*Spoiler Alert*

I have read five Freida McFadden books so far this year (and solely her novels). I cannot tell you what number that will be by the end of the year, but I am confident it will increase. It amazes me how a single author can spark my love for an entire genre for which I did not even know I had a deep admiration.

“The Tenant” follows a man named Blake who gets fired from his cozy corporate job and is struggling to pay his mortgage, so he takes in a tenant named Whitney Cross. After she moves in, Blake notices little things that she is deliberately doing to sabotage him. Like using all the shampoo, leaving rotten food to attract maggots, killing his goldfish and leaving a pool of blood on the floor. 

Blake becomes increasingly obsessed with seeking revenge on Whitney, so much that Krista, his fiancé, begins to fear him. She moves out of the house and breaks up with him, causing his extreme mental decline. 

He exhibits violent instincts, yet the only thing the reader is reassured with is lines like, “but I would never hurt anyone.” At moments, it felt like Blake was trying to convince himself that he was not capable of killing anyone. As the plot continues, he is no longer so sure about that outcome. His mental progression is one of the strongest elements to this novel. I am not confident that he would not have killed Krista in the end if he was not drugged.

Krista is put on the sidelines for most of the novel. She is a lovable, perfect soon to be wife for Blake. She is the exact person that you would not predict being the mastermind behind all the wrongdoings.

Blake does background research on Whitney Cross and finds out that she has a pattern of trying to destroy people’s lives. Whitney pushed her ex-boyfriend off the roof of their high school because he cheated on her. The “real” Whitney Cross changed her name to Krista Marshall. The tenant Whitney Cross is a girl named Amanda who changed her name and took on the identity of Whitney. Yeah, a bit of a mind game there.

It is revealed that Blake cheated on Krista (aka the “real” Whitney) with a girl he worked with, named Stacie. That is her motive for her plan to kill Blake. 

A part of me sympathizes with Krista, even though she is a psychopath. The feminist in me feels the rage that she has and thinks she is justified, but then I remember I am trying to justify murder. She is such a selfish individual, but I feel like that comes from her feeling neglected by everyone she loves. She looks out for herself to prevent hurt.

My prediction for most of the novel was that Blake was blacking out and doing all these things, forgetting that he had done them. Once again, I fell for McFadden’s manipulation tactics. You would think at this point I would see it coming from a mile away. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice (or five times), shame on me.

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