Ward D by Freida McFadden

 

I love Freida McFadden, and this was one of my favorite McFadden books. It was funny, it was thrilling, there was a great twist at the end that I didn't see coming, and there were enough breadcrumbs along the way that I should have seen it coming - exactly how a perfect psychological thriller should be. 

Ward D tells the story of Amy Brenner's overnight shift at a psychiatric hospital, as a medical student. Amy is nervous because she's been having hallucinations for quite sometime and she worries that by morning, she could be mistaken as a patient and never gets to leave that place. Her friend Gabby, a fellow medical student who's already done her shift at Ward D, drops Amy off and tells her she'll pick her up in the morning. 

Amy waits at the door of Ward D and runs into her ex-boyfriend, Cameron Berger, who's also a medical student for the same shift as her. Amy isn't excited about this because Cameron had dumped her to study for the board exam. They are let in by Dr. Beck, the residency doctor at Ward D. Dr. Beck introduces the on site nurse, Ramona, and tells them about Seclusion One, one of the rooms with high security for everyone's safety. Dr. Beck tells them not to go in Seclusion One, where patient Damon Sawyer is at, because he belongs to a higher security facility, and he'll be transferred in the morning.

Dr. Beck gives the students the assignments of interviewing a patient and writing a report on it. Cameron interviews Dan Ludwig, a man with schizophrenia who believes he is Spiderman. He's nicknamed Spider Dan. Amy interviews Will Schoenfeld, another patient with schizophrenia, who is also a lover of John Irving books, similar to Amy. Amy finds Dr. Beck quite attractive, and sends a text message to Gabby telling her so, but realizes there's no reception. Amy hears all kinds of noises coming out of Seclusion One, and tries to tell Dr. Beck about it, but Dr. Beck doesn't act concerned. 

Amy is shocked to learn that her old best friend Jade Carpenter is a patient here. The two had a falling out years ago and the nail was on the coffin when Amy failed to show up for Jade's mother's funeral. Amy feels increasingly uneasy. 

Cameron goes missing. Amy tries to ask Dr. Beck about it. Dr. Beck says Cameron called his desk and told him he had a family emergency. Amy finds this so odd because Cameron isn't someone that typically talks on the phone, and it's odd for him not to say anything to her about it. Amy thinks she sees blood coming out of one of the patient's doors, freaking her out. She goes to Dr. Beck to tell him. Dr. Beck walks with Amy to the door, but the blood is all gone. Amy, who still hallucinates of a little girl, thinks she's going crazy. 

Will calls Amy to his room, and tells her he saw the blood too, and he saw the nurse Ramona cleaning it up. Amy doesn't know what to believe because Will is a schizo and Amy knows he's not been taking his pills as she found them stashed in one of his books. Amy tells him this, he tells Amy that he's not a real patient. He is a reporter who pretended to be a patient to investigate the alleged neglect in this place. Amy can't check to see if he's lying because there's no cell reception.

Amy notices an older lady named Mary who knits constantly. Mary tells Amy that she knits so she can have knitting needles for protection. She gives Amy one of the needles to protect herself with. Later, Mary starts thrashing out, and Amy watches Dr. Beck administer Ativan to calm her down. Amy thinks it's odd that neither Dr. Beck nor Ramona ever checks on Mary, since Ativan can have dangerous side effects. Will tries to tell Amy to stick together for survival. Dr. Beck and Ramona confront Will and accuse him of hurting Mary.

Amy happens to get a cell signal for a split second and reads the text from Gabby - where Gabby is disgusted at Amy finding Dr. Beck attractive, because Dr. Beck is an old man. Amy realizes she's in trouble. This Dr. Beck is an imposter!! It’s actually Damon Sawyer. He and Jade had killed the real Dr. Beck and the real Ramona before Amy and Cameron showed up. They plan on killing everyone and set the place on fire, then escape themselves. Now, they try to sedate Amy with Ativan to give her a more pleasant death before burning down the whole place. They planned on faking their own deaths and live happily ever after. (The fake Ramona is one of the patients, Nicole, who is also part of the plan to get out with them.) Amy uses the sewing needle to jab Jade. Spider Dan comes in to the rescue and subdues Damon. Amy goes to Seclusion One and finds 4 bodies, the real Dr. Beck, the real Ramona, Mary and Cameron. 

Amy is rescued. She found out that Jade had been drugging her for a long time and wonders if that's why she was having those hallucinations of the young girl. But after being rescued, her hallucinations didn't stop. Jade and Damon are sent to prison, later high security mental hospital. Amy starts dating Will, who wrote a successful book on his time in Ward D. Unfortunately, Amy keeps having hallucinations of the little girl telling her to kill Will. 

SO GOOD!! Lots of hints along the way that something isn't right with Dr. Beck and Ramona, but I never fully made the connection. I assumed Dr. Beck is a killer and Ramona is his assistant, but never thought that's not the real Dr. Beck. Love books like this!

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