The Intruder by Freida McFadden
By: Marlene Garcia
Plot:
Casey has been fired from her job as a teacher and is now living in a cabin in the woods in New Hampshire. When a storm hits her cabin, she notices a girl outside of her cabin, covered in blood. Casey decides to give her shelter from the storm, but the girl refuses to tell Casey what happened to her.
Why you should read it:
There can be a lot of things said about this book, but I believe the first one should be that “The Intruder” is not an “on-the-edge-of-my-seat” thriller, but it is still a pretty amazing book. It is character driven and overall a simple but hooking story that you are sure to not guess the plot twist of. Believe me, I thought I had it in the bag but turns out I had grabbed the wrong one.
Freida McFadden’s writing style includes two points of view and unreliable narrators. However, the dual perspective aspect in this book changes from her other works. The perspective in “The Intruder” changes from past to present and considering that this is Frieda McFadden’s first time experimenting with this type of writing, it is executed in a coherent and interesting way. It does not make the story dull, boring, or provide too much information that is required to remember.
I especially enjoyed that one perspective comes from a middle school girl while the other belongs to an adult woman. In most dual-perspective stories, the characters are the same age, so this contrast felt refreshing. It also highlights how the supporting characters evolve over time through different lenses.
Two examples, without giving out spoilers, are Rubin and Lee. Rubin is Casey’s landlord and Lee is Casey’s neighbor. Even though they appear as one off characters that might not be mentioned again or all that important, we still see how they change in Casey’s perspective.
If you like this book, try . . .
If you like this book, I recommend giving Freida McFadden’s other works a try. More specifically, “The Housemaid.” “The Housemaid” is a thriller about a woman who becomes the housemaid of a wealthy, perfect family. However, she soon discovers that the family isn’t as perfect as they present themselves.
