Ward D by Freida McFadden
Book Review & Parental Content Summary
Synopsis of Ward D from Goodreads
“Medical student Amy Brenner is spending the night on a locked psychiatric ward.
Amy has been dreading her evening working on Ward D, the hospital’s inpatient mental health unit. There are very specific reasons why she never wanted to do this required overnight rotation. Reasons nobody can ever find out.
And as the hours tick by, Amy grows increasingly convinced something terrible is happening within these tightly secured walls. When patients and staff start to vanish without a trace, it becomes clear that everyone on the unit is in grave danger.
Amy’s worst nightmare was spending the night on Ward D.
And now she might never escape.”
Short and Sweet: She Shelf Synopsis of Ward D
The story follows a college-age woman named Amy Brenner as she experiences an overnight shift at a psychiatric unit. Alarming things start happening, people begin to disappear, and she starts to question her own sanity. That’s pretty much it…
Should You Add Ward D To Your She Shelf?
I gave Ward D a 3 out of 5 stars. It was a short read that kept me (mostly) interested the whole time. Let’s get into the pros and cons…
Pros:
- The timeline alternates between the present and 8 years prior, which effectively breaks up the story enough to keep you turning the page.
- The story doesn’t unnecessarily drag on… I feel like the length of the book is appropriate for the amount of content.
- The last page of the book left me questioning what I believed to be true about the main character.
Cons:
- The writing left me veryyy underwhelmed… A second grader could have read it with ease. And OHMYGOSH! The amount of times Amy said “umm” made me want to pull out my hair!! Ughhh.
- I guessed the big reveal like halfway through the book, so I was not surprised at all by the reason behind the disappearances.
- It honestly felt like a fanfic to me… just generally a short, shallow book with a plot twist.
- The representation of both the patients and the treatment were not accurate AT ALL!
A lot of my friends really enjoyed Ward D, so you may really like it! Personally, it wasn’t my favorite, and I wouldn’t read it again.
She Shelf Verdict: not worth putting this one on your she shelf :(
Content Review of Ward D For Parents
Language: 1/5
no/minimal cursing
Drugs & Alcohol: 2/5
discussion and off screen use of marijuana and alcohol
Sexual Situations: 1/5
no sexual content
Violence & Scary Stuff: 3/5
multiple instances describing bloody scenes, dead bodies found, character killed by blunt force hit, thoughts of murder, kidnapping, robbery