The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde - UPDATED REVIEW

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde  Genre : Classics Blurb (on back of book) : Oscar Wilde’s only novel is the dreamlike story of a young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty. In this celebrated work Wilde forged a devastating portrait of the effects of evil and debauchery on a young aesthete in late-19th-century England. Combining elements of the Gothic horror novel and decadent French fiction, the book centers on a striking premise: As Dorian Gray sinks into a life of crime and gross sensuality, his body retains perfect youth and vigor while his recently painted portrait grows day by day into a hideous record of evil, which he must keep hidden from the world. For over a century, this mesmerizing tale of horror and suspense has enjoyed wide popularity. It ranks as one of Wilde's most important creations and among the classic achievements of its kind. UPDATED REVIEW MY OPINION : ****** I would like to start out this review by stating that this is undoubtedly m
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The Inmate - Freida McFadden

The Inmate by Freida McFadden
Genre: Thriller

Blurb (on back of book): There are three rules Brooke Sullivan must follow as a new nurse practitioner at a men’s maximum-security prison:
1) Treat all prisoners with respect.
2) Never reveal any personal information.
3) Never EVER become too friendly with the inmates.
But none of the staff at the prison knows 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.
And they certainly don’t know that Shane was Brooke’s high school sweetheart—the star quarterback who is now spending the rest of his life in prison for a series of grisly murders. Or that Brooke's testimony was what put him there.
But Shane knows.
And he will never forget.

MY OPINION: ***

First read of the year done! I flew through this book and finished it in a day and I must say that I do not think I am a fan of Freida McFadden's writing or I may possibly just not be a fan of the thriller genre in general.

It's been a while since I've read a thriller and suspense novel. I thought it was time to take a break from the incessant stream of romance novels I've consumed lately and I saw that this book was free on Amazon Prime for Kindle users so I downloaded it on a whim. I knew nothing about it and have only read one book by this author before (to which I wasn't the hugest fan of either).

There was nothing expressly wrong about this book but I ultimately landed on a very neutral, mediocre rating. It was very outlandish and laughable at times, to the point where I wanted to give up because of how ludicrous it was. 

Our main character, Brooke, is honestly one of the most dimwitted, idiotic, dare I say, stupid main characters I've read about in a long time. Everything in this book would have been less traumatic if she had just listened to what she was told, shut up, and followed the very blatant, obvious warning signs. It's like she wanted to find trouble. 

She basically gets hired as a new nurse practitioner in this high-profile prison complex where her ex boyfriend from high school (who also tried to kill her, allegedly) is locked up. Like, can you believe this? I thought this entire plot line was brushed over way too quickly. She comes face to face with the ex in like the first 50 pages and it's a little unnerving, sure, but she literally is basically fine? I'm pretty sure I would have had a massive panic attack, mental breakdown, etc if I ran into the man who tried to kill me in high school. 

The majority of the book is spent with her waffling about who the true culprit was that one fateful night. We switch back and forth between the present and eleven years ago when the crime was committed. We don't get a lot of information at first and we spend the entirety of the book unraveling more clues and getting more suspicious of every single character we meet. 

TBH, I am very bad at guessing plot twists in thrillers. I'm pretty sure it's because I don't read a lot of them. I will say this book was packed with many plot twists and I managed to guess one correctly but the rest were out of left field. However, with that being said, I wasn't really shocked by anything that happened in this book, which is kind of what you're looking for when reading a thriller novel. Where was the thrill? Everything was so blase and summed up in the end in like 50 pages and it was littered with plot holes that I'm too lazy to completely unravel without having to go back into the entire book and look for everything. It just felt like everything was so loosely concluded and we didn't get a satisfying ending like I'd hoped for. 

Everyone was gross in this book, to be honest. I was a hater of like every character I came across which honestly ruined my overall enjoyment of the book. However, I managed to fly through it and finish it in one night, literally staying up until 5AM to zoom through it, which was fun (and a little creepy). Please recommend to me a really good, grab-you-by-the-claws type of thriller novel because this was honestly a let-down. I don't think I will be reading anything else by this author, unless something comes up where everyone and their mother is raving about it; otherwise, I'm going to stick with my romances for now. 

Main Character: Brooke
Sidekick(s): The child, family, etc
Villain(s): Cannot say, but just assume it can be anyone
Thriller Elements: This was a suspenseful murder mystery novel. 

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