Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I loved the fast pace of the book and never got bored while reading. There were a couple of genuinely surprising moments and I like when I don't see a twist coming.I did find the main character a little gullible at times and questionable with her decision making. I also found some aspects of the plot to be a little over the top, an overall enjoyable read for me and I would definitely want to read more from this author.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc! The Inmate was a great thriller that has an ending you won't expect. If you are a fan of Frieda McFadden this will not disappoint!

This twisty story is McFadden at her best!
Brooke Sullivan is a new nurse practitioner at a maximum-security prison, but she is there for more than a job.
She is there to speak to Shane Nelson, a notorious and dangerous inmate. Once her boyfriend, now a convicted killer, Brooke needs to know the truth of what happened that fateful night. But first, she has to get access to him.
#poisonpenpress #theinmate #freidamcfadden

📖 The Inmate
Author: Freida McFadden
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Genre: thriller
Format: Kindle
Pages: 388
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
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As always, Freida McFadden sucks you into the book and you can't stop reading until you're done with it. This is the sixth book I read by McFadden and I always think I know how it's going to end but no. She throws in a twist or turn, and I am shocked all over again. LOVED the epilogue!!

This book had by far the most insane ending I have read in a long time! It follows Brook, a registered nurse who moves back home after the death of her parents. She struggles to find a job, but finally lands one at the local men's prison. There, she must conform to the rules--never tell the prisoners details of your personal life. But, there is one prisoner there who already knows everything. Shane, Brook's highschool ex-boyfriend, is a prisoner, locked up due to Brook's testimony. Brook hasn't spoken to Shane since the night in highschool when he attempted to murder her at a party, but as the two begin to interact due to close proximity, she realizes that may not be the truth after all.

While I find the writing to be a little elementary and certain elements of the plot a little ridiculous/unbelievable, I still flew through this book! The short chapters, pacing, and plot twists were perfect. I can see why so many readers rave about this author!

I thought I had this mystery figured out fairly early, but there's a hard flip towards the end that changes everything. Great story!

Downloaded this arc thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley. This book was pretty much everything you would expect from a suspense/thriller. Eleven years earlier, a teenage Brooke witnesses multiple murders and is almost strangled to death herself, while spending the night with friends at her boyfriend Shane's house. The only survivors are Brooke, Shane, and Brooke's long-time neighborhood friend, Tim. After the car accident that kills both her parents, Brooke returns to her hometown with her 10 year old son, conceived the night of the murders. Brooke takes the only job available to her at the time as a nurse practitioner in the prison where Shane is serving time for the murders thanks to Brooke's testimony 11 years earlier. And so you have the two separate timelines between what happened that fateful night and present day. When neighbor Tim gets involved with Brooke after she moves back home, her memory of the night of the murders starts to blur and she doesn't know quite what to believe. Could she have made a mistake and sent the wrong man to prison? With a few interesting twists at the end, this was a fun and quick read with a dumbass narrator and a couple of seedy side characters.

I was given this book by NetGalley for an honest review-
Wow! Wow! I was shocked!
Shane has a party at his house and Brooke is almost killed. She never saw her attacker but could smell his cologne. She testified and her boyfriend was put in jail- but was he guilty? Ten years later she moves home and takes a job at the prison and runs into Shane. Her neighbor Tim who she grew up with hated Shane. When Tim visited smelling the cologne she smelled when she was almost killed she is left wondering if she made a mistake. Shane has been in jail 10 years never knowing he had a son and he won’t forget being locked up! Who really tried to kill Brooke and why?

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic copy of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Eleven years ago, Brooke Sullivan testified against her boyfriend, Shane Nelson, sending him to jail for life for almost killing her. Now, after the death of her parents, Brooke has returned to her hometown with her son and has taken the only job she could get- a nurse practitioner at the local jail, the jail, of course, where Shane Nelson is being housed for his crimes. Brooke hopes that after so much time, Shane will have forgiven Brooke for testifying against him and sending him to jail even though, eleven years later, Shane still claims to be innocent of the crime. But Shane does remember and Brooke starts to reconsider her testimony from years ago- did she put an innocent man behind bars?
Freida McFadden has delivered another gripping, suspenseful thriller with her new novel, “The Inmate”. Told in two timelines, both eleven years ago and today, from Brooke’s perspective, McFadden unveils the truth about what happened the night in a slow and tantalizing way, scattering twists and turns throughout.
Brooke is a single mother who had a falling out with her parents after deciding to give birth to her beloved son, Josh, and, now that her parents are dead, Josh is the only thing Brooke has. Half of her hometown hates her for sending Shane away, and the other half just want to forget that part of the past. Brooke herself is smart and resilient as the result of so much personal trauma, and she is an easy character to root for.
There are many possible outcomes for this novel and McFadden teases a few alternatives, but she definitely chose the right one. Shane? Brooke’s long-time neighbour and best friend Tim? Someone else entirely? McFadden doesn’t give it away that easily, and it was thrilling ride to uncover the truth.
I have read a few of McFadden’s novels (although not nearly as many as I want to), and “The Inmate” was definitely one of my favourites. It has everything fans of this genre could want, and I can’t wait to see what McFadden has for us next!

The Inmate by Freida McFadden had so many twists and turns and had me on the edge of my seat the whole time reading this psychological thriller. Brooke Sullivan works at a prison and she is told to stay away from a certain person in the prison. Brooke has a son named Josh who plays a major part in the story as well as it is just the two of them. Throughout the story you learn about Brooke's life and why she moved back to her hometown. All of the characters in the story play an important part in Brooke's life and the storyline as to why Shane is in prison. I finished the book in 3 days because I could not put it down as I wanted to learn what happened throughout the story and to see who the killer actually was. I enjoyed this book as all of the details even the minor ones lead to clues about who the killer was and the meaning behind why everything happened in the story. The ending of the book had me shocked but it was a great twist to the ending of the story! Definitely recommend this book if you love psychological thrillers and you love Freida McFadden's other reads!

This book is really amazing!!
I loved the characters and the plot twist the book had. I love this author!

I unfortunately don’t have much to say about this book ! On the one hand, the story is addictive and I could not put the book down. On the other hand, the writing was a bit shallow and the main character was really irritating too me.

I liked the fact that the book was written well and was fast paced. I did not really enjoy the story thought. This was my first book written by this author since I’ve heard many great things and will definitely try others, but this one was just not it for me. For me, part of the plot was really obvious from the beginning and the storyline itself just lacked some common sence for me personally. Since I still devoured the book in 2 days, I feel obligated to rate the book 2 stars.

This book grabbed my attention immediately, the premise is a late 20's nurse practitioner who takes a job in the infirmary of a prison that houses a man that she testified against, which ultimately put him there. The story begins to unfold alternating between the present and the past where the events took place that put her ex-boyfriend in prison.

Overall, the book was great, I was just a bit disappointed in the end. I have been spoiled recently with books that have a great and unpredictable twist at the end. For this one I saw the twist coming about 80% in and was disappointed that I was actually right. I still wanted to get to the end to prove if I was right or wrong. I would recommend anyone new to this genre or author.

I LOVE Freida McFadden books. Her pacing is always spot on, and there are always a few red herrings thrown in to keep everything interesting. Just when it seems like the story is wrapped up with a nice, neat bow, another twist is thrown in for good measure!

Brooke sent her HS boyfriend to jail for killing her best friend and two others, but 20 years later, she's back in town and working at his prison. Through twisty-turny events, Brooke has to figure out if her initial thoughts were right and Shane tried to kill her.... or if she made a grave mistake and has allowed a killer to roam free all these years.

Characters are well-developed, and it's easy to find every single one of them suspicious, so it's hard to try to narrow down just who did what and when. The secrets that adults keep only add to the mystery, and the thoughts of an under-developed teenage brain have to be questioned in adulthood.

As with all of Freida's books, this was a one-sitting page turner that had me racing to the end to see if I figured it out.

Overall: 4.5 stars (I really liked it)

I'll tell my students about: language, alcohol, violence/gore/murder

**Thank you to NetGalley & Poisoned Pen Press for the free ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.**

This book had so much potential…up until the last 20%. UGH! For me, the whole book fell apart after this. When you hit 80% read…its just way too much of a stretch. The twists keep coming and they’re cringy and far fetched. Brooke (main character) is kind of a dumb character who takes crazy risks at the risk of her kid. It becomes too unbelievable and I couldn't enjoy the resolution to the story. I give this 3 stars because I really enjoyed the majority of the book.

Thank you so much to Freida McFadden, Poisoned Pen Press, and NetGalley for the ARC of The Prisoner. This is only my second book of McFadden’s and WOW - she’s blown my mind again. I thought I had the entire story line planned out but I was so wrong. This book had so many different twists and turns, I was so incredibly surprised. I also love McFadden’s writing style, I fly through her books. I’m not sure if it’s because of the short chapter styles or if I just can’t wait to actually figure out what happened. I cannot wait to read McFadden’s next book!

Brooke is trying to figure out the mystery of what really happened to her in that farm house 11 years ago. Who is responsible for almost killing her and killing 3 other students? The twists in this book will leave your jaw on the floor and your mind racing! 5/5 stars!

WOW! I read this book in a matter of 9 hours, which is relatively unheard of for me. This was perfectly bingeable and easy to get through - just what I've come to expect from Freida McFadden. As far as the plot itself goes, I enjoyed it very much (up until the ending). I'm still digesting a bit but I'm not sure I loved Shane's mom being involved. I feel like there wasn't really enough motive to warrant multiple murders. And you'd think if there was, she'd want to kill her parents, not her... ALSO I feel like Tracy Gifford's murder wasn't covered enough. Why did Shane kill her? I certainly have some lingering questions, but overall, this was a solid thriller, and I enjoyed it.

Inmate" by Freida McFadden takes readers on a gripping journey into the heart of a maximum-security prison where nurse practitioner Brooke Sullivan navigates the dangerous waters of her past entanglements. With a tense atmosphere and a web of secrets, McFadden expertly crafts a thrilling narrative filled with unexpected twists and turns. Despite some familiar thriller tropes, the story remains engaging and entertaining, keeping readers on the edge of their seats until the very end. McFadden's skillful storytelling and captivating characters make "Inmate" a compelling read that will leave readers eager for more of her gripping tales.

What I love about Freida McFadden is that I always know what I'm going to get. Her books are consistently fast-paced, engaging, and filled with twists. Are they often unrealistic and over-the-top? Yes, but I'm here for the fun, and I love how she keeps me guessing.

This book was no different. Was the main character a bit dim, making foolish choices? Yes, and typically I can't stand insufferable main characters, but it would have been a short and boring book without it.

I had a great time and will definitely continue to read her books.