The Inmate by Freida McFadden

 Just a twist too far...

Brooke Sullivan gets a job as a nurse practitioner at a prison where her old high school boyfriend is incarcerated. Shane Nelson is there because Brooke testified against him at his murder trial. He had, she swore, attempted to strangle her as well as commit the other crimes. All of this occurred 10 years ago. Brooke comes face to face with Shane again and starts to question whether or not he was actually the killer. 

Told in a back then (the night at the farmhouse when the murders happened) and present-day narrative with Brooke working and trying to raise her 10-year-old son while a single mother. Could it be that Brooke got it all wrong about what really happened that night?

This started off well and then rapidly veered off into wild and crazy nonsense that just kept coming. There is no way that Brooke could be as dumb as she acted. Her lack of judgement and common sense are so blatantly obvious that the reader wants to shake her out of it. And scoff that anyone wants to be in any sort of relationship with her. And the hits keep on coming with one insane twist after another until a story that seemed totally predictable turns with a climax that changes everything. Oh, guess away, but until that moment with the big reveal, I thought I had figured it all out. In any event, Brooke was a complete twit and I begrudge her a happy ending. And just when you think, ok, so that's that -- there's the epilogue. Nope. No. 

I can't really recommend this. The writing is more tell than show and lots of repetition with fickle Brooke having no clue about the motives of those around her. I had both the audio version and the book to flip between. The narrator was OK and didn't get on my last nerve as she performed the various voices. It was a quick listen/read. I've read other books by this author that I have enjoyed a lot more so I will read future titles. 

Thank you to the publisher for the advance editions. 

This is a standalone and is not part of any series.

Genre - psychological thriller