Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Coworker by Freida McFadden

67 reviews

bettymer91's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, and Infidelity

Moderate: Bullying, Grief, Death, Suicide, and Murder

Minor: Blood

smagzisreading's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Chronic illness and Murder

dkamada's review against another edition

dark inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Chilling! Fast paced and lots of twists

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Ableism, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Bullying, Grief, Infidelity, Murder, Self harm, Toxic friendship, and Terminal illness

Minor: Chronic illness

charlotte_helen's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Another excellent thriller written by Freida McFadden. I especially enjoyed the dual POV and how it flicked between Natalie and emails written from Dawn in the past. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Death, Murder, Child death, Infidelity, Grief, Mental illness, Blood, Violence, Self harm, and Bullying

k_mellott's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Found the story line to be a bit cliche and predictable, but an enjoyable, easy read nonetheless

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt and Murder

haleycanread's review

dark mysterious tense

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Suicide attempt, Murder, and Suicide

boba_n_books's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

A lot of people love workplace romances, but what about workplace thrillers? Frieda McFadden offers a twist on her typical thriller in The Coworker.

Dawn has worked with Natalie for about 9 months now, and they haven't gotten along from the beginning. Dawn is socially awkward while Natalie is the stereotypical popular girl. One day, Dawn doesn't show up to work, and Natalie receives an ominous phone call that sets her on a life-altering course. Dawn is missing, and Natalie turns out to be the number one suspect. 

I did figure out a few of the twists, but as with Frieda's other books, there are still a few elements of the twists that surprise me. The fact that she keeps me guessing until the end is why I enjoy her novels.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Blood, and Bullying

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

amberboo61997's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

If you like turtles, the book is already 30% geared towards you. 
I neither loved nor hated The Coworker by Freida McFadden. The book is fast-paced, mysterious, and keeps you on your toes as each twist throws you for a loop. However, like some McFadden books I've read in the past, she definitely knows how to write a despicable and unlikable main character. Especially a main character like Natalie, who really embodies the "dumb blonde" trope in a sense as she bumbles through her own lies and bad personality traits once the heat starts being put on her. However, I can't even fault Natalie for the majority of the book since other characters featured in the book have their own flaws and nastiness within them. 
The Coworker overall is a tale about the effects of bullying in both schools and the workplace and how it can have a detrimental effect on anyone involved. Does it get this point across? Yes. But the readers might be in for a shock when the aftermath doesn't give them a sense of "justice" nor does anyone deal with the consequences of their actions. Instead, it feels rather lukewarm. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Mental illness, Ableism, Infidelity, and Body shaming

Minor: Blood

I'm also going to say this. Everyone in this book needs serious help and their priorities are so low it's in Hell. Like how are you smart and you've been plotting a revenge plot against a person for nearly a decade and yet there are so many flaws and holes in your plot that it's honestly embarrassing? Dawn's obsession with Mia turned their relationship into one that was akin to sisterhood, to one that felt more alike to a "scorned lover" plot. Which would've probably been a better plot than trying to convince us that these two were just high school best buddies. And then lets add on the turtle talk like that's going to make her character any better. Also, how are you going to be going on and on and on about how Mia deserves justice and Natalie deserves to rot and yet the ending is you two having a mutual agreement. What happened to all that gusto? I guess murdering only one of the bullies was enough for Dawn. Which we never come back to by the way. Let's just mention it and shrug it off. Also, Natalie is just...there's not much else I can say on her in terms of bad personality and bad decisions. Much to our displeasure, she'll probably keep winning in life due to her luck and good looks, but it would've been nice to see her actually lose. I feel like Natalie just got slapped on the wrist and because of that, it made the ending very unsatisfactory for me.

billorwill's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicide attempt, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, and Murder

saraellenme's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Murder, and Suicide

Moderate: Ableism, Blood, and Death