B. A. Paris continues to be one of my favorite thriller authors! I loved Behind Closed Doors and The Breakdown, so I have been SO EXCITED for her newest!⁣
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And you guys, she’s back! She once again proves that she is the queen of domestic suspense, claustrophobia and panic in the main character’s home, and shady unreliable characters. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻⁣
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The Therapist reminded me of Behind Closed Doors and The Breakdown in a lot of ways. The main character Alice and her boyfriend Leo move to a newly remodeled home in a gated community called The Circle, but Alice later learns that it was the same house where a gruesome murder had occurred not long ago. Alice becomes obsessed with the case and the woman who was murdered there, and even though the authorities all determined it was her husband who killed her, Alice doesn’t believe it for one minute. Some things just don’t add up. ⁣
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If you love domestic suspense, this is absolutely one to have on your radar! It’s out this July! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I have such a hit and miss relationship with B.A. Paris' work! I was excited to see that she was writing another thriller, since her last book was more of a domestic fiction book, however this one didn't quite work for me.

We have our protagonist, Alice, who moves into a new house with her boyfriend, only to find out shortly after moving that something happened to the previous owner, Nina. With this shocking new news, Alice no longer feels comfortable in the house, and also becomes very involved in trying to figure out what happened to Nina two years ago.

I feel like I struggled with a few things. First, I felt like the book moved very slowly. It felt drawn out, and it felt like there was a lot of filler, even though this book isn't overly long. Alice made all sorts of stupid decisions, which was irritating as well! There were a lot of characters in the book, and I felt like some of them served no purpose. I also wasn't feeling the suspense in this one. There were things that were happening that COULD and SHOULD have been creepy, but I didn't feel that element of tension that I like to feel in my psychological thrillers!

I DID enjoy the ending, though I did figure out most of it before the end of the book. I've seen several mixed reviews for this one, so if you enjoy more domestic driven suspense novels, with drama that happens between neighbors in a tight knit community, this may be a great choice for you!

B.A. Paris’ The Therapist is entertaining. A bit predictable at times, and there are definitely more than a few “why did you do that” moments, but still enough suspense to keep the reader turning pages to find out the true identity of the killer. The Therapist is the perfect lazy day at the beach book that will probably be passed from friend to friend, because, no matter how you feel about The Therapist, you’re going to want to talk to someone.

Link to my 7/13/2021 post:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CRRySuELcey/

Alice and Leo move into a newly renovated house in the gated community called The Circle. There are 12 houses ... with everything anyone could imagine. Because it's so exclusive, Alice is a little worried about fitting in.

But she grits her teeth and makes it her priority to make new friends. Almost everyone welcomes the new couple to their little community. With Leo working out of town for days, sometimes a week, at a time, she's glad to know there are neighbors she can count on.

Those same neighbors are keeping secrets. She accidentally learns that the former tenant was a therapist, Nina Maxwell. Nina was murdered in Alice's new home. Her husband was the primary suspect and he ultimately killed himself. And what's even worse is that Leo knew about this before he bought the house. He decided that she didn't need to know the true history of the home.

The more she learns about Nina, the more convinced she is that Nina's husband did not kill her. So who did? Who would want her dead? Maybe the man she was supposedly cheating on her with? And was it a man who lived in The Circle? Are the people there protecting one of their own?

So many suspects and Alice accuses most of them one right after the other. She comes up with all kinds of scenarios is which Nina could have been murdered. There are many twists and turns .... leading to this person first, and then someone else later. Fast-paced suspense maintains throughout leading to an explosive conclusion.

Many thanks to the author / Macmillan Publishers / Macmillan Reading Insiders Club / Netgalley for the digital copy of this psychological drama. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

B.A. Paris, my Queen of Manipulation, is back with an all new Domestic Thriller, <i>The Therapist</i>.

When they began their relationship, Alice and Leo, were making a go at it long-distance. However, as time passes, it no longer feels enough to just see each other on the weekends. Deciding to make the jump of living together, Leo buys a house in an exclusive, gated-community called, The Circle, in London. As lovely as it is, it's a far cry from Alice's little cottage in the country.

Making the transition easier is the fact that Alice actually got to keep her cottage, renting it out to tenants temporarily, because Leo was able to get such a bargain on the house. When Alice finds out how he was able to get the house at such a steal, however, she's furious!

A woman, Nina, had been murdered in the house, in their bedroom. She cannot believe Leo withheld this information from her. He's a liar and Alice is so angry about the whole thing that she can't even stand to be around him while she processes it all.

Leo, sheepish at being caught out, agrees to give Alice some space to work through all she's learned. Alice, for her part, doesn't just work through it though, she becomes obsessed with it.

Alice doesn't believe the official story that Nina's husband was the killer. She can't explain why, she just knows that isn't right. As strange occurances begin happening at the house and suspicious neighbors seem to be lurking around every turn, Alice isn't sure just who she can trust.

Gaining some assistance from a Private Detective also interested in Nina's case, Alice begins a deep dive into the life of the woman who used to live in her house.

With numerous red herrings, a protagonist that I wasn't sure I could trust, more twists and turns than an amusement park roller coaster, I could tell I was reading a B.A. Paris!

I listened to this entire audiobook today while performing my regular Saturday chores around the house. I ended up cleaning things that didn't even need cleaning. I had to know how this was going to turn out. I came nowhere near predicting the end, although I don't generally try to do that. I like to just go along for the ride and let the author take me where they choose.

I will admit, toward the beginning, feeling frustrated with Alice. She's a bit bullheaded and I just couldn't understand why she was so fixated on Nina. However, I was satisfied with how that was ultimately explained and as I grew to know Alice, it made a lot more sense. The intensity definitely continued to build at a nice steady pace as the story went on. There's a lot of suspects!

Thank you so much to the publisher, Macmillan Audio and St. Martin's Press, for providing me with an early copy to read and review.

Getting a house with your long distance boyfriend is probably not the best idea especially with a guy you never thought to do a background check on. The neighbors are welcoming in the circle and they become friends. However, when she finds out her boyfriend lied to her about a murder that happened a few months ago in the house and some other things he lied about. Well it becomes her mission to figure out who the killer is, even to the point as being convinced it could be each one of her neighbors. Paranoid much?
Weird things start happening at the house and will she be in time to figure out who the murderer really is before she is their latest victim?