Hello everyone and welcome to a brand new edition of Lil Red’s Book Club! In a spoiler free setting, as always, we are going to be discussing a Freida McFadden thriller called Brain Damage. Freida McFadden books are either good or bad, in my opinion, and I either love them or can’t be bothered. Brain Damage, however, was very different because it just made me sad. This was an incredibly hard book to read and I will be placing a massive trigger warning for domestic violence, severe brain injury, and HIGHLY disturbing and upsetting content. You ready? Let’s get to it:

Dr. Charly McKenna is a dermatologist in New York City. She loves her job, has a fabulous apartment right across the street from Central Park, and is content with her life as a single woman. That’s not to say that dating wouldn’t be nice, though, especially if it was a date with her new patient, Clark. Although she has a strict policy to not date her patients, Charly’s heart stops when she sees handsome and fit Clark for an appointment. To her utter surprise, he asks her out and she declines. But she does tell him that in three months they could go out when he is discharged as a patient.

Charly has been looking forward to this date for a long time and spent a small fortune on a dress to impress. Unfortunately for Charly, their date won’t even make it beyond her apartment because Clark is unforgivably rude. She asks him to leave and is more than ready to never see him again. Until a few weeks later. In the waiting room of her practice, a disgruntled ex of a former patient threatens Charly and who is there to save her but Clark? He steps between Charly and the man charging towards her, diffuses the situation, and Charly figures that one more date can’t hurt. In fact, it helped. After a brief whirlwind romance, Charly and Clark are engaged to be married.

Their wedding is small and simple at a courthouse and after their slightly disastrous honeymoon, Charly and Clark are back in the city. Then, their relationship begins to spiral rapidly and Charly is convinced that she never knew Clark at all. A divorce is imminent but all of Charly’s plans are immediately halted. Upon returning to their apartment late one evening, Charly opens her door and suffers a gunshot wound to the head. When she comes to, she awakes in a hospital bed and cannot even speak.

As Charly progresses through rehab and eventually finds her voice, she is still none the wiser about who hurt her. Some days, she can barely remember her name. It sure comes as a shock for her to learn that she is married when Clark shows up for sporadic and brief visits! Although Charly is making gains, she will still not be able to live independently and Clark offers to be her caretaker. The arrangement does not benefit Charly in the slightest but she doesn’t want to end up in a nursing home. Even if that means staying with Clark and allowing for another uninvited guest to live in her apartment. Everyone at the rehab facility can see that something is up with Clark but Charly feels like she doesn’t even have a choice. Will she improve enough to remove herself from his “care”? Or will Charly be subjected to a lifetime with the man she was going to divorce? Read Brain Damage to find out!

Brain Damage took place in the Before and After. In the Before, we learn everything that led up to Charly’s tragic injury. In the After, we meet her dazed and confused after an almost fatal shooting. Before Charly is strong, confident, and smart as a whip. After Charly is meek, fully dependent on caretakers, and can barely form sentences. And it was all very, very sad. If you have ever experienced a loved one being gravely injured or ill, this book is going to trigger you without fail. It did for me and I almost considered not finishing it after a few chapters in the After. You all know that I can’t not finish a book though and had to see it through.

For all of the bad in this book, Charly was an absolute star and she was the only reason why I kept reading. I wanted to see her improve. I wanted to see her get justice. And I wanted her to achieve the best possible outcome in life because she was handed the shortest end of the straw humanly possible. If you can’t rally around Charly while reading Brain Damage, you might not have a soul lol. Although this book was incredibly upsetting for me, it was a solid read and an intriguing story line. There is no arguing that. The subject matter was just not for me which will explain my low star rating.

Overall, I am going to rate Brain Damage with a three out of ten stars. The three are for the book being pretty good but I couldn’t wait to be done with it. Read at your own discretion!

What are you currently reading? What should I read next? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah