“The Inmate” by Freida McFadden SPOILER HEAVY RANT

So I just finished this book, and I have SO many issues with it. I've read a few others of her works, most of which I didn't care for (especially The Coworker and Ward D), so I wasn't expecting some great story her, but this one was just INSANELY frustrating.

• First of all, the premise alone. Our MC, Brooke is a nurse practitioner who comes to work at the prison of the guy who previously tried to kill her. Anybody who knows anything from the prison system knows that working in a prison requires A LOT of background checks, even if her name was sealed from the media, it still wouldn't be too hard to find out she was the victim of one of the inmates there, they would never hire her.
• Brooke becomes pregnant from having sex one time with her boyfriend Shane, who then later tries to kill her that night. She's able to escape, and I'm assume goes to a hospital. Did it not occur to her to get the morning after pill? She mentions not wanting an abortion (despite her parent's pleas), which is fine, it's her decision, but why wasn't the morning after pill even a thought?
• The CONSTANT mentions of "sandalwood" and the "snowflake necklace".
• She couldn't truly identify her attacker since it was dark when it happened, but she just "knew" it was him, and we're meant to believe he was convicted mainly from her testimony. However, it's later revealed they had DNA evidence proved he did it, what did they need her testimony for?
• A conviction would NOT be overturned in just a couple months simply from recanting your testimony.
• Brooke's parents shun her from their lives after she becomes pregnant and make her move away with her child. We later find out they did this to protect her from Shane's mother, but why couldn't they tell her this? Who sends away their traumatized, pregnant teenage daughter without telling her why?
• The reveal that Shane's mother had an affair with Brooke's father, I thought Margie/Pamela was gonna reveal Shane and Brooke were half-siblings and their son was a product of incest, and that was why her parents didn't want her seeing him/didn't accept her child. Of course, that didn't happen.
• Margie's motives made no sense. "Your dad didn't leave his wife for me, so me and my son wanted to kill you and all your friends and a few other randos"
• The scenes from the night it happened read like a bad horror movie. Sure, it was pouring outside, but only one of the teenagers tried to run away? If I think I'm trapped in a house with a killer, I don't care if there's a hurricane outside, I'm getting the eff out.
• Tim was such an awful character but we're supposed to root for him. His constant mentions of "I've known you since we were in diapers!" "I've been in love with you since we were kids!" he had an unhealthy obsession with Brooke. Even before knowing Shane was a killer, he just didn't like him off the bat and didn't want Brooke dating him because he seemed jealous and obsessive. He also didn't like that she was a cheerleader for some reason.
• The whole thing with the necklace and the flea market. Margie/Pamela held onto the necklace, but if Brooke testified during the trial that Shane tried to kill her with this, wouldn't the police notice that this would-be murder weapon was missing from the scene? Margie just held onto it for years and sold it at a flea market, just knowing Tim would show up there looking for jewelry to buy Brooke? And how did Tim not recognize it or remember that it was the murder weapon? Plus the necklace was missing a diamond, why would he buy her a broken necklace?
• How did a ten-year-old afford a gold diamond necklace in the first place?
• The storyline of the prison guard, Marcus Hunt, stalking Brooke and knowing them in high school. Our backstory that Shane once beat him up for saying his mom was hot, and then Hunt becomes a CO at the same prison he's at (again, this prison has a very poor vetting process lol), and then he's suddenly stalking Brooke? I get it was meant to be a red herring, but it was pointless.
• Brooke's constant back-and-forth with "it was Shane!" "no it was Tim" "no it was Shane" was SO annoying.
• The "plot twist" that Shane was guilty all along felt like such a cop-out. I HATE the trope of "guy in prison might be innocent but is really guilty all along" is such a tired trope and a slap in the face to those who are wrongly convicted. I really wanted Shane to be innocent and either Tim or Hunt be the guilty one(s), I thought it was going to be Tim and Hunt did it together. If the book had ended at around 250 pages it would've been perfect.
• Brooke mentions she doesn't feel comfortable with Shane and Josh going in the woods to "build a snowman", can't they just build a snowman in the front yard?
• Why did Shane kill Tracy Gifford? I would've liked to have heard Shane's point of view at one point, rather than have Margie explain everything in a final villain monologue.
• Margie just confessed to everything after Shane died? Why did she give up so easily?
• Josh killing Shane in the end. When he mentions that Tim warned him about Shane, I thought it was going to show that Tim is just as manipulative as Shane, and basically manipulated a 10-year-old boy into killing his own father because he hated Shane, but it wasn't like that. In some ways it kind of came full-circle that Josh is like his dad and "would do anything for my mom", but HOW did he doe this? It doesn't make sense that a 10-year-old could kill a full adult with an icicle? And when they find Shane's body with multiple head wounds wouldn't that show his death wasn't some accident?
• The Josh part was (almost) the only redeemable part in this, I'd like a sequel to see how he does when he's a bit older, if he'll ever find out.