Book Review: 'Suicide Med' by Freida McFadden

Heather is a new student at Southside Medical School. Despite being a passionate student, she is nowhere near the top of the class, and finds herself struggling to keep up, especially in the notoriously difficult anatomy class. During anatomy, she is working on the same cadaver as her quirky and unfriendly roommate Rachel, shy, sweet Abe, Abe's attractive and intelligent roommate Mason, and silent Ginny. Everyone seems to have secrets, though, and acts at least slightly strange. After all, Southside Med is no ordinary med school, either; it is nicknamed Suicide Med, because every year for the last six years, a student has taken their own life. Interestingly, the suicides started happening the year Dr. Conlon, their anatomy professor, began teaching there. Is that a coincidence, or is there more to it? And more importantly, who will be next? 

After reading several books by Freida, I have come to realise that although her books never fail to hold my attention, they are very formulaic. This book, however, is different right from the start. I have never before read any books in which her characters were in college. This made me wonder whether McFadden was in med school, or had recently graduated at the time she wrote the book. The main difference from her other books is that the plot is so much more intricate. Each character's backstory is well thought out and extremely detailed without there being an information overload, or without making the book longer than an average novel. It is clear that no character was an afterthought, and that the author was simultaneously thinking in multiple streams. All the different ends tied together neatly, instead of the story spiraling out of control. That is no easy feat, and I am impressed by how she managed to pull it off. 

I am not usually a fan of using multiple first person perspectives, because that often makes things confusing to readers, while detracting from the complexity and overall quality of the writing. However, this book was one of the cases where it turned out to be necessary, and was done well. The atmosphere of the book was crafted just right; I could mentally picture dimly lit classrooms and hallways, and an overall bleak tinge to everything. 

The whole approach of this book was so radically different compared to her other work that I was sure that this was one of her earlier works. Upon some Googling, I found out that this was her first thriller novel. In fact, this edition of the book is no longer available. She rewrote some subplots and republished it as 'Dead Med'. I was lucky to stumble upon a rare copy of the original version. Her reason for changing the book was that she found a certain subplot "embarrassing". Admittedly, in hindsight, the subplot in question was a bit much, but if I had not done additional research, perhaps I would not have felt this way. At the time of reading, it gave the book some shock value without being obviously over-the-top, although it was slightly unconvincing. 

I have not read 'Dead Med'. I cannot deny that I am slightly curious about the specific changes she made, but I do not plan on reading it any time soon. Freida's prolificness is admirable, and over time, she has gotten better at writing more realistic work that also has layered insights into how we think, as individuals, and in society. However, in the process of churning out books in rapid succession, her work has become increasingly repetitive, with a mass-produced quality. She cannot be blamed for this; today, to sell more copies, authors are often required to have a personal brand, which often boxes them into writing the same kind of book over and over to be consistent and reliable. 

'Suicide Med' was refreshing and original, an absolute contrast to the above-mentioned issue. It is obvious how much effort was put into the book, into doing the best the author possibly could. The only major criticism I have for this book, if any, is that it lacked depth, but that can be forgiven, considering that it was only her second book. This book was meant to entertain, and that it did thoroughly. I am very grateful to have stumbled across this gem and would like to read more of her earlier work.  

Reflections on 'The 5 AM Club' by Robin Sharma

Disclaimer: The following is not an all-encompassing summary of the book, and nor is it a substitute for reading the actual book; these are the points that are the most relevant to me. All credit for the information shared below, although paraphrased by me, goes to Robin Sharma. 

7 things I learned:

1. It takes at least 66 days to automate a habit, split into 3 phases of 22 days each. The first phase is where old habits are destroyed, the second one is where the new habit begins to take root, and the final phase is where the habit is cemented. It is crucial to show up daily without fail at this time, although change can be excruciating. Even if one does have to miss a day, as James Clear says in 'Atomic Habits', never miss twice. 

The above is perhaps the most important lesson I learned from this book. I have, on several occasions, suffered from what I call 'the 3-day curse'. After resolving to start a new habit, for example, going for a run every day, I would show up for 3 days in a row, miss the fourth day and a lot of days after that, and finally, the habit would fall through. After a period ranging between a few days and a few months, I would try again, only to repeat the cycle. Now that I am aware that it takes much longer than I had previously thought for any habit to start feeling natural, I will push myself harder to show up every day. Regarding running, Robin Sharma also wrote that Nelson Mandela spent 45 minutes a day jogging on the spot in his cell during his years of imprisonment, alongside other exercise. I have often been put off running because of rain or snow outside, but this changes things. Even if I can't go outside or to the gym, I always have the ground I am standing on, which means that I have no excuses! 

2. It is important to put oneself into uncomfortable situations for personal growth. 

The book suggests doing things like sleeping on the floor a few days a week, or taking cold showers. These are excellent examples that cover physical discomfort, which I like to believe I try to confront fairly regularly. Unfortunately, I am practically wedded to my comfort zone in the mental and emotional aspects. I have a deep fear of networking, and usually require a lot of mental preparation before I can muster up the courage to talk to a stranger. Perhaps it would be wise for me to jump in before I am ready, and talk to, say, at least two new people each week. 

3. It takes 10,000 hours of practice to show the first signs of mastery of a skill. This amounts to nearly 3 hours daily for 10 years. 

I would like to try to spend 10,000 hours writing! Although it might take me longer than a decade to reach that milestone, I cannot help but wonder how much I will improve throughout the process. 

4. Rest is as important as work. Like muscles need rest to recuperate and grow, so does the mind. 

As someone who feels guilty whenever they take breaks, the muscles analogy gave me a fresh perspective. Rest is not a waste of time. Rather, it will help be more efficient when I get back to work. 

5. Distractions are the enemy of productivity. 

I entirely agree! During my childhood, as a result of there not being a TV at home, I was very diligent in my studies, and spent my spare time reading, writing and crafting. A few days ago, I was going through my old stuff and found over a thousand pages of book drafts and notes that I have written over the past decade. While I was almost always clueless about the trending TV shows at any given time, which sometimes did lead to a feeling of social alienation, if I could go back in time, I wouldn't change anything.   

6. One often reduces their productivity by trying to pursue too many things simultaneously, resulting in the scattering of 'cognitive bandwidth'. 

To add to this, Robin Sharma says that to achieve genius and mastery in something, one has to solely focus on that skill and nothing else. I have mixed feelings about this one. I have multiple interests. To call the idea of dropping all but one painful is an understatement. However, when I find myself trying to do too many things equally well, I eventually descend into burnout and an overall feeling of despair and not getting anywhere. Having an ordered list of priorities is a better midway path. 

7. Last but not least, the tranquility of the early morning is the perfect time to have a routine that allows for movement, reflection, learning, and growth. 

There have been several times in my life where I have been motivated to regularly get up at 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning for months in a row. When I was younger, it was to run, while during a large part of high school, it was to study. Either way, I thoroughly enjoyed the silence that came with that time. When I was running, I had the chance to witness the sunrise, watching the sky change every few minutes. I have never memorised faster or had a deeper understanding of concepts than during those early morning study sessions. In the last few years, I have lost the good habit of getting up early, and my main reason for reading this book was to convince myself to start again. It is working; ever since, I have found myself waking up early, although not at 5:00, even on holidays, to go for a swim or a walk. Going forward, I would like to incorporate both physical and mental exercise into my morning routines, even when my days are packed.

Critical thoughts: 

The approach of using a fable-like format is a unique one. The backstories of the fictional characters, as well as the liberal use of anecdotes, make reading like gliding through the pages, rather than wading through pages of dense language. Unfortunately, this method also detracts from the overall crispness of the subject matter. The book takes its sweet time to get to the point, which I found quite frustrating. 

While the book tries to oversensationalise the results one would get by practicing what is written, I deeply respect the emphasis on habits. After all, one can dream about results, but following the right process is the only way to actually get there. A lot of the information about habits was not new to me, as I have read 'Atomic Habits', but that can be forgiven, because the truth is universal, and one can only paraphrase it.  

Occasionally, the characters were a bit too much for me, especially Mr. Riley and his antics. The slogan 'Own your morning, elevate your life!' was repeated to the point where it began to feel rather cultish. Despite that, and my initial skepticism about mixing fiction and non-fiction, the characters still grew on me. 

As evident from the first part of this review, I learned a lot from this book. At the same time, it was obvious that the author was trying to fluff up his content to have a word count that fit the guidelines for a book. 

While it sounds like I have a lot of criticism for this book, it has a lot of valuable lessons in it, and I have no regrets about reading it. 

Audiobook Review: 'The Wedding People' by Alison Espach, narrated by Helen Laser

As an avid crime novel reader with an overly active imagination, I like to read a rom-com every now and then to keep the nightmares at bay. It is with this intent that I decided to read (or more accurately listen to) 'The Wedding People'. The usage of the word 'wedding' in the title, as well as the beautiful cover art, suggested a lighthearted but chaotic narrative, happy endings, and admiring the beauty of life in general. 

In many ways, this book was exactly what I expected, but not having read the blurb beforehand, I was surprised at the dark beginning. English professor Phoebe wears her most beautiful dress and her golden wedding heels and boards a plane to the fancy Cornwall Inn in Newport, Rhode Island. There, she intends to enjoy some good alcohol, a luxurious last meal, and a handful of cat painkillers. She might as well; she has not been able to write anything for a while now, and her husband decided he was in love with her best friend. Having to watch them together at the college where they all teach is excruciating. She wonders, what does she have to lose? 

When she reaches the inn, it turns out to be full of people attending the week-long wedding celebrations of Lila and Gary. In an elevator encounter with Lila, Phoebe tells her about her intentions. Later that night, Lila barges into Phoebe's hotel room and demands that she not commit suicide, because Lila's wedding must be perfect. Despite Lila's outward beauty, wealth, and entitled behaviour, it turns out all is not perfect in her world either. That night, the two women share their most guarded secrets with each other, and it is the beginning of an unlikely bond. 

Phoebe does not die that night; instead, over the course of a week, she spends time with the 'wedding people', as she refers to them. Initially, perhaps she had despised some of them, but now, they are so much more than a homogeneous herd of shallow, wealthy people. It turns out she needed them, and they needed her. The story follows her as she puts the future aside for a week, only living in the now. 

The book was everything I could have hoped for, joyful but not overly saccharine, optimistic while staying within a realistic frame, and very profound. The most important thing I learned from this book is that if we aren't valued by the people in our life, that doesn't imply that we are worthless. We are simply surrounded by the wrong ones, and that we are yet to meet more wonderful people who will uplift us and bring joy to our lives. For a week, Phoebe put everything aside and truly lived, truly enjoyed all the big and little things, and nothing went wrong. In fact, it changed her life for the better, in a way she could never have imagined. There is perhaps a lesson to be taken from that as well. 

The only critique I have is that sometimes I found some of Phoebe's fantasies over-the-top and slightly redundant, but at the same time, given the overall quality of writing, I trust Espach to have valid reasons for them that may be beyond my comprehension. Perhaps the fantasies represent Phoebe's outlook in her past life, and highlight how drastically it changes by the end of the book. 

The narration was extraordinary. Generally, having read for several years, readers eventually develop their abilities of inference to read the feelings beneath the words. In an audiobook, those feelings are handed to us through the narration, and one must trust the narrator to do them justice. Helen Laser went above and beyond; the contempt in her voice while reading Phoebe's inner monologue was subtle and yet impossible to miss, giving the feeling of being let into an inside joke. Her take on Lila's voice was hilarious; it was precisely annoying enough to suit her character, but not enough so that it deterred me from listening. While I usually have fuzzy images of the characters in my head while reading any book, this time, they were crystal clear, and the narration has a lot to do with it. 

Although 'The Wedding People' is not the kind of book I usually read, it was an absolute treasure, even more so in this audiobook edition. 

Audiobook Review: 'My Husband's Wife' by Alice Feeney, narrated by Bel Powley, Henry Rowley and Richard Armitage

Eden Fox lives in a lovely home called Spyglass with her husband Harrison. She moved there only recently, and is excited for the opening of her art exhibition at the local gallery, which will hopefully warm the people in the village of Hope Falls towards her. Only, when she returns home from her run right before the opening reception, her key won't unlock her front door. When the door opens, she is greeted by a woman who looks remarkably like her, pretending to have been Eden all her life. Her husband doesn't recognise her either; he claims to be married to this strange woman. The police are called upon who we know to be the real Eden as she is turned out of her own home. No one believes her, and what was supposed to be 'her night' is now a total disaster. 

Meanwhile, six months earlier, Birdy found out she was dying from cancer, and also that she inherited Spyglass from her late grandmother. Birdy leaves London to move to Hope Falls in the present day, and that is when the truth begins to unravel. 

I will begin with my positive feedback. The prose was lovely, with some solid metaphors and clever wordplay. When I read the blurb, to say the concept of the book was intriguing, at least the identity theft aspect, was an understatement. Clearly, other people thought so too. When I first placed a hold on the audiobook in Libby, seven hundred people were waiting ahead of me, which is not an exaggeration. Every day, I would check to see where I was in the queue, my anticipation mounting, and finally I was rewarded when it was my turn to borrow the audiobook. Or so I thought.

The first two or three hours were interesting enough, but it all went downhill after that. In the beginning, the author tries to keep Birdy's job a secret, but the scattered hints fail in their objective to be ambiguous. This lack of subtlety leads to another major slip-up, where it becomes evident early on that someone is lying. I will leave you to find out who, if you should choose to read this book. Despite that plot twist being painfully obvious, the rest were not. And that is not to say they were well disguised; rather, they were completely arbitrary. They came in quick succession, and trying to follow along gave me a headache. I appreciate that Feeney was trying to create a complex plot, but it was overdone to the point where it spun out of control, resulting in a garbled mess. Plot twists are only good when they come with some context; and dropping random twists just because one can is going to make readers annoyed, not impressed.

The premise for this book had a lot of potential, in terms of the impersonation of Eden Fox. Instead, that was barely touched upon, while too much time was spent on Birdy. Considering that Eden was a key part of the blurb, I feel deceived and clickbaited. In my opinion, the character development was next to zero, apart from Birdy, who was the only one who felt like a real person. That being said, for the reason mentioned earlier, I wasn't interested in Birdy's story. While the concept of the company Thanatos was very intriguing, I did not fully understand its purpose in the book. That is just one example of the many minor subplots that added to the noise in the story, with no significant value. 

I was not a fan of the usage of multiple perspectives in 'My Husband's Wife'. I am not against that style of narration in general; it has been done brilliantly in many other books. I simply think that it was gratuitous here. It crowded the flow of the story. If the author had used fewer perspectives, I believe each one could have been done more justice. In real life, we only know what we are thinking, and I think there is a certain amount of skill in being able to share all the necessary information through fewer perspectives. Multiple perspectives are useful in explaining how different characters feel about the same thing; it's in the name. In this book, however, they were used because everyone was hiding something, and in my possibly unpopular opinion, at least for this particular case, that felt like a misuse of this technique. 

As though I was not already overstimulated enough, the audiobook had sound effects. To me, this seems like a cool idea, and yet, at the same time, I believe that the author's words should be given space to breathe, to speak for themselves. The words should be sufficient to convey everything the reader needs to know. The sound effects were not used very often in this audiobook, and when they were there, they were random and distracting. I had to fight the urge to roll my eyes every time they played the running track. The alarm sound was a total jump-scare. I have not given up entirely on the idea of sound effects for audiobooks; I think this was just not the right book for those. The narrators were fantastic, though, and I have no complaints with them. 

I do not know how I managed to stumble through the entire book, and I am still wondering what I just read. I would not recommend this book to anyone. Still, I would like to say that writing a mystery requires a lot of plotting, which is not easy, and I appreciate Alice Feeney's effort. I am fully aware that I cannot write at that level yet. 

Audiobook Review: "Want to Know a Secret?" by Freida McFadden, narrated by Alyson Krawchuk

April Masterson has a YouTube baking show that is getting quite a bit of attention. It is called Sweet Secrets, where each episode has her secret to perfecting a certain baked good. She lives with her husband in a comfortable house in the suburbs, has a seven-year-old son Bobby, who she loves, and truly seems to be the wholesome mom persona she tries to curate for herself online. She is friends with the other moms at Bobby's school, including the uptight PTA head, Block Captain, and former lawyer Julie, whom she considers a 'best friend' but is secretly not that fond of. Enter Maria, a new neighbour with a son Bobby's age. Maria is sweet and genuine, and refreshing after Julie's exacting, and often ridiculous, demands regarding book clubs, PTA meetings, parking, pets, and everything else one could imagine. Maria and April become fast friends, and finally, it seems like April has found a trustworthy confidante, and can truly be herself for once. Everything is great, until her world starts to fall apart. 

April's 'sweet' secrets aren't her only ones. A ubiquitous but mysterious someone knows too much about her, and keeps sending her anonymous texts that are both taunting and threatening. Telling someone about the texts isn't in her best interests; after all, she is trying to ensure the skeletons in her closet remain hidden. Everything she is supposed to be in charge of gets sabotaged, but to the public eye, which is really just the parents of the suburb, April is to blame. Everyone starts to turn against her, and the same is happening to Bobby. Maria also seems to be avoiding her, and maybe even hates her. As though that isn't enough to deal with, no matter how hard she works to look and be perfect online, she is getting a lot of hateful comments on her YouTube channel. Things start out as mildly inconvenient, but rapidly go to downright catastrophic. Every time she thinks nothing could possibly get worse, she is proven wrong. Someone is out to ruin her life. As time passes, she strongly suspects that it is Maria. What could Maria possibly have against her? And is it really her, anyway?

In a Freida McFadden book, you will be guessing until the end. Or more precisely, you will know who about halfway through, while the why is slowly unraveled in the second half. Although I haven't reviewed all of them, I have been devouring Freida books at an alarming rate, and each one I come across is like opening a shiny new present. Her plotting is always meticulous and elaborate, and all plot ends are tied together perfectly and concisely. In many ways, this book is similar to her others in terms of planning. Despite my best guesses, the plot twist was completely unexpected and yet reasonable, which was gratifying and relieving. Even then, somehow, this book did not pack the punch I have come to expect from Freida's books. It felt like the story was dragging at some points, and some clichés were used, but this was not evident until the second half of the book. Admittedly, there was also a lot less violence in this book, which normally increases the stakes in a thriller. However, excessive gore and murder are not necessary for a thriller to be fast-paced or impactful, as Freida herself has demonstrated several times. I do not think this was what made the book less exciting, and in my opinion and Freida's defense, clichés are based in truth to some extent. 

I cannot pinpoint why exactly I am not gushing over this book, but I certainly did not dislike it. The book has a lot of interesting sociological insights. The dynamics amongst the moms were entertaining: the tendency to subtly compete, to one-up each other, to gossip, to exclude someone to further one's own sense of belonging, all while remaining 'friends' who do truly care about each other to some extent. I generally associate this behaviour with children or teenagers, but from what I have heard, it is true of adults as well, no matter how old they may be. Do people ever really grow up? Or is it that children emulate their parents' behaviours? I think the both are true, but the latter more so. Moreover, getting older does not necessarily make one more sensible.

After the plot twist, the perspective changed from April's to that of another character, who is usually the 'perpetrator' in Freida's books. I have a habit of believing everything a person says, and this book was a jolt back to reality, at least to the reality of unreliable narrators. Nothing is ever as it seems, characters are allowed to lie, especially by omission, and the same story, when told by two different people, can sound extremely different to the point where you cannot believe it is indeed the same story. Is anyone really ever right or wrong? Probably, but it's an entire greyscale and it's near impossible to be on either of the extremes. This book gave me a lot to think about. Maybe it wouldn't be in my top five favourite Freida McFadden books, but I do not regret reading it and I will be back for more of her work, probably too soon. 

As for the narration, I thought Alyson Krawchuk did fairly good work. Some words were unintelligible and I had to rewind two or three times to understand them, but not frequently enough for me to have serious complaints. The kind of vocal skill required to enact an audiobook always leaves me in awe, and Krawchuk definitely has those skills.

P.S. The following does not really fit into the context of this review, therefore it is included in this postscript. I found out that barely two months before the writing of this review, Freida McFadden revealed her real name to be Sara Cohen. Earlier, I had learned that she was a practicing doctor who also wrote but preferred to keep her life private. While the name Sara Cohen in no way rings any bells because she is, after all, a complete stranger to me, it was still an exciting bit of news. The ability to maintain her practice while prolifically writing books of such high quality is truly impressive.  

Audiobook Review: 'The Housemaid's Secret' by Freida McFadden, narrated by Lauryn Allman

Spoiler alert: If you have not read the first book in this series ('The Housemaid' by Freida McFadden) and intend to, you might not want to read this review. As much as I try to avoid divulging things, some things are inevitable.

Note: This review focuses more on the book aspect rather than the narration, but I wanted to give credit to the narrator as well, which is why it is mentioned in the title. 

Millie Calloway is still alive, but her financial situation hasn't improved. She's struggling to find jobs, what with her history, and trying to get through college isn't making paying the bills any easier. She primarily works as a housekeeper and a babysitter, but that's not all. There are several women she's saved from abusive husbands, but it's a service she stopped providing several years ago. That is, until she is hired by a man named Douglas Garrick. He lives in an impossibly spacious (by New York standards) penthouse with his wife, Wendy. According to Douglas, Wendy is ill, and cannot leave the guest bedroom much. 

This is strange, but Millie tries to obey Douglas' orders to leave Wendy alone until she starts noticing disturbing clues that all point to one very obvious thing. Is it time for Millie to go back to her old business? Of course, she is putting herself in extreme peril, as readers of the first book know, but there are added challenges this time. She doesn't exactly live in the safest neighbourhood and has to constantly look over her shoulder. There is also the matter of the black Mazda that keeps following her. As though this wasn't enough stress to deal with, having to keep lots of secrets is putting her love life, which is finally looking up for once, in jeopardy.

In the event that you have read my book review on the first book of this series, 'The Housemaid', narrated by Lauryn Allman as well, you might remember that I really enjoyed the book, but was worried that the second one might turn out to be repetitive. Nothing could have been further from the truth. I was drawn in right from the start. The writing style and overall format in the way the book changes perspectives was pleasantly familiar in the way of feeling like I knew an exclusive inside joke. 

The consistent style had nothing to do with the plot, which was fresh and much better than I could ever have dreamed of. There is not much to say about the writing except that it was great, but what I would like to focus on is the social message subtly given in the book. Millie mentions the 'Bystander Effect' she learned about in her social psychology class. It is related to how bystanders are unlikely to help someone who is visibly in trouble if there are other people around as well. Millie is someone who never walks away, or stands and watches while someone gets hurt. It is something she says many times throughout the book, and it's something the readers know quite well through her actions. I would like to take this as a personal message and as inspiration. Maybe it wasn't an intended lesson, but if it was, it was perfect; impactfully delivered, not too preachy, and not guilt-tripping in the slightest. It is a reminder of why fiction is not mere entertainment; it gives an author a medium to send out extremely powerful messages in digestible forms that will reach far and wide. This was perhaps the part of this book that resonated the most with me. 

Some writing advice I have heard in the past is that the author should be ruthless in hurting a character (physically, mentally, emotionally, choose your adventure) to keep the readers rooting for them. After the first book, I already had a special place for Millie in my heart, but McFadden's adherence to the above-mentioned advice only strengthened this sentiment in me. There were several points in the book when I wondered, why can't poor Millie just have the peaceful life she deserves for once? 

This book did not disappoint, and in fact exceeded my expectations. Writing a standalone novel is hard enough, but writing a series is even more so. If an author can write a good second book in a series, they have earned my respect for good. Regarding the narration, Lauryn Allman, like Freida McFadden, did even better this time than in the first book. It was exciting to see more of her voice acting repertoire through characters like Wendy. I am looking forward to listening to the next audiobooks in the series, both for the superb writing and narration. Note: I would recommend this book as 16+

Audiobook Review: 'The Perfect Marriage' by Jeneva Rose, read by Mozhan Navabi and Andrew Eiden

Sarah and Adam Morgan have been married for ten years. She is one of the most respected criminal defense attorneys in the present day, and he is an author with a career that tapered off after one popular book. Sarah is not successful for nothing; she devotes all her time to her work, and in the meantime, Adam is directing his affections elsewhere. Sarah has no idea until the woman Adam was cheating with is found dead, stabbed 37 times. Adam is the prime suspect. A guilty verdict from the jury will lead to a death penalty, and the odds are not in Adam's favour. Who should come to his rescue, though, but one of the best lawyers of her time? Sarah herself chooses to defend his case. Despite his disloyalty, she still loves him, and she is his best, and perhaps only, chance at survival. 

The story is narrated from a dual perspective; those of Sarah and Adam. Adam knows he is innocent, and yet his reckless actions while under house arrest are not going to make him look good in court. While Sarah searches for evidence to prove him innocent, Adam conducts his own investigation in parallel. He needs to know the truth. 

I always love a whodunnit, especially a courtroom drama, but this one felt somewhat lacking. A lot of the characters felt unidimensional, especially Adam. While the author did a good job of portraying him as pathetic, that was all there was to it, without any further nuance. I wonder if that was intentional, and if yes, what purpose it served. Despite that, Andrew Eiden was an outstanding narrator, inserting bleakness into his voice, and adding to Adam's narrative, uplifting the book in its quality. The final chapters had some of the best narration I have ever heard. 

The police officers were remarkably indistinguishable from one another, although that may just be one of the disadvantages of listening to an audiobook over reading a book. Adam's mother, Eleanor, was irksome in her treatment to Sarah, which of course made me very sympathetic to Sarah. The doting mother-in-law who thinks her son can do absolutely no wrong and thinks her daughter-in-law is worthless is not an uncommon trope in books. It is unfortunately very true even in real life. However, it felt overdone to a point where I felt like I was listening to a bad soap opera, and wished they would move on with the story already. In general, something just didn't sit right about the characters' reactions; it was all too melodramatic for me. I love seeing strong and successful women portrayed in books, who completely own their futures and have enough of a self-esteem to take what is rightfully theirs. Other than that, I did not feel like there was anything special about Sarah's character. Mozhan Navabi delivered quite an admirable performance, though.

That being said, I was still hooked. The writing style was gripping enough for me to complete the audiobook in two days (mind you, that's nine hours of listening). It was fun to pick up on when characters acted suspiciously and formulate my theories about the killer, as is the case with any good crime or mystery novel. However, the ending left me completely disappointed. When I finally found out who it was, I couldn't help wondering why I spent all those hours of my life hanging on to every word for this underwhelming answer. I am not sure if a lot of the plot is deep psychology I do not understand, or if it just needed to be better planned out. A lot of the foreshadowing throughout the book felt too obvious. It seemed like the author had a certain idea of how she wanted things to go, and after coming to a conclusion, she went back and dropped hints here and there. I know this is an important part of the revision process for an author, and gives their readers something to think about, but it could have been done more subtly and organically, in my opinion. 

Overall, I have very mixed feelings about this book. The fact that I could finish it this quickly says a lot about how the author's skill in keeping the pages turning (not that I had pages; it was an audiobook, after all). Otherwise, I would not give it full marks for plotting. This was, however, Jeneva Rose's debut novel, and an impressive effort. I do not doubt that by now, six years into the future, her writing has improved by leaps and bounds, and I hope to stumble across her more recent work soon. 

Audiobook Review: 'The Housemaid' by Freida McFadden, read by Lauryn Allman

Note: This review has more of a focus on the book itself rather than the audiobook aspects, but I wanted to mention the narration as well. 

Millie Calloway has been living in her car for a year. She's just been fired and evicted, and her job search isn't easy, not with her criminal record. Therefore, when she gets a live-in, well paid job as a housemaid with the wealthy Winchesters, she can hardly believe her luck. 

It turns out, after a few days on the job, that it was too good to be true. Her boss, Nina, leaves things messy beyond belief, and has unreasonable demands. She often gives Millie orders, and forgets them, then criticises Millie for doing them wrong. She swings rapidly between pleasant and extremely angry, and Millie is sure something is severely wrong with Nina's mental health. Nina's daughter Cecilia is spoilt and seems to hate Millie despite her attempts to be friendly. Nina's husband, Andrew, seems to be the only reasonable person in the house. Furthermore, there is the single-worded warning the landscaper Enzo gives Millie, "Pericolo", meaning 'danger' in Italian. 

The book reminded me of 'Verity' by Colleen Hoover right from the beginning. I could almost predict how it was going to end. Sure, I was shocked by Nina's behaviour, and sympathetic towards Millie, but I was not too impressed by the plot overall. I thought it wasn't a bad read, but nothing special; not exactly a page turner, and yet not so boring I would leave it unfinished. How very wrong I was. 

Halfway through the book, it was almost like the ground fell away from under my feet. I cannot say too much without giving something away, except for the fact that I wanted to abandon everything else and keep on listening until the book was over. I would never have seen the plot twist coming, and yet it made perfect sense. Freida McFadden does a brilliant job of omitting details to twist our perceptions of characters, only to reveal them later and change the whole situation. We never truly know what anyone is capable of. 

While I respect that graphic violence can really add to the effect of a thriller, this book does not have to resort to that to be extremely compelling, which is a testimony to the author's skill. Even then, I would label this book as 16+ due to other themes, which I do not want to give more details of for fear of giving away spoilers. While I do not know what an expert would say, I thought that the psychological nuances were well thought out. Sometimes I was a bit unconvinced by them, but I believe that is due to my own lack of knowledge. The book also had a fair bit of an emotional portion at the end, but not overdone. 

The narrator Lauryn Allman's posh accent for Nina, and a gritty Brooklyn accent for Millie, were impressive. Over and above that, the narration was respectable and quite good. 

I really enjoyed this book as someone who wanted something fast-paced, but has read one too many books whose graphic visuals remained printed on the insides of my eyelids for weeks after. I listened to this as I went about my day, and rather embarrassingly, often found myself gasping out loud in public as the author gave out little bits of information that changed everything as I knew it. There is a sequel (sequels, in fact), and I am slightly apprehensive that it might be repetitive, but I am almost certain I will be proven wrong about that. Judging by McFadden's talent as demonstrated in this book, who knows what I might be in for?