Rating: 3/5 ⭐️
I just finished The Crash by Freida McFadden, a psychological thriller that leans heavily into suspense and tension. It’s one of those books where you kind of know where it’s heading, but you still stay up late to see how it ends. That’s gotta count for something.
The story kicks off with Tegan, eight months pregnant, getting into a car crash during a blizzard. She’s rescued by a large, intimidating man named Hank and taken to his house, where his wife Polly tends to her. Tegan is immediately wary of Hank due to his size and gruff silence, while Polly’s warm demeanor offers a false sense of safety that puts Tegan somewhat at ease. Because of the storm, there's no way to get to a hospital, so she ends up recovering in their basement—a makeshift medical setup that was once used for Polly’s late mother. From the very beginning, Tegan is a nervous wreck, constantly on edge, assuming the worst about Hank because of his beard, silence, and overall demeanor. But instead of trusting her instincts about Polly, who seems overly sweet and kind, Tegan places all her faith in her.
What really stood out to me was how frustrating the characters were—not in a badly written way, but in a way that made me want to shout at my audiobook. I found myself constantly questioning their choices, hoping they’d wise up, and needing to see how their arcs would resolve. Tegan's constant misjudgments made her a tough character to root for. I kept thinking, how are you still not seeing what’s right in front of you? And Polly—oh boy. Her descent into madness was something else. Unable to have a child of her own, she decides she’s going to keep Tegan's baby and traps her in the basement under the pretense of caring for her. Her logic is wildly unhinged, and it was fascinating and terrifying to watch her unravel. Meanwhile, Hank turns out to be the most innocent person in the whole situation, but Tegan can’t see that because she’s too busy being scared of him.
Even though the plot becomes predictable halfway through, it doesn’t make it any less engaging. One twist that surprised me was the revelation about the baby’s father and how that complicated Tegan’s already chaotic situation. The twists that did pop up were timed well and added just enough tension to keep the momentum going. I wouldn’t call the story groundbreaking, but it did what it set out to do: kept me curious, annoyed, tense, and turning the page (or in my case, letting the audiobook play) till I got to the end. I was genuinely anxious about how things would go down, especially for Hank.
In the end, I’d give The Crash a 3 out of 5. Not because it was bad—just because it wasn’t great. But it was definitely entertaining, and sometimes, that’s more than enough.
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