B.A. Paris has become one of my go-to authors for emotional dramas that have enough suspense tied in to kept you turning the pages, but also don't feel so"out there" that they felt unbelievable. All in all, this was a great escape read and I really enjoyed the "neighborhood suspense" aspect.

The plot line wasn't anything mind blowing, but was a great book to read by the pool this summer. This wasn't my favorite B.A. Paris book, but it was an easy read that kept me entertained, and right now, that is a reading win!

I alternated reading and listening to this on audiobook. The narration was well done and I enjoyed listening to this story in the audiobook format.

Thank you St. Martins' Press for my gifted review copy. As always, my thoughts and opinions are my own.

Oh dear. Did not enjoy this one AT ALL. Fully 75% of the book is occupied with the minutiae of what Alice, the main character eats, and wears, who she visits, pleasantries about the weather and walks around town, the neighborhood and the park ... And when it isn't that, it's endless, obsessive inner monologue during which little happens except that Alice overhears or snoops and then muses, "Maybe ...' or 'I wonder if ...' or 'Am I imagining ...' Not only was it tedious, it feels like an inability to create circumstances that organically make the reader think, 'Maybe ...' or 'I wonder if ...' or 'Am I imagining ...' THAT'S the charge of the mystery writer-- to make the READER'S imagination wander and search through the options to solve the mystery, not to hand them up through the main protagonist's thoughts. Through Alice's thoughts, we are *told* everything and the telling was pure tedium.

At basically every decision stage, Alice makes completely counter-intuitive decisions that make absolutely no sense. And it wasn't that I wouldn't have made those decisions, it's that it defied logic that almost anyone would have made those decisions. And since we don't see enough dimension in Alice as a character to believe she might have made those decisions, it all comes across as completely contrived to simply move the plot along. And even then, the plot did not move along. At least not smoothly. It felt like it was dragged along.

Honestly, I think this is it for me and this author. I will no longer be seduced by her intriguing covers and blurbs. The execution, apart from the very first book, has been wanting. I listed this as DNF even though I allowed the audiobook to play to the end because while it played, my mind wandered, and by the end, I literally did not care who did it.

Audiobook note: Did not enjoy this narrator, but honestly, it's difficult to separate her performance from the lackluster material she had to work with

Living in a small community can feel close and welcoming. It can make you feel like you’re never alone. Or, if things don’t go well, it can also feel suspicious and smothering. And in the audio edition of The Therapist by B. A. Paris, one woman finds herself always looking over her shoulder in her new, tight-knit neighborhood...

Full review published on NightsAndWeekends.com and aired on Shelf Discovery

Great audiobook! I enjoy B.A. Paris's writing style and The Therapist did not disappoint. I found myself frustrated with Alice and then rooting for Alice. This is truly a gripping psychological thriller, can't-wait-to-find-out-what-happens-next book, with a thrilling (and surprising) ending! Pure escapism, 4 stars.

It’s been a long time since an audiobook has hooked me in in the way this one did. I was trying to find excuses to sneak a few more minutes as I just didn’t want to stop listening. The narrator was excellent and I felt she fitted the character perfectly. The plot itself kept me intrigued throughout and I, like the main character herself, suspected everyone at one point or another. A really great book which was fantastic on audio, highly recommend!

The narrator was good. This wasn’t one of B. A. Paris best books. It was a little slow and hard to concentrate on. The story was mediocre
#thetherapist #netgalley

When Alice and Leo meet, Alice wants to take it slow. She hasn't had a relationship with a man in several years plus it will be a long distance one since Leo lives in London and she lives an hour or so away. Alice is a therapist and leaving her clients behind would be a wrench. But the relationship seems to work out and thrive and after a while, the couple starts looking at houses. It's almost unbelievable when they find a marvelous house in a gated community that is everything they would ever want. They buy it and move in.
Leo still has to travel for his work so Alice is left there to meet the neighbors and start a new life. She notices that some of the neighbors are very standoffish and she wonders what she could have done to attract that. Slowly the secret emerges. There was a murder in their wonderful new house which is why the price was so low. While Alice is reeling from this discovery, she makes a worse one. Leo knew all about the murder and just didn't tell her so that she would agree to move and live there with him.

Alice is appalled and unsure about the future of her relationship. She decides that she will discover the truth about the murder and the couple who lived there before. Obviously they had relationships with her neighbors and she needs to know what those were. As Alice starts to delve into the past, she begins to encounter resistance from the neighbors and spooky things around her house. Did she really hear someone moving around the house during the night? Have things disappeared and other things appeared? What other secrets does she not know?

B.A. Paris has written an unsettling portrayal of upper class suburbia. There are many layers of secrets and betrayals. I had a hard time sympathizing with Alice. She seemed incredibly naive and obtuse for someone who supposedly made her living

Opinions: Talk about suspense! The Therapist is everything you could wish for in a thriller novel from the eerie new setting to the overly-vague neighbors that make no attempt to help the protagonists through their journey. In my experience, the most frustrating part of this book is the dramatic irony utilized by Paris to give readers an opportunity to know more than the characters - at every fork in the road, I was screaming while watching Alice and Leo make the wrong decision. Adding to this intense emotional draw was the world-building. If you're tired of fantasy but still obsessed with haunted houses like I am, then The Therapist is perfect for you. The devices Paris applied to compare the residence with a haunting were immaculate and added to the mildly grotesque atmosphere the pages gave off. I'm not usually a fan of thrillers, but this book was set up perfectly. Now, for the ending! Every page was more nerve-wracking and jaw-dropping than the last in the final quarter of the novel - the climax and resolution are the reasons I do not regret picking this one up! Without any spoilers, I guarantee that The Therapist will be begging you to begin re-reading it as soon as you close the back cover. Overall, the themes of trust, history, and open-mindedness were easy to pick up and, if anything, a bit too formally expressed through the text but all the more appreciated by readers like myself who can't pick up hints for the life of them. I adore this book and I truly recommend it!

My Least Favourite Part: There is one more comparison to a haunted house: the characters make very silly and ignorant decisions all throughout the story. It was difficult to care for Alice and Leo when they were experiencing life too slowly for no reason other than it was convenient for the plot of the book!

Recommended For and Similar Reads: I recommend The Therapist to mature readers eager for another edgy, high-intensity, electrifying thriller novel that don't have too many chores to be distracted from. Similar reads are Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides, The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware, and Home Before Dark by Riley Sager.

t took me months to get through this book. I kept putting it down for something else. It was a rather slow and boring to start. I feel like BA Paris books are becoming quite a formula and there isn’t much to excite me about them anymore? Also, most of the main characters are kind of dumb. I found myself just not carrying most of the book. There were a few shockers, but the beginning was just so boring. Trying to figure out why her neighbors act weird and who this person is that came to the party. Meh.

Bottom Line: The narrator was great. I have heard her do other books and I think she reads them quite well.

**I received an audio version of The Therapist from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are of my own.**

The Therapist is intriguing psychological (yes, pun intended!) thriller by B.A. Paris. It was an easy read as the mystery was full of twists and turns to keep the reader guessing throughout the story. The writing was smooth and set in two timelines that were not confusing to follow. Left the reader guessing: who is are the therapist and the patient? What happened to Leo? And who really are these seemingly nice people in The Circle?

Alice and her boyfriend, Leo, move into an upscale gated community in London called The Circle. They bought the house for a deal that seemed too good to be true, but it came with a catch. Thanks to a stranger who snuck into her closed cocktail party in her “safe” neighborhood, Alice finds out the truth. A precious member of the circle and prior owner of her home, Nina, was brutally murdered in the bedroom and her husband, Oliver, has been accused. However, those close to the couple do not believe he was capable, leaving Alice desperate to find out what happened to Nina. Obsessed with solving the mystery, Alice unravels clues one by one but fails to see the glaringly obvious truth right in front of her.

While this mystery definitely kept me guessing until the end, I did find myself a bit frustrated as Alice jumped from suspect to suspect. Frankly, it seemed like she who needed the therapist.

Overall, this was an interesting mystery that captured my attention to the end and I’d give it 4 stars.

The therapist was the perfect driving audiobook for me. You didn't know what was coming and every character was suspect. The narrator brought this story to life and made all the characters feel different.

After moving into their new home in a gated-community, Alice and Leo take the time to get to know their neighbours. Then, Alice discovers a secret Leo has been hiding from her about the therapist that used to live in the house. When Alice begins to ask the neighbours about what happened, no one wants to talk about it. Alice becomes obsessed with finding out what happened.

B. A. Paris is one of my favourite thriller authors, with a writing style I really enjoy. This author is one that I always THINK I know what is going to happen next, but end up being so wrong in the end. You never know who to trust in her novels, which makes it all the more exciting. The suspense builds slowly as you continue reading until the end when it becomes very fast paced. Most of the characters were intriguing, and I had my ideas of who was responsible. Alice annoyed me a little bit at times, and became way too involved. I listened to this on audio, and I think the narrators did a great job reading both parts.

The author, B.A. Paris, is a master of twisty psychological domestic thrillers. I always look forward to the next book, and this one was great! The story focuses on Alice, Leo, and their new neighbors in an exclusive gated community called The Circle. As Alice learns more about a tragedy that rocked the neighborhood two years ago, she obsessively tries to solve the puzzle. Can she find the answer in time?
The narration of the book was very good, and the narrator did a nice job of differentiating between characters. The jumps between past and present kept me invested in the outcome of the story, too.

**Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review**

I thought that this quote was really thought provoking, " Do you know what Henry Thoreau believed? Happiness is like a butterfly, the more you chase it , the more it will allude you, But if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder." I think that this quote in particular stood out to me because it was one of those right quotes at the right time situations. I will be honest, I had a hard time liking the therapist and thought that she was quite abrasive at times (I think that this might have been intentional though) Alice was very much so a busy body, and had an obsessive nature about her. Which don't get me wrong at times I understood, but not going to lie if a house where I lived gave me bad vibes I would take that as a sign to pack up and leave and not anger those who give me bad vibes. I think that Alice is a protagonist that makes it easy for the reader to sort of get annoyed with as she continuously seemed to put herself in danger and continuously push even though she was warned not to. I will say that I thought the author did a great job of incorporating red herrings into the story in a way that didn't feel forced. I thought that the pace throughout was great and that it helped make this story such an enjoyable read. Overall I think that this is a great thriller. I think it was super entertaining, and a great introduction to B.A. Paris for me. I will totally be reading more from her. I think this is especially great for those who are newer into thrillers as I thought it was thrilling and exciting, but not necessarily scary which the chicken inside of me was very thankful for haha.

Interesting story that kept my attention throughout. I didn’t guess the twist too early which always ruins thrillers. The narrator was enjoyable and I would definitely recommend for fans of Paris’ Behind Closed Doors.

The Therapist will have you guessing from the beginning. After Alice and Leo move into a gated community, life seems like it might be moving forward, but as Alice tries to get settled in her new neighborhood she discovers something she wishes she had never found out. While there wasn't much depth given to the characters, it was a quick read that me coming back to find out how it ended.

The story was a little slow paced for me, but I did really enjoy the narrator of the audiobook. She brought Alice to life for me! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

B.A. always delivers

Upon moving into a new house with her boyfriend Leo, Alice is told by a private investigator that someone had been murdered in her home, and he believes the murderer is still out there. Why hadn’t she known this before moving in? If the murderer is still out there, does someone on her new street more know than they are letting on? And who can she trust when anyone could be capable of murder?

I did find the story to be long, and slightly drawn out, but I wasn’t bothered by it as I usually am with books. It gave us time to get to know the characters on the street and really make judgments, trying to figure out who may have been responsible along with Alice.

Coupled with enough creep from the possibility of someone being in the house, or is the spirit of Nina still in the house waiting for justice, it kept me reading and kept me interested. Loved the ending when it all comes together, definitely will keep you guessing.

In The Therapist, Alice moves in with her boyfriend Leo, who just bought their home in an exclusive, gated London neighborhood. There are only 12 homes and the neighbors appear close to one another, though some a bit cool and distant toward Alice initially, as she attempts to befriend them.

Soon, Alice realizes secrets are being kept and the former resident of her home, Nina, was the victim of a tragedy. Alice becomes fixated on what happened to Nina, doubting some of the information neighbors are willing to share with her and she tries to glean more details about Nina and the tragedy.

The Therapist was my first B.A. Paris book. The end was a little dramatic and Alice was... not my favorite MC — She made dumb decisions, repeatedly. Overall though, I enjoyed the quick, domestic neighborhood suspense in this story, which kept me guessing the whole time — 3.5 stars

Sometimes, a slow-paced psychological thriller is just what the doctor ordered. I really enjoyed this one, even though it wasn't as exciting as I would have liked it to be. The book's main character is Alice, your average 30 something moving in with her long-distance boyfriend for the first time. They settle in a private, gated community in London. Alice already wants to be friends with the tight-knit group, until she finds out something dark about the house she just moved into. After that, she's suspicious of all her budding friendships.

Spliced between chunks of chapters is a mysterious "past" perspective of a therapist, which now that I actually know who this therapist is, I totally want to go back and read it again because I totally had no clue who it would be!!

I really liked the narrator. She brought Alice to life for me!