Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - The Coworker

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The Coworker by Freida McFadden

7 reviews

booksofautumn's review

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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bookishchaos's review

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I liked the direction it was going, but the ending was disappointing. The twists were great (as usual, with Freida Mcfadden, the queen of thrillers). I was just expecting something "more" to happen. I did love the unreliable narration, and how you get to watch the past unfold with strange emails left behind.

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rsagarin's review

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mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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solnit_and_sebastian's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Just when you think you know what's happening, McFadden spins another surprise into the story! Characters and motives continue to evolve throughout The Coworker, giving mystery fans fodder for guesswork. One thing I appreciate about this author's characterizations is that no one is entirely blameless, lending an element of realism to the proceedings.

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spootilious's review

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dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

Read: September 25, 2023
Title: The Coworker

Author: Freida McFadden
Genre: Mystery
Rating: 0/5
Review:

I’ve been trying to think of something good to say about this book. I really have. The closest thing I can say is that it wasn’t entirely predictable. The ‘plot twist’ wasn’t too surprising and most of the plot holes were tied up…. But that’s as far as I can go with nice things to say.

To start off, the writing style is extremely immature. It almost feels like I’m reading a fifteen-year old’s first attempt at a thriller novel. I’ve noticed that many people think that it’s due to the main character’s personality and I’m happy that like it, however, with the main characters being so one dimensional I can’t agree.

Natalie is written like a stereotypical B*mbo (I apologize for my choice of words, but it was the best descriptor I could think of), and Dawn is written like the only autistic representation the author has ever experienced is Rain man. The only personality traits are the Nat is considered pretty and Dawn really likes turtles. Honestly it made me want to vomit.

Surprisingly enough the only characters in the entire book that didn’t seem one dimensional were the men… and even then, only barely.

The way the office was written made it obvious that the author has no experience with an office environment and the way the police work was written was sloppy and seemed to have no research done whatsoever (though I may be a bit bias, having worked Law Enforcement).

Fifteen minutes into this novel and I knew I was going to despise it, though I did my best not to, I haven’t found a decent reason to feel otherwise. Overall, the storytelling was boring and flat, the characters were detestable and dull, and the ‘thriller’ part of the book maybe lasted 3-4 minutes before being utterly ruined by the fact that there is not a single redeeming quality to any of the characters, and the terrible, grotesque, and dehumanizing representation of autism in this novel makes me sick to my stomach. I would have called it quits on this novel but wanted to give it a complete chance and finished it… which only made my distaste worst.

I feel terrible having to write such a terrible review and giving the lowest (though I wish I could go lower) review I have ever provided but felt even worse as I was reading.

Minor TW: Death, Self-harm, Vomit, Confinement, Murder, Violence, Suicide, Blood, Ableism, Bullying, Child Death, Emotional Abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide Attempt, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Stalking

Quotes:

N/A

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avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

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emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I liked that it had a lot of twists and turns. I felt sorry Dawn for most of the book, as someone who's different. And Mia too.
I didn't like Natalie for very long as she was intolerable. And clearly a sociopath.

Dawn turned out to be one too, but she also seemed to be neurodivergent, which was the part I related to.

But by the end of the book you didn't like any of the characters. And it was a bit disappointing of an ending as I saw a good bit of it coming.

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moonlitreading_'s review against another edition

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emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

“She’s a very dangerous woman. And nobody knows but me.”

This book felt like a hundred pages too long for me because of how slow it was. The big reveal didn’t really have that shock factor I was expecting. I think Dawn was in the Autism spectrum but that wasn’t confirmed nor denied in the book. Freida McFadden isn’t the best author to write anything about mental illnesses because I feel the way she portrays them does more harm than good.

Thank you Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

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