by Freida McFadden ★★★★☆
The Boyfriend opens with our present-day narrator Sydney Shaw on yet another first date. She's 34 and yearning to find her happily ever after, which leads her to an endless stream of hopeful first dates using the hyper-local "Cynch" dating app that connects New Yorkers with others in their immediate vicinity. This particular date is with Kevin, and it does not go well, to say the least. When Kevin gets aggressive on their walk home, Sydney is saved by a mystery man, who she longs to reconnect with.
The story bounces between chapters told in present time from Sydney's point of view, and those told "before" from the point of view of Tom Brewer, from when he was in high school. Tom had a difficult and abusive home life, but the light in his world was his girlfriend Daisy, as well as his best friend "Slug", so named because of his penchant for eating bugs when he was a kid (and possibly continuing on into later adolescence). He also has a strange fascination with blood, and major veins and arteries, that might just lead to some pretty dark thoughts.
When one of Sydney's friends is murdered, and it's revealed that her murder is connected to a series of murders of women across New York City, Sydney suddenly becomes fearful, and the list of potential suspects grows with every new man that Sydney encounters. And when she runs into her mystery man again, she can't help but wonder if he's truly as perfect as he seems.
This was my first foray into reading Freida McFadden, an author who's made a name for herself by almost always including an intriguing twist to her bubblegum thrillers. Even if you know (or suspect) it's coming, McFadden does a better job than most at planting false hints along the way, leaving curious readers to guess how she's planning to mislead them this time. It's convincing enough that even if you're looking for a surprise, you may still be caught off guard.
While the writing isn't going to win any Pulitzers and there were some "oh, come on!" moments, the novel was also quick, entertaining, and even funny at times, in a macabre sort of way. While there were some absurd moments—Tom's abusive dad taunting him about how he'd like to take a turn with Tom's 17-year-old girlfriend comes to mind—and some unlikely choices by a few characters, it mostly hangs together pretty well. It's a decent beach read if you're looking for something light that you can breeze through in a day.
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