Murder At Sunset Rock

 

I picked up a whole bag of books at a store that was moving and thus liquidating their inventory. I have always appreciated a fast intrigue story yet Murder at Sunset Rock was far from my favorite. 

It took me two tries to get into the story and then I only tried again because I was stuck at the emergency vet with my dog and had nothing else to read. The writing style is super fluffy with lots of details and unnecessary parts in my opinion. Once I got to around page 75 I skimmed past the fluffy parts to get to the meat of the story. I think if this was half the length I would have enjoyed it far more. I did not figure out around 75% of the mystery but I did figure out one big twist. Just not my style of mystery. 

Never Lie

 

Never Lie is my favorite Freida McFadden book to date. Once again it kept me way up past my bedtime and I read it in two days. 

Tricia was an interesting character with many layers to her. Clearly Tricia was not comfortable going to a place where a woman just vanished into thin air. Jumping at every little noise and shadow Ethan rounds out Tricia well. He is grounded and has an explanation for everything going on in the house they are stranded in. 

I will say you either like Mrs. McFadden's writing style or you do not. Simple as that. I happen to be in the category of liking the writing style yet the person I recommend Mrs. McFadden to could not stand her writing style. The style stays consistent with using the tapes to move the story forward in parts, the chapters are all around the same length, and I never found myself struggling to understand what was going on despite things jumping around some. I do plan on reading more of Mrs. McFadden's work in the future. 

The Coworker

 

Since I could not get into another book I broke down and bought another book by Freida McFadden. The Coworker was a let down after The Boyfriend. 

I like characters that stand out and are not cookie cutter Mrs. McFadden provided that with Dawn. Dawn is different but not in a bad way, she is just her own person living in her own world. In some ways I wonder if she is on the spectrum or just overly over the top with everything in her life due to a bad childhood. It was never fully explained and I appreciate that Dawn stayed in character the entire time. The issue I have is that Dawn reminded me so much of Molly from The Maid that I thought the same author wrote both books. The Maid came out a year before The Coworker. That was my major problem with it. 

Despite a character being similar to another author's character I still enjoyed the story. It was a good pace throughout the whole story. The plot line was solid and did not leave me wondering about anything like so many stories do. 

High Society Sabotage

 

Reading is hard for me right now but I picked up High Society Sabotage and read it in two days. To be fair it is easy reading. I had no clue it was part of a series. 

An easy read that does not delve too deeply into the characters or the mystery. Great for keeping your mind busy for a couple of hours while you read. I figured out the whole mystery. I also did not really care what happened to any of the characters. 

The Boyfriend

 

The Boyfriend is the first stand alone novel by by Freida McFadden I have read. I had been wanting to read a good mystery for so long I actually bought The Boyfriend. 

Sydney is a likeable character, she lives a normal life and her best to still find ways to add fun to her everyday routine. Eager to not spend her years alone anymore Sydney is meeting people through a dating app which is a disaster in even so far as one date trying to demand more then she wants to give physically. 

It is clear from the start Tom is not normal and will never be able to overcome his dark desires. A deeply troubled and dark character Tom is complex with many layers. 

Normally I cannot stand books that jump between two points of view but it totally worked for The Boyfriend. It just added layer after layer to the plot line. I loved the plot line and I stayed up reading too late a few nights. The story moved at a good pace without out adding unnecessary fluff. The characters were well thought out and seemed like they could be real people. I am hoping the library has more of Mrs. McFadden's stand alone novels.