**please note due to low rating I will not be leaving a public review for this book as I have not paid for it.**

Narrated by Lauryn Allman ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Author by Sam Baron ⭐⭐

If you bullet points from this book it sounds absolutely fantastic, but the delivery of it was really dull. Fantastic premise... But dull overall.

This book has a lot going for it, but sometimes less is more.
The author did a fantastic job of including diversity in this book. But too much diversity. Instead of making it about the characters and how their differences affected them or made them who they are it was almost like the author had a checklist and made sure to get every possible group included. Aside from the main character there was no development of anyone else, they were essentially just NPCs that Susan interacted with. Even the daughter was simply "deaf and precocious".

There were also quite a few potholes about Splinter and the ending and even Susan's involvement in the case.
I definitely think there is something here, but it seems like in the authors haste to set up a series book one is very weak.

Thank you to storm publishing, NetGalley, and the author for my advance copy of this audiobook

This book wasn't bad, but it also wasn't strikingly amazing. It was your average, run-of-the-mill FBI thriller. And despite how that sounds, I don't mean that as an insult. It was well-written, fast-paced, and had twists and turns in all the right places. But it also reminded me of many of the other thrillers I've read recently.

Still, if you enjoy thrillers and suspense novels, you'll like it. You may not love it or put it your list of "favorite books of all time," but you'll enjoy it. And really, that's good enough for me. After all, enjoying a book is far better than the alternative. Haha.

The theme is someone is killing therapists and their family members. Who is targeting these people? The story was extremely suspenseful. the pacing and momentum of the book to flow at a good speed and there was lots of tension building throughout.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this Audio book ARC opportunity!

When a world-renowned psychiatrist is found dead in an abandoned ranch house in the Californian Santa Carina Valley, a Post-it note with the words “Susan Parker” and a cell phone number is taped to the basement door.

Still grieving her husband’s devastating suicide less than a year ago, FBI agent Susan Parker is taking a break from work and trying to rebuild her life as a single mom to her seven-year-old daughter, Natalie. When she’s called to the crime scene of Doctor Magnusson, a chill runs down her spine.

For years, Susan had been trying to hunt down the doctor, convinced he was the serial killer known as ‘Splinter.’ Someone is playing a cruel game with her, and they’ve only just begun.

Desperate to speak to the twelve victims rescued from the locked therapy rooms, Susan finds herself faced with a wall of silence. Why won’t they talk?

Battling her demons while confronting the toughest case she’s ever had to solve, Susan discovers a chilling truth about the true nature of Splinter – a killer preying on those seeking therapy.

But that’s not all she finds…

She’s about to uncover a shocking secret behind her husband’s death – one that links him to the Splinter case.

Pros: this was a unique premise, and read like a true crime novel at times, or a criminal minds or CSI episode. I usually do not like detective stories (more of a psych thriller fan) but this kept my interest. The characters were well developed and likeable, and I appreciated that the main characters daughter was deaf and ASL was frequently mentioned through the book. The narrator of the audio book did a fantastic job of pacing, showing emotion, and even acting out different accents.

Cons: some gore in the initial chapters, in the description of the scene. I might have stopped listening but I wanted to power through to hear the story. The story could have been a little shorter.

I will definitely read the next book by this author!

An FBI agent trying to hunt down a serial killer, deal with her husband's death, and raise a child. This book had a lot going on and almost all of it seemed to happen strictly on holidays. This book had some potential but needed a lot of polishing. I would like to see the dialog move the plot forward. I feel there were just too many issues going on and none of them were well-developed.

The actual story of the serial killer Splinter and all the characters were interesting and I enjoyed them. However, I feel the author tried to hard in adding diversity to their characters. I can appreciate diversity, but listening to the audiobook the different accents and dialects were off putting. Also, as a teacher for the Deaf, I was excited to see a Deaf character. However, it is clear by the written parts of this character that the author needed to do more research.

Actual Rating 1.5

A world-renown psychiatrist is found dead in an abandoned house and there’s a sticky note posted to the basement door with a name on it. FBI Agent Susan Parker has been on hiatus from work after her husband’s suicide and after she made a poor work-related decision, However, she decides to come back to work for this case as it’s very likely connected to a serial killer she’s been tasked with hunting down. But what at first seems like a straightforward case becomes more convoluted as time goes on, and Susan worries that she may have just placed herself and her family in the path of danger.

I enjoyed the slow start of this one. It's quite introspective and involves an FBI agent coming out of suspension, so it's a solid introduction to the character and her history as well as the history of the case. I also felt that the atmosphere started strong, and the setting descriptions were immersive. Unfortunately, the atmosphere and setting quickly faded into the background.

The writing was odd in this one. Characters said "slash" as in "captives slash victims." Another character also said "crazy A.F.", while other terms like "booyah" (used as exclamation, not in reference to the stew) and "thrice" were thrown around. It was jarring and didn't make much sense to me. Repetitive phrases such as "glaring her glare" were also used, and just added to the awkward feel of this text.

I was less than impressed with the way the Indian family (MC's in-laws) was written. It felt like it ventured too far into stereotypes, even more so since the author appears to be white. The same with the one Latine character included, whose Spanglish and representation felt painfully outdated (he also said things like "easy peasy taco cheesy").

The characters, aside from the MC, aren't developed beyond their necessity to the plot. This left everyone feeling flat and like they only existed to support the MC. And even then, the MC wasn’t that well written. She would say things like "I'd never do anything to endanger my daughter" and then literally her next actions put her daughter's life in danger. The pacing of this one is also spectacularly slow. It isn't until almost 80% through the book that something considered action really happens. And even then, it was just a brief spurt before it went away for another 10%.

I can see how others might enjoy this one, but it left a bad taste in my mouth despite the intriguing premise. My thanks to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for allowing me to read this work. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I really enjoyed the first half of the book. I appreciated that the characters were diverse, but didn't lead with their diverse qualities - the same as in real life. Unfortunately, I figured out the mystery at about the half-way mark. I thought there might be a later twist proving me wrong, but there wasn't.

Also... there were some really peculiar word choices that had me stumped: the use of "odor" referring to a good cup of coffee, "in for a dime, in for a dozen," etc. It felt like sloppy editing.

(I was kindly provided an advance readers copy of this audiobook by NetGalley.)

Goodreads: Published on 03/07/2024
YouTube shorts: Publishing on 3/12/2023 (Link to be added once post is live)
Tumblr: Published on 03/07/2024

Overall it’s a good book.

The plot of the book is good enough to keep you engaged. HOWEVER, some of the dialogue between the characters was just odd for an FBI agent. That and the fact that she makes so many mistakes for someone who has been in that field for years pulled me out of the story quite a few times.

This book does end on a cliffhanger… I won’t be picking up the next book because while the story reeled me in I don’t click with the writing style of the book PLUS as much as I love inclusivity in this book, the inclusivity felt really forced and over the top 😬

Thank you NetGalley for this arc copy in exchange for an honest review!

The Therapy Room was part mystery, part police procedural. SAC Susan Parker had been searching for the “splinter” killer, but she lost her cool with a therapist and was suspended for awhile. Then something happens and she gets a call from a police officer at a crime scene… which opens the splinter case back up and she’s back in full force. You learn about her daughter and husband, as well as a little bit about her other family, too. The ending was OK but something felt off. It is definitely set up for a sequel.

In the end, it was a decent read. I’m giving it 3⭐️ because it was fairly solid, but I won’t likely remember specifics.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy.

An excellent thriller, FBI agent Susan Parker is called to a crime scene when a body is found with her name and phone number on the body. Plenty of twists and turns. Good characters. Keeps you guessing till the end. Lauryn Allman's narration add to the book it's clear which characters is speaking and her pacing is very good. Thanks to Storm publishing, Dreamscape and Netgalley for this audiobook review ARC.

The Therapy Room by Sam Baron is the first in the series FBI Agent Susan Parker. Susan Parker has been on leave from the FBI for several months when she recieves a call form stating that her name was on a post it note where 11 people are being held in the basement of an old farm house. Each victim has been kept prisioner in little rooms and were deprived of light and food. The "doctor" was stabbed to death by the 12th victim who is now missing. Without having any access to the victims Susan and her team must find out why these 12 were being held and if it had anything to do with Splinter the seral killer she has been tracking for years. Very good writing and the story keeps you guessing who is Splinter.

The Therapy Room needs work. From the raging plot holes, over repetitive phases and clunky dialogue. Which all is a shame, considering I enjoyed the first few chapters of the book. It had direction and then it shot off in a million directions. I actually felt that the investigation - which should be the main point of the book here, took the backseat so we could diversify the read.

Starting with the plot, twelve therapy rooms have been found in the basement of their newly deceased doctor. On the table near the doctor is a note with our agents name and number on it. Investigation now starts are we are off to a good start;

We then bypass that and move into the agents with AuADHD however, it is just casually mentioned, and the consistency isn't maintained. The very pointedly Indian husband of our FMC is deceased, he took his own life, and we don't know why. Now, that could be a nod at the fact that sometimes, people don't leave explanations and they are very unexpected, but it did just feel like it was used as a way to explain away her partner. Their child is deaf. The agent's sister-in-law lives with the detective and the child full time, and she is an ex-marine who also happens to be part of the LGBTQIA+ community. The husband's family consists of a teddy bear like father-in-law, who dotes on his granddaughter and an overly strict and outdated mother-in-law, pegged as the 'monster' and all these vague ideas that they may be involved in the deaths by proxy of the crime scene.

If you think that sounds nuts, that's because that is basically the entire middle 70% of the book. It's very, very little of the case and absolutely all about this family. Around the 80% mark we move again into the case and start getting things explained a little.

When you then add in clunky or cringeworthy language, time inconsistencies and an overindulgence of 'technical' information, I think this had some great ideas, however the execution just wasn't there for it. I listened to the audio for this one and needed to jump into the ebook as well because I just couldn't move through the random accents in the audio.

Thank you to NetGalley, Dreamscape and Storm Publishing for an advanced copy for review. The Therapy Room is available now.

I really liked The Therapy Room by Sam Baron. This is a serial killer thriller with a unique premise and a nice cast of characters. I feel like it took them a bit too long to figure out what was going on as I figured it out a lot faster. But I enjoyed it because the story itself was crazy and twisted. One of the characters is disabled (cannot hear and uses ASL - great representation!). I would definitely read more books if it is a series of books. I enjoyed the narration by Lauryn Allman. Thank you Dreamscape Select, Storm Publishing, and NetGalley for providing me with an early copy of this audiobook.

Absolutely loved this protagonist -- her struggles, her relationship with her sister-in-law and daughter, her team. Creepy, scary "bad guy." Plenty of twists, turns, red herrings, and action. Perfect narration.

This triller has a very good premise. Creative and a very scary concept. I hope no serial killer remembers such a thing.

This story explores the idea of ​​a serial killer who tries to perform experimental psychiatric therapy on his patients. They are tortured and then murdered, along with their entire family.

The story is chilling, and even too realistic. And although the end was realistic, it left me sad, I would like to have my questions answered.

This thriller is not addictive, it is not one of those that you read in one go, as it has themes that need to be chewed on before accepting them as they are, however it was a good read nonetheless.

Sam Baron throws us into an fbi thriller where agents try to solve the case of serial killer nicknamed “Splinter.” FBI agent Susan Parker simultaneously uses the case to try to help solve the mystery behind her husband Amit’s death. Are the two cases tied together? Agent Parker believes so.

This fast paced thriller kept my attention throughout the story and on the edge of my seat for more by the end of the book. Will I pick up the second in the series? Absolutely.

Susan Parker, FBI agent extraordinaire, is on the case of "Splinter", a serial killer. Therapist families are being targeted and killed. When a farm house yields 12 subterranean rooms each with a person in them the mystery begins to unravel. However, there is a person at the dinning room table who they need to discover the identity of. Susan Parker is asked for and she begins to think she is dealing with Splinter and he could be linked to her husbands death. All of this was interesting and drew me in as a reader but unfortunately the character development was weak and sometimes unbelievable. Overall, I give this novel three stars. Thank-you to NetGalley and the author for an advanced copy. All thoughts are my own.

It was kind of all over the place for me and not my kind of book. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me listen to it in exchange for an honest review.