The Therapist by Helene Flood was a great psychologist thriller which is chilling domestic thriller that will gets under your skin. This was originally written in Norwegian by a psychologist and has been translated into English.
I did find it hard to get onto it and I stuck with it and ended up saying what did I just read!!!! sAdly I did not enjoy this book and found it a yawn sorry.

Big thank you you NetGalley and Quercus Books for an early copy of The Therapist by Helene Flood in return for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this, it was the first time I’ve written a book that’s been translated from Norwegian into English but you could not tell at all! This was a really good example of a slow burning thriller that keeps you intrigued and guessing all the way to the end. I normally prefer fast paced thrillers but I’m glad I got to experience something that really makes you think about all the characters and what could have happened. I honestly did not guess the ending either which I was so surprised about! It really had me wondering what I would do in the situation, overall a really good and interesting read & a good look into the world of a therapist!

With thanks to Netgalley and Quercus books.

The therapist is over all good book that I enjoyed to read and kept me guessing thought the whole book. I'm sure this book will do well when it is published

I received this book via the publisher and NetGalley. I was torn with my rating for this book. I think three stars is a little mean but four too generous so I would say 3.5 if I could. I enjoyed the book and I was intrigued as to “whodunnit” but I found it quite a bleak read. I found the main character Sara a little annoying and unlikeable and the murdered husband Sigurd was very unlikeable too so it was hard to feel too much sympathy for him. I felt it dragged on rather too long into a disappointing ending. Good but could have been better

Not for me I'm afraid too slow and drawn out and I couldn't take to the characters
To be honest by the time I found out who the killer was I couldn't care less and I was hoping they would kill Sarah off

Overall, The Therapist was a disappointing read
. Thank you to NetGalley & Quercus Books – MacLehose Press for the chance to read The Therapist in exchange for an honest review.

The Therapist by Helene Flood is an intriguing psychological thriller that kept me rapidly turning the pages.
Sara is a therapist, who deals with troubled young adults, and becomes concerned after her husband Sigurd fails to turn up at the holiday cabin where he was meeting some friends.
The story is narrated by Sara and she carefully analyses her life and her past relationship with Sigurd, in a number of flashbacks, and questions whether everything was as perfect as it seemed.
A carefully plotted novel, that unfolds at a measured pace, with a great cast of characters that will lead you up a number of false trails before all is finally revealed.

Sara hardly stirs as her husband Sigurd kisses her goodbye as he heads of for a weekend at a cabin with friends.

Little did she know that this would be the last time she saw him.

Whilst she’s in session with her clients, he leaves a message saying that he’s arrived and all is good.

On her way back from her spin class she received another message; this time from Thomas who says that he hasn’t arrived.

This novel is dark and mysterious with some uncomfortable situations that unfold. What happened to Sigurd and why did he lie?

Sara is seen as paranoid and skittish, and the police don’t always trust what she says. Although she’s a therapist, they question her motives and that of her clients, and wonder if any of them could be involved.

I really enjoyed this novel and I didn’t feel that anything was lost in translation from Norwegian to English. I have read some books where this was the case and fortunately with this one it still held all its suspense and edginess.

Just the house description being unfinished made it seem haunting and highly atmospheric.

I didn’t see the twist coming and although all the clues were there it was so good!

I’d definitely read more from Helene Flood - such a great debut and luckily her next novel is coming out in English next year!

I don't usually read translated novels as I find the language used and general flow differers too much to be enjoyable however with The Therapist it somehow added to the story. An interesting and twisting book which grows in depth through the story. At times the storyline seemed a little forced or predictable however overall this was an enjoyable read.

The cover of The Therapist totally hooked my interest when I first saw it and happily, the book is just as good! The story follows Sara, a therapist whose husband disappears when he’s supposed to be at a holiday cabin with his friends. After the police get involved and things get even stranger, Sara must try and figure out who her husband Sigurd really is and what has happened to him.

I pretty much read The Therapist in one sitting – it’s the kind of thriller that keeps you turning the pages to find out more. It’s written with the classic sort of Scandinavian minimalism and forthright style which I really enjoy. Sara is an intriguing character to follow and the reader gets a pretty intense look inside her head as she tries to figure out what is happening around her and what really happened to her husband. A lot of the book is set in the couples’ old and atmospheric house that they inherited from Sigurd’s grandfather and it almost feels like he is haunting them. There is actually a great sense of setting throughout which creates an incredibly unnerving and slightly creepy feeling that I just loved. The story kept me guessing right until the end, possibly due to the fact that the police in this book act rather strangely in the manner with which they investigate crimes! Overall I found The Therapist a brilliantly intense and intelligent domestic thriller which I highly recommend to fans of the genre!

An excellent well-written book, believable storyline, full of twists and turns, good ending. It's an intricate plot with a really good ending.

I was intrigued to read this book as it's the first Scandinavian thriller I've tried. I had high expectations and sadly, I was disappointed.

The book is told from the point of view of Sara, a therapist and wife of an architect, Sigurd. Sigurd is murdered and the story follows Sara's experiences after the event. There are flashbacks to earlier times in an attempt to help the reader fill in the blanks.

Sara isn't an overly likeable character and her decisions are rarely logical or believable. The story is also pretty boring. There just wasn't enough to grip me, or make me want to rush to the end. The plot twist at the end felt like a bit of an after thought and didn't particularly fit with the rest of the book.

It was 'ok' but my one I'd go out of my way to recommend.

The Therapist

I loved this thriller, set in Oslo and based around a therapist called Sara. Sara and her husband Sigurd live in his family home, a large three storey house they’re currently renovating. Next door is a small addition to the property, housing Sarah’s office and therapy room. On this Friday, Sara is seeing three clients and then settling in for a quiet weekend while Sigurd is on a boy’s weekend away with his best friend. At lunchtime he’s left Sara a message to say they’ve arrived safely at his family’s cabin and his friend is gathering firewood. She expects to speak to him that evening, so is shocked when one of his friends calls to ask where Sigurd is, as he hasn’t arrived yet. In the days following Sigurd’s disappearance Sara must cope with a very thorough detective searching her house and dissecting her relationship, an intruder breaking into the house, telling her distracted and narcissistic father, and constantly wondering where Sigurd has gone. On top of everything, she has clients to see.

The story is told in two narratives from Sara’s point of view. In one, we’re in the present day, experiencing the investigation and Sara’s interactions with family and friends in the wake of Sigurd’s disappearance. In the second we meet a very different Sara, as she meets Sigurd, spends time with friends and makes the decision to move to Oslo. This Sara seems lighter mentally, she’s obviously younger but not by much, so what has changed? The past Sara seems to be enjoying life, despite a stressful clinical post with drug users. Sigurd is also completing his training in architecture and is incredibly busy. The distance between them is something she hadn’t anticipated, she knew they would both be busy, but thought the strength of their feelings would keep them on track. A brief interlude away at a festival with friends sees Sara’s mood lift completely. She starts to relax and enjoy herself. However, there will be secrets kept about this weekend that have huge implications for her future.

Present day Sara seems very controlled and reserved. The author creates this interesting gap between Sara’s interior world and the way she presents herself to the world outside. She is always thinking, analysing and wondering, but her conversation is minimal and gives very little away about how she feels. There’s something called cognitive dissonance going on here, a huge gap between the Sara she presents to others and how she truly feels. There are three core values a therapist should have when seeing clients: authenticity, non-judgement and prizing the client. Sara seems strangely detached from her emotions - still seeing clients even after Sigurd’s disappearance as if nothing’s happened. While this is great for continuity, it isn’t very authentic and I felt that instead of practicing authentically she is wearing her therapist’s role like a mask. Even before she knows about her husband, Sara’s thinking is very ordered. She has the day split into therapy hours, admin time, lunch until she can throw on some pyjamas and chill out. It feels like she’s listing tasks just to get through the day, mentally ticking it off seems like a habit borne out of anxiety or trying to keep motivated when depressed. I wouldn’t say she’s enjoying life much. Their home seems the same, with plans for a beautifully finished house, that are currently a list of tasks they can’t afford. In trying to achieve something ambitious and beautiful, they’ve made their current lives very uncomfortable and messy. The state of the house seems to get Sara down and Sigurd wants her to take on more clients so they have more money to get on with the plans. However, I don’t think Sara is in the mental state to cope with more therapy hours.

I loved the author’s creation of Sara’s narcissistic father, a professor and philosopher with controversial right wing views about crime, family and vigilantism. Sara describes talking to her father, almost like an audience with royalty. It’s so rare to have all his attention on you, it’s difficult just to be his daughter. He seems to give off the sense they should be grateful for his unwavering attention and if either daughter struggles to make use of the time, conversation soon turns to him, his work or one of the many students who seem to loiter round the house like acolytes. In fact Sara is so bewildered by his attention on this occasion she doesn’t tell him her devastating news, but instead debates something totally unrelated with him then goes home again. It’s no surprise that she keeps her vulnerabilities and worries to herself - there’s never been anyone interested in hearing them. Even her sister Annika, although she looks after Sara, drops into her role as lawyer as well as sister. This is partly to remind Sara how she’s being viewed by the police, to remind the police not to take liberties, but also to give herself a professional role to hide behind. It is only when one of Sara’s friends arrives and acts naturally by hugging her, that she even feels like crying.

As Sara starts to undertake her own investigation, secrets start to emerge about the couple’s life together. There has been some distance between them for a while. Her relationship with his family is not a warm one, with Sigurd’s mother resentful that they live in her childhood home - left to Sigurd by his grandfather. They don’t even attempt to look after h er and she foresees a long wrangle over Sigurd’s will. There were arguments at Sigurd’s work with differences in architectural perspectives, and who is the mystery blonde that sometimes wait for Sigurd after work? If his work on the Atkins house was finished long ago, why is it still in his diary and where is he really spending his time. The author keeps us brilliantly on edge with red herrings and reveals galore. We see the police through Sara’s eyes, which might explain why they seem curiously non-committal about everything. We never truly know how they feel about Sara or where the investigation is going. Obviously she is a possible suspect. However, there are points in the investigation, when Sara is sure there is an intruder at the house, where they seem indifferent to her worries and her safety. I was never quite sure whether Sara was the ultimate unreliable narrator and would turn out to be implicated in her husband’s disappearance. She seemed detached from the reality of it, even in the context that their relationship has deteriorated over time. The ending was a surprise and the double reveal was beautifully done, and very satisfying. I stayed up late to finish the last few chapters, because I was so hooked on the story. This was a psychological thriller I would definitely recommend.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52520541

I received this book from NetGalley in return for a review.

A creepy book which keeps you guessing who did it until quite late on.
The book feels rather sparse of description which potentially makes it harder to like the characters. This made the book harder work than it could have been although the end tells a great story. I wish it hadn’t taken as long to start connecting with the characters.

The Therapist is a psychological thriller featuring an unreliable narrator and an intriguing mystery. Originally published in Norwegian, I thought the translation is excellent and the writing feels natural. As the protagonist, Sara is pensive but I found that her thoughts and worries resonated with me. Are the strange things happening in her house real or in her head? Her marriage is shown through flashbacks which helps provide context to their relationship before Sigurd went missing.

While I liked the suspenseful buildup, I was let down by the resolution. I was hoping for something more original and less predictable. I wanted something more sinister. But I did appreciate the brilliantly ambiguous ending. It’s the kind of ending that makes you think – what would you do if you find yourself in this position? This book would be suitable for readers who love psychological drama with flawed characters and introspective storytelling.

Happy Publication Day 📚
The Therapist | Helene Flood

Nordic Noir at its best ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Translated from Norwegian the Therapist offers a creepy atmospheric depiction of Norway through the dark and brooding internal monologues of our main character Sara.

When Sara’s increasingly distant and detached husband plans a weekend with friends in a remote cabin but fails to turn up (despite his voicemail saying he had arrived!) Sara’s world and her sanity begins to fall apart. The novel develops as she examines her entire relationship with Sigurd she begins to doubt her own mind.

This books is definitely a slow burner but intentionally so and I loved the painstaking build toward the conclusion. It’s a big win for me and throughly deserving of the hype!

Thank you to Helene, NetGalley and @quercusbooks for the advanced copy, I devoured it! 💜

Interesting telling of what looks initially like a cut and dried case until each further fact is teased out and even the reader starts to wonder what - if anything - is real or imagined. Realistically depicted characters and a steady revealing at the end of what is in fact the truth.

I found this book overly long...it wasnt long in terms of page count, but it felt it. Also, not enough suspense for my tastes...the main character was one dimensional, and I didnt connect with her. Although the final twist was interesting, it didnt save the book...often hard to continue reading, I'd not personally recommend this. Many thanks to Netgalley.co.uk, the publisher and the author for an opportunity to read an ARC of this book.

This is a solid and deliciously dark thriller that kept me gripped and guessing from start to finish. I loved the subtle tension underlying the whole story and the vivid descriptions of the remote house really amped up the sense of isolation and danger and loneliness felt by the main character. A really well-written, suspenseful and enjoyable debut and I look forward to reading the author's next work.

first it's the lie that hurts.
A voicemail from her husband tells Sara he's arrived at the holiday cabin. Then a call from his friend confirms he never did.
She tries to carry on as normal, teasing out her clients' deepest fears, but as the hours stretch out, her own begin to surface. And when the police finally take an interest, they want to know why Sara deleted that voicemail.
To get to the root of Sigurd's disappearance, Sara must question everything she knows about her relationship.
Could the truth about what happened be inside her head?

This book is a Norwegian translation and sometimes within this novel you can tell. There are some language barriers, but it does not spoil the novel.

The book is described as a psychological thriller, however, I feel that it is more psychology fiction.

The author did an absolute fantastic job at describing the therapy and made me feel like I was observing on the couch.

The book had a very original concept and is a book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading.

Translated novel by Helene Flood is a creepy psychological murder mystery which will send chills up your spine.
Difficult to review without giving any spoilers.
I found it a riveting and extremely interesting story which I wanted to keep reading to find out who the culprit was and I guarantee that you will be so surprised with the ending.
Recommend this to all readers who like a good mystery.