Privacy is the latest novel by ex-screenwriter Nina Sadowski, and I think it would make a great TV series. It begins with the introduction of lead character, Dr. Laina Landers, a SoCal therapist. On her way home from work one day, she receives a call from a patient she has been treating in couples therapy with his wife. Something has caused him to snap, and he is currently holding his wife at gunpoint. Laina rushes to the scene and, thankfully, is able to talk him down; and the police take him into custody. Also at the scene is a television reporter new to the San Diego. His name is Cal Murray, and he's just relocated from Savannah to San Diego. He's impatient to make his name in this new market, and a politician holding his wife at gunpoint is just the kind of story he needs. Something in Cal's gut though tells him that Laina Landers is the real story at this crime scene, and he becomes obsessed with knowing more about her. Eventually, Cal convinces Laina to let him interview her about the new trauma center for teens she is opening with her practice partner, Dr. Harley Weida, convincing her it will be great publicity. Of course, this is a novel so one thing leads to another and Cal and Laina become romantically involved.

The story quickly moves on to some suspicious packages being delivered to some of Laina's clients. We soon discover that the politician had received a tape of his wife with another man. Another patient receives what appears to be a human fetus in a jar with an ominous note saying "Watching you." Then a third patient, who is dying from cancer, receives a dollar bill soaked in oil with the same message. Someone appears to have it out for either Laina or her partner Harley, someone who could jeopardize their plans for the new trauma center. Cal Murray is convinced his investigative skills will enable him to find out who is behind all this and why. What he discovers will change his and Laina's lives forever.

There's a lot good about this new novel, although I wasn't crazy about the romance angle. I'd rate it as 3.5 stars, as a good solid suspense novel.

My thanks to NetGalley and Random House/Bantam Books for providing me with an eGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was an addictive and gripping read! There was so much secrecy, stalking, and gas lighting that lead to twists after twists! While I don’t tend to enjoy romance in my thrillers, there was a little romantic spice sprinkling throughout and it really worked for me! This was a slower, suspenseful build that has an explosive ending that you will not see coming! If you are anything like me, this book kept me guessing and on my toes so you won’t want to put it down!

This was my first book by Nina Sadowsky and it will not be my last!

***** Many thanks to Random House Publishing Group -Ballantine, Nina Sadowsky, and NetGalley for the gifted copy as it was provided to me in turn for my honest opinion.

Review will be posted to instagram (thriller_book_sister) closer to pub date.

Laina Landers is a respected marriage and family therapist. She has even become somewhat of a media buzz name after she helps police talk one of her troubled clients into freeing his wife who he was holding at gunpoint. Her notoriety suddenly makes her and her clients a target when it becomes clear someone has gained access to Laina's files and begins sending disturbing messages and gifts and signing "I am watching you".

The book started out creepy and had me quickly reading but, then Laina started to grate on my nerves, as she doesn't seem to follow a code of ethics and, there is romantic relationship with a television journalist added to the plot line. I thought her clients and their issues made for some interesting reading but overall this book wasn't as satisfying as I anticipated. The story itself may be too creepy for some readers especially if anyone has ever been a victim of stalking.

Rating - 3.5/5 stars
https://bibliophilebythesea.blogspot.com/2022/06/brief-book-reviews-privacy-nina.html

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC for an exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed reading this book. Recommend it

This is one of the twistiest books I’ve read in a while! It has a very explosive opening scene. I love books about therapists so I’d knew I’d love this one going into it. Highly recommended.

After seeing the cover and reading the description for this, I think I had a very different idea of what this was about and how it would go. I think this is partly why I didn't love this as much as I could have. I found the characters to be very interesting and loved the twisty ending, but really didn't find the relationships to be as organic as I would have hoped. This didn't suck me in like I thought it would. Cal's role in this almost read more like a detective than a journalist, and I don't love detective thrillers. This is another reason this didn't quite resonate with me. Overall. I just thought there was a bit too much going on with the patients and a bit too much focus on that that distracted away from the actual suspenseful storyline. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

ith reading thrillers. It used to be my favorite genre, but I’ve read so many that now I find most of them to be predictable and generic. Privacy by Nina Sadowsky was no different. This book had a slow start, and then I guessed the twist ending at the halfway mark. The ending could have been unique, but the execution just wasn’t there — it was foreseeable and rushed. Even though the story was told from the perspective of the two main characters, Cal and Laina, I felt that they were underdeveloped as their backgrounds and personalities were lacking. I also thought their relationship felt forced and insincere. One highlight of the book was the social commentary on race, COVID-19, privacy, mental health, and the media. All timely topics that were adequately covered throughout the story. The book was also a quick read at under 300 pages with short chapters. While this book wasn’t necessarily the right read for me, I chalk a lot of that up to my current mood towards the genre and think it could be a good fit for anyone who enjoys an easy-breezy thriller.

Watching - someone is watching. And so begins this tantalizing psychological thriller about a therapist and her patients. Also involved is a partner in the practice, a lawyer, a transitioning best friend and possibly a new love interest in the form of an intrepid reporter. Delicious!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bantam for this ARC!

This book was chilling! The story line was compelling and kept me fascinated from beginning to end. More than that though, it made me question how much I reveal via social media and what one could do with that information if that had ill intent. Highly engaging, entertaining read.

“Liberation through truth, right?”

Dr. Laina Landers is an accomplished marriage and family therapist, who helped found the Better Life Clinic with her partner Harley. She is doing her best to help treat clients when it becomes clear that they are victims in someone’s effort to destroy her career. Someone is delivering cryptic messages that say “Watching You.” Bombshell secrets are revealed in her patients’ lives, causing great interest in the media. When Cal Murray, a Black investigative reporter takes interest in the case, she not only finds herself attracted to him, but a victim of the watcher as well.

Will Cal crack the case before it’s too late?

This book was written and inspired by the pandemic, as mentioned in the author’s acknowledgments. It deals with themes of Black stereotypes, racial inequality, racial profiling, and racism.

Note: This is not an escapist fiction thriller.

This plot seemed like one that I would enjoy. However, I found myself skimming through most of the pages. While the author casts doubts on many suspects and provides several red herrings, I easily predicted the person behind this scheme. Also, the romantic connection between the two main characters is very OTT.

However, if you enjoy slow burn thrillers, the reveal is saved until the very end!

This book might appeal to those who enjoyed All Her Little Secrets by Wanda M. Morris.

Expected publication date: 6/14/22

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing-Ballantine for the ARC of Privacy by Nina Sadowsky in exchange for an honest review.

2.5/5 stars rounded up

Laina Landers is a therapist, and a good one at that. She usually does one-on-one sessions but she went out on a limb once for a couple and they were so pleased that they told a few people and word got around. Now Laina has a handful of couples she works with.

As she’s leaving work, she gets a really bad feeling. She thinks she’s sensing danger in the parking lot but she makes in to her vehicle and locks the door. Her intuition was right. There is trouble but it’s not in the parking garage right now.

Peter and Clare are in big trouble. They’re patients of hers. Peter is threatening to shoot Clare! Laina says she will be right over. She arrives there to tons of media but races over to help anyway.

That’s when we meet Cal, a black male reporter just biding his time in this conservative wasteland he calls San Diego, until he can make it to LA. We learn, of course, that Peter Hutchison is a Republican candidate for Congress because of course he is! As the standoff comes to a close because Laina diffuses the situation, Cal is desperate for a response either from police, Clare, neighbors or ideally Laina. He sees that she’s the real scoop here. He is forced instead to suffer the neighbors’ microaggressions to get a little morsel of info.

Laina brushes him off but once she gets home and has a good cry, she sees herself on the news. Cal showed her declining his request for comment. Now her phone is ringing off the hook.

As her fame grows, someone starts targeting her patients. Basically playing a game or Saw, sending them reminders of their problems. How do they know? What do they want?

I’m going to be blunt and honest, I just didn’t care for this because I don’t like unexpected political issues in my fiction. It’s distracting and annoying. We deal with too much in real life right now not to deserve an escape.

A therapist learns that police are at the home of some of her patients, a married couple, who are involved in a violence situation. She rushes to the scene and is filmed by a reporter in the act of trying to prevent a murder. The reporter wants more of her and more story so he pushes her FL more details. More patients find themselves in situations to the point where it seems someone must have accessed her patient records. The reporter won't take no for an answer and keeps digging against her wishes.
Not great, too dezcriptive, skimmed a lot.
Thank you NetGalley for an advance reader. Opt in exchange for an honest opinion.

This is my second book by the author and there is something really captivating about her writing style that really appeals to me. I love starting a book and realizing it’s both fast paced and on the shorter side too and that’s what this one had, and then the first couple of chapters were so interesting I just knew I would read it in a couple of sittings. I totally did by the way, it was addictive.

I think the strongest aspect of this one was the really tricky and fun guessing game the author created. I had several theories that changed repeatedly throughout the book and not one of them were right in the end. I was definitely surprised when all was revealed and even though it was a little bit out there and sorta wacky I still enjoyed it. Overall I found this one to be creepy and unsettling but also really entertaining in a bat shit crazy kind of way.

I just added a new auto-buy author to my list. Thankfully, I've had Just Fall waiting on my kindle for quite some time. Privacy is the epitome of a psychological thriller. It keeps you on the edge of your seat, wondering what's going to happen next and suspecting everyone. Sadowsky's way with words will keep you guessing throughout the entire book.

The story follows Dr. Laina Landers, a successful therapist (mainly for couples) who is called when one of her patients is being held hostage by her husband. And honestly, not much more can be said without major spoilers. All I'll say is that someone has it out to destroy her career, and the ending will shock you.

Gripping and fabulous.
4.5/5 stars

Thank you to Random House, Ballantine - Bantam, and NetGalley for eARC in exchange for my honest review!

Privacy
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 (Rounded to 4 for rating)
Genre: Thriller
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 6/14/22
Author: Nina Sadowsky
Publisher: Bantam
Pages: 272
Goodreads Rating: 3.73

Thank you to NetGalley and Bantam for providing a digital copy of the book for me to read in exchange for my honest opinion.

Synopsis: What is the cost of carrying not only your own pain and grief, but that of so many others? Dr. Lana Landers is good at her job. She's an accomplished marriage and family therapist, dedicated and compassionate. When she is summoned by the police after one of her patients holds his wife hostage at gunpoint, she is able to intervene and dissuade him. Lana becomes a media sensation. But as her star rises, the target on her back grows larger. Aided by Cal Murray, the ambitious and charismatic investigative journalist with whom she has an explosive attraction, Lana discovers that someone has it in for her. Someone with access to her patient records. Someone who wants to end her stellar reputation, her newfound success, and even, perhaps, her life.

My Thoughts: This was an unique thriller where it has a since of romantic suspense to it. The story is narrated by Lana and the journalist, Cal, alternating between their perspectives. The other characters was of course the stalker and the patients; with a vast array of characters, sometimes, it was hard to keep up. The author develops these characters, especially our two MCs, with depth and creativity. The chapters are structured to make you want to skip to the next chapter in the same sitting, making the book hard to put down, that is after you get past the bit slower part at the beginning of the book. The author writes a very twisty, chilling tale that will make you think twice about who is watching you!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to read and give an honest review of this book.

Dr. Laina Landers seems to be a therapist that is fully invested in seeing her clients succeed.
Then, all of a sudden things go terribly wrong. Someone seems to be spying on her clients and leaving threatening items and the message, “Watching You.”

She is in a new relationship with a tv news reporter, Cal Murray. He worries for Laina’s safety and begins some investigative reporting to try and get to the bottom of all the trouble that her clinical practice is seeing. Both Cal and Laina have had traumas in their pasts that they are trying to move on from.
Will they be able to keep their relationship on track in order to be successful?

This is an interesting mystery and will keep you involved until the closing pages.

A thrilling suspense novel, creepy and unnerving. Told in multiple POVs, the story starts out very strong and fast paced but ultimately loses steam. The premise caught my attention but the execution didn't quite hold it.

I really liked this book! I was a bit disappointed in the end, it seemed a little rushed. But I did enjoy it, look forward to more books from Nina Sadowsky!

This was overall an OK read for me. I think that it started off really strong and then the ending left a bit to be desired. The premise sounds really really promising. I would be interested to see what the author comes up with next because I think there is definitely potential there. Thanks for the chance to read and review early!

Unfortunately this book is not for me. I struggled to get into this from almost the first page. Political and racial posturing along with some cringey sex scenes have convinced me not to finish this. I did enjoy the authors previous book so I thought I'd give this one a try but I shouldn't have.

Thank you to the Ballantine Books for my copy!