Debut author M Q Webb has penned an entertaining psychological thriller, How to Spot a Psychopath. A four-year-old girl goes missing whilst playing with her friends and Jessica Green is suspected of being responsible, but she refuses to explain. Forensic Psychiatrist Doctor Oscar de la Nuit decides to transfer Jessica Green into his care in order to help her. Yet, Oscar too has his secrets as the situation escalates and the mystery deepens. The narrative recounts what occurs in Jessica’s hospital treatment and uses flashbacks to reveal events leading up to Mia’s disappearance. A suspenseful tale with plenty of twists and psychological undertones that leaves you wondering and makes for a four-star rating. With thanks to Independent Book Publishers Association and the author, for an uncorrected advanced copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own and freely given.

Although I wouldn’t fully categorize this book as a thriller, it definitely has a lot of suspense.
I found this book to be easy to read and it grasped my attention quickly. I really enjoyed the dual timeline and it added so much to the mystery behind the story. I wanted to know everything behind the mystery between Jess and the missing girl, Mia, and the mystery behind Jess’s therapist, Oscar. What was his story? Why did he relate so much to Jess?
I originally chose this book because of the title. I was intrigued. I hadn’t even read the synopsis and I had no clue what to expect. This wasn’t it. It was so much better than I imagined. I was on the edge of my seat trying to read faster to get all the answers!
This is the first in the series and I will definitely be picking up the next one when it comes out.
Rated: 4.5 Stars

Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book (published independently by TBR)

If anyone knows me, they know I am very vocal about my dislike of The Silent Patient. Upon receiving this very TSP-esque sounding ARC, I hoped that maybe they would improve upon the foundation of that book and make a better version. All in all, I ended up liking this just slightly more than TSP, so yay optimism.

👍🏻What I Liked:

- Oscar was a well-developed MC, and I enjoyed his complicated and tragic backstory (that wasn’t all that it seems - dun dun DUN). A solid protagonist does a lot for a novel, and Oscar did a good job catching and keeping my attention

- The writing style was very dialogue heavy, which I normally don’t care for, but for some reason it really worked here

- I genuinely did not know where this story was going. I appreciate a thriller that keeps me guessing!

👎🏻What Didn’t Work:

- As much as I liked Oscar, I was bored by the other MC, Jess, which is annoying because her chapters should have been the action-packed ones

- Based on the ending, I get the impression this book was stretched so that it could be the first book in a series, but that made it drag. Either more should have happened in installment one or the story should have been a standalone.

- Despite how fun I had guessing the end, the payoff wasn’t worth it IMO. That being said, it is going to be a series so maybe it’s building to something a lot more epic

3.5★s
How To Spot A Psychopath is the first book in the Oscar De La Nuit series by M.Q.Webb. When forensic psychiatrist Oscar de la Nuit arranges for the transfer of a patient from remand to Whitner Psychiatric Hospital, it’s because he recognises what she is going through, and believes he can help.

Journalist and suburban mother of a four-year-old daughter, Jessica Green is being held on suspicion of murder. Mia Edwards attends the same kindergarten as her own daughter, Zoe, and has gone missing from Jessica’s home. Jessica’s refusal to talk about it has many, including friends and colleagues, believing she may be guilty of abduction and murder. After all, someone who refuses to defend their actions must be guilty, right?

Not everyone at Whitner is pleased about Oscar’s handling of Jess Green’s case and a rival uses his apparent lack of progress to undermine his position as manager. An ambitious colleague seems ready to use personal knowledge about Oscar to further his own career. But Jess talks to Oscar more freely than anyone else; she just won’t say where Mia is, and Oscar is not satisfied that she knows.

When Jessica Green realised that Zoe’s new friend was Holly Edwards’s daughter, she was dismayed: Holly already seemed intent on intruding into her close relationship with her sister Niki, and Jess just got a bad feeling about her. She’d been researching people with Narcissistic Personality Disorder for an article she was writing, and Holly fit the bill.

But was Holly dangerous? She played the battered wife card but, as a journalist, Jess wasn’t as easily taken in as her sister. The more encounters Jess had, the more she feared for safety, Mia’s, and her own family’s: bruises, a fearful child, an attack with a meat tenderiser, a broken arm. Jess needed to act…

The story is told through a dual timeline narrative, with Jess’s perspective on the events leading up to Mia’s disappearance, and Oscar’s detailing her time at Whitner. Webb is skilled at building the tension and keeping the reader guessing right up to the final pages, although astute readers may settle on the correct conclusion well before half way.

This ARC does suffer from typos, continuity issues and apostrophe diarrhoea; this copy is apparently an updated version with a new ending, but doesn’t fill a certain plot hole, nor is the resolution terribly satisfactory: a killing whose consequences are not addressed. However, the bulk of the story makes an impressive debut, and the second book in the series, When You’re Dying, may be keenly anticipated. Definitely a page-turner.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and TBR.

A missing child and grieving mother. Feels a bit of a flashback to the silent patient.... but it moved quickly and if I haven’t read the other, I probably would have liked this one more!

When Jessica meets a new mom when she drops her daughter, Zoe off at Kindergarten, she’s not as enamored as the other mothers. She’s sure Holly is not what she seems and she’s worried about her daughter, Mia. When Mia goes missing while she’s on be a play date at Jessica’s house, everyone is sure that Jessica knows where she is or maybe even killed her. The only problem ... Jessica’s not talking. After hearing about her case, Dr. Oscar de la Nuit has her transferred to the psychiatric hospital that he’s affiliated with. Suffering from his own demons, he thinks that he can help her, but will it be too late for Mia? This book has a good premise, but was quite repetitive and after spending so much time wondering about Mia, but the end it’s like Webb forgot about Mia leaving this reader rather disappointed.

I really wanted to like this story. The premise was good. A woman is being accused of hurting a 4 year old girl who disappeared from her house. Somehow, this never got very interesting. There was a lot of description of how great a doctor Oscar is and how observant he can be. I found him not to be particularly either. He was pretty boring and most of what he noted was unimportant and uninteresting. The entire thing had the feeling of a first draft of something I’ve already read, just before it was ready to go.

So I'm going to preface this by saying that I've seen a lot of reviews stating that this is very similar in concept to 'The Silent Patient' by 'Alex Michaelides' but I've never read this book and I've not really felt pulled in by the blurb or hearing about that book enough to read it - yet I was intrigued by this one!
I found it was a very easy read - mainly due to the shorter chapters. We get the story told by Oscar himself in the present tense as he's trying to deal with the new patient, Jessica and getting her to talk and then we also get to see the story of Jessica and Zoe in the past and running up to the events that put Jessica where she was.
Yes I did feel there was some repetitiveness between some chapters as Oscar was trying to get Jessica to talk but I feel this was a nice non-complicated read which meant that they didn't pull from the story that much and didn't slow from the pace.
I enjoyed getting to hear about Oscars backstory and how that also related to certain situations that were part of the main plot point. I thought that this was quite well done didn't make me roll my eyes with annoyance. I would have loved slightly more info on Jessica nearer the end of the book and maybe a bit more closure to do with Holly and Clay but other than that I thought it was a fast paced, easy and gripping read.

I found it quite difficult getting into this book. The writing style was bland in my opinion . The story in itself was ok. Nothing spectacular.

Interesting but not really my cup of tea. Well written I just personally couldn’t get into the story. It all starts when a four year old goes missing. How well do we really know the ones we live with and interact with? Who took the girl and who knows more than they are saying? I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This one was a mixed bag for me... There were some very engaging elements but the overall story arc and pacing were uneven and I found my attention waxing and waning. It started out strong though and caught me attention early on. That was enough to keep me engaged and curious as to how it would end, although I did see several of the revelations coming. The actual ending felt rushed though, particularly given the extremely slow set up that was most of the book. If it had been about 75 pages shorter, I think it would have been a much more suspenseful read.

Kept me intrigued throughout by making me feel as though as I was active detective in Jess’s guilt and kept me guessing. Interesting concept that respected reality to make it a more realistic read that made me invested into the outcome whilst being able to bond with all of the characters.

Blog Review at: https://drizzleofjoyblog.wordpress.com/2022/03/30/how-to-spot-a-psychopath/

*Thank you netgalley for this arc in return for my honest opinion.

It’s slow paced and does keep up the suspense in a way. I enjoyed until it started getting redundant with the whole “ I need to help her” ‘I don’t believe her ‘ . The concept was interesting, it just didn’t give what it should’ve. What would you do if someone went missing while at your place and you’re the main suspect? I’d definitely talk but that’s just me. You get POVs from Jessica and her psychiatrist, and their conversations keep you guessing and wondering. Since its Oscar’s series I see why his POV comes into place but it didn’t solve any puzzles in my opinion. At some point I thought everyone involved was the culprit and flashbacks were the only thing I found enjoyable. I was expecting all the pieces to fall into place, but we were given a what the hell ending. I don’t understand why we weren’t told what the outcome was since it was suppose to lead up to that. The showdown was anticlimatic and I felt like going back to see if I was missing pages since it was jumping scenes.

I did not finish this book. The title is interesting, but the writing style did not capture my interest.

This book is refreshingly well-written. We're presented with what seems like a cut-and-dry kidnapping case that becomes more complicated as each new layer is peeled back. A slew of characters are introduced, any one of which can easily be a psychopath with their own nefarious motivations, or they can just as easily be a good person, or a mix of both. From beginning to end, it's difficult to pinpoint exactly how it's going to end. I flip-flopped in my predictions a dozen times and still fell short of the answer, though maybe people who are better detectives would have an easier time of it.
The book is split between Then and Now perspectives meshed together in a unique (to me) way that isn't confusing or hard to follow. Where it falls flat for me is the pacing. I found myself enraptured in the Then chapters, rushing through them to try and get to the ending because I was so damn curious, but the Now chapters were less intriguing. Right at the end, however, the Now chapters got a hell of a lot more interesting. That whole ending is why I won't bump it down to 3 stars. I just couldn't get invested in Oscar's personal life, though I still enjoyed his character development overall. I was fighting between 3 and 4 stars, but even though I felt like it dragged on for too long, it wasn't so bad that I stopped reading, especially since I was damn invested in how it turned out.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: April 20, 2022
Four year old Mia Edwards disappeared while on a play date at Jessica Green’s house. The police, and especially Mia’s mother, Holly, all assume Jessica had something to do with it. But Jessica isn’t talking. At all. When she is moved to a psychiatric hospital, Dr. Oscar de la Nuit is determined to get the truth out of Jessica. But is he trying to redeem Jessica- or himself?
“How to Spot a Psychopath” is the debut novel by author M.Q Webb. It is the first in the “Oscar de la Nuit” series, and it is utterly and compulsively readable. I was a huge fan of “The Silent Patient”, and fans of Michaelides’ work will definitely see some similarities in Webb’s “Psychopath” (I also drew similarities to the film, “Gothika”, which is a favourite of mine).
The story is told in two time periods- aptly labeled “now” and “then”. The “now” time periods are narrated by Oscar (primarily), and the “then” is (also, primarily) Jessica. As the two storylines converge, I absolutely could not stop reading. One chapter flowed easily into the next, the taut storyline calling me to continue turning the pages. This was one of those novels I wanted to know how it ended- without actually wanting the novel itself to end.
Each and every character was suspect, and although I liked the majority of them, my opinion of “what happened to Mia?” changed with each chapter. The possibilities were seemingly endless, and I loved how Webb kept me guessing. I love that Oscar is getting his own series, as he definitely has the staying power to maintain one, and he is both charming and likable, and will definitely be an immediate hit with readers.
I am a fan of novels (and movies for that matter) that take place in psychiatric hospitals, or have psychology or mental disorders as their theme. Add a child abduction and a child with two untrustworthy parents and this novel was calling my name from page one. I cannot wait to see what Oscar has in store for me in his second novel, and I am grateful that Webb has introduced us to this new character. “Psychopath” is highly recommended for those who are looking to fill the emptiness that “The Silent Patient” left behind.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a pretty quick read as well. I will say that initially the back and forth between Jess and Oscar and everyone else about "Jess knows what happened to Mia" dragged a little too long for me, but not enough for me to stop reading. I was a little annoyed by that but overall I really liked this psychological mystery. I was pleasantly surprised to see at the end of the book that this book is one of a series for "Oscar de la Nuit". I will definitely be looking forward to reading the next book in this series.

Rating this book 2/5 stars

First off, I do not enjoy this cover design at all. I 10000% judge a book by its cover when it is not by a well-known author or publisher. I know it’s difficult for independent/indie authors to enlist good graphic design but c’mon there was just so much potential here!

The title and eventually the description of this book is what ended up drawing me in because I am a sucker for psycho thrillers. I was disappointed when it read just like a less enjoyable version of Silent Patient. It was just okay. I struggled to finish and not DNF it, which I probably would have done if I had picked it up for fun and didn't commit to an earnest read and an honest review. Even if it didn’t hit the mark for me, it is well written enough for others to potentially enjoy. Probably folks that haven’t already read Silent Patient. I am glad to see this book will be placed on Kindle Unlimited for its best chance to be successful.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and IBPA for the opportunity to read and review in advance of release 4/20/22!

First off, thank you NetGalley and IBPA for granting me early access to this book in exchange for an honest review.
“How to Spot A Psychopath” starts similarly to Michaelides’ “Silent Patient”, with an unstable psychiatrist becoming invested in a patient’s treatment and story. It then follows Oscar in his discovery of what happened and Jessica’s recollection of what happened.
Overall, this book has suspense, psychological twists, and plays with what you know to be true. My one issue with it was the ending. It felt rushed, inconclusive, and almost like a cut scene. If there was that much buildup to an ending, there should be more content.
Overall, this was a good book.

This book was well written with a good plotline and well developed characters that were relatable and likeable. It was fast paced, twisty and unpredictable that ;eft me guessing - I loved the ending it left me actuall;y wide mouthed in shock. I can't wait to read more by this author.