The Inmate

A gripping, twisty thriller from Freida McFadden, the New York Times bestselling author of The Housemaid and The Coworker!

The guiltiest people aren't always the ones behind bars...

As a new nurse practitioner at a maximum-security prison, Brooke Sullivan is taught three crucial rules:

  1. Treat all prisoners with respect.
  2. Never reveal any personal information.
  3. Never EVER become too friendly with the inmates.

But nobody knows that Brooke has already broken the rules. Nobody knows about her intimate connection to Shane Nelson, one of the penitentiary's most notorious and dangerous inmates.

They certainly don't know that Shane was Brooke's high school sweetheart--the star quarterback, the golden boy who's serving a life sentence for a series of grisly murders. Or that Brooke's testimony was what put him there.

But Shane knows. He knows more than anyone. And he will never forget.

The Inmate is a propulsive, mind-bending thriller about how we define guilt--and who has to pay for it, from New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden.

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Published Mar 5, 2024

336 pages

Average rating: 7.35

2,049 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

What Bookclubbers are saying about this book

✨ Summarized by Bookclubs AI

Readers say *The Inmate* by Freida McFadden is an addictive, fast-paced thriller with tight suspense and clever twists that keep you guessing. Many pr...

The.readrose
Jan 28, 2026
8/10 stars
I was disappointed with the ending until that epilogue.
Ginac
Jan 07, 2026
4-Star reviews
JustAnAlibi
Dec 31, 2025
5/10 stars
While predictable and repetitive, it is a unique storyline.
Charlieswife4ever!
Oct 09, 2025
7/10 stars
Cant go wrong with anything Freida
Kristin Rose
Jun 24, 2025
6/10 stars
Part of the appeal of Freida’s books are the simplicity. You can easily finish one in a few hours. However this writing bordered on sophomoric. Maybe because half the book was a flashback to teenage years, but it read quite juvenile. However the story was entertaining and kept me hooked. I saw one of the twists a mile away but I was actually surprised at some of the others.

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