Fantastic read. It was chilling, exciting and had me hooked from the off. It’s one of those books your bound to love or hate. Great plot. Love the authors dark humour.

This was an odd dystopian fiction, I couldn’t quite work out if I loved it or hated it but it pulled me in all the same and kept me intrigued until the end!

She went willingly to the hospital. She couldn't have anticipated how difficult it would be to leave...

Mr and Mrs Sincope are anticipating the birth of their first child. On the way to the hospital for Mrs Sincope's induction their squabbling over their daughter's name betrays an unquestioning trust that everything will go to plan. And why wouldn't it?

But as the hours pass and Mrs Sincope's labour doesn't begin, the couple start to worry. And as the hours bleed into days and there is still no sign of progress, it becomes clear that there is something far more sinister going on behind the white hospital doors...
If you appreciate dark humour you’ll love it

Oddly Quirky…
Oddly quirky and rather bizarre dystopian suspense. There’s plenty of very dark humour here, it’s very dry and often very bleak. An unexpected read and with a plot populated with a madcap cast.

I really enjoyed this novel. All the aspects of a great read were found within these pages. Be sure to pick up this title!

Mr and Mrs Sincope are ready to welcome their first child but hours after being induced, Mrs Sincope is still awaiting her labour to begin. The hours slowly bleed into days and it becomes acutely apparent that something incredibly strange and sinister is going on within the hospital. This dark, unsettling story is full of thoroughly unlikeable characters and commentary on the very real treatment of women’s bodies when they’re at their most vulnerable. Amongst the witty social satire and funny lines, the attitudes displayed by many characters in this seemingly bleak dystopian aren’t too far away from those that really exist. This cleverly written, strange and unique read is a quick, absorbing, out-of-the-box look into the importance of women being in charge of their own bodies, which is incredibly relevant to today.

This is one of those books you will either love or hate. I personally call these marmite books. But I can't sit on the fence. I'm leaning more to the "yikes what did I just read" side.

I didn't experience much humour. It was there I guess but it was kind of dark. Not my cup of tea. Also, I did find some things offensive. That's not necessarily a bad thing. What I find offensive you may find funny. It's why we read books. Everyone has their own opinion.

The reviews for this book are definitely diverse, but isn't that what makes us individuals. Isn't that the fun side of reviewing books. We can't all like the same things.

I would give this author another go. I just didn't really like this book.

Enjoy!

I read 30% of this book and then gave up. It was repetitive and very boring. I kept waiting for some sort of sci-fi happening but it just didn't appear. I mean how often would Mr Syncope get lost within the hospital. If he was my husband supporting me through labour then we wouldn't stay married for long!

The Patient is a surreal, chilling and bizarre dystopian thriller interspersed with dark humour about bodily autonomy and the medical establishment and featuring some Kafkaesque elements. That said, I can certainly understand why people’s sensibilities may have been offended by some of the language that was perhaps trying too hard to be edgy. It revolves around a married couple, Mr and Mrs Sincope, who are expecting a child and attend the hospital in order for the Mrs Sincope to be induced. On the way, Mr Sincope has the bright idea of naming their kid Felicia after the Skoda they are driving, and this is precisely the sort of "insensitive, passive-aggressive comment that is essential to understanding his personality", his missus states. It's essentially a domestic thriller set in a speculative science fiction world or dystopia where we get to know the Sincope family, their upbringing, their opinions and their lives right up to the induced labour of their unborn daughter, Faith, and beyond.

Inducing birth is done millions of times a day around the globe, but this time it doesn't appear to be quite so simple as sinister forces envelop that area of the hospital. It is performed by Dr Blot, an obstetrician whose door sign incorrectly reads "OBSTETICS". A few days later, Mrs Sincope is visited in the ward by Dr Sharp who tells her that her cervix has not dilated a single centimetre since she was induced around 48 hours ago. It soon comes to the fore that months have passed since she became a seemingly permanent fixture at the hospital and the story continues showing her husband attending work and carrying on with life as normal before becoming addicted to pills. A whole year later she is still present on the ante-natal ward and has not given birth. This is the tale of that crazy year.

This barmy yet oddly compelling read begins in a very normal fashion with the story of their pregnancy and associated troubles having been featured in a magazine called Mammary Monthly (lol). It's an almost farcical affair and a witty, unusual black comedy piece. But swiftly it descends into snipes at northerners and their accents (despite him then marrying a Mancunian), foreign nannies deemed not good enough for Mr Sincope's parents when he required childcare and the spouting of road-rage-induced profanity. The characters are quirky and highly idiosyncratic, and although neither main character is particularly likeable, they make up for that by being multifaceted and intriguing. A darkly comical, off the wall read that I highly recommend if you're into thoroughly strange and refreshingly original works of fiction, however, it's an acquired taste and will definitely not be enjoyed by everyone who picks it up.

I wish I had more positives to write about this book. I knew that having it compared to "The Silent Patient" was a tall order, but this one is in my opinion, nowhere near comparable.

Through this book, you follow the journey of Mr. and Mrs. Sincope and their awaiting of their daughter, Faith. Unfortunately, both characters are pretty miserable from the jump and it makes it difficult to continue to read. As a woman reader. reading Mr. Sincope's POV was straight up awful. If you wanted a picture of your typical, think I am better than everyone, misogynist, racist, male-he is it. It was really distracting from the book and difficult to read.

The other issue is just the major plot hole and lack of development in the book. As I read, I kept waiting for more and more of the dystopian, locked in the hospital vibe, and you really don't get much of that-especially considering that is what the book is supposed to be centered around. It really just makes you feel like people don't have any idea what they are doing, versus dystopian medicine vibes.

Read and felt tragic about the whole story itself. This book is not for me. Some bantering between the characters is funny other than the rest is too offensive for me.

I am grateful to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for allowing me to read and review an eARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book was just not for me.
One, this book is ver slow and way too descriptive about irrelevant things.
It says it's a suspense, but it didn't feel like a suspense at all. And I don't count sexism and racism as dark humour either

i got a ARC of this book for free through netGalley in exchange of an honest review...

i finally finished this book, and i dont know where to start explaining why i didnt like this book, first the ARC copy that was sent to me, had words glued together but that its only the aspect of said copy, the one you'll get in the future will be diferent i am sure of it.

second thing about the book it's about the english used... to talk about a breastfeeding magazine (during pregnancy women are given and read quite a lot of these) i dont know for the life of me, why the author used the word "mammary" instead of breastfeeding, one woman in here is described as being pneumatic, i dont read that kind of wording since the original enghlish of "brave new world"... i felt unconfortable many times during this reading... i think the author mr Nick Tyrone didnt do a good reserching about birth, pregnancy, induction, etc.. that is so foreign to him that makes all of the medical part of this book like fake, i am no doctor myself, but i had two children born from me... and one thing an expecting mother does, and that will scare the cr#p out of her or maybe give her hope its hear other women experience.

other thing its the characters, neither of the Sincope couple are someone anyone will like... the man its a jerk, always thinking of sex and bobs, too much detail for him and for a stupid coat that he left on a coffee shop than for his wife... one would think this is like calling too much attention to oneself... the wife is no better herself "she was never going to marry a man like that, as she was looking for a waitrose: a little pricey but delicious, filled with life-changing items" oh really?!.. i hatted her since this one sentence...
i thought i would like jill the woman in the front desk, because she was introduced like " jill is the type of gal who doesn't get out much, her best friend in the world is her cat, Mittens. She speaks fluent Klinglon", but while i thought she would be important... she wasnt and this was just a derrogatory way of talking about another woman in here...

i finished reading it, with as many doubts as i started... i think this could have been better given away as a short story... but dont try to make an one year pregnancy, before 45 weeks a woman would be going through cirurgy to take the baby out... the lack of doctors and nurses actively looking for heartbeat was overly disturbing to me... even ignoring the patient was disturbing... so many details lost and completely irrelevant because they weren't addressed later... i really dont like saying this but i didnt like and it wasnt worth of my time, but since i managed to go to the last page and read everything i give it a 2 stars

Billed as a ‘dark humour dystopian’ tale I am not sure after reading it if it fit’s any or all of the description
I mean its really bizarre, Mr and Mrs Sincope go to hospital as she is about to give birth and a year later she is still on the ante natal ward having NOT given birth and the story is all based around that year
It certainly didn’t make me laugh out loud although some of the narrative was darkly witty, some excruciatingly the opposite has to be said
Some of the characters are funny, some are written so obnoxiously its hard not to be affronted by them
It’s a very weird read, very unusual and not for everyone ( some reviews have been more then clear making this point ) but I did continue reading and finished it, even though not sure I understood the ending after all that!

6/10
3 ( just ) Stars

If Franz Kafka wrote a medical thriller, this would be it. Think The Trial or In the Penal Colony, but in a hospital.

dnf at 25%

For me it’s a hell no. It’s a book I would recommend to my 70 year old racist, homophobic and sexist grandpa, though! I went into this thinking I’d be a cool Sci-Fi story about a family being trapped in a hospital. Or something like that.

But actually it’s a depressing book with apparently “dark humor”. I guess “dark humor” is mean, grumpy, sexist and horrible characters being mean, grumpy, sexist and horrible to each other.
It was boring, bland, offensive and just plain depressing. I don’t know what else to say honestly. I read 25% and it’s exactly what the blurb says.

Perhaps if you’re like my grandpa or don’t mind very dark characters you could like this. But I—a queer teenager—am definitely not the demographic for this!

"The Patient" by Nick Tyrone starts off "normal" with a woman and her husband visiting the hospital for the induction of their first child, Faith. However as time goes on , it turns slightly surreal , almost a black comedy as Dr Blot visits Mrs Sincope but she hasn't dilated after 48 hours of being induced. In fact, she is in the hospital for months! During this time her husband goes back to work and she becomes addicted to pink pills. Enjoyable but most bizarre.

A couple expecting a baby go into hospital so the mother can be induced. The procedure sounds routine but it turns out no to be quite so simple as dark forces are at work in the hospital.
This is an unexpectedly and darkly funny story populated with bizarre characters and bureaucratic madness.
The front cover belies the contents, so if you’re expecting a medical thriller you’ll be disappointed but this quirky story is highly recommended if you fancy something a bit left-field.

I was instantly hooked by the description of this novel, but i really really enjoyed this! I would definitely buy this!

I was part way through this book and wondered if I'd picked the wrong one up.
It was far more humorous than I expected.
I checked,it was the right book.
It manages to be absurb,funny and sinister all in the space of a page.
Definitely something a bit different.
Definitely worth picking up.