The Witch by Freida McFadden is an entertaining ride.
Freida McFadden is one of the most successful authors out there today. Every single one of her books hits the bestseller list. There was a popular adaptation of her novel, The Housemaid, with the sequel currently filming. She certainly is one of the authors with real staying power.
And yet, I had never read a book by her. Well, I did pick up The Housemaid last year from my local library, but I couldn’t get into that one at the time. It was almost time to return it, and I just wasn’t in the mood to read it.
But I decided to give her books another chance and went with her latest, The Witch. And I’m glad I did! After reading several literary fiction stories in a row, I needed a genre switch, and I actually found The Witch to be a refreshing change.
I read it in one day and was so curious where the story would go. It’s a solid read. Should I try The Housemaid again?
What’s the Story About
After Julia loses her job and apartment, she retreats back to Pemberton, her family’s seventeenth-century estate in rural Massachusetts. Her grandmother still resides there and is in frail health, so Julia decides she can help her grandmother while she figures out her next step.
Also at the estate are her great-aunt, Ethel, who wasn’t around much when Julia was younger, and Mick, the property’s groundskeeper.
But things are eerie at the estate, and at night a voice cries for help outside Julia’s door.
As Julia is scared, she also dives deep into the house’s history and finds out about a woman named Caroline, who was executed for witchcraft in 1692 and used to live at the estate.
Is her ghost wandering this estate’s halls at night?
Two Timelines
The story follows Julia’s storyline as she uncovers the mysteries of the estate. And there’s a second storyline that follows Caroline’s from her life at Pemberton to being accused of practicing witchcraft.
Sometimes with the dual timeline format, especially when it jumps back and forth, it can feel jarring, but it wasn’t with The Witch. We needed to know the truth behind Caroline’s story, and I feel Freida did a great job of balancing both while also keeping plenty of intrigue and mystery.
Caroline’s story was pretty engaging and terrifying with how people treated each other with such barbaric practices. There are certainly some disturbing scenes, but I never felt it lingered too long in that area, which I prefer as I’m not a fan of graphic violence in novels.
The Central Mystery
While there are several mysteries in this one, it all boils down to: are there ghosts lurking at Pemberton? I did think about how some friends and I were talking about the Casper movie from the ’90s, and I don’t think any ghosts have been friendly since then. Certainly, Julia is very spooked by the possibility.
With mysteries and thrillers, I sometimes try to solve the central mystery, but other times, I just roll with the story. And the latter was the case for me with The Witch. I certainly had my suspicions about what was happening, but I also didn’t spend too long trying to figure it out.
I just went along for the ride with this one.
Verdict
As I mentioned earlier, this is my first Freida McFadden book, and I liked it. This one would especially be great for book clubs next October for Halloween, but of course, you could read it any time.
If you haven’t read Freida McFadden yet, something to note is that her books move fast. It’s a breezy, quick style full of dialogue. So it moves very quickly from point A to point B, and so on.
It’s certainly a bit spooky and dark, but there’s actually quite a bit of humor too. I like when the humor balances out the heavy sections.
All in all, I enjoyed it.
For your book clubBook Club Questions for The Witch by Freida McFadden