and they start dating.  

But one night Brooke finds something in Tim’s basement that finally convinces her that Tim was the attempted murderer and not Shane.

It turns out that the cops had already been tipped off, and Tim gets arrested.

All the while, there are other things to get you wondering about the characters, such as suspicious deaths in the area, including those of Brooke’s parents, and the identity of one of the prison guards.

Brooke is now ready to believe that Shane was in fact innocent, and Shane gets out of prison.

When Brooke looks at Shane she keeps seeing him as her original first love, and she takes him under her wing.

At this point in the story I did not care who the murderer was, so long as there was a happy ending. And on more than one occasion I thought that Brooke was quite the idiot.

Then there’s a twist that I did NOT see coming…(don’t worry no spoilers!)

It turns out that there was (and is) more than murderer. And Brooke’s son Josh is in danger.

And after the mastermind makes their confession, the story does not end there.

This might not be a popular opinion, but I liked how the story ended, despite it making one of the characters creepier than I originally saw them.

A truly 5-star read, and one that keeps you guessing!

Link to book on Amazon

Book review from Cari Mayhew