Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to listen to an ARC audio of this book. In exchange, I agreed to an honest opinion.

Unfortunately, I did not get far in this book. The reader's voice was like listening to a nail on a chalkboard. Add to that another helpless female who moans and groans from the first paragraph. It was impossible to listen to.
As a retired therapist, I was looking forward to this book.

I cannot recommend this book.

The Therapist
B.A. Paris

This is B.A. Paris's fifth book and the fifth one I’ve read. BRING ME BACK was a disaster as far as I was concerned, so I wondered where Paris would go with this one. Psychological thrillers are my absolute favorite books to read. When the storyline involves an actual mental health professional, it piques my curiosity even more. There are so many dark avenues to navigate when talking about characters who explore other people’s minds.

In This book, however, there was a bit of mirror play. Overall, I believe Paris was really expressing the narrative of boundaries that came through in different plot lines and several of the characters' dynamics. I found this book extremely consumable, with enough going on that I was continuously interested and relatively satisfied with the book as a whole.

The biggest problem I have with the writing is that I felt that Paris was again over-explaining, re-hashing too much, and internal dialogue mimicking external dialogue. It creates unnecessary lulls and times where I’m rolling my eyes screaming, “get on with it already.”

Paranoia is often an annoying personality trait to play out with a character while reading a book. And on the opposite side of the spectrum, avoidance of red flags and general apathetic regard for the truth and obvious signs are even more annoying. Paris possibly pushed it to the limit from time to time during this book.

Overall, super entertaining!
Four Stars

So glad I was able to get my hands on an early copy thanks to @netgalley and #macmillanaudio
Check out #netgalley for your advanced copy; request today!

Publishing July 13, 2021

Alice and Leo make the jump in their relationship to move in together, and they do so in an exclusive neighborhood called "The Cirlce." After moving in, Alice finds it difficult to connect with all of the people in her 12-home community. After some digging, Alice finds out that she and Leo have moved into the home of a woman, a therapist named Nina Maxwell, who was brutally murdered in her home, hence the reason Alice and Leo were able to purchase the home at such a low price.

As Alice continues to make friends and acquaintances, she starts to uncover more and more information about Nina Maxwell. Alice, with the help of an undercover investigator, begin to delve into the murder as questions about the killer, Nina's husband, continue to plague them. It just doesn't make sense: the lack of motive, the differing testimonies, etc. However, as Nina digs deeper into Nina's life, she begins to discover information that will make her not only question their decision to move to the Circle, but she will question who, if anyone, she can trust with the information she uncovers.

I really enjoyed this one! It kept me guessing, and I felt involved in the story from beginning to end. The narrator was fabulous, and if you've felt like the last few thrillers have fallen flat for you (me!), then I recommend this one! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ALC.

Enjoyed this book. The characters are well developed and the author had me continually guessing who committed the crime.

I found the book relatively easy to follow. The narrator did well.

Predictable but entertaining. Even so, I would read just about anything by B.A. Paris since there are some good twists and decent characters in every book. The audiobook has a terrific narrator.

Prepared to stay up all night reading! This book is a slow burn… but, when it ignites…..KAPOW! An unbelievable ending. This author is so skilled at making you look in one direction using red herrings, then she completely flips the page and does something unexpected.

First, the narrator- excellent job. She switches the shades of accents from different parts of England really well. Second the story. BA Paris is kind of masterful with the psychological thriller. I was questioning every character the whole time. I had some idea as to the end, but was still caught by surprise. I felt like this story had a more robust theme in its exploration of friendship and grief. Well done!

I want to preface this review by saying B.A. Paris is an auto-buy author for me. I love her writing style and I thoroughly enjoy her books. That being said, this wasn't my favourite. It wasn't bad, I just had a hard time buying some key elements of the story.

The biggest one is Alice as a whole, given her anxiety and paranoia throughout the book, her complete lack of self-preservation instinct is alarming! I won't say too much for the sake of spoilers but the mental gymnastics someone would have to do to continue to put themself at that level of risk made her decision-making completely absurd.

The next big one is Nina's behaviour, for someone who is meant to be a Therapist she behaves precisely in the opposite manner than that which a Therapist should behave. People can make poor choices but anyone who has watched even one episode of the bazillion crime shows would have had alarm bells blaring, never mind a trained mental health professional.

I'm also having trouble understanding how Oliver was able to be like a son to the neighbours given their situation!

This book wasn't bad, but it wasn't great! It would be a good read for someone who just wants to be taken along for the ride. For those thriller readers, like myself, who critically assess as you read in hopes of figuring out how it all is going to play out - you may find yourself a little disappointed with what I can only call lazy storytelling. Had Paris put a little more effort into working out the gaps in the story it could have been better.

Listened to the entire book in one go. Had to know what happened.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advance audiobook copy of the book in exchange for my honest review

The Therapist will have you on the edge of your seat. The quick pace of this psychological thriller makes it an enjoyable read. So many twists and turns!

Imagine moving to a new city to be with your partner, and the house you move into has a dark past. The kicker is... you don't know about that past when you first move in. This is the case for The Therapist's narrator, Alice, and her partner Leo when they move into their newly renovated house in an elite community named "The Circle."

When Alice finds out about the murder/suicide that occurred in the house, and that Leo knew prior to buying it, she is thrown for a loop. Despite this, Alice becomes obsessed with figuring out what happened to Nina. Her investigative efforts lead her to suspect everyone, no one is immune.

This story is told in two different perspectives (Alice and the unnamed therapist in sections titled "Past"). I loved this narrative structure as it built up the suspense to the completely unexpected climax. The red herrings are aplenty, but they all feel like beyond viable suspects. This is my first time reading a book from B.A. Paris, and I am absolutely obsessed. I can't wait to read more from her.

Trigger Warnings: mentions of suicide, infidelity, psychopathy, mental illness discussions, stalking

Overall rating: 3.5/5

The Therapist will be available for purchase on July 13th. Be sure to add it to your Goodreads shelf and see where it's available for purchase here. Also, be sure to check out B.A. Paris's profile on MacMillan's website!

I was lucky enough to be able to listen to this Advanced Reader's Copy through my partnership with NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

This story is a typical domestic thriller to me. While I didn't guess who did it very quickly I was ultimately just not excited throughout this story. The writing is great, the character development is also flawless, but something just didn't click with this book for me. Outside of the plot line, the narrators in this audiobook were fabulous! Well spoken and emotional but also not too slow so I could listen to this book on a normal speed and not have to constantly speed up or slow down to understand. The usage of male/female narrators is produced very well.

Alice and Leo purchase a new house in the exclusive "circle." After doing long distance for months they are overjoyed to share a home and start a true life together. But then the looming neighborhood secret comes out from hiding: the previous owner of the house was murdered in the bedroom by her husband. Alice jumps into a full obsession with trying to identify if the former home owner was truly killed by her husband or if there was another motive at play.

Thank you B.A. Paris, Macmillan audio, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.


Goodreads review link: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4049557077?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1
Blog link: www.instagram.com/whataginger.reads

Thank you to NetGalley, B.A. Paris and St. Martins Press for the advanced audio copy.

Although this book somewhat held my interest, it was way too long and many of the situations could have easily been solved if the main character, Alice, wasn't so dumb. Alice made many poor choices/didn't notice obvious bad signs, but was clearly written that way to move the story along. It made her really quite an annoying character. I also didn't love the ending. It seemed like it came out of nowhere, and I don't love when books do that... when the storyline is going one way, and then the ending is the complete opposite of what it was looking like would happen. I did enjoy the audiobook narrator, She is one of the reasons why I kept listening to this book at all. I also don't understand why the book was called "The Therapist"? This was a very minimal part of the story and a better title could have been something like "The Circle".

Twisty turny creepy! Loved the characters and I wasn’t sure who to trust the entire time. I was right there with Alice and suspicious of everyone. I had reasoning that anyone could have been the one. I listened to the audiobook version and the narrators were amazing.

Chilling read… I liked the cover and the blurb was interesting. This was a fun audiobook!

What did I like? Alice was far from a likable character… always wondering what everyone thinks of her to the point that maybe I might need a therapist. Leo was her opposite. London has some strange relationships between neighbors that I felt Americans won’t understand. Still the audiobook made me stick it out until the end. I’m pretty sure if this had been just reading I would have DNF. The narration did an excellent job!

Would I recommend or buy? If your going to read this story go for the audiobook! The only parts that I didn’t like was the past narration repetitiveness. I kept thinking the chapters skipped backwards since every past narration was so similar. I’d read from this author again!

I received a complimentary audiobook through Macmillan Audio and voluntarily left a review!

A young couple moves into a new house in a gated community, and soon after, the woman finds out the house was the site of a murder in which the husband was implicated, and shortly thereafter committed suicide. A mysterious stranger convinces her tha the husband didn’t do it,; someone in the neighborhood must be the killer.

#TheTherapist !!!!!! This thriller had me on the edge of my seat. Alice moves in with her boyfriend in an exclusive gated community in London. She is all ready to settle into her new life when she finds out that the house theyve moved into was the scene of a horrific murder only a few years ago. Shocked and horrified, did her boyfriend know this when he bought the house? And who is the handsome stranger who showed up at her housewarming party uninvited and pretending to be one of her neighbors? And who was this deceased woman Nina? As Alice slowly uncovers lies and deceptions, she finds herself inextricably drawn to finding out just who DID kill Nina?? Nina's husband was blamed but then killed himself - oh how convenient of a closure for the police?? But did he really do it? What do the neighbors think? Why cant Alice leave it alone? Her neighbors start to resent her, things strain between her and her boyfriend. Alice must have a million ideas on who killed Nina, and she drags us along in her tension and anxiety. I could not stop listening to this on audio and finished it in 3 days. It was shocking and then shocking again and again - one of the best thrillers i've ever read! Loved it!! Highly recommend! Many thanks to @macmillan.audio @stmartinspress @baparisauthor and @netgalley for the early audio-arc of this fantastic thriller! Publication date scheduled for July 13th! Make sure you dont miss this one!
#bookishlove
#thrillers
#nailbiter
#thrillergenre

Alice and Leo move into a gated community known as the circle. Alice soon learns that the previous owner was murdered in the house. Although the husband was charged, no one really believed it was him that killed her. As she begins to get to know her neighbors, secrets are revealed and Alice is questioning everyone.

Alice is VERY invested in the mystery. She is obsessed with finding out the truth. She’s also very naive. I will say this was a slow burn - you will turn in circles trying to figure out who the true killer is. The action in the end caught me off guard!

The only thing I didn’t like about the audio version was I felt like the narrator was a bit too slow. I don’t like to speed up because I don’t feel like it sounds natural. The narrator, Olivia Dowd, did a wonderful job capturing Alice’s character!

Overall, good domestic thriller!

Thank you @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for this advanced copy!

The Therapist by B.A. Paris follows Alice, who's recently moved into a house in The Circle, a gated community in London. Soon after getting settled, Alice is told something that changes the way she sees her partner and their new home, and there begin to be signs of someone trespassing inside the home.

Unfortunately, this domestic (somewhat psychological) suspense never felt all that suspenseful to me. The pacing is slow, the characters are hard to distinguish from one another, and Alice really didn't make sense to me.

This book may be a better fit for those more easily creeped out, or who are better able to suspend disbelief. I think I may have enjoyed it more at the pool or on a plane -- perhaps tearing through it in one sitting is the answer.

The audiobook narration was well done. 10 hours was too long for this story, however.

I'm usually a fan of B.A. Paris' books and was excited to get my hands on a copy of this one. However, it fell rather flat for me. The story dragged and felt somewhat predictable, but my real issue was with the protagonist, Alice. I am very much a character driven reader, and she just didn't do it for me at all. She was such a gullible, irritating character, and I just couldn't connect with her. I'm pretty sure she is meant to be likable, but honestly, she just sort of ruined the book for me, because she was such a dummy! Anyway, this hasn't put me off books by the author in the future, but this was not a favorite, unfortunately.

Thanks to Macmillan for providing me with this copy of The Therapist in exchange for an honest review.