Happy Monday! It's the start of a brand new week, and I'd like to begin with a book review. I'm a huge fan of Frieda McFadden's books. They're always exciting and keep my attention, but aren't too difficult to digest. I like to say she's the Colleen Hoover of the thriller genre. Here's my review of "The Inmate"
Warning: The rest of this post contains spoilers. If you haven't read it, and you want to, come back later!
In-Depth Summary of The Inmate
This book begins with Brooke Sullivan's first day at her new job as a nurse practitioner at a high-security prison. She's clearly out of her element, but willing to do the job, which is all her new boss, Dorothy, asks of her. After her first day, so goes home to her son, Josh, who is 10. She says she's 28, so she had him around 18, if you do the math. We learn that Brooke decided to move back home after her parents died in an unfortunate car accident that left her childhood home vacant.
After she puts her son to bed, she begins to have a flashback of a party she went to when she was 17, that includes her first boyfriend, Shane Nelson, best friend, Chelsea, and next-door neighbor Tim Reese, who seems to be her childhood bestie. Later, as she's dropping her son off at school, she runs into Tim for the first time in years. Tim became the assistant teacher at the elementary school after Brooke ghosted the town she grew up in, him included. They agree to maybe meet up for coffee sometime, and leave their encounter at that.
I forgot to mention that Shane is in the prison she works at, and she sent him there. At this point, it's implied he tried to kill her at the party they went to. It's also implied that Shane is Josh's father. Her worst nightmare comes true when she is forced to care for Shane after an incident in the courtyard got him injured. As he's brought in, Brooke has another flashback to 11 years ago. Not much happens, just another conversation leading up to the party.
During the first incident with Shane, he tells her he's in prison for something he didn't do. She has to stich him up without lidocaine, which is difficult for her to do. She learns that neither of them are quite as angry as she assumed, and Shane is mostly sad and beaten down over being in prison for the rest of his life. She has another flashback while suturing his wound. They're arriving to Shane's farmhouse for the party, and Tim and Shane appear to have a private conversation. She comes back to the present, as Shane tells her he didn't try to kill her. Someone else did. Of course, that's what anyone who's guilty would say, right?
On her way home, Tim texts her and asks her out for drinks. She agrees, and then she has another flashback. They're all at the party, playing "Never Have I Ever". We learn that Tim and Brooke kissed at one point, and Shane beat a kid up with Brandon for talking about his mom, after being prompted to share by Tim. Laying the ground for the violence? We also learn that Tim went on a date with a girl who was murdered a few months ago. I can see where this is possibly going, but it is written by Frieda McFadden, so who knows?
Brooke and Tim go on their not-date-date, and seem to have a good time. They catch up a bit, but nothing of consequence happens, except meeting Kelli, a former cheerleader who went out with Tim. She runs into Kelli at the grocery store who tells her she was wrong about Shane. He was the town quarterback, so that seems to be the general consensus of the town. Brooke has another flashback where they're giving Tim a hard time because he went on two dates with the girl who was murdered. He also went on two dates with Kelli and stopped. Is it a coincidence? Will she turn up dead?
Brooke meets up with Shane once again to remove his stitches. Shane tells her it was Tim who tried to kill her, which is what we're all already thinking anyway. Shane gets injured during his appointment by the guard, Hunt, who apparently hates him for no reason. The head nurse allows Brooke to admit Shane for the night for observation. They have another encounter where he shares their old joke with her (I "lope" tacos), and she finds herself wanting to kiss him. Not very professional. She's also having second thoughts about the trial. She's realizing she may have gotten it wrong, although Hunt, who doesn't know she was the one who put Shane away, tells her to be careful. She also reveals that her parents seemed to be afraid for her, even after Shane went to prison. They knew something she didn't.
Brooke has another flashback. This one is the beginning of the incident. Everyone is asleep when Chelsea screams. Brooke and Shane race downstairs to find Brandon dead and covered in blood. They try to call the police but the line is dead. They can't leave because all four tired have been slashed. The flashback ends with them all looking at each other like they're enemies.
Although Shane warns Brooke to stay away from Tim, he starts spending a lot of time at her house. Josh even asked if Tim's his father and is disappointed in the answer. Tim comes over for dinner smelling like sandalwood - the same scent Brooke smelled when she was strangled at the party. She demands Tim to go wash it off and is disturbed the rest of the night. They do end up kissing and declaring their relationship that evening. One another day, Tim brings over their yearbook, where she finds out the Officer Hunt went to high school with them, and is the kid Shane and Brandon beat up.
Eleven years ago, Tim tries to convince Brooke that Shane planned Brandon's murder. They go to check on Kayla, the girl who came to the party with Tim and find her dead. They continue to argue about who's the murderer. The girls stay hidden in a bedroom for now, while Tim and Shane wait outside. One of them did it. Chelsea admits she believes Tim is the murderer, but Brooke refuses to believe that.
Tim and Brooke go out for her birthday, but before that, he presents her with a necklace that looks like the one she was strangled with. She freaks out, but they still go out. On their way back, Tim tried to convince Brooke to quit her job at the prison, and gets upset when she doesn't want. He gets even more unhappy when Brooke brings up that it was dark and she's not sure it was Shane anymore. After she gets home, she inspects the necklace Tim brought and realizes it's exactly like the one she was strangled with. A few days later, Tim and Brooke turn on the T.V. It happens to be a news story talking about the disappearance of Kelli, the woman Tim has dated. I told you that was coming, didn't I? While I'm not surprised, I'm gleeful that I was right. I love when I begin to guess the story line.
After another flashback where we see how Brooke was strangled, we come back to present day, with Shane waiting to be seen. This is when he discovers Josh is his son, and gets extremely depressed. At this point, even I want to believe Shane is innocent. But is he? After the next flashback, Brooke lists off the people who were murdered that night: Brandon, Kayla, and Chelsea. Shane and Tim were both unconscious. Brooke gets a new job at a primary care office and quits her job at the prison. She seems happy...for now.
Brooke goes over to Tim's house for dinner, where she gets locked in his wine cellar after being sent down. She also discovers the body of Kelli Underwood. No surprise there, at least for us. The police conveniently show up, and arrest Tim. Brooke picks Shane up at the jail after she convinces them she made a mistake and Tim tried to kill her. Things seem okay, and Shane is excited to meet his son. However, she can't shake the feeling she has around him.
They end up going to the farmhouse where the murders happen to "clean it up" for Shane to live there. After telling Brooke that he took Josh to make a snowman, he tells her he's taking him and she won't get him back. That's when the babysitter shows up, with a gun. The sitter is actually Shane's mother, who she thought was dead. She confesses to the murders and setting Tim up. They struggle over the gun, and Brooke shoots her, but doesn't kill her. She goes to find Josh and finds him standing alone. Josh is worried about Shane because some ice fell on top of him. Shane is actually dead.
Tim and Brooke make up at the end, and we get to see into Josh's mind in the epilogue. Tim told Josh to be careful if a man named Shane Nelson came around because he wants to hurt his mom. Josh remembered that, and killed Shane himself to save his mom.
Alycia's Review of The Inmate
I liked The Inmate. I always enjoy Frieda's books, but this one wasn't my favorite. The storyline is good and keeps you engaged. The characters had great development, without bogging down the story. The plot was well-thought out and didn't have any holes, which is common in thrillers. I was surprised by the ending and thought it was humorous and fitting. But the twist wasn't as mind-blowing as usual. Overall, I give "The Inmate" four and a half stars. If you want to know my in-depth thoughts, or want a quick summary, keep reading! Let me know in the comments what your thoughts are.
-xxAlycia
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