Amy Brenner is a second-year medical student whose ultimate goals in terms of specialization are not clear, except that she knows that she does not want to be a psychiatrist. Eight years ago, when she was 16, her best friend Jade Carpenter had been confined to a mental hospital, and Amy visited her. It was an experience that left a lasting scar on her memory. However, Pauline Walter, Administrative Assistant to the Chief of Psychiatry has assigned Amy to an overnight rotation in Ward D, a locked and secure psychiatric unit at the hospital. Amy dreads the assignment, but knows that she must complete it to maintain her standing in her class. In “Ward D” (2023, 337 pages in soft-cover format), Ms. McFadden takes us, step-by-step through Amy’s evening of anxiety, fear, and bone-chilling horror. The anxiety is evident when Amy enters the ward and the steel door with a coded electronic lock closes behind her. She’s there until morning, with no way out. To make things worse, her ex-boyfriend Cameron who dropped her because he had to study for a board exam, is on the same rotation because he swapped shifts with another student. Nurse Ramona meets them and introduces them to Dr. Beck, the attending physician for the night. Amy attempts to send a message to her roommate Gabby, but finds that there is no cell reception on the ward. Dr Beck shows Amy and Cameron the Seclusion One room, a place where a violent patient named Damon Sawyer is locked away. Patients on the ward are convinced that Damon will kill every person on the ward before the night is over. As the two students receive instructions from Dr. Beck, Amy is aware that they are being watched by the patient in Room 905. Before long, Amy comes to realize that the person in Room 905 is her old friend Jade. But Jade has reason to be not so friendly toward Amy. In fact, she believes that Amy abandoned her years ago, with Amy even skipping her mother’s funeral. Dr. Beck encourages Amy and Cameron to interview some of the patients in order to get a feel for the practice of psychiatry. Amy chooses Will Schoenfield, a schizophrenic, and their session begins amicably when they discover that their favorite author is John Irving, and Will is currently rereading Irving’s Owen Meany book, his all-time best seller which is also Amy’s favorite book. But as the night wears on, strange and frightening things begin to happen, culminating in Jade and Cameron’s confession that they plan to burn the place down, fake their own deaths, and escape. And, of course, they’ll have to murder Amy. This is a tightly-written novel, with a lot of suspense, not the least on which involves Amy, who is having hallucinations and worries that she may be seriously mentally ill. And of course, patients start dying, Cameron disappears, and the lights go out. Scary, but I loved it. Enjoy. ...Jim Glynn

Truly I was not expecting any of the twists and turns! I am such a huge Freida fan and this one she did not disappoint whatsoever! Quick, thrilling, jaw dropping!easy 5 star!

This one was a good read. It was hard for me to get into at first, but after the first few chapters I was hooked. Of course, Freida comes in clutch with the shocking ending! I was at the edge of my seat reading what was happening. This book ranks #5 out of my top 5 Freida books. Love her!!

This book is insane. The twist is epic and very disturbing. The characters are somewhat realistic but man do I never want to have to be in a psych ward

Once again, Freida McFadden has a book that builds all the way & BAM, the ending is fantastic. Although this book was a bit more predictable, it was still jaw dropping. I found it hard to stop reading! Couldn't wait to read a little more. And one great thing about her books, she writes in present AND past tense making the read better!

There isn’t much that surprises me when it comes to reading books. I’m what you’d call a seasoned vet. Having said that, you have to be a pretty good author to fool me in a story line, but I have to say McFadden did an amazing job in keeping the reader guessing. Amy Brenner is a medical student and just recently went through a breakup with her boyfriend, Cameron. Although she would have preferred to not be assigned to Ward D, it was a terrific way for her to earn extra credit and to take her mind off of her breakup. But, as luck would have it, if you can call it that, poor Amy was not only assigned to Ward D, the psyche unit, but her ex-boyfriend was also assigned. And to make matters even worse, one of the patients there was someone that Amy knew very personally. Amy was upset and distraught. Even though, she needed the extra credit to help catapult her medical career. Try as he might, Cameron did everything to let Amy know he made a mistake in breaking up with her. And Amy wasn’t even trying to hear it. She had been there and done that. Besides, Cameron was a huge suck-up and couldn’t get enough of Dr. Beck. It was driving Amy nuts. Speaking of which, Amy and Cameron were assigned patients they needed to follow throughout the evening. Dr. Beck made it clear what the rules were. He gave them the secret code to get out of the building, in case of emergency. He advised that the patients were allowed to roam around and be treated with the utmost respect and more importantly—no matter what they did, neither of them were to go near Seclusion Room One. Hmm? Why couldn’t they go near there? As Amy was making her rounds for the evening, she heard a noise coming from Seclusion One. It sounded like someone snarling and growling. But what was worse this person sounded like he was breaking through the door. Amy was terrified, but she knew no matter what she wasn’t going near that room. Amy returns to the lounge area to see what type of patients Cameron had been observing when she noticed she couldn’t find him. In fact, there were a few patients that were missing too. Where did they go and why? When Amy confronts Dr. Beck about the whereabouts of her friend, Cameron, and some of the patients, he’s just as baffled too. There was one patient everyone was terrified of and one whom Amy was anxious to meet, but would she? In order to find out more, you have to read the book. OMG! Let me tell you, I gobbled up this book so fast it made me angry that I finished it so quickly. This was one of the best horror books I’ve read in quite a while. I’m happy to report I figured it out, but McFadden threw in a twist at the end that caught me by total surprise. And for that, she gets major kudos. It takes one heck of an author to fool me, and she got me in the end. This is my type of horror book! I could not get enough of this story. She wrote the words off the pages. I felt terrified and my heart was beating fast. Those patients were pretty scary and not knowing what was happening was even worse. It’s not knowing that brings fear and makes for a good horror story. McFadden executed that well.

Well written and a quick read. Although it was sort of predictable at the end, it remained entertaining and concluded nicely.

Great and fun as usual! This quick read kept me turning the pages as quickly as I could! The twists are always great.