Book Review: The Intruder by Fredia McFadden
November 7, 2025
So, I actually finished this book on Halloween, so this will be included in the book I read in the month of October. Not that that really matters to anyone but me, but it matters to me.
If you are new here, I am a huge fan of a plot twist. I am a huge fan of being confused for part of the book and then all the sudden everything falls into place and I feel like everything aligns, and this book has a little bit of that, but I was honestly expecting more. Maybe it was just that I was able to predict the twists more than I wanted to be able to. I did enjoy this book, but there were also some lines that were a little on the cheesy side, and that is not something I would have expected from a thriller.
This book we have two points of view, and then a third in the epilogue. We follow Casey in the current timeline and Ella in the “before” timeline. Casey has recently moved to a remote cabin after losing her father, and her beloved teaching job, all in the corse of one year and she is not doing well. She chose this cabin for its low price, but with that comes a bit more structural integrity issues than she was anticipating. There is a big storm on its way, and Casey is doing everything she can to have her landlord come and fix her roof before it rolls in, but he has little to no urgency for anything other than getting into her pants. Her fears feel especially valid due to the fact that there is a, rather large, tree outside her home that may or may not fall on her roof by the time that the storm has blown over. Her scummy landlord can do nothing about either of them, but offers to take her in during the storm. Being that he could easily be her father, that is he last thing she wants to do and decides to stick out the storm in her little cottage. Her kind neighbor, Lee, also offers to have her stay with him, just five minutes down the road, but for some reason she feels a bit of fear around him. Something about him just feels a little too off. He acts a little too familiar around her. When the storm finally rolls in, Casey is all alone in her cabin, but is ready to weather the storm. She has food and candles and is ready to hunker down with a good book, when she sees a face outside her window. Terrified, she tries to see if she was seeing things or if there is someone outside the window looking in. Much to her shock, there is no one there when she rushes out to see, but then the door on her shed slams closed and she is sure there is someone there. Are they there to hurt her? Is it one of the two guys that both feel a little creepy, either checking on her or trying to send her crawling into their arms? Should she go check? She won’t be able to sleep tonight.
In Ella’s storyline, we are following a young girl who is struggling in life. Her mother is a hoarder, and even though there is plenty of food in the fridge, nothing is edible. She is starving and her clothing never gets washed due to the washer being broken, and she has no friends at school. There is even a boy at school who has, for whatever reason, has made it his goal to make her life as miserable as possible. What could get worse? One day, Ella is on her way home from school and she sees this kid, Anton, getting in a fight with one of the popular boys in their grade, and the other kid pulls out a knife. Not really knowing what to do, she grabs a rock and hits the kid on the back of the head, rendering him unconscious. She just saved her bully’s life. From that day forward, Anton and Ella have a special bond, and actually become very close friends. This doesn’t make either of their home lives better, but having someone to share with in their misery feels nice for once.
This book was definitely hard to read at some points. Ella’s life has been really hard, and reading the way that her mother speaks to her and treats her is hard. There is talk of abuse and neglect as well as fear and addiction. I did enjoy this book, but there were moments that were hard to read, so take that into account when choosing to read this book or not. It may be triggering for some readers. Overall, I would suggest this book, even if it wasn’t my favorite read of 2025, it was a still a good one, and one that feels very seasonal.
