This book has a very slow start for me. But once it finally got going it was a fast paced quick read with just the perfect ah ha and OMG moments. Another good Freida read, but not my favorite.

Having read Freida McFadden’s previous book, The Housemaid, and having loved it, I was excited to get an advanced copy of her latest thriller. While I thoroughly enjoyed this one, it just wasn’t as good as The Housemaid.
The book centers on two main characters - Dawn and Natalie - who work together (hence, the title). Dawn is portrayed as a very quiet, quirky introvert while Natalie is beautiful, popular, and the top saleswoman at the firm. The story is told in alternating points of view from Dawn and Natalie. I enjoyed how the author would tell Dawn’s side of the story or incident in one chapter and then would have the next chapter detailing Natalie’s side of the story. It kept the reader wondering who was telling the truth.
While overall I did enjoy reading this novel, the second part of it got a little too far-fetched in my opinion and just wasn’t believable. I’m rating this one 3:5 stars (rounding up to 4).
Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Another cracker of a book by Freida!

Plenty of red herrings to keep you on your toes and this one is relatable working in an office. It could happen to anyone! Twisty and turny and thrilling throughout.

Also, so many turtles.

Freida has done it again! In this fast paced thriller she keeps you guessing about what is going to happen throughout the entire book!

Freida did it again! Another incredible story that keeps you on your toes and doesn't let you sleep. I finished 'The Coworker' in a single sitting and was SHOCKED by the ending. The twists and surprises JUST KEPT COMING. Freida's development of the characters in 'The Coworker' make you feel like a part of the office staff and leave you feeling just as betrayed as some of the characters when you learn some of the shocking truths! 'The Coworker' is well worth the read, but be prepared for a wild rollercoaster of emotions and a newfound knowledge of turtle-y turtleness!

Once again, Frieda has done it. I fell in love with Dawn and grew to hate Natalie. The author has such a way of making me see and believe what she wants me to. I was flipping pages constantly to figure out what was happening. When the “twist” was finally revealed I LOVED it and didn’t see it coming at all. I secretly want a turtle for my bookshelf now. Everyone bow down to the Queen of the Thrillers!

Any time I read anything by Freida McFadden I know I'm going to be on a wild ride!! I loved the plot and every twist the book took me on. Captivated start to finish you will be sunk in and unable to put down till you finish this book!!

The Coworker
By: Freida McFadden
Publish Date: August 29, 2023

Thank you to NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press, and the author Freida Mcfadden, for the advanced copy of The Coworker.

I was so surprised to open my inbox to find an email inviting me to recieve a copy of The Coworker to review! I have to say that I really enjoy the short chapters as while reading them, I felt as though I was flying through all 61 of this book. I enjoyed reading this story more than the more recently published Ward D.

Dawn Schiff is an "odd" woman, who works in accounting- keeps to herself, wears baggy clothes, loves turtles, keeps her hair short and is awkward around others. Natalie Farrell is your typical beautiful, social butterfly who everyone adores. They work along side each other when one day, Dawn, who is always at work at 8:45AM sharp never arrives. Dawn is missing? Where is she? The phone at her desk rings, Natalie picks it up- "help me". Something must have happened, but what? and how?

Jump in the detective seat as we follow the dual story line from both Dawn and Natalie, along with coworkers (and more) Caleb and Seth.

I recommend The Coworker if you are looking for a quick read, that will keep you on your toes! @FreidaMcfadden @poisonedpenpress

I absolutely loved this book. Freida done it again. This book was super fast past and I absolutely couldn't put it down once I started it. This was intense and shocking and everything we love in a Freida book. I absolutely can not wait to read more of her books. I loved all the character development and the glimpses into the past really helped to connect the dots! There were moments in the book that I felt bad for both the main female characters and really sympathized with what they’ve gone through. This story definitely had lots of twists and an ending you won’t see coming! If you like psychological thrillers with unreliable narrators, this is the book for you!

I am SHOCKED! Freida McFadden always amazes me. There times jumps from present to recent past, but it truly helps you understand the backstory and what's currently going on. Dawn is a weird coworker but I was shook when things started to unfold. I liked Natalie at first until more started to unfold about her and her past as well. So many twists and shocking parts that I was gripped the entire time. And that ENDING!! This book took me on a wild ride and I loved every minute of it.

I received this ARC from NetGalley and the publishers to read/review. All of the statements above are my true opinions after fully reading this book.

My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the Ebook ARC of <u>The Coworker</u>

I thoroughly enjoyed the audiobook, which had been extremely well dramatized. (Check out my review of the audibook for this one!) I usually prefer an EBook over an audiobook, but in this case, the book was just as much of a delight to read as it was to listen to!

5 out of 5 well deserved stars!

🅶🅴🅽🆁🅴—𝑀𝓎𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓎 / 𝓉𝒽𝓇𝒾𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓇
🗓ℙ𝕦𝕓 𝔻𝕒𝕥𝕖—𝔸𝕦𝕘𝕦𝕤𝕥 𝟚𝟡, 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟛

“𝓣𝓦𝓞 𝓦𝓞𝓜𝓔𝓝. 𝓐𝓝 𝓞𝓕𝓕𝓘𝓒𝓔 𝓕𝓘𝓛𝓛𝓔𝓓 𝓦𝓘𝓣𝓗 𝓢𝓔𝓒𝓡𝓔𝓣𝓢. 𝓞𝓝𝓔 𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓡𝓘𝓑𝓛𝓔 𝓒𝓡𝓘𝓜𝓔 𝓣𝓗𝓐𝓣 𝓒𝓐𝓝’𝓣 𝓑𝓔 𝓣𝓐𝓚𝓔𝓝 𝓑𝓐𝓒𝓚.”

✂️ P L O T L I N E
Dawn and Natalie work together at a supplement company where Dawn is an accountant and Natalie is the lead sales person. Everyone agrees that Dawn is a strange person. She talks about turtles nonstop, is socially awkward, and her schedule can be predicted down to the minute. When Dawn doesn’t show up to work, Natalie knows something is wrong. Everything changes for both women when Natalie receives a mysterious phone call. An unputdownable thriller that explores the dark ways that the past can echo through the future—with deadly consequences.

💭 ⓂⓎ ⓉⒽⓄⓊⒼⒽⓉⓈ
I’m a big fan of any thriller that keeps my guessing game strong, and that’s exactly what this book did. I feel like the message of this book is “Karma is a bitch,” and I 100% support that message. 😜 I also love that Frieda McFadden provides such a beautifully wrapped up ending. I’m pretty sure I have found my favorite thriller author. I would happily devour any book that she writes.

📚 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎:
💫Fast pace psychological thriller🧐
💫Short chapters📖
💫Revenge for bullying🔪
💫Dual POV✌🏽
💫Dual Timelines✌🏼
💫Twists you don’t see coming 🔀
💫Workplace drama 🎭
💫Back and forth emails📧
💫Unreliable FMCs 🙅‍♀️
💫Bonus: lots of info about turtles 🐢

⚠️ 𝙏𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙜𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨: bullying and suicide⚠️

🐢𝕄𝕐 ℝ𝔸𝕋𝕀ℕ𝔾🐢
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

💕Q U O T E: “𝑀𝓎 𝓁𝒾𝒻𝑒 𝓌𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝒷𝑒 𝓈𝑜 𝓂𝓊𝒸𝒽 𝑒𝒶𝓈𝒾𝑒𝓇 𝒾𝒻 𝐼 𝓌𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒶 𝓉𝓊𝓇𝓉𝓁𝑒. 𝒥𝓊𝓃𝒾𝑜𝓇 𝒹𝑜𝑒𝓈𝓃'𝓉 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓇𝓎 𝒶𝒷𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝓂𝑒𝒶𝓃 𝑔𝒾𝓇𝓁𝓈 𝒶𝓉 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓀. 𝐼 𝒸𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝒷𝑒 𝒶𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒽𝒾𝒹𝑒 𝒾𝓃 𝓂𝓎 𝓈𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓁 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓃𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝐼 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉.”

🙏 Thank you NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press, and Freida McFadden for this ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts 💕

I love Freida McFadden!! This book was so fun!!

This author’s writing style is so quick and easy and relaxing and fun. I love reading her books because they pull me in IMMEDIATELY and don’t let go until I have finished them. They are short, twisty, suspenseful, and above all, entertaining. I especially loved the setting of this book. A thriller set in an office environment between the popular girl in sales and the socially awkward (autistic? Not specified but possibly imo) accountant. Dual timelines, dual POVs and I especially loved the mixed media format of this, as a large chunk of the book is told via emails.

This book is full of twists, and while I did guess some of them, others caught me completely by surprise. Even if you do end up figuring them out, it doesn’t take away from the fun ride that this book is.

I loved this! I wasn’t so sure in the beginning, but the story kept building as I went on. I always try to imagine every possible outcome when I am reading one of her books, and it is fun finding out which parts of my theories are correct and which ones aren’t. There are always more twists than I expect! This book was so much fun to read!

Freida McFadden does it again! Great story with so many twists that I never expected! I have enjoyed most of her books- I wasn’t crazy about Ward D but did enjoy it. The Coworker was outstanding! Fast read which I like and a great story. Enjoyed the characters and even the turtles! The ending was the BEST! Definitely worth waiting for this book. I was fortunate to be chosen to read and review this ARC- special thank you to NetGalley, Poison Pen Press and Freida McFadden for the opportunity to read and review this ARC. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Highly recommend!

Freida McFadden has fats become one of my favorite authors after starting with The Housemaid. Just pure fun and intoxicating reads! Many thanks to the publisher and netgalley for this copy for read and review

Exhilarating!!!
4.5

It took me some time to sit here and think how to actually review what I had read. This novel was so adroitly put to together. It truly became mind blogging how well constructed this story was.

The amount of twist, turns and absolute secrecy within this fast paced read kept me up and questioning every single person in the novel.

The book is told by Natalie and Dawn, two co-workers who both have so much on the line and many secrets to hide… but at what risk and what gain?

The Coworker is super tense and probably Freida’s most brilliant work to date.

Character development was phenomenal and you truly got inside every characters head and saw things from their own perspectives.

At times, I would question why something was even stated… but do not question that. It all makes perfect sense and far from being filler’s.

If you love thrillers, murder, humor and pure genius do not skip this one. Runnnnn to purchase it and I promise you will jump on the McFadden wagon!

I received this novel as an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion and review. Thank you Freida, Mandy, Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for yet another addicting roller coaster ride!

Thank you to Net Galley for my ARC! I enjoyed this one but it wasn’t my favorite Freida book. Honestly I had a hard time connecting with any of the characters and I didn’t really like any of them by the end! About halfway through the story picked up when the twists and turns started coming! In famous Freida style, they just kept coming up until the very end and I didn’t know who to believe. Even with the characters all being horrible, another one well done!!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I just finished reading Freida Mcfaddens new book The Coworker and I loved it! It’s only a four star for me because of how many times turtles were mentioned. I loved that throughout the read you realize that all characters are flawed and there’s not one true villain in this story. TY Freida & netgalley for allowing me to read this arc. I was so excited. It’s out now 🥳🥳🥳

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for the arc copy of this book. I think it was ok average nothing that really grabbed my attention with this book. I do love this authors wrighting and the books I've read from her. It's a quick read . If your looking for something to read in a couple of days and the work place thriller is your vibe I think you will enjoy this one.