Freida McFadden’s Ward D is Grey’s Anatomy meets Shutter Island, packed with paranoia, plot twists, and a locked psych ward you definitely wouldn’t want to visit. Medical student Amy signs up for an overnight shift expecting boredom—what she gets is missing patients, eerie encounters, and mounting dread.

McFadden’s fast-paced, punchy chapters keep the suspense high, and Amy’s sarcastic inner monologue adds humor to the chaos. Some twists are predictable, others genuinely shocking. The ending wraps up a bit too neatly, but overall, Ward D is a gripping, binge-worthy thriller that’ll make you think twice about late-night hospital shifts!

A quick, twisty thriller similar to McFadden's other popular books. Not my favourite, but not my least favourite either.

Thank you to NEtGalley and Freida for the free copy in exchange of an honest review.

Freida McFadden has quickly become one of my favorite crime authors, and Ward D is yet another example of why she’s at the top of her game. From the very first page, I was completely hooked—so much so that I read it in one sitting! It’s no surprise that McFadden has such a hold on me with her ability to craft thrilling, edge-of-your-seat stories.
In Ward D, McFadden delivers a gripping psychological thriller that keeps you guessing at every turn. The tension is palpable, the twists are sharp, and the suspense builds in such a way that you feel like you’re trapped in the story with the characters.
Some people found it easy to guess, I couldn't guess and the epilogue did offer a cool touch that added a nice little surprise like Freida always does in her books.
The suspense was at its peak for me; the eerie and unsettling atmosphere McFadden creates really kept me hooked.
I didn't enjoyed a couple of characters but somehow I couldn’t put it down until I finished it.

Overall, the plot is a bit of a rollercoaster, with twists that keep you engaged and on the edge of your seat.

Holy shit is my only review…

Jk but so glad I chose this as my second Frieda McFadden book. As I’ve come to realize, her books are SUPER easy to get hooked into and the last 20% requires you to sit down and lock in.

I just couldn’t believe the final chapters, especially the epilogue 😳

Thanks for the advance copy!

This is the second Freida McFadden book I have read and I found it to be okay. I don't love the juvenile writing style, leaving chapters with questions at the end, but because of this, I find that her writing allows the book to be finished very quickly. It doesn't take a lot of thought or deep thinking to read the books.

I think the idea of this book is great, There were suspenseful moments in the book that I thought, if this was me....It had my heart racing and worrying for the character, what was I reading?! I wish the climax of the book lasted a little longer, it felt that there was a lot of build up to just come crashing down REALLY quickly, the end.

Amy was a great main character, her past and her present colliding and causing all sorts of emotions made sense in the long run. Her history with Jade and what she endured with her is terrifying and obviously her feelings being locked in a Ward with her added to the suspense and drama of the book.

Overall it was ok, I read McFadden to be able to give suggestions of her books to my customers. For a quick thrilling book, it was worth the couple of hours it takes to read it.

So I loved The Housemaid by Freida McFadden, and I have heard great things about a lot of her other books by freinds and collegues, unfortunatlely this one fell flat for me.

You are following medical student Amy Brenner, who is not looking forward to spending a night in a psych unit called Ward D, when she arrives for the night, something seems off, and it all goes downhill from there.

The consept is really intriguing, being locked in a psych ward for 12 hours can get everyone a little jittery, but the execution of it was not for me. I felt that the important subject around mental health were lacking, and the word "crazy" where used too many times for my liking and I felt that the writing was a bit off.

I am looking forward to reading more from McFadden, but this one fell a bit flat for me unfortunately.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an eArc of Ward D

This book was a little frustrating and you definitely have to suspend disbelief at times. While it wasn't a favorite, I always fly through Freida's books. Thanks so much to NetGalley for the free copy in exchange for my honest review!

Ward D
by Freida McFadden
Pub Date: Mar 04 2025
Updated version of her original novel by the same name.
Freida is good about listening to her fans and taking their feedback to heart, and that is what she did with this one. It's been a while since I read the original though.

3.5 stars. this is my first freida mcfadden book and she did not disappoint. although some things in this book were a bit cringy, she kept me on my toes, had me questioning everyone and everything. rule number 1. never trust nobody!
side note: i LOVE spider-dan!

✨Review✨

Ward D by Frieda McFadden📖

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️

📖 After recently reading The Crash by Freida McFadden, which was probably my least favorite by her thus far. Ward D was a light at the end of the tunnel. I’ve read so many of her books that I know the pace and rhythm and it’s almost a dance at this point. I finished this book in a little over a day- I blew through this!! Highly recommend this book for anyone who loves psychological thrillers, this one is gripping!


💬 Medical student Amy Brenner is spending the night on a locked psychiatric ward.
Amy has been dreading her evening working on Ward D, the hospital’s inpatient mental health unit. There are very specific reasons why she never wanted to do this required overnight rotation. Reasons nobody can ever find out.
And as the hours tick by, Amy grows increasingly convinced something terrible is happening within these tightly secured walls. When patients and staff start to vanish without a trace, it becomes clear that everyone on the unit is in grave danger.
Amy’s worst nightmare was spending the night on Ward D.
And now she might never escape.

📆Release date: Available now

🗒️ As always Freida McFadden is an author buy author for me. Meaning, whatever she releases I am buying no matter what. These books are always such a great escape from reality and are so easy to pick up and put down without having to “zone” back into the book.

Amy was a medical student who was assigned to an overnight rotation in psychiatry Ward D. She was very frightened but she had no choice. Cameron was her ex-boyfriend, also a med student, who had dumped her in favor of studying for an exam. He had swapped with another student to do the same rotation as Amy. Apparently, he was hoping to win her back. She had no desire to spend even one second with him, but again, she had no choice. The doctor on Ward D was Dr. Beck, and the nurse was Ramona.

Amy's ex-best friend, Jade, was also a resident in the ward. They had been best friends since elementary school, but once they got into high school Jade started doing really strange things that Amy didn't approve of. One of the things she did was to break into their trigonometry teacher's house and tape him to a chair. Then she went to pick up Amy and told her that she was going to kill him. Of course Amy wanted nothing to do with that and she fled the house, ran home and told her mother, after which her mother called the police. Jade was assigned to the psychiatric ward. Amy tried to visit her but Jade treated her like dirt. There was one thing about Amy that was peculiar. She visualized a little girl of about age 6 with blonde hair and a pink dress. The little girl talked to her, but didn't say anything kind. Amy told Jade about this and Jade thought she should be locked up in a psych ward.

There were many characters in the psych ward. There was spider Dan who thought he was Spider-Man, Mary, who spent her days and nights knitting, a Clint Eastwood look alike who always had saltine crackers on him, Manuel, who was insisting that his father was going to get him out, Damon Sawyer, who was considered violent and was locked away in seclusion and Will who had been admitted because he allegedly heard voices. As the night wore on, Will told Amy that he was a reporter and had come to do a story on the ward because one of their former patients told him there were strange things going on there. And there were most certainly strange things going on in the ward.

As the night wore on, Amy had decided that Damon had escaped from seclusion. There was a keypad on his door that she didn't know the code to so she poured water on an outlet and caused the power shortage. At which point she went to his room and when she opened the door she saw Cameron, Mary, an older man who turned out to be Dr. Beck and another woman that she didn't recognize. All of these people were dead. Manuel had been placed in the other secluded room and when she entered his room he was dead as well.

This story had all sorts of twists and turns, which I love in a good book. I did not figure out who the murderer was until the end. The author did an excellent job keeping me in suspense yet he storyline was easy to follow. The author's characters were truly believable. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I gave it five stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 STARS

Ward D is a fast-paced thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. With unexpected twists and turns, it’s hard to put down, making it perfect for anyone craving a quick and exciting escape. While the story is enjoyable, some elements feel a bit predictable, earning it a solid 3.5 stars.

Like all Freida books this is a quick read and as long as you accept some pretty unbelievable situations you will enjoy this book. A young med student must spend the night in a psych ward of a hospital and as soon as the door locks her in she is nervous and suspicious of everyone and everything going on. Odd things start to happen and they keep happening. Then there are flashbacks to her teen years that explain her former friendship to a patient, and it all comes together in the end.
Thank you Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the digital ARC.

This book gave me exactly what I came for. McFadden may not be winning any literary awards, but she knows how to pull you in and keep you guessing from beginning to end. This is yet another book that had me on the back foot all the way through and knocked me over the head during the final pages. Exactly what I was looking for!

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for an advanced e-book reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. When it comes down to psychological thrillers, I typically find them to be fairly predictable however this is probably my favorite Frieda McFadden book as I did not see the plot twists coming! The premise of Ward D really hooked me because a lot can happen being locked in an overnight psychiatry unit! The main characters Amy Brenner’s mental health background really added to the intrigue - how does someone who hears and sees a little girl who tells them to hurt people end up in the type of position she is - not to mention her childhood best friend is a patient in the unit. Wow - blown away. Very well done.

In classic Freida McFadden fashion she hooks the reader right from the start. The twists and turns caught be off guard, you thought you knew where it was going but you didn't! Great read.

This latest book from McFadden is a 3/5 for being a riveting psychological thriller that was a fast read. I enjoyed most of the characters, plot twists, and all the suspenseful thrills. The story was good though a bit slow for a short book. McFadden is an author that I enjoy and this was a fun, twisty addition to her collection.
My favorite parts: The setting being a locked psychiatry ward, interesting patients who were not just caricatures of a "mental patient". Instead these were personalities who were copying with a mental illness but still intelligent individuals. (knitting needle lady!)

My least favorite parts: The staff, the main character, and her former best friend. These parts all felt rather one dimensional and didn't give me the feeling of a real psychiatry ward.

Overall if you are a McFadden fan pick this up, if you are new to her books I would recommend one of her stronger titles.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was hands down the best Freida book I've read so far. Genuinely had me creeped out/worried the whole time. Such a good time

I will read literally anything that Freida McFadden writes. While this was not my favorite of hers, it was still exceptional. She knows how to keep a reader engaged with so many twists and turns.

I couldn’t really get into this book. It was interesting but so unbelievable, which many people will like, just not by favorite. It’s well writing and intriguing and the ending was good.