Thank you to NetGalley, Freida McFadden and Dreamscape Media for an audio arc of Ward D in exchange for an honest review. This review is wholly my own and may not not be reproduced.

Freida McFadden is a new favorite author that I have come to love over the last year and was so excited for Ward D and I was not disappointed!

This story focuses on Amy who is a medical student having to make rounds in various parts of the hospital. Her turn on Ward D (the mental health unit) has come and she is dreading it. Due to things in her past, she has very personal reasons why she does not want to do this rotation, which will require her to stay overnight in Ward D, completely locked in with the "crazy people." Patients and staff begin to disappear as well as the fellow med student she is on rotation with. And who or what exactly is in the first Isolation Chamber? Will Amy make it out alive?

This novel was very atmospheric. I know old mental health facilities creep me out, so that's what I was picturing here and my skin was crawling just as badly as Amy's. this novel moved along at a quick pace. There was never a moment of boredom. I listened at an accelerated speed on audio and got through this novel in just a couple or so hours. I can't say much without giving things away, but if you're into atmospheric thrillers, this one is for you! All of the other patients were thoughtfully given their very specific personalities. So you'll like and some you'll be terrified of - just know that everyone in Ward D is not who they seem!

4.5/Stars - Rounded up to 5

I just wanted to say thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the advanced audio copy of Freida McFadden’s latest, Ward D!
I give this book a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Well Freida McFadden you did it again you blew me away with your latest novel called Ward D this was such an amazing story.

Amy is a medical student who’s dream is to a doctor. It is now her turn to do her rotation at a psychiatric ward. Crazy things start to happen and she don’t know if it real or she is imagining it and will she survive the night.

2 stars

The book feels like it's written by a spoiled and very sheltered 9 year old.
The dialogs and the whole plot is so puerile and simplistic and utterly annoying it was a challenge to listen to it.

I usually like Freida's books but this was a complete miss.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for allowing me to read this book!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading/ listening to this book. The story is about Amy Brenner, a medical student who is about to do her rotation on the psychiatric ward, but dreading to do that for her own reasons. As hours go by, a lot of things happen and Amy is not sure what to think and believe. While the story was unveiling even I wasn't sure what is real...I was surprised by the ending, even though I expected something like that. Well done Freida McFadden, I think that this is my favorite of the books that I've read so far. Can't wait to read something else written by her, new and past.
I enjoyed the narration by Leslie Howard. She did an amazing job, I look forward to listening to more books narrated by her.

It’s my first Ferida McFadden, but definitely won’t be my last.

I really liked the setting. I love locked room thrillers. It’s so fascinating to me how much a creative mind can do in a limited space and limited time they have decided the novel will take place in. It was fast paced, and very easy to read. There were some great twists. I was only able to figure things out a few pages before the main character.

I didn’t like the mental health representation; it was very poor. It might even be harmful towards the mental health community, in my opinion. A lot of mentally ill people are portrayed as violent in this book, which can worsen the stigma already surrounding people struggling with mental illnesses. And Amy, the main protagonist was constantly being so insensitive towards people at the psych ward and even in her past. She was calling them 'crazy' and was just not being very considerate.

But overall, I really enjoyed the book. I have already put a lot of Freida McFadden thrillers that sound interesting to me on my tbr.

Med student Amy Brenner isn't looking forward to her required night's stay in a hospital's locked psych ward. She will have other hospital staff with her, but these patients are extremely disturbed individuals. Just when it doesn't seem possible for things to get any worse, Amy realizes she knows one of the patients. This was creepy as hell and has a killer twist

Freida McFadden is quickly becoming one of my go to authors for quick and suspenseful stories. Throughout this entire novel, different theories transformed in my head until about 70% through the book where it finally clicked. I loved the premise of the story, however did question at times how realistic the background of the psych ward was. If you love stories that keep you guessing till the very last page what you read (I.e. the epilogue), I definitely recommend this one!!! 4.5⭐️ Thank you NetGalley and the publishing team for this ARC! I listened to this story in audio form and the narrator was phenomenal!

You cannot even understand my excitement at getting the ARC of this book! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher!

I have loved Freida for years! She has a way of bringing theses twists I NEVER guess! All the while giving glimpses into the medical world.

This book did not disappoint and I was on the edge of my seat and finished the entire thing in a day!! I again highly recommend this book!

I loved the narrator as well!

Amy's been assigned to an overnight shift on her hospital's psychiatric ward. She and another medical student will be locked on Ward D with the on-call doctor and a handful of disconcerting patients. Determined not to creep herself out, Amy tries to put her best foot forward.....but upon arrival on Ward D, Amy is shocked to find that she recognizes one of the patients, and things go downhill from there.

About 30% of the way through this book I really thought I had it all figured out and that the ending was really predictable. I should have known better than to think I could see where Freida McFadden was going because as I hit the plot twist, I was floored. The entire last 1/4 of the book is a crazy ride and I could not stop listening.

I am a huge Freida McFadden fan, but this was hands down the best yet!

So…. I read this already as an eARC and loved it so I wanted to grab the audio and it’s just as good, if not better!!

Amy is a nurse and is scheduled to work the psychiatric unit (Ward D) for the first time and she’s understandably nervous about it.

Her worst nightmare comes true when weird things start happening and people go missing.

And that’s all I will say because it’s so good and so much better to go in blind!

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the advanced reader copy of Freida McFadden’s latest, Ward D!

When Amy Brenner is assigned to spend the night on a psychiatric ward as part of her med school requirements, she’s understandably anxious. She’s introduced to the doctors, nurses, and patients throughout the night. The last person she expects to see is her former best friend… as one of the patients.

As the night progresses, people start going missing and Amy begins to question who she can trust. She quickly learns of a patient who is threatening to kill everyone before the night is over. Will she survive the night?

Ward D is available on May 9th. Make sure you check it out!

Thank you to NetGalley and to Dreamscape Media for letting me preview the audiobook of Ward D.
Amy is a medical student who is up for her rotation on the psychiatric unit; Ward D. This is not the place she wants to be, quite frankly, it’s the LAST place she wants to be. Her BFF drops her off and even from the moment she gets close to the building she has a feeling that something bad is going to happen.
Is it the deep dark secret that she is harboring? Is it because her ex-boyfriend, who is also studying to be a doctor is doing a rotation on the same night shows up? Is it because her childhood best friend is locked up there as a patient? Is it because patients keep saying that another patient is going to escape and kill everyone? Amy isn’t sure what it is, but what she does know is she has to make it through the night and make it out alive.
Great story, great back story, and great twists! The ending was great!!

Ward D
Freida McFadden
4 ⭐️

Medical student Amy Brenner is spending a night on a locked psychiatric ward. It’s her worst nightmare, and as patients and staff start to vanish, she fears she might never escape.

My first read by McFadden and it definitely won’t be my last. Ward D hooked me right away with its American Horror Story vibes, and kept a firm grip on my to the very end. I was happily creeped out and loved how the ending took me by surprise. I did NOT see that twist coming.

What I enjoyed;
✨ Medical Thriller
✨ Creepy Setting
✨ Twisty Tale
✨ Dual Timeline

Pub Date: May 9th

Ward D was such a fast-paced and engaging read! I’d fully recommend the audiobook. It definitely upped the creep factor and Leslie Howard did a fantastic job narrating each character.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

Frieda McFadden’s books are the best for a quick binge, and Ward D did not disappoint. It follows Amy, a medical student who gets assigned to work at a psychiatric unit for a night. Of course, all her worst nightmares come true when chaos erupts on the floor she’s on and there’s no way for her to get out. Alternating between past and present, you will begin to learn what prior events caused Amy to become so scared of the people on this floor and at the same time, root for her safety. As always, Frieda put in a great last minute plot twist that gave me the “wow” feeling I love in thrillers. At only seven hours, the audio made for easy listening too.

One of my new favorite's from Freida McFadden . I'm not sure if having worked on a psych ward myself made this book that much more entertaining, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Amy Brenner is a medical student who is about to do her rotation on the psychiatric ward, She has her reasons for not wanting to go there, least of which she has to pull an overnight shift. All night, locked inside the mental health unit has her a feeling anxious. What if they learn her secret? What if she gets confused as a patien?. So many worries crowd her head as she enters, but none of them prepared her for who she sees on Ward D. Will she make it through the night? This heart pounding thriller will keep you guessing and wondering who you can trust.

I listened to this audiobook and really enjoyed the narration by Leslie Howard. She did an amazing job, I look forward to listening to more books narrated by her.

Thanki you Netgalley for this ARC audiobook for me to listen to for an honest review.

Omg thank you so much for this advance copy. I absolutely loved this book that I read it in one day. It grabs you from the beginning and takes you on a glorious roller coaster ride that you never want to end. It definitely keeps you guessing and thinking you figured it out only to discover you were wrong.

The story centers around a medical student who is forced to work in the psychiatric ward of the hospital overnight. She is fearful hearing her assignment but once she gets into the ward, her fear intensifies. To make matters worse, her childhood friend is living in the ward due to her mental issues and her ex boyfriend has been scheduled to work the same shift. The anxiety of the ward, combined with the added stress makes the night unbearable. Then mysteriously strange things start to happen and people are disappearing. The medical student is determined to make it thru the night and leave the ward alive no matter what.

Thank you to NetGalley, Dreamscape Media and Freida McFadden for a complimentary audio ARC for an honest review.

Freida McFadden delivers again! This was a fast-paced and entertaining thriller that takes place in a locked psychiatric ward. She was extra nervous about spending the night there. As the hours pass, we’re not sure who Amy should trust. Just when you think you know who is telling the truth, there’s another twist to the story.

Leslie Howard was superb as the narrator.

#NetGalley # Ward D

Freida does it again! I have loved all her books (I’ve read them all) and this one doesn’t disappoint. I liked amy a lot and I enjoyed the face pace and all the twists that I did not guess. I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough to learn how this would would end. I highly recommend all of Freidas books!!! 5 stars!!!!!

Freida McFadden is one of those authors that everyone seems to have read (and enjoyed) but me. When I saw an audiobook written by her featuring a locked room mystery set in a psychiatric ward, it sounded far too intriguing to pass up. But this one feel way short of the expectations that I had.

To start with, it’s narrated by Leslie Howard. She did a good job with this, but she has a very young-sounding voice in this story. That, combined with the overly young-sounding writing made it come across as a YA book, and I found myself checking more than once that this wasn’t actually YA but an adult title. I had to tell myself several times that the MC, Amy, couldn’t be a medical student if she was still in high school.

The plot itself wasn’t bad. I wanted to know what was actually going on behind the scenes, because it was clear that something was fishy, but I couldn’t quite put all of the pieces together.

However, as someone with a master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling, and having had worked with people who had severe mental illnesses much like the people in the hospital in this book, I was astounded at how poor the mental health representation was. It felt like the author just kind of checked out a few diagnoses in the DSM and then figured that she knew enough about it to write a book. The psychiatric care, how the unit functioned, medical ethics, mental illness, and even Amy’s skills are all represented so poorly in this story.

My biggest issue with this book is that it portrays the majority of people with mental illness as violent. In a world where violence is rampant, there’s no need to further stigmatize an already struggling population with a false label. According to the American Psychological Association, less than 3% of people with serious mental illness are violent, and those that are have other risk factors for violence. People who have mental illness are sick and need treatment, not judgment and fear directed their way. And this book doesn’t help the stigma.

Amy is portrayed as a medical student, and is in her third year (I believe). However, when she’s instructed to give an intramuscular injection, she completely froze and had no idea what to do. This is probably one of the easiest things a person can do, I’ve been giving myself intramuscular injections at home for my disability for years, and I learned from the insert how to do it. After three years in medical school, I’d expect her to have learned that and a whole lot more, but she seemed so ignorant about anything related to medical or psychiatric treatment. As for the psychiatric diagnoses, she sounded like she read straight from the DSM rather than actually knowing the information.

As a therapist, I often visited clients who were inpatient in hospitals across Long Island, where the book is set. I’ve never seen solitary rooms in a regular hospital setting, although they may have them in units for people designated as “criminally insane.” But this was set in just a regular inpatient psych unit, where if someone has to be restrained, it’s done in their room. Regular checks are done, which were completely missing in this book. I was shocked to see a hospital without a backup generator in the event of a power outage. In addition, the ethical issue of Amy’s fears with having an overnight shift at Ward D was completely overlooked.

Overall, this was a quick read, but definitely wasn’t a good one. The inconsistencies and harmful mental health representation moved this one right to the bottom of my list, and I don’t think I’ll be jumping on the Freida McFadden bandwagon anytime soon after this. I much prefer to read books that actually represent a stigmatized population in a realistic and non-harmful way.

I am literally speechless, shocked, blown away by this!
I was so excited to start my first Freida McFadden book today, I heard the most amazing things about her books but wow I wasn’t expecting to fall in love with it, as much as I just did! This was everything that I love in a book and so much that I couldn’t even imagine. Brilliant writing, fast paced interesting storyline that you couldn’t put it down because you need to know what’s going to happen next. I got goosebumps so many times and gasped out loud, I am so amazed! I couldn’t find the right words to describe how much I loved this and I am definitely going to read everything by this author, this book was so addicting I need to read more like it!
Also the audiobook was really was amazing, loved the narrator!
I highly, highly recommend reading this book!

Thank you to @netgalley and the publisher for an AudioARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

✨ Publication Date: May 9, 2023 ✨