The Patient has all the ingredients for a great thriller - a murder victim, a transplant recipient or two, and a rich family. What else would you need, right?

Saphie is the recipient of a heart transplant that turns out to be from a murder victim (Flora), and the crime has yet to be solved. Two others also received organs. Floras family has reached out to all of them, and soon they are dying.

Let me just state that this could have been wrapped up with just the last 25% of the book. It was so slow and there was so much character building that after a while it just felt like it was repeating itself.
I will say that by sticking it out (because there were several times I almost DNF), I finally learned why it was a thriller! Otherwise I would just call this a sloooow burn fiction..

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for this arc in return for my honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️
Pub date: 13 Feb 2024

Saphy is learning to live again after receiving a heart transplant. She received it from a woman named Flora, who was almost murdered and was left in a coma. As Saphy learns to adjust to her new life, she becomes curious as to who her donor was. When Flora’s family decides they want to meet Saphy, it feels like Flora is back in their lives. Saphy soon tries to intergrate herself into Flora’s family and gets close to Floras sister in attempt to find out who would attack Flora and leave her for dead.
This is a VERY slow burn story in which not a lot happens other than a lot of talk about the transplant and life surrounding the surgery and the donor and recipient and their respective families until about 70% in. Then the twists and the suspense finally kicks in.
Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for my review.

The Patient is an engrossing psychological thriller that explores the dark side of obsession and grief. The story follows Saphy, a heart transplant recipient who becomes increasingly consumed with learning more about her organ donor and inserting herself into the donor's family.

The author builds suspense as Saphy's fascination turns into a troubling obsession. Her boundaries slowly erode as she lies and manipulates Flora’s loved ones to gain access to their lives. Though readers may sympathize with Saphy's internal struggles, it becomes apparent she is losing control.

The book burns slowly, with some level of predictability. The end quickly ignites and erupts leaving readers to sit with the fallen pieces in the best of ways. Well-crafted characters add complexity, making the relationships genuine and emotional.

While relatable at first, Saphy’s escalating obsession causes readers to second guess her reliability, building apprehension about where her reckless adventures will lead. When the truth is finally exposed, the fallout is shocking and devastating.

The Patient stays with you long after the final page. This book quickly landed its way to my top 10 list.

This is what I call a Lifetime thriller! Meaning, if you like lifetime movies, you’ll love this book! Before I get started, I do want to mention this needs a TW for child abuse.

“The Patient,” is a psychological thriller about a woman who receives a heart transplant from a girl who was murdered. She feels a connection to her, and when others are attacked that received organs from the victim, she can’t help but worry.

The story starts a bit slow, but the second half is wild. I couldn’t wait to see what happened, and am still trying to figure out what I actually think of the book. I didn’t see the end coming at all! It is very dark and twisted. Overall, if you are ok with kid stuff and into thrillers you’ll probably like this one!

I loved everything about this book.
The concept is really interesting, the characters so well formed and instantly real on the page.

There were so many layers to this story that were pieced together really brilliantly resulting in a complex but easy to follow narrative which can be tricky to pull off.

Will definitely be looking out for more books by Teri Terry in the future.

Also, not that it should matter but we all know it does, that is one fabulous cover!!

The premise of the story is sensational, a girl who receives a heart in an organ transplant and starts to connect with the donor's family, but as time passes, everyone who received something from the donor starts to be murdered. But based on the title, we expect a great thriller with a lot of action, and in that it leaves something to be desired. The book shows a lot about the characters' personalities, on the one hand this is good for a deeper understanding, but on the other hand it is bad because it made the book tiring and very dragging. There are no big events, there will just be a little more action at the end. Even so, I really liked the story and I thought the cover was beautiful!

After seeing the cover (amazing) and reading themblurb to this book, I just knew I had to read it. Everything was shouting at me to drop whatever Inwas doing and pick it up.... so I detest the fact that in all honesty I just didn't like it!

Saphy is a heart patient in desperate need of a transplant. On receiving the new heart she comes to learn it's the heart of a girl, Flora, who was murdered. Whilst recovering, like any transplant patient, she becomes curious as to who her donor was and finally gets to meet Flora's family.

Arrrrgggghhh, everything about this books synopsis and the bright, grab my attention cover was exactly what I wanted BUT I just found it sooooo boring. It was bland, repetitive and just plodded on until the last quarter of the book and by then I'd surprised myself that I'd stuck with it.

In all honesty I personally think if this had been shaved down into a 'short atory' it would have been great, there was just too much development of characters and I find constant repetition makes my brain ache!

2* as even though predictable I did enjoy the ending and the cover is spot on.

With thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC.

Thank you to BookOuture and Netgalley for the ARC.

The premise of this sounded very exciting and there is action and excitement near the end of the novel but for the most part it's a slow paced drama. Nothing wrong with that as it gives time for a good psychological insight into the characters and into the whole aspect of organ donations and what it feels like to have your life saved by a donation. I would have preferred it to move along a little more quickly though.

Throughout the novel we get lots of short chapters either from the point of view of Saphy who receives a heart transplant and from Fern who is the sister of Flora. Flora was left in a coma after being strangled by an unknown assailant and when it's clear she has become brain dead her organs are used to save other lives.

I won't spoil the plot by saying how Saphy and Fern meet or what it has to do with Flora's murder.
There's an almost supernatural feel in places where you're never sure if the ghost of Flora is inhabiting Saphy. I'd have liked that aspect to have been more at the forefront of the plot as it was more interesting than whether Saphy was or wasn't trying to worm her way into Flora's family.

I struggled a little with all the internal thoughts and dialogue as the voices weren't distinctive enough and I had to keep checking as to whether I was reading about Saphy or Fern but I'll concede that may have been me.

The last 20% was very exciting although one of the big twists could be seen a mile off thanks to the slow pace earlier on.

Overall it was entertaining and a great idea so I give it 3.5 stars.

Fern, sister of Flora, and Saphy, who received Flora's heart after she died, tell this implausible but entertaining story that has a good twist at the end. Someone is killing those who received Flora's organs after her death but who? Saphy, who has been spending time with Flora's family, is a target now-and she's got to figure this out fast. A page turner.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC!

Book: The Patient
Author: Teri Terry
Genre: Thriller/Domestic Thriller

Rating: ☆☆☆☆

Overview: Saphy has had a congenital heart defect for most of her life and soon after getting COVID discovers that she needs a heart transplant faster than anticipated.

Flora is a young woman who's life has been let go too soon after a brutal attack by her ex boyfriend who is allegedly responsible for her brain death.

Fern is the loving and supportive sister of Flora who has to make a decision to keep her sister alive and hope one day she will wake up or to keep her sisters memory alive through the gift of organ donation.

When Fern is certain there is no life left in Flora, she accepts that the best way to keep Flora alive is to donate her organs. However, strange things have been happening to the recipients of her organs and Fern begins to question the motive behind Flora's death and what really happened to her sister.

Review: This was an enticing read and I would recommend this book, especially to medical thriller lovers. I usually do not like stories where the book is told from multiple points of view, but this one was fluid and easy to follow along. The story was interesting and it kept you guessing the entire time. The ending was shocking and I didn't see it coming. I'm excited to see where this author goes as I belive it is their first adult fiction book. I would recommend this read.

The Patient
Teri Terry
Pages: 360
Format: Kindle (NetGalley Bookshelf)
5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book was so captivating! I was hooked from the prologue. It had twists and turns that I never expected. I work with children with congenital heart disease, so this book intrigued me from the description. I really enjoyed the wtiting of the book. Every chapter ended on a cliff hanger and made me want to keep reading. The chapters are short which made me fly through this book. I am definitely going to read more from this author.

There are some trigger warnings:
Sexual Abuse
Physical abuse

This book is told from two different perspectives, one of them is from a heart transplant recipient (Saphy) and the other one is from the sister of the donor (Fern). Saphy has a congenital heart defect and she is going to die without a heart transplant. She finds a donor named Flora.

Flora was the popular girl that everyone loves. One night she was attacked and left in a coma, most people thought she was dead but she isn't. She could still hear everyones voices but couldn't respond.

With a new heart Saphy is determined to enjoy life again but she has these glimpses of another girl. She is suddenly drawn to things that she normally didn't like. The color yellow, blond hair, and high fashion clothes. Why is this happening?

She has the opportunity to meet the donor's family and she loves them all. They start to form a relationship but one of Flora's friends thinks that Saphy is trying to replace Flora and worm her way into the family.

One day the other recipients of Flora's organs start to die mysteriously. Who could be doing this? Is it the same person who hurt Flora? Is Saphy the next victim?

First things first: thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for a free ARC of The Patient in exchange for my honest review.

The Patient tells the story of a young woman in need of a heart transplant and against slim odds one is found and her life saved. For the time being that is. Saphy quickly gets caught up in her donor's world and learns that the old adage "All that glitters is not gold" is true. In fact, it very well could be deadly.

As a past creator myself I always err on the side of caution when it comes to reviews. Reviews are important, but I am very aware that someone put a lot of energy, love, and work into their craft. It's a very vulnerable thing to create something and then release it to the world. I never want to offend or hurt someone's feelings. That being said I have to stay honest: this book was not my cup of tea. I found the flow to be very inconsistent. Sometimes fast paced while other times painfully slow. I also found the main character to be generally off putting. It very well could be that I just personally didn't connect with her, but I found her to be unbelievably impulsive for someone who just went through a medical miracle. I found a few of the supporting characters to be very immature, as well.

Overall, this book was ok, but not something I would necessarily recommend to others.

This is a slow burn thriller, but it will keep you guessing. The book heavily focuses on character building. There are several storylines woven into one which really added to my enjoyment of the story. I was very curious to see how everything would unfold! The twists and shocking revelations don’t come until towards the end.

Thank you so much NetGalley and Bookouture for the gifted copy!

This was such a wonderful and enjoyable read!!!! I loved this book and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys this genre. Thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a thrilling and compulsive read. Teri Terry is amazing at writing stories you just can't put down... and much as I love her YA books, I’m so glad she’s made the transition into writing for adults… Sapphy gets a new heart and starts being haunted by the donor, Flora - who was murdered… I couldn’t put it down and loved it on so many levels. I am fascinated by the anecdotal stories of people changing their tastes and habits to that of their donors. Also there was a thrilling story about who Flora. Flora was one of the beautiful people who seemed to breeze through life so there was also fascination from a plainer, shyer girl with someone like that. I enjoyed the dual protagonist style. Warning - DO NOT start this too late at night or you will be up the rest of the night finishing it. I was exhausted the whole of the next day…

What can I say about Teri Terry’s first adult novel!
Amazing
Loved every page!
The guessing and puzzles thru it were fantastic, I didn’t figure it all out till just as it was coming to a head! Even then I didn’t see some of it coming.
Slow start that built up the characters so well, I felt like I knew them then a fast paced ending tying it all up nicely.
Definitely recommend reading this to anyone.

I love psychological thrillers and this one did not disappoint. I did find it a bit slow in the beginning but actually you needed this part to build up to the end. Did I see that twist coming, no way. I would highly recommend this book

A new author for me and I really enjoyed this book, kept me involved in the storyline all the way with plenty of twists and turns.

All the characters were good and well described, heartbreaking in parts but I didn't want to give up and glad I kept on reading.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for this ARC which I can thoroughly recommend.

The premise of this book sounded amazing, we have a girl that gets a heart transplant from another girl that was murdered, and now she starts to fear for her own life. The pace of the book was quite good, and the twists shocked me through it.

Did I see the end coming? Yes. Was I right about it? No, not even close. I did not expect the way this end. And the dual POV along with the writing style was a great way to make me so engaged with this story. Did I recommend this book to all my friends? Yup, I most definitely did.

We explore to sides of the story, the donor family, and the recipient family, and we got to see how they are dealing with the procedure which made the story even more intriguing.

Overall, it was such a great, twisted book that got me guessing and on the edge until the very end. So, I really recommend it to anyone who enjoys twists and suspense that will get you hooked for the start until the epilogue itself. This one is a must read to me.

Thank you, Bookouture & NetGalley, for approving me to read this arc and write this review.

Something a bit different which i mainly enjoyed. I have to say it was a very slow read which i almost gave up on. I didn't and overall was worth reading. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for my copy.