McFadden does another thriller – and I was not disappointed.
There’s no place like home…
Blake Porter is riding high, until he’s not. Fired abruptly from his job as a VP of marketing and unable to make the mortgage payments on the new brownstone that he shares with his fiancee, he’s desperate to make ends meet.
Enter Whitney. Beautiful, charming, down-to-earth, and looking for a room to rent. She’s exactly what Blake’s looking for. Or is she?
Because something isn’t quite right. The neighbors start treating Blake differently. The smell of decay permeates his home, no matter how hard he scrubs. Strange noises jar him awake in the middle of the night. And soon Blake fears someone knows his darkest secrets…
Danger lives right at home, and by the time Blake realizes it, it’ll be far too late. The trap is already set. (Goodreads blurb)
We’ve all read a Freida McFadden book by now, haven’t we? If you haven’t, and you are a fan of thrillers, I would recommend any of them to pick up.
They’re only so many twists you can twist into a thriller novel. The formulas are pretty locked in at this point in my reading journey. I don’t feel surprised or wild often. (And when I do, I make sure to give them five stars. Ha)
So when I pick up a McFadden book, I’m not expecting to be in a way. I am expecting to be entertained and in The Tenant she was successful.
Part one kept me very entertained. I was curious where she would take it. I was searching for clues on who the villain was, where would her twist come in and what direction she would take this book while reading. Part two is the twist! Although it wasn’t surprising, it was fun.
I love being able to get into the head of the psychopath. It’s fun reading their very disturbing thoughts. The casual talk of murder. The lack of emotion. Hearing on logical, but to them logical, thoughts on what they should do next. I really actually enjoyed these chapters. Again, enjoyment, but not surprising.
Part three, I don’t know. It felt like McFadden was just throwing everything at the wall. It got messy and it kind of ruined her perfect set up.
But I was entertained.
The epilogue should have just been dropped. If you read the last sentence of part three, that would’ve been an epic last sentence to end on. I didn’t need to know anything else that was going on. I honestly didn’t care about the characters enough to care about what was happening in the future. Aren’t thrillers like that sometimes? These characters are more or less throwaways. So I don’t really care what’s happening with them. (I’ll have to dig deeper on that on my own …)
Overall, to me, this is a classic McFadden book. I don’t think it’s any better or worse than any of her other standalone thrillers. They are entertaining. They are a formula. When you pick up her work, you know what you’re going to get. I would recommend this to all of my thriller, loving, McFadden, loving reader, friends.
Stats: 368 pages – First published May 6, 2025
cmacs paperbacks 
Leave a comment