This book was so good. It kept me guessing right till the end. It was so jam packed with many different ideas. I read it all in a day.
5 stars.

Cole Baxter has provided some insight into mental illness. Ten years ago, James Owens was convicted of the murder of his girlfriend. He couldn't remember committing the crime, and due to his fragile mental state, he was placed in a mental institution to serve his time. Now that he's due to be released, he finds out that he's inherited his family home and all of his father's wealth. James finds this odd since his twin sister Janet was always the favorite. This book gives you an insight of what it is like to deal with a mental illness. People who do not have a mental illness (or any disability) don’t realize what they take for granted on a daily basis, whereas someone else could be struggling and find daily activities extremely difficult. This book also shows how even family can try to manipulate and take advantage of other family members. Thanks to Netgalley the author and publisher.

Sorry to say, this book was a huge disappointment!

The majority of the book was just filler, the writing was almost childlike and the romance storyline with the probation officer was completely unrealistic,

Janet was an awful character and it was blindingly obvious from early on, who the villain was. I struggled through, hoping for a big twist to prove me wrong, but there wasn’t one. So disappointing as I had such high hopes for this book.

1 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for an ARC in return for an honest review.

The Patient
by Cole Baxter
Pub Date: 08 Oct 2023

The Patient is a great thriller with dark topics about things some people go through on a regular basis that others are not aware of.

Trigger warning: this book is about abuse and the effects it has on a family as a whole. This could be sensitive for some readers.

Synopsis: Ten years ago, James Owens was convicted of a murder he couldn’t remember committing. Now, finally released from the mental institution where he’s served his time, he is placed under house arrest in the sprawling family home he has inherited from his father. James thought he’d be safe in this old house. He was wrong.

Many thanks to Inkubator Books and NetGalley for providing me with an E-ARC of this great thriller, "The Patient" by author, Cole Baxter.

First, I want to thank Cole Baxter, Inkubator Books, and Zooloo Book Tours for providing me with this book so I can bring you this review.

Cole Baxter’s latest psychological thriller The Patient gives us the readers an inside look of what it is like mentally and emotionally to be released from a mental institution. By giving us a close personal look he focuses on all sorts of mental health issues. This combo made this for a very eye opening and fascinating read.

As someone who suffers from anxiety and panic attacks I totally felt for James and his attacks.

I laughed at the part where James mentioned that all of the medical receptionists he talked to are always so cheery.

This book is filled with suspense, drama, and discovery of James’s past!

I received this book from NetGalley.

I really liked the sound of this book but I struggled to get into it. For me it only started to get interesting about halfway in but that also meant that it took me forever to read the first half of the book.

I understand the situation with James but I hate how easily Janet is able to manipulate him. It gets incredibly frustrating at the amount of times that this happens in the book. It became obvious way before the end of the book that Janet was doing these things. However, the twist with Brianna being locked up was a good one. It was obvious that Janet had something to do with it but I wasn't sure how. It was also obvious early on, however, that Brianna was innocent in the situation.

Overall, the book was alright but I feel like a movie would be better.

I couldn't put this book down! I am a Mental Health Counselor and very critical of how mental illness/counselors are portrayed in the media, and love how expertly and compassionately this author portrayed the client and mental illness in general. My only complaint (and again, I'm very critical) is how unethical the therapist was at times (breaking confidentiality, prescribing extra medication, making his feelings about the client's family well known.) But it still wasn't as bad as many therapist portrayals in the media, and I am still giving this book a solid 5 stars. It hooked me right from the beginning.

James Owen was convicted of a murder he could not remember committing, ten years later he is released on probation. What follows is an interesting and captivating story that will lead you astray with a slightly unreliable narrator who can’t quite tell the difference between his mind and reality.
This book was so interesting! I really enjoyed James’ character and how you could never really tell just what was going on! Really had me hooked, definitely will be reading more from this author

I’ll be frank - this was a disappointing read. It started off strongly, and the premise was interesting enough to draw me in, but it missed the mark for me.

You could immediately tell that Janet was bad news, and although there were moments of doubt along the way, it remained obvious that she was going to be the villain of the story. I kept thinking, ‘Surely it’s not going to be this predictable?’ But alas, it was.

There were also components of the storyline that felt like filler, since the details weren’t fully established; for example, why did James’s probation officer Brianna sleep with him? It initially seemed to me that he had an unreciprocated crush, since there wasn’t really any tangible chemistry between the two of them, so the turn of events seemed to come out of the blue. The secret passageways behind the house and the drawing that James created as a child that seemed to insinuate potential incestuous abuse were not explored at all, and we never found out the reason behind them.

The writing was simply & easy to read, and this may be a good choice for thriller beginners, but it made for a rather tedious read overall.

3.75 stars! I thoroughly enjoyed this book! A really good twisty story so I would recommend a read!!

What a read!
I had heard positive things about this book and I’m glad I picked it up!
There were some areas which I feel that writer could have done more research in the way of psychology.

I enjoyed the writing style and would definitely read any upcoming book by the author

Thanks to Netgalley and Inkubator Books for access to this Arc in exchange for my honest review.

First time I read from this author and I really loved his writing style. Sometimes it felt a little slow but it was so well written that it didn't bother me ! One of the characters got under my skin and I wanted to scratch their eyes out 🤣. I really loved the ending too.

Ten years ago, James Owens was convicted of a murder he couldn’t remember committing. Now, finally released from the mental institution where he’s served his time, he is placed under house arrest in the sprawling family home he has inherited from his father.

For beginners in the thriller-horror genre, it's a good read overall.. While the culprit was easily identifiable, the story's portrayal of mental illness was accurate and well done. The memories of James being abused by his father, although difficult to read, were necessary for the plot to unfold. Overall, the story was a bit predictable but still impactful.

Thank you Netgalley, and Inkubator Books for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

James has just been released from a mental institution after being accused of killing his girlfriend 10 years ago, something he has no memory of.

He has returned to his family home which he has inherited from his father along with a considerable amount of money. His twin sister, whom it was widely known was the favourite child received nothing if the inheritance. She has returned to assist James in his recovery and return to the relay world.

James is desperate to know what happened all those years ago d with the help of a therapist is searching for the truth.

This book delves into domestic violence and mental health from James perspective and leaves you wondering if he really is insane.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

#netgalley #thepatient #colebaxter

I absolutely loved this thrill ride book!!! I love any good medical suspense book and this did not disappoint at all!!! You'll definitely want to add this to your TBR pile!!

This was a quick read with a good twist at the end, it was a tiny bit predictable but an overall good book.

James Owen was just released from a mental institution. He inherited the house that had been his father's and with it came all the bad memories from his childhood. James doesn't remember what put him in the mental institution but he is ready to move on with his life. He has regular check in with his probation officer and his court mandated therapist. James is taking all his medication and he really feels like he is settling into his new life. Until his sister comes to stay with him. Janet claims that she is always on his side and only wants to help. But it doesn't always feel like it. James start to feel like he's going crazy. What is really going on? Is someone messing with his medication? Does someone want him to go back into the mental institution? Is it possible that his house could be haunted?

Thank you NetGalley and Inkubator Books for this ARC!

Although the start to this story I found quite slow all in all I enjoyed this book, I wouldn’t recommend this to someone looking to get started with psychological thrillers as I believe they would struggle to get into the story

This book is a thriller with horror elements.
It follows the mmc who is trying to understand what’s happened to land him in a mental health hospital. The chapters are a good length and the confusion felt by the mmc draws you into the book, I felt myself wanting to scream at the pages. I thought I knew what the twist was but then found myself second guessing.

⚠️Spoilers ⚠️
There were a few bits of the book that I found annoying, like the unprofessional probation officer…
And why James would still be on probation 6 months later if he was found not guilty…
The mother’s skeleton…

But overall I really enjoyed the book, it was a quick read and definitely had my heart beating at times!

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this arc.

Really good book, gripping from the beginning drawing ypu into the confusion felt by the main character and filling you woth intrigue into how it was all happening, who was responsible and was any of it actually real?
Good length chapters and well structured with easy to follow plots that keep you turning pages and wanting to read more

SPOILERS
The book started off well. I loved the premise. And I was excited to encounter a person with actual psychological issues in a psychological thriller (rare these days).
The suspense built up well. But the twist could be seen coming a mile away.
From the beginning, we know the MC's (James) sister is bad news. She was extremely unlikable and I was super frustrated that he didn't throw her out of the house right away. Her behavior with listening in on his conversations, eavesdropping, and calling him crazy constantly left me wanting to gouge my eyes out.
The relationship with the probation officer left me baffled. How could Brianna be so unprofessional? Their relationship was ridiculous and seemed out of character for Brianna to behave that way.
The bit about the tunnels in the house was unbelievable. No explanation was given as to why the house had secret passageways. And won't this have come up in the property papers, maybe in an appraisal, when James inherited?
On that note the fathers character was a caricature. I would've loved to learn more about why he was that way.
The ending was rushed. It all happened very suddenly after a long laborious process to get there.