The Crash by Freida McFadden | Thriller Book Review
Freida McFadden is such an interesting author. I’ve read a couple of her books now and I’m just not sure if I like her books or not. They’re interesting for sure, but there’s also something about them that doesn’t fully satisfy me. While I enjoyed The Boyfriend a lot, I felt unsatisfied by Don’t Lie. And I have to say, I felt the same way about The Crash. If you’re interested in all of my thoughts on this one, keep reading for my full The Crash book review.
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What is The Crash by Freida McFadden About?
A brand new psychological thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden!
The nightmare she’s running from is nothing compared to where she’s headed.
Tegan is eight months pregnant, alone, and desperately wants to put her crumbling life in the rearview mirror. So she hits the road, planning to stay with her brother until she can figure out her next move. But she doesn’t realize she’s heading straight into a blizzard.
She never arrives at her destination.
Stranded in rural Maine with a dead car and broken ankle, Tegan worries she’s made a terrible mistake. Then a miracle occurs: she is rescued by a couple who offers her a room in their warm cabin until the snow clears.
But something isn’t right. Tegan believed she was waiting out the storm, but as time ticks by, she comes to realize she is in grave danger. This safe haven isn’t what she thought it was, and staying here may have been her most deadly mistake yet.
And now she must do whatever it takes to save herself―and her unborn child.
A gut-wrenching story of motherhood, survival, and twisted expectations, #1 New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden delivers a snowbound thriller that will chill you to the bone. (from Amazon.com)
PLEASE BE ADVISED: This review will contain spoilers. I just can’t talk about the problems in this book without spoiling it. So if you would rather not be spoiled, please do not continue on with this review.
My Initial Thoughts
I’m going to be upfront with you. I didn’t realize what this book was about before I started reading. All I knew was that it was a new Freida McFadden book that I could read in Kindle Unlimited. I’m a little hot and cold on her new releases, but I’m more likely to take a chance when I can borrow a book through KU.
The beginning had me completely hooked. From the very first paragraph, everything was so mysterious about pregnant Tegan and her growing baby. The fact that the baby’s father wasn’t around made it even more mysterious. Was Tegan a surrogate? Was she in hiding from the father? Or was the father simply a deadbeat? There were so many possibilities and I knew that I wanted to find out the truth.
But then we find out the truth and it’s kind of gross. Ugh.
Problem #1: Tegan’s Baby Daddy
As it turns out, Tegan’s pregnancy was unplanned. She had a one night stand while visiting her brother. Tegan had too many drinks at the bar and went home with a smooth and supposedly sophisticated older man. She found out she was pregnant and later on reconnected with him, but he was already married with a family. He had no interest in her or her baby.
So instead, he sends his employee Jackson (It was never really explained who he was? Or what exactly his position was?) to check on Tegan every couple of weeks. At the end of the pregnancy, he would have Tegan sign a contract forfeiting his rights to the baby. And oh yeah… he would give her a shit ton of money. Because he’s insanely rich.
Tegan’s fine with that. She’s a 23-year-old woman who could really use the money to help raise her baby. But she has a final meeting with the guy, at the mere sight of her baby’s father, she has a horrible flashback to the night where they conceived her. And she realized that she was drugged and raped.
I know that things like this really do happen. But it just seemed so unneccesary and dark to randomly throw that in? I know McFadden needed a reason for Tegan to not sign the contract. But… she could have done much better than that. And I think that’s the problem with her books.
She makes these dumb decisions to throw in these wildly dark and taboo twists into her books that just make me uncomfortable. I feel like there are other ways that she could advance the plot. She didn’t have to make the single pregnant woman have some deeply horrible trauma out of nowhere.
I know it’s a book but I feel like I’m getting heated. Lol.
Problem #2: The Crash
The reason why this book is called the crash is because the main character Tegan gets into a pretty bad car crash when going to visit her brother. The reason why she is going to visit him is that Tegan’s brother invited her to come stay wth him for the last few weeks of her pregnancy. After things fell through with the contract, she decided that it couldn’t hurt to spend time with her brother.
But for someone who has lived where she has for her entire life, I’m a little confused why she didn’t take the weather more seriously. I’m imagining she doesn’t make that much at her job at the grocery store so after taxes, she really wouldn’t have made that much after working the day shift. So why did she decide to work before going to her brothers house? It doesn’t make sense to me. But again, characters making dumb decisions is what Freida counts on to move her plots forward.
Eventually, the roads are so bad that Tegan slides off the road and her car crahses. It could have been a near-fatal accident for her and her child, but luckily she’s okay. Except for the fact that Tegan’s ankle is probably broken.
All of this happens within the first couple of chapters of the book which is really odd. But ok. Let’s keep going.
Problem #3: Hank and Polly
Tegan is found on the side of the road and rescued by a man named Hank. She isn’t so sure about him at first. But he takes her home to his wife Polly, who seems very insistent upon taking care of Tegan. She must be a good person to want to help so strongly.
This storyline was a little hard to believe. I believed the infertility struggles for sure. It’s easy to imagine how that would take a toll on anyone both physically and mentally. But the fact that Hank would let Polly get away with so many devious and evil acts and not do anything was so weird. Like, if you really love her as much as you say you do, you call her doctor and ask for help. You don’t let her kidnap someone and keep them in your creepy basement.
I like psychological thrillers but this one just felt silly. Plus a lot of people have pointed out that it seems very similar to other books that are out there.
The Plot Twist
I’m not going to spoil the twist. All I’m going to say is… what?
I saw an interview on youtube where Freida McFadden was talking about this book. She was saying something about how she wrote it a while ago but wasn’t completely happy with it so she just set it aside. Then she picked it up and decided to rewrite some things and publish it.
Part of my wonders if this is when she came up with the twist? Maybe it was a a forgettable story and so she decided to come up with a crazy twist (as she always does) to make it an unforgettable story. I don’t know. All I know is that it felt insane to me. I think if she really had to have a twist she could have picked something more believable. Something that fit into the story better.
My Final Thoughts on The Crash
I just wasn’t satisfied with this book. It felt like a rough draft. The basics are there but there’s also some strange things in this book that needed to be ironed out.
I’ve also seen on Goodreads that some people are comparing it to Misery by Stephen King. Although I haven’t read that book, I’ve found out that it has a similar car accident which leads the main character to be taken in by an unhinged former nurse.
This is a little bit concerning because there are other instances where Freida’s books (with their unexpected twists) appears to be very similar to other published works. They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flatter, but when it happens over and over again there may be an issue.
In Conclusion
I’m not going to recommend this book to everyone. If you’re a die-hard Freida fan who devours each of her releases, then go ahead. But if you aren’t already a fan of this author or familiar with her work, just skip it. It really only takes a couple of hours to read but those aren’t hours that you’ll ever be able to get back.
