I came across this book during a recent visit to a nearby book fair. I had heard about Freida McFadden and her book, The Housemaid quite often and read the same. Even though not up to the hype, it was an interesting read. I have not heard of this book but then the blurb did seem interesting which made me go for the book.
Brooke Sullivan has just moved back to her home town to work as a nurse practitioner at a men's maximum security prison. Nobody in the prison knows that she is connected to one of the most notorious inmates of the prison, Shane Nelson. According to Brooke, Shane had murdered Brooke's friends and tried to kill her as well. It was Brooke's testimony that got him incarcerated. Even though she hates Shane, there is a tinge of attraction somewhere remaining in her. Shane during one of his visits to the medical room tells her that he is innocent and it was Tim, a close friend of Brooke who was present then, who committed this crime. What happened during the fateful night? Did Brooke make a mistake back then? Is Shane telling the truth? Is Tim not as innocent as he seems? forms the story.
As I said at the start, the blurb was interesting. But at the same time, the blurb if not developed properly into a story can be a total mess. Well! For me, it was such an experience reading this. The read is very quick and you can finish this up in a few hours. The language was okayish enough. The story alternates between timelines - 'Then' and 'Now' with 'Then' being my favourite among the timelines. The few characters present were written well except Brooke. Since I was not able to attach myself to the central character, connecting with the book was difficult for me. There are only a very few handful of characters of which Brooke is the central character. I found her irritating most of the time and dumb in parts. That seems to be the main problem with the novel. When the main character is such a person, I am unable to connect with the story. I mean the start was good. Nice idea in the first place. Brooke returning to her home town with her son, and settling into her new job seemed fine, which was promising. Once Tim and Shane come back into her life, it starts messing up big time. Brooke appears confused almost throughout the book. She seemed easily prone to manipulations and easily thrown around by other characters. Shane seemed a manipulative sort of person and the author succeeds in making us uncomfortable when the character is around. There seemed to be some loose ends as well at places that did not quite add up. Having said all this, I did enjoy the twists towards the climax and how the novel ends. It was unexpected and it did blow my mind off.
In short, the novel was an average read for me but with a good climax. If you want a quick read, you can go for this book without raising your hopes. For me, this is not a book befitting the person who wrote 'The Housemaid'.
For my reviews on other books by Freida McFadden, check the below link.
The Housemaid - The Housemaid
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