Member Reviews

Thrilling, clever, unique! This novel was a very quick and quite scary story about a man trying to cure a patient with a mysterious death toll in an under funded mental hospital. The form of a reddit thread was clever and turned a potentially tired plot into something new and exciting. There were some surprising twists and the pacing was wonderful. What holds me back from giving a full 5 stars is the treatment of the wife. She felt so one dimensional and I was dissapointed by her storyline.

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This was an interesting format in our internet age - entries to a blog. The story seemed a bit slow-moving to me and I wasn't thrilled with the supernatural aspects. A good read but not one of my favorites.

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🏥A gripping fast-paced medical thriller about a psychiatrist trying to diagnose a notorious patient who has been in the hospital for decades with a mysterious medical history.⠀

🛸If you enjoy anything medical related with a smidge of the supernatural then pick this up! ⠀

🚑The writing is superb and the story definitely takes you on a number of twists and turns. ⠀

💞Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to review this book.⠀

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Hi my name is Gloria and I’m a horror junkie. From the very first look, this novella was giving me r/nosleep vibes...and I guess that’s fine, because that’s where these message board posts that could were originally told.

Like I just mentioned, this book is written as a series of message board posts by a psychiatrist looking to tell the story of his most challenging patient, Joe. Joe has been the Connecticut State Asylum’s biggest charge for the past 30 years. Three decades and an exhausting list of doctors, most of which have met untimely ends, have labeled Joe incurable. Undiagnosable, even. Yet Parker, the ward’s newest doctor, takes on his case to gain glory by recognizing a novel disease.

The ending was no surprise to me, as it was sort of obvious throughout. Cover to cover it took me about 3 hours to read, so if you want to pad those goodreads challenges, this would be an entertaining way to do so.

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I was so excited to get approved on NetGalley for this book!  As soon as I read the synopsis, I wanted to read it so bad!

It started off a lot like The Silent Patient.  A doctor who thinks he can cure the un-curable.  When Parker met Joe, he didn't understand why his previous caretakers went mad or committed suicide when they were around the patient.  Joe comes off as someone who was brushed aside.  Someone who was kept in the facility because of the checks his parents sent.  Even I started to believe that maybe he was in there for the wrong reasons.

The nagging question I had though was - How does Joe know about every fear of every person he has ever come into contact with?! It didn't make sense.  When Parker starts his own investigation into Joe's background he finds more than he bargained for.

This book was a wild ride, a short one at that.  224 pages makes this a quick and easy read.  Although the ending left me having more questions than I like to have when I finish a book.  I won't say much more.  I'll wait until you grab your copy on July 7th, and you can tell me your thoughts.

Thank you Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and NetGalley for my ARC.

Wine Pairing: Ménage à Trois Midnight

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I had heard lots of good things about this book so was looking forward to reading it. A very unique book that I would describe as both creepy and dark with a touch of supernatural horror which I was not expecting at all. A quick and good read. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

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The Patient started out great. I was so entranced and engaged and couldn't wait to get to the end! The format was interesting, as it was written as entries on an internet forum. It really built up the suspense. I wasn't expecting the ending at all and had to suspend disbelief to get through it. Overall, I liked it, but wasn't thrilled with the ending.

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*Many thanks to Jasper DeWitt, Houghton Miffin Harcourt and NetGalley for arc in exchange for my honest review.*
A young, ambitious psychiatrist finds himself employed in an asylum.Gradually Parker becomes obsessed with one mysterious patient called Joe, kept in isolation and with a limited number of staff allowed to have any interaction with him. This sounds like a terrific idea for a book and at least half of my reading time was enjoyable. However, the second half felt somehow short of suspense and implausible at times to me, especially the sudden change in the approach Parker presents does not sound professional. A bit naive perhaps?
A quick summer read that will not stay long with me.

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I finished this book in less than 24 hours and all I could say at the end was, "...what?".

This book was like The Silent Patient meets the supernatural. I didn't expect it to have such a supernatural element to it, but I liked it. It gave me almost similar vibes to Imaginary Friend, where it was all going one way and then BAM chaos. This book, without giving away any spoilers, also kind of just ended - on a seemingly pretty abrupt note. Usually, I can't stand that in a book, but I really liked it here.

The characters were a little hard to follow, but I also felt like that added to the disjointedness of the hospital and who was caring for Joe. No one seemed to really know what was going on, which the lack of names for a lot of the characters helped add to. This really made it feel chaotic but in a good way. I didn't really feel any sort of connection with Jocelyn, which I think hurt the ending a little bit for me.

The story itself was riveting. I literally had to know what happened next and could not stop turning the page. The way Joe's mind worked and the revelation of that was so interesting and something I didn't see coming. I did not see the ending coming either, so a fairly decent twist there too.

This book was written in a series of blog posts which, at times, enhanced the story, but also made some parts feel very disconnected. It felt like someone was telling me a story, which made it hard to put myself into the story. The intros to each blog post felt kind of unnecessary and repetitive which annoyed me a little and I found myself skimming over those small chunks.

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This is a fast paced get to the point type of book. It captures you in quickly and you just get hooked. This is a quick and exciting horror story. While I actually loved this book it deals with a certain “horror” type villain that I usually don’t care to read about but this was def a great book from start to finish and I’m so glad I came across it.

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Thank you @bookishfirst and @houghtonmifflinharcourt for the ARC of The Patient by Jasper DeWitt! It will be released July 7th! This was a unique story, told as a series of online posts instead of a traditional book, and was more of a short story. A young psychiatrist uses an internet message boards to share the story of one of his patients. This patient is a long term resident of this hospital, having first been admitted at the age of six. This patient has no diagnosis, his symptoms seemingly to evolve over time. Other staff members and patients who have come in contact with this patient have paid the price. This book is definitely for thriller and horror fans. While a shorter book, it was dark, creepy, disturbing, and fast paced!

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The Patient by Jasper Dewitt was creepy and thrilling all rolled into one. I love books about psychiatrist and unstable patients so this was right up my alley! I recommend for any fans of the genre.

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This was super creepy and thrilling. My only complaint was that it was a bit dull at first. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy in exchange for review.

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A psychiatrist who suffers from guilt trips because of thier inability to cure his own mother, becomes a volunteer to treat a real dangerous patient who has been ruining/haunting and ending the lives of the people try to cure him. Very creepy book thats written in an interesting format and prose. Looking forward to more from this author!

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The Patient by Jasper DeWitt absolutely blew me away! I wasn’t even prepared for this one! It is so good! HIGHLY BINGEABLE!

This book is set in an insane ayslum…setting had me hooked from page 1. The POV is from a new staff psychiatrist just out of school. Told in the form of what I imagined as REDDIT posts. ALL OF THIS MADE me crazy for this book. To say I loved it is an understatement!

It is truly horror with possible demons, scary monsters that terrify small children, and has triggers such as suicide and sexual abuse of a child.

All that aside, I read this in a sitting, couldn’t look away and had to get to the end.

Well done Mr. Dewitt, I’m a fan!

Thank you @netgalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for an advanced digital copy of the book for my honest review.

Goes on sale July 7, 2020, do yourself a favor fans of a thriller/horror an go buy this book. It’s 220 pages you won’t want to miss!

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The Patient by Jasper DeWitt
Houghten Mifflin Harcourt (July 2020)
3 Stars

First off, HAPPY PUB DAY to this medical thriller. The Patient was on my list for most anticipated reads of 2020. A long-term patient at an asylum has a mysterious effect on anyone who treats him - they either suffer from psychotic breaks of their own or commit suicide. Enter a sure of himself new doctor who is convinced he will be the one to cure him of his still to be determined diagnosis. Obviously things get a little complicated. I loved the unique format it was written in (blog posts from a forum no longer in existence). The biggest opportunity area for this book is that there was little interaction between doc and patient. Most of the info we receive is from other doctors' experiences or directly from the patient’s file. While not a huge deal, this kept me from loving the book despite my excitement for it. It was a super fast read and still worth the couple hours it takes to finish it.


Thank you @Netgalley and @houghtenmifflinharcourt for the gifted copy of this book!


***Instagram review will be posted on July 7, 2020***

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The Patient is a suspense/horror book about a doctor named Parker who is determined to help a patient named Joe. The story unfolds like a blog post in Parker's voice. It follows Parker's investigation into Joe's life. He was first admitted to the mental hospital when Joe was six years old because he had night terrors. Now Joe is 31 and Parker can't figure out why Joe is still institutionalized. The story unfolds slowly and deliberately. I felt connected to Parker but not to any of the other characters. Parker's wife Jocelyn is barely mentioned and I wanted more of her interaction. I enjoyed this one even though some of it as a little creepy and overly descriptive. Thank you to Netgalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for my advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

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I’ve always been fascinated with mental health, which is why I requested this book. I even worked in a behavioral hospital for a short period of time, so I found it interesting to compare this story, to real life. I also really liked Parker. Similar to him, I’m always looking for the good in others & I’m always doing everything in my power to help people when I can. I think that by me being able to relate to one of the main characters, this book appealed to me more but I wasn’t a huge fan of the ending. I’m just not a huge fan of unrealistic endings.

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My goodness this was so enjoyable and, to be honest, a little unsettling. Okay maybe a lot unsettling, but in the good way.

I really enjoyed this thriller and found the storytelling device of it not being from the main character added a little twist and made it feel like we were snooping or finding out things about the story in a way that was more fun than just hearing a character tell us every move they make in other books.

Very good read and I highly recommend it!

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Good story that was a little spooky and suspenseful at times.

My biggest issue with the story is that instead of the main character, Parker, experiencing the true nature of the patient, John, he was told by other characters or read in John's file the horrors of the patient's behavior. My favorite parts of the story were when the Parker actually interacted with John but it was very infrequent.

Another issue was the character growth of Parker. I understand the story is short but to do a complete 180 on your beliefs after a scary 10 second moment felt odd and unbelievable.

On the positive side, the story is very fast paced and grabs your attention. Being written in a blog post style was fun to read and made the story more realistic.

However, in the end, I wish the author let us experience the mystery and horror of the patient John with Parker in present day instead of being told by other characters' past experiences.

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