Rating: 6.0/10

Thanks to the publisher and author for an advance copy of The Therapist for review consideration. This did not influence my thoughts or opinions.

This was my first novel by B.A. Paris, so with that came some hesitancies. Having seen high praise for her novel Behind Closed Doors, I wanted to take a shot at her upcoming release. It ended up being a solid read but with a twist I saw coming from miles away.

I did enjoy the careful dissection that our main protagonist, Alice, performed in attempting to figure out what happened at her new home two years previously. What ends up happening is that she begins exploring all of these rabbit holes, which creates trust issues between Alice and anyone she has come in contact with within The Circle.

While I mostly became endeared to Alice, she was also a bit… much. A majority of people don’t enjoy when someone constantly sticks their nose in business that isn’t theirs, and Alice does this on way more occasions than is necessary. It is also difficult to stomach her perspective at times as she makes just about every. single. character a suspect. Maybe they all did the thing and share a glass of wine on the anniversary. What are you going to do now, Alice?

The eventual reveal was… foreseen, and while the backstory behind it was an interesting one, I feel like it could have been left to breathe a little longer. I would say you have to suspend belief a little more than normal with the “how can you not know who your neighbors are when you live so close by and are in each others’ business”, but in reality, the truth is we really don’t know. How well do you know your own neighbors?

All in all, The Therapist is an entertaining thriller that would suffice as a nice beach read. Don’t expect to be blown away by the reveal, but it is good enough that the book warrants attention. If you enjoy audio, Olivia Dowd did a great job with the narration. I feel she truly captured Alice the way Paris wanted.