Thank you #netgalley, #harpercollinspublishersaustralia and #jasperdewitt for the arc of this book.

In this story we meet a young psychiatrist who has landed his first job at a mental asylum. Here he meets his first patient, a very dangerous man named Joe. The events of what happens to the patient and the psychiatrist Parker are told to us via a now defunct psychiatric forum.

Joe has been at the asylum since he was 6 years old. He is now 40. Parker, after looking at the case file, has decided that the patient has been unfairly treated and takes on the task of curing him. Despite the fact that everyone who has tried to help Joe has either committed suicide in a horrendous way or were driven insane. These occurrences, along with with strange noises that can be heard in tape recordings, make Parker realise that there is more than meets the eye with his patient. Delving into Joe's past causes Parker to discover dangerous secrets. Secrets that were never meant to be discovered.

This book was bloody scary! Anytime a child doing creepy things is involved in the storyline I always get scared!
This is a supernatural thriller/horror which has multiple twists and turns that keep you hooked. The ending was very disturbing and was kept open ended which does leave unanswered questions. Go into this book blind and enjoy the ride. It's a riveting and absorbing read.

TW: Animal abuse.

This book caused hairs to jump up on the back of my neck! The blog entries was a unique way to tell a story like this. I very much feel it is the silent patient with Stephen King vibes

I received an approval email for this title but when I clicked on the link it said it was archived. The Patient sounds like an intriguing story and I will read it when it becomes available in shops.

You would think that being a pharmacist and a medical student, I'd douse myself in holy water and run screaming in the other direction any time there's even a hint of anything medical in a book. You'd be mistaken. Apparently, I just can't get enough of stories featuring doctors or medicine in general, especially when psychiatry is involved.

I was promised a mashup of The Silent Patient and Stephen King and boy, did Jasper DeWitt deliver.

The Patient is an addictive, terrifying psychological thriller bordering on horror. Parker is an ambitious young doctor who's convinced he has what it takes to diagnose and cure Joe - a patient who has not only baffled innumerable psychiatrists for over thirty years, but also has the uncanny ability to determine what people fear most and drive them to madness or suicide. Eerily, this book is actually based off a series of posts on MDconfessions.com titled "Why I Almost Quit Medicine", so you're left wondering how much of The Patient is fiction and how much is fact.

I was on the edge of my seat the whole time (I would've read it all  in one sitting if I hadn't been so busy) - the book is only 224 pages but damn, it packed a punch! The only thing I had a problem with was that Parker arrived at his final (correct) conclusion way too quickly. I mean, I had had a strong hunch about where the story was headed pretty early on, but I have the luxury of knowing this is a fictional story (or is it?!) - I don't know that I would've made the same assumptions in real life even though I'm definitely nowhere near as sceptical as Parker seemed to be.

If you're planning on giving this a read, keep in mind that there is a lot of medical terminology, and DeWitt does not stop for anyone. If you don't have a medical background you may find yourself Googling words every few paragraphs (especially at the beginning when Parker is going through Joe's medical file). Personally, I didn't mind that DeWitt sacrificed ease of reading for the pacing.

This book honestly gave me the creeps and I couldn't sleep properly for about a week 😅 If you're feeling brave and you like reading psychological thrillers from a medical perspective, I would 10/10 recommend this!

Unfortunately this file did not download correctly to my device. If it becomes available in Kindle or available to use on my EPUB reader (google play books app), I would love to still read and review it.

This one surprised and shocked me....in a good way. The book first grabbed my attention due it being a thriller/mystery, however it was so much more! There were elements of horror and supernatural themes, as well as being a total mind-bending, trippy, edge of my seat ride that I absolutely love getting from a good psychological thriller. I will say though, that there are certain trigger warnings such as child rape/abuse, some horror and the strong supernatural presence in the story, that may not be for everyone who is after just a straight mystery/thriller. But if this doesn't put you off...go into this one with no expectations and I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised!

I found this book extremely hard to review. There were many aspects I loved. It was highly original and engrossing; truly something I've never read before. But there were a few I didn't like that made it a little tedious and slow.

The story is broken up into parts. Dr Parker is writing a blog about his time at the Connecticut State Asylum, so most of the story is in past tense. Randomly, the story would switch back to the blog. Normally I hate this kind of set up but this worked here.

The story started quickly, with almost no set up or back story. I was literally thrown into a mental asylum following around Dr Parker with little to no context. Each of the characters are known only by their first name and first initial (Dr G, Dr P). Occasionally, other characters would speak to each other by name, which was confusing working out who was who. It reduced them to the point I felt no connection to any of them. For a long time I wasn't sure if Parker was his first name or last. It threw me off balance.

The patient himself was Joe, a now thirty year old man who had been institutionalized since childhood. We rarely heard from him, which added to the mystery and made me more intrigued. I thought I had his story pegged and I am always happy to be proven wrong. I would've liked more therapy sessions between Parker and Joe. The ending was great. It went the way I thought it would but I was still pleasantly surprised.

I would class this as horror but it wasn't scary. The overall feeling I got was unsettling, like that sensation on the back of your neck that might just be a spider. I can't wait to read what Jasper DeWitt comes up with next.

Firstly, I feel this book was more leaning towards being a horror.

I enjoyed this overall, I found the story to be engaging and well paced. I enjoyed all
the psychological aspects of this story however I found that the message board podcast style didn't do much for me at all, though that is probably personal preference. I would recommend this to someone that like light horror easily.

I never would have requested this book if I realised it bordered on horror. Not a genre I enjoy.
Parker is a young, new and eager psychiatrist. Told through an on line podcast of diary entries he tells of his time at a rundown Mental institute where he persuades the powers that be to let him treat their most notorious and feared patient, Joe, who has been a resident since he was 6, some 40 years. Everyone who has tried has either killed themselves, gone mad or just plain vanished. Parker finds Joe calm and non threatening, likeable even and he begins to suspect that Joe’s parents didn’t want him and dumped him there. But is Joe all he seems, who is telling the truth, what dark forces are at work? Soon Parker is forced to question his beliefs in psychiatry and everything he knows to understand what is going on.
#netgalley #thepatient

“But every hospital, even with patients like these, has at least one inmate who’s weird even for the mental ward.”

Patient name: Joe

Date of First Admission: 5 June 1973

Patient’s Age at Time of First Admission: 6

Previous Treatments: Unknown

Current Treatments: Mild antidepressants and sedatives

Treatment Administered By: Nessie, Nursing Director

Diagnosis: Disputed; his “symptoms seemed to mutate unpredictably”

Patient Release Date: N/A

“This type of patient is obviously insane, but nobody knows how they got that way. What you do know, however, is that it’ll drive you insane trying to figure it out.”

When Dr. Parker H — begins working as a psychiatrist at Connecticut State Asylum he’s young, arrogant and confident he will be able to cure the patient the rest of the staff believe is incurable.

“So, tell me. Why do you want to attempt therapy on an incurable patient?”

Joe has been a patient at CSU for over twenty years and no treatments have worked. It’s gotten to the point where he’s almost entirely isolated due to the fact that the people who attempt to treat him either die by suicide or wind up admitted to CSU themselves.

“I’ve also come to a conclusion: Whatever Joe has, I’m sure we can’t cure it. I don’t even think we can diagnose it. It’s obviously not in the DSM.”

If it turns out that psychiatry isn’t the answer for this man, then who do we need to call instead? A priest? Mulder and Scully? Moose and Squirrel?

Dr H — adds instalments of Joe’s story on “a now-defunct web forum for medical professionals” over the course of seven weeks, his own recollections interspersed with physician’s notes. We’re told that all names have been changed.

The first instalment, where Dr H — describes CSU, was interesting but it made me wonder if the narrative was going to end up fairly dry. I needn’t have worried. I soon became hooked, searching the pages for clues that would help me diagnose Joe. I love stories set in asylums so I was probably always going to enjoy this book but I was surprised by how compulsive this read became.

I planned to only read the first entry to get a feel for the book before tackling something that publishes sooner. However, this one ended up jumping the queue and I am already trying to figure out when I will have time for a reread. I’m very grateful to have had the entire story to binge on; it would have frustrated me so much if I’d had to wait for new instalments to become available.

It’s been a couple of days since I finished reading and I want to compare theories with someone. Since I don’t know anyone else who’s read it yet I need to blurt something out here. But, SPOILER AHEAD! I have a theory about the end of the book but it’s based on a spoiler so PLEASE don’t peek until you’ve read the book.

[SPOILER - I have my suspicions about Jocelyn. I could be entirely off base here but I think she was killed by ‘Joe’ when he attacked her, and he then shapeshifted to become her. I want her pregnancy to result in a creepy human/whatever-Joe-is hybrid so I can hopefully find out more about what Joe actually is in a sequel (if there is one). - SPOILER]

I’m really hoping for a sequel as I have plenty of unanswered questions and need to know what’s next for Dr H — and Joe. I also need some information about Joe’s sister.

Content warnings include mention of addiction, alcoholism, bullying, death by suicide, domestic violence, mental illness, physical abuse, self harm, sexual assault, suicidal ideation, torture and the violent death of an animal.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers Australia for the opportunity to read this book. I’m rounding up from 4.5 stars.

Bonus Content: A prequel to this book, I used to get letters from my nightmares (found here - https://www.reddit.com/r/NosleepIndex/comments/51y2nn/i_used_to_get_letters_from_my_nightmares/), is currently available to read on Reddit. While most parts are available to read on the Reddit website I needed to download the app to read parts 3 and 8 due to sensitive content. While the prequel answered some of my unanswered questions I would recommend you read ‘The Patient’ first. Had I read the prequel first I would have had a better idea of where Joe’s story was heading and this would have taken away some of the joy of discovery.