Freida McFadden has quickly become an author whose audiobooks I have all ready to be sent to me when ready via my Libby app and whose books always seem to scratch a little itch I have for something easy and fast-paced. The Coworker is certainly both of these but also struggles along the way.
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When one day Dawn, an awkward accountant at work, doesn’t turn up on time, Natalie, our main protagonist, has her suspicions because Dawn is NEVER late. We soon find out that Dawn is missing and Natalie becomes suspect number one after some suspicious behaviour.
The Coworker plot – 3.75/5
The Coworker tells the story of how Natalie gets involved in the case of missing coworker Dawn. Dawn is deemed a bit odd and so when rumours start to come out about Natalie and how she “bullied” her at work, the police’s eyes turn on her as suspect number one.
The Coworker was just fine. It didn’t feature one of McFadden’s killer twists like some of her other work, but it did use the usual fast-paced, short chapters that are the main reason I often pick these up.
Without spoiling too much, there is a sort of twist in the middle that, if you’re not really paying attention may shock you. However, considerin the circumstances leading up to it, it didn’t overly blow my mind. There was one element of it that I did enjoy though – so keep an eye out for that.
The Coworker characters – 3.75/5
The characters in McFadden books are never particularly mind-blowing as they often simply serve a purpose and that’s to pull the plot along. There’s rarely any time for real, in-depth conversations or deeper layers of the people involved to be revealed; and that’s the same in The Coworker.
Other than being a bit of a b*tch, there isn’t really a lot of depth to our main protagonist Natalie and no one around her really grows to anything more than a supporting member of the cast either.
The most interesting element was that we read some of the letters from Dawn to a friend she has of her life and with this we learn quite a bit about Dawn and her past which helps us build a better picture of what she’s like as a person.
The Coworker final rating – 3.75/5
From some slightly odd pacing, a twist that’s not really a twist as you can see it coming and then an odd whimpering ending, The Coworker certainly isn’t my favourite of McFadden’s and one I’ll likely forget from her large collection. Our main protagonist isn’t particularly likeable and the rest of the characters merely serve as supporting cast to the plot, so unfortunately this isn’t going to feature at the top of my McFadden pile when I come to do one.
