The latest pick for my book club (The Mani-Scripts—we bonded over manicures and manic reading habits), The Boyfriend by Freida McFadden was an absolute win. I’ve read The Teacher, so I already knew McFadden could spin a thriller like nobody’s business, but this one had me second-guessing myself all the way to 2 a.m.
What I love about McFadden is that she doesn’t throw in fifty characters and expect me to keep track of them like some twisted literary Sudoku. She keeps the cast manageable and just shady enough to make everyone seem guilty.
Sydney, our main character, is single and bravely online dating, which is kind of like volunteering to get food poisoning repeatedly but with more ghosting and awkward coffee. She meets Tom, who’s either a sweetheart with a childhood crush or a future Netflix documentary subject. I wasn’t sure. Then we’ve got Slug, Tom’s creepy-crawly-loving friend. If someone’s stalking you and keeps a pet cockroach, you’re allowed to suspect them. I don’t make the rules.
Daisy and Allison are classic frenemies with secrets. Gretchen, the other girlfriend-turned-bestie, is shady with a capital S. And then there’s Randy the Super, who might be a peeping Tom, actual Tom, or Slug in disguise. Jake, Sydney’s ex-boyfriend detective, rounds out the cast with a broody side order of regret.
I suspected every single one of them at some point. Freida McFadden played me like a fiddle, and I loved every twisty second. I had no idea where it was going, but I absolutely needed to find out, even if it meant losing sleep.
Highly recommend to psychological thriller lovers who like their stories fast, twisty, and filled with red herrings. This one gets a solid 5 out of 5 from me.
