Book Review: The Inmate, Freida McFadden (Contains Spoilers)-Brief Parallel Analysis with The Tenant

Score: 3/5

Review: The storyline involving Brooke Sullivan working in a prison where she encounters her high-school sweetheart, Shane Nelson, who may or may not have been wrongly imprisoned for murder, forms the compelling premise of this novel.

Source: Amazon

Diving deeper into the twists of The Inmate:

The partial twist related to Brooke’s child, Josh, being Shane’s son is fairly predictable in the early stages of the novel. First, we must understand that Shane is incarcerated in a men’s maximum-security prison, and therefore the crime for which he was convicted — the murders of Kayla, Brandon, and Chelsea, along with the attempted murders of Brooke and Tim Reese— is not something that can be casually dismissed. One would require compelling evidence to believe that Shane was framed for multiple murders and attempted murder.

When we read about Brooke tending to Shane as a nurse practitioner, we discover that the conditions in which the prisoners are kept are often harsh. However, does that necessarily warrant empathy for Shane? We see Officer Hunt tormenting Shane and carelessly injuring him, and we later discover that Marcus Hunt was brutally bullied by Shane during their high-school years. His targeting of Shane in prison is therefore motivated, at least in part, by a desire to avenge his humiliation.

Shane does not initially read as a character who has been wrongfully imprisoned for the murders. This is a man serving time in a maximum-security prison, and as readers, we need convincing evidence before accepting that he was truly wronged.

The cues and ominous warnings about Shane being manipulative and dangerous are present throughout the novel. Elise, Brooke’s predecessor, describes him as manipulative in her notes, while Officer Hunt repeatedly warns Brooke that Shane cannot be trusted. However, Hunt’s credibility is questionable given his obsessive hostility toward Shane and his persistent attempts to pursue Brooke romantically.

Tim Reese, who quietly harboured feelings for Brooke, claims that Shane and his football friends — including Brandon — had a reputation for bullying others. This is later corroborated when Shane admits that he and Brandon brutally assaulted a boy named Marcus, leaving him hospitalised. Marcus is later revealed to be Officer Hunt. These details subtly cast doubt on Shane’s character and morality.

The novel also encourages readers to question whether Tim Reese was somehow involved in the murders or whether he was simply another victim. The mysterious disappearance of a girl he dated in high school, Tracy, as well as the murder of Kelli in present day, cast suspicion on Tim’s true motivations and intentions toward Brooke.

However, it is eventually revealed that Margie, Josh’s babysitter, is actually Pamela Nelson, Shane’s mother. Pamela and Shane are the true culprits behind the events that unfolded. Together, they sought to frame Tim Reese and ultimately murder Brooke. Pamela’s motive stems from her long-standing resentment toward Brooke’s father, who rejected her in favour of Brooke’s mother many years earlier.

The fringe-end twist reveals that Tim had warned Josh about Shane’s intentions toward Brooke. Acting on this knowledge, Josh deliberately stages Shane’s death in order to protect his mother. This twist ties neatly into the novel’s central thematic pattern: Shane commits crimes to protect his mother, while Josh commits a crime to protect his own mother.

This is why the fringe-end twist feels both practical and thematically satisfying. Unlike the final twist in The Tenant, where Amanda’s plan to murder Krista/Whitney Cross bears little connection to the central plot involving Whitney framing Blake, Josh’s actions in The Inmate mirror the novel’s primary revelation. The ending therefore feels like an extension of the story’s core ideas rather than a last-minute attempt to shock or blindside the reader.