Do Not Disturb by Freida McFadden

 Freida is beginning to be one of my favorite authors. I initially dis not like reading it because it started with the murder immediately in the first chapter. I thought it would end up like a court drama wherein they would have to prove self defense. It was good that I persisted in reading the novel and was genuinely surprised how good it was.

It had several subplots with the subdivision of the characters are as follows:

1. Quinn and her husband Derek- Derek was a very abusive husband who got enraged when Quinn decided to come home early.It was because he was supposed to meet his mistress at home and Quinn's early arrival placed a dent on his plan. Hence he started choking her and accusing her for coming early because she was meeting her lover. In an act of self dense she stabs him. Realizing what she has done, she decise to run away.

2. Cassandra- Quinn's older sister who tries to look for her when she realized Quinn killed Derek.

3. Nick Baxter and his wife Rosalie-Nick owns the motel Quinn decided to hide in because the weather got worse. He has a wife in a wheelchair because she has Multiple Sclerosis (MS). She used to be attractive and vibrant until the disease took a toll on her looks. 2 years before Nick had an affair with Christina Marsh, one of those who rented one of the rooms of the motel. Apparently being his wife's full time caregiver and having to run the motel and do computer odd jobs to make ends meet made very easy to be lured by Christina Marsh's seductive charms. When confronted by his wife about his adultery he promises to end the affair. Fortunately someone stabs the whore Christina to death.Nick has remained a suspect for all these years.Nick eventually put up a DO NOT DISTURB sign on the room Christina stayed in.

4. Greta- the old lady who has rented one of the motel rooms since she retired. She professed to be a psychic.

What really happened:

1. Cassandra was actually the mistress who was supposed to meet Derek when Quinn was out. She was enraged and tracked down Quinn and stabbed Quinn and Greta. Fortunately both survived.

2. It was actually Greta who killed Nick's mistress because Christina confided to her how Nick was better off with her than with his wife. She wanted to save Nick and Rosalie's marriage.

I was actually more intrigued with nick and his wife Rosalie. There were varying opinions stating Nick as selfish and manipulaive and lied he was going to break up with Christina so that he would  have enough time to plan how to continue their affair.  Some AI claim that he fell out of love with Rosalie and if Greta would have not killed Christina he would have abandoned his wife willingly for his mistress. Others think he still had some feelings for his wife and stuck with her for another 2 years out of guilt and a little ounce of love left.

After stabbing Greta and Quinn she decided to kill Rosalie who she thought witnessed her stabbing Quinn. However Rosalie's adrenaline was so strong she lunged at Cassandra and managed to knock her down. Nick arives just in time and called the police.

2 years later Rosalie has agreed to start therapy and restart her restaurant business. It became successful and she and Nick have patched up their marriage and were expecting their first child. Nick also turned witness for Quinn, telling the court that she had marks on her neck justifying self defense on Quinn's part. Cassandra was thrown in jail for 2 counts of attempted murder.