Tag: Freida McFadden

The Intruder – Review

January 28, 2026 / / 0 Comments

Thanks to the Republic Day sale at our local mall, I decided to buy books. Incidentally,  the books which were dead cheap had some obsolete titles, ones that bookworms like me, never ever heard about.  I bought 10 books and will complete them one by one.

The first one of the lot that I wanted to read is The Intruder. Let me review it for the fellow bookworms, waiting to get their hands on a book!

Published on : October 2025

QB read on : 26th January 2026, (Republic Day of India)

Author : Freida McFadden (my latest favourite)

Review :

The story starts with Casey, who is living in the middle of nowhere, but still within the reach of basic necessities.

The cabin that Casey rented has a questionable roof. The weather forecast warns of a heavy storm in the horizon. What’s more, even the tree in her yard is dangerously old and may fall on the house anytime soon.

Either the storm or the fallen tree may kill Casey. But then, she finds a pale face looking through her bedroom window!

Is it a hallucination caused by the fear of facing a storm alone or is it a shadow caused due to weird angle of flickering light?

Casey is well prepared for any adversity, thanks to her father, who trained her well. I love how she keeps thinking about her father and what he would have done at different situations. It shows the deep friendship she had with her dad. (I love a good father daughter bonding story)

Then there is her lone neighbour,  Lee Traynor, who is concerned for Casey’s safety. He may or may not be the one who is trespassing her property!

Who is Lee? Does he have secrets of his own, like Casey?

During the blackout, Casey manages to find out the tool shed in her property is suddenly lit up. She decides to check out who it is! (Why go to all the trouble of facing the intruder?)

Who is the intruder?

Is it wise to face an intruder on your own, when alone?

As we  read through the story of the Casey and the intruder, we also alternate to the life of Ella.

Who is Ella?

Then there is Ella’s mother. This is the first instance where I have read about a character who is in severe depression. I could only pity Ella. Such a pitiful childhood.

Ella finds respite in the friendship of Anton. (Anton is one such character which is good inspite of the circumstances around him. He is a good guy but flawed.)

Finally, when the story unfolds, it brings chills down my spine.

It shows the plight of a kid who has an irresponsible parent.

Scary and sad!

If you had a good childhood with loving parents, then count yourselves lucky instead of taking things for granted. Some kids are not so lucky.

P.S :

1. True to her style, Freida McFadden has some twists up her sleeves and she uses them well at some places.

2. I hate staying alone in a cabin, but if at all I was, I wouldn’t go ahead and search who the intruder was, in the tool shed, that too during a storm!

3. Worth a read. It gives some valuable lessons of how parenting should be done and how important parenting is.

Till the next post, ciao!

Do Not Disturb – Review

November 26, 2025 / / 0 Comments

On my good days, I can complete a novel of 350 or less pages in a day. But if the story is not engaging and if it’s a week day, which involves picking up and dropping off the kids at their schools, I can finish off a novel in two days, in style!

Luckily, I started this one on a Saturday and by night fall, I was ready to review it. So here goes the review….

Review:

Written By : Freida McFadden

Published On : Self Published in 2021

Read By Queen Bee On : 19 th October 2025

 

Do Not Disturb, rightly starts with Quinn Alexander, who doesn’t want to be disturbed!

Why?

Because she is busy washing off the blood on her hands. She had just killed her husband Derek Alexander!

Turns out Derek is a giant A**!

Although, Quinn’s ex boyfriend, a cop, Scott Dwyer is at her main door, investigationg the neighbour’s complaint, she manages to send him off, without raising his suspicion.

All the while, the dead body is in the kitchen, blimey!

Quinn could have just used the self defense theory to get out of the murder rap, but she doesn’t.

She is mighty scared and the best idea she comes up with is to run away! (Running away is a clear cut sign of guilt, any reader of crime thrillers and murder mysteries knows it.)

The story would have ended after a couple of pages, if Quinn had just surrendered to the police, showed him the bruises on her neck and proved the abuse, but nope.

Bumbling and painfully amateurish, she manages to reach a dilapidated motel called The Baxter Motel, all the while leaving enough clues for anyone to follow her. Turns out, she has always been lucky, but smart, she is not.

From this instance, the novel turns into a thriller, even reminding me of the classic Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock, which I had watched, as a teen. (Take a bow, Mr.Hitchcock. It is an unforgettable movie, made in 1960, but is still relevant. More on that later.)

We meet Nick Baxter, the owner of the motel, who has an invalid wife, Rosalie, who was once a celebrated chef, but now, she just sits by the window and spies on her husband, through a binoculars.

Then there are other characters like Claudia, elder sister to Quinn; Rob, her husband, who is a plumber. A psychic, who is a permanent guest at the motel etc.

We also get to know the back story of the motel owner and his wife. (I felt the backstory could have been a little short. It completely diverted me from the MC, Quinn.)

Incidentally, the Baxter Motel is infamous for the murder of one of its guest, Christina Marsh. (Two years prior to the current story line.)

Just as Quinn decides to run away from the motel, she is stabbed…

What will happen to her?

Is the motel owner guilty of crime?

Who stabbed Quinn?

Who killed Christina Marsh?

Who is Derek Alexander’s mysterious girlfriend?

All the questions are answered at the end. Some of them may surprise you and some may not!

P.S:

1. The novel is worth a read, probably one of the writer’s initial works. I, for one, loved being reminded of the Psycho. Go ahead and watch it, now! The movie is unforgettable.

2. It is the second novel of Freida, where the ex – boyfriend is a cop!

Till the next post, bubye.

The Boyfriend – Review

October 20, 2025 / / 0 Comments

One fine Saturday afternoon,  after PTM at GBee’s school, Mr.Bee, I and the kids went to the Ashoka One Mall, which is the closest mall to his school, like less than 1km away. (There is another mall which is even closer, but it is still under construction) Incidentally,  Ashoka One Mall is GBee’s favourite mall. (KBee loves the Nexus Mall, we alternate between the malls, to satisfy them both!)

Anyway, after the usual car rides and toy train rides, both the kiddos were happy. That’s when I saw the bookstore. (During my days as a working woman, I would spend most of my lunch hours, browsing through Walden, the bookstore in our office premises.  I sorely miss those days!)

Once inside, I quickly got what I wanted. Two books by Freida McFadden and one by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. I started reading the first book after returning home.

So here comes the review….

Review:

Written by : Freida McFadden

Published on : 1st October 2024

Read by Queen Bee on : 16th October 2025

This is the 4th Freida McFadden’s book, that I have read.

The book starts with Tom and his weird and mad love for Daisy Driscoll. It makes us wonder,  do people like him even exist, but I guess they do!

Tom is a poor but handsome, clever but a little scaredy guy. He loves Daisy but also dreams of killing her. He probably has some mania related to blood like hemomania because he enjoys looking at blood or imagining blood! Yuk!

Daisy Driscoll,  the school beauty, the girl Tom loves the most and the girl who loves and adores Tom.

Then there is Slug, Tom’s best friend, who has the habit of eating insects! (I have never read about two or more such characters in a book, ever.) Weird bunch, I tell you.

Also, there is Alison, bestie of Daisy, who hates Tom. She is one of those rare individuals who knows about the kind of a guy Tom is. She gets a weird vibe from him.  These are one side of the story.

The story alternates between two sets of characters.

The other set of characters include Sydney Shaw, who has been unsuccessful in love and is into dating apps. She wants a steady boyfriend,  marry him and settle down. But all she ever meets are weirdos like Kevin, who later becomes her stalker.

Sydney has two girl besties, Bonnie and Gretchen. Bonnie is in a serious relationship with a doctor, not even her friends have seen him.

Suddenly,  Bonnie is found in her flat, dead, apparently tortured to death.

How did she die? Is the stalker Kevin the murderer or the super of the apartment Randy, who always gave Bonnie the creeps?

Meanwhile Sydney begins to date Dr.Tom Brewer, who has many secrets of his own.  Who even contacts his girlfriend from a burner phone? Who lies about his name and place of work? Only suspicious individuals do.

Then there is Jake, Sydney’s ex, a cop who is set on finding Bonnie’s killer.

Just as Sydney begins to put two and two together,  to guess the killer,  she is in grave danger.

So many innocent people end up dead because of one supremely psychotic brain,  so who is the killer?

What I like:

Each chapter is a page turner. It has twists and turns, rightly so, since it is a thriller.

What I don’t like:

The heroine Sydney is a little slow. She is gullible too, she is like a lesser liked version of Rachel Green from F.R.I.E.N.D.S!

When Sydney is in a near death situation,  the only thing that’s on her side is, luck. She does nothing to save herself.

I don’t like the killer getting away with crime, after killing innocent people.  No, not one bit!

But that’s not a good enough reason not to read, go ahead and read it. Tell me what you make of it.

P.S:

1. The next time someone in power like a cop, volunteers to do a background check on the person you are dating,  ALWAYS  say yes, take help. This is my advice to all potential heroines in thrillers and mysteries!

Let me bring my bowl of puffed rice. Time to read, Do Not Disturb!

Cheerio…

The Housemaid – Review

September 3, 2025 / / 2 Comments

It’s been so long since I read a novel and while I was busy with my usual online window shopping, I came across these books and bought them without second thought.  I always buy the books of authors I know about or read about,  this is the first instance I bought books without knowing anything about the author or without reading the preview!

The best thing about having no expectations is that, if it’s good, then I will be mighty happy with my choice of book, but if it turns out bad, I never really had any expectations to begin with, so I won’t be sad either! It is a win-win!

That’s what I had in mind, when I started reading the book…..

Let’s get the review started.

Written by: Freida McFadden

Published in : April 2022

Read on : 14 August 2025

Genre : Psychological Thriller

The novel starts with the police entering an attic and finding a corpse and a woman is being questioned….

Then the narrative shifts to Millie Calloway, who is at the Winchester house, attending an interview for the job as a housemaid. She is an ex- convict, who is out on a payroll and has been fired from her last job.

Nina Winchester, an amiable and lovable person, wearing a full white attire is the interviewer. She hires Millie as a housemaid,  even without references and that sets the pace of the story.

During the interview,  Millie is taken to the attic at the top of the house, through creaky stairs, where she is to stay, while working as an stay-in housemaid. Although she loves the house, Millie finds the attic disturbing. It feels claustrophobic,  there is only a tiny window, which can’t be opened and the door can only be locked from outside!

After the interview, the muscular, over 6 foot something tall gardener Enzo gives Millie a foreboding message, Danger!

Millie suspects that the house must be haunted, but even then, she decides to work there. She has no prospects at any other jobs, she is an ex-convict, who served 10 years in prison!

While she is attending interviews and awaiting call backs, Millie is living in her old and beaten car, as a home! Nina Winchester hires Millie, which in itself is suspicious.

She enters the house and is again warned by the Italian gardener, Enzo. The room in the attic gives off weird vibes, but then, it is better than the car home, anyway. Millie decides to save up as much as she can and leave.

The house, which had been spic and span during her interview,  is now in bad shape and needs serious cleaning.

Millie soon learns thar Nina is borderline neurotic and her moods are as bad as an oscillating pendulum. One minute she is charming, and another minute she is menacing and scary.  Nina, is the wife of Andrew Winchester,  a handsome uber rich young business man, who is apparently in love with his wife, inspite of the trouble she keeps causing him daily.

As Millie starts living with them, she learns that Nina Winchester had been to a “loony bin” and even tried to drown her own baby Cecelia!

Why is Nina always dressed in white? Why do the Winchester’s have peanut butter in the house if little Cecelia is allergic to it? Why does Cecelia always dress in uncomfortable frocks ? Why did Andrew marry Nina?  So many questions intrigued me….

There is also a scene where Andrew and Nina fight at night, a loud crash is heard and Millie suspects Nina hurt Andrew! Even the blood on Nina’s night dress is suspicious. Luckily, he is unhurt.

At one point in the story, even I was scared about what Nina Winchester might do to Millie, since she is young and beautiful and it is clear as day that Andrew  seems to be attracted to her ( by the end of 3 months) Nina is obviously a jealous wife.

Turns out plain looking Nina is older than Andrew and was a working single mom, before she met and married him.

The first part of the story ends with Nina being thrown out of the house by Andrew and Millie is promoted from a housemaid to a girlfriend!

Just when I was scared for the safety of Millie, Freida McFadden throws a juggernaut and demolishes the theory I had in my mind, while reading the book. (Like any reader, I was trying to guess what happens next)

She manages to turn the story on its head and how!

I am stopping at this. You have got to read the book to know the clever writing and memorable characters. For once I was happy reading about both the female characters Nina Winchester and Millie Calloway.

This is one of those novels which gets a 5 out of 5 from me. Good going Freida McFadden!

P.S:

I also bought two other novels in the Housemaid series.

Fingers crossed!

 

 

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