4 stars

Thank you to Netgalley for the e Audio arc of The Therapy Room

I was intriuged by the synopsis of this story especially from a background in mental health. The concept of patients being held in the basement of a farm house and FBI Agent Susan Parker discovering connections to the serial killer "Splinter" she had tried to find before held my interest. But at some point I found myself getting lost and unable to retain all the details, which made me have to relisten to parts multiple times. I did appreciate that towards the end there were a few parts where things were re-explained and wrapped up so I wasn't left scratching my head trying to piece together everything.

Although this is the first book in the series, I feel like there needed to be a prequel prior to this book to help get a better understanding of what had happened in the past. I feel that personally, I would have preferred to read this in a digital format vs. audiobook. Although the narrator was amazing, there were some pronunciations and voices that didn't quite work for me and made it difficult to focus at times.

I also really appreciated the representation in the book with different cultures, a deaf child and ASL, and a family member representing the LGBTQ+ community. It's always a pleasant surprise to find representation like this in a book and made this read a 4 star for me instead of 3 stars.

Listened at 3x speed. Narration held up well and made listening easy.

I reallllly wanted to like this, but it just fell flat. Susan is an FBI agent on leave, following her husband's suicide and her subsequent assault on a therapist. She gets a call to a crime scene and immediately is reinstated on the force, where she proceeds to break protocol after protocol. While her team is interesting and I'd like more about their backstories, Susan's family detracts from the story. Almost every character represents diversity in two or more ways, so I struggled to keep everything straight--and then it wasn't even necessary to the plot.

For the actual crime element of the plot, it was more interesting--prob 3/5 if I had to rate that alone.

Overall: 2 stars (It was fine)

I'll tell my students about: LGBTQ+, language, suicide, mental health, neurodivergencies, violence, trauma, alcohol

**Thank you to NetGalley & Dreamscape Select, Storm Publishing for the free ALC. All opinions expressed are my own.**

This book was a wild ride. The narrator did a great job at keeping my attention for the entire book. It was definitely a twisty one for sure!

This sounded like a book that I couldn't resist, and I'm a big fan of FBI and police procedural stories. I had really high hopes for this series starter, since the premise sounded strong and very interesting.

Once I started reading, I quickly got invested in the story. It begins with a crime scene, where a post-it with Susan Parker's name and cell phone number is found. Susan is called out to the scene, despite her being on leave for nearly a year after an incident shortly after her husband's suicide. She's been seeing a therapist for the last year, and then the therapist suddenly clears her to go back to work without any notice or warning.

This immediately had me worried. In the majority of the books I read where therapy is portrayed, it isn't represented accurately. And this book was not an exception, sadly. Working with a therapist is a joint process, where the patient and the therapist work as a team. It isn't the 1920s or the 1800s or any other time period anymore, where the doctor says something and the patient just follows direction blindly. Nowadays, mental health treatment involves preparation in advance of any changes. Ending treatment doesn't simply occur suddenly, it's a process that occurs between both parties. No ethical therapist would ever just show up and inform a patient that they're able to go back to work and therapy is done. So I was already a bit jaded when this happened fairly early in the story.

As the story goes on, it started to feel like the author had a diversity checklist, and went down the list, checking off boxes. Susan is of Indian descent, is autistic and has ADHD; her sister-in-law, Lata, is of Indian descent, is a military veteran, and is a lesbian; and Susan's daughter, Natalie, was born deaf and communicates through lip reading and sign language. However, we don't really get to see any aspects of how these diverse categories play a role in their life. As for the ethnicity of the characters, the only time it is mentioned is in reference to their in-laws and when the Indian word for grandfather is used, and some microaggressions at work, but it doesn't really have much of an impact on their life. Even more so, there were so many instances where Susan's autism could have been discussed and how it impacts her life, especially when it comes to her work, but aside from it being mentioned briefly, it isn't mentioned again. While it technically has autism and ADHD representation in the fact that these diagnoses are mentioned in the story, there really isn't much representation other than that. Natalie's deafness is represented much better in the story, since she can't communicate with others without using sign language, although it seems that every child in the story just automatically knows ASL, and the one who didn't, had a parent who does.

The story itself started really intriguing, but gradually became less so. I quickly figured out who the suspect was, but I spent the whole book waiting for answers to questions that never came. There's some plot holes in the story that aren't ever addressed, and while the story alludes to answers coming in book two, I can't quite bring myself to read another one of these books in the hopes of possibly getting some answers and maybe not getting them, only to be strung along for another book.

Since I also read the audiobook version of this story, I also need to discuss the narrator. Lauryn Allman did a fantastic job with voicing the characters and bringing them to life, but even her talents couldn't turn this into a five star read.

Thank you to Netgalley, Sam Baron and Storm Publishing for the e Audio arc of The Therapy room.
Narrated by Lauryn Allman

The blurb really had me interested and the first 1/3 of The Therapy Room, I thought was well paced and built some intrigue and tension. I found Lauryn's voice as the narrator had the right pace for the narration and kept adequate tone and excitement for the relevant parts.

Somewhere around 1/2 way through the book, it seemed to lose momentum, stalled a bit and I lost interest. Normally I keep going as the pace usually picks up but I felt this didn't. It's a shame that I didn't enjoy reading this as much as Id hoped. I am looking forward to reading more from Sam Baron in the future as I feel the writer has lots of potential

3 stars

FBI Agent Susan Parker is called to a rundown farmhouse while being on administrative leave. What she finds in this farmhouse brings her closer to the elusive serial killer, “Splinter,” whom she was tracking before she was put on leave following her husband’s death. Susan is put back into action and works this case finding out that things are not what she assumed.
This book is the first in the series and I thought there was some political undertones throughout the story that I felt had no relevance to the story itself. I struggled to get into this story and the characters. While the premise of the story sounds like something I would definitely enjoy, it ended up missing the excitement factor for me. Agent Parker made a lot of rookie mistakes and for someone that is supposed to actually be the Agent in Charge, it made parts of the story unrealistic, such as taking your daughter to an active shooting…who does that!?! Overall, I just wasn’t a fan of this book, but I felt like I had to finish it to give it an honest review. Of note, I read this book via audiobook and the narrator, Lauryn Allman, was very clear in her reading and character representation.
Thank you NetGalley and Storm Publishing for allowing me the opportunity to provide my honest review for this audiobook ARC.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC of this audiobook. This book unfortunately was rough go for me. Everything about the set up and the beginning of this book was promising. I just couldn’t follow the these types of character and how the author wrote the investigation. It was very frustrating and hard to follow or relate to.

I am torn in my review. The murder mystery was very cleverly crafted and keeps you guessing for most of the book. It ends on a fairly large cliff hanger which is intriguing for the next book. I appreciated the intertwining of different characters and potential suspects. The main character’s personality, her inter-monologue and how she interacted with the rest of the characters made it difficult to focus on the plot line. There were several parts that seemed relevant but you found out were not relevant to the plot line and left you wondering why they were included.

If you like a good murder mystery especially with a serial killer twist, this is a good book to beach read.

This was one of those books that had a great premise but perhaps was better in theory than actuality.

I struggled with this book. It was a little hard to read. Some of the dialogue felt forced and unnatural. There was quite a bit of repetition of phrases throughout that was noticeable.
The main character wasn't particular likeable. The narration was done really well - especially for a story where the dialogue felt out of place. The story was fine. It was more police procedural vs thriller. It started out pretty strong but really seemed to fade and struggle as the story went on.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

In the book The Therapy Room, author Sam Baron follows FBI agent Susan Parker as she tries to unravel the mystery as to why her name and cell number were written on a Post-it note taped to the basement door at the murder scene of a world-renowned psychiatrist. For years Susan has been hunting for this man and now he is dead with 12, no 11 patients in the basement of his farmhouse. Why? And who are these people? And what did he do to them. This was a great story and the plot and action kept everything moving. I would recommend this book. The audio-book narration was very good. I received a copy of this audio-book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This audiobook was excellent. I read the book in digital format, and the very beginning left me wanting a little more. The audiobook did not do that. I like the audiobook format the best. The narrator did a good job reading things clearly and acting it out, while also keeping me pulled in. I was most impressed with the parts of the book that I wasn't super fond of in digital format that I found myself loving in audio format.

The description of this book makes it sound like a heart-pounding thriller. Don’t be fooled. It’s a basic police procedural with an intriguing opening.

First—the narration on audio was phenomenal. My rating of the narrator is a solid 5 stars.

Second—literally everything else fell flat for me. I’m a 2.5 stars rounded up on this.

Here are my issues with the book—in no order of importance.

1. The author is clearly not American, but writing about a case near LA. So many little word nuances give this away, and as someone who believes books should reflect the location in which they’re set, this was super annoying.

2. This felt like the author was pandering to hit as many minority and (dis)ability categories of representation as possible. You have a vaguely-defined minority ethnicity MC with autism who grew up in the foster system. A deaf Indian daughter. An Indian family that she married into. (With all the Indian-american stereotypes…wealthy entitled MIL, doting but ignorant FIL, douchy rich uncle…) A lesbian Indian sister in law who’s a disabled veteran (PTSD). A Hispanic paraplegic evidence collector. Another few vaguely-defined ethnicities (not white) on the MC’s team with the FBI. The FBI and medical bosses all seem to be grouchy, entitled white men. And the ethnically-diverse characters are treated differently by the MC—even when she’s referring to them in succession. She uses both names, someone’s last name, someone’s first name…but the white men are referred to by title and last name. This is all too much and should have been handled in editing.

3. The gaslighting. THE GASLIGHTING. When will men (and women) of power start listening to women? On the other hand…this MC didn’t make her case very compelling, so I don’t want to let this go, but maybe the MC could have been written to be more decisive and professional, and less “woe-is-me, my shrink cleared me to come back to work but I still can’t do a professional job of it.”

4. This reads with so much repetition with specific phrases and sentences throughout the book that it could have been written by AI and just not been edited well. I felt like the MC was CONSTANTLY repeating main ideas and concepts from previously done chapters and events. That made it drag. (Also, does the FBI really sit around and basically shoot the shit all day? Because that’s what this book made me think).

This easily could have either been shortened by 25% or had more killings to spice things up and add some urgency to the narrative. I figured out the villain and the twist before 33%, so it needs something else.

It's so frustrating when someone has such a great idea for the beginning of a book but such terrible execution. The author chose a lead character/protagonist who doesn't seem to know how to investigate, even though she's a lead investigator, and who makes terrible parenting choices. When you find out what is really happening, it doesn't make logical sense. It also feels really wrong to have characters who seem to exist just to provide diversity, especially when you don't show them properly. I doubt if I will read another in this series unless I hear that these problems are addressed in the next.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me listen to this audiobook

This book kept my interest, but it wasn’t my favorite. I had to listen to it on a faster speed because it was very slow. Interesting concept. Had an element of suspense.

Police enter an old home and find the dead body of a very well-known psychiatrist and twelve separate surviving victims sitting in 'therapy' rooms.... and none of them will speak. The only lead they have comes from a post-it note on the body with the name "Susan Parker" on it. The officer calls Susan, an FBI agent who has been on leave following the death of her husband, and she comes back to investigate the link between this horrific scene and an infamous serial killer.

This one had such a crazy, unique plot that it could have been amazing. There were so many places to go with it Unfortunately it just didn't pan out that way for me. I enjoy books with interesting/inclusive characters, but right from the start the constant harping on people's unique attributes (Susan is autistic and ADHD, her daughter is deaf, her in laws speak Punjabi) were all good choices in their own right, but the fact that every single character had a very specific unique quality that the author kept addressing each time the character appeared made it
feel very forced. I prefer when the characters just exist as themselves without addressing their race/religion/sexuality/disability, ect over and over and over again. Just describe them to me once and then paint their world for me. It's as if each character made their thing their entire personality. It was just very distracting to read because there was so much going on with the family that ended up being totally irrelevant to the plot. I also just didn't feel like the end really wrapped anything up. I do understand it's set to be a series, but even in a series there should be some resolution or move you a big chunk forward towards a resolution.

I really wanted to like this one, 10/10 for the plot, just felt like the execution was a bit of a disappointment.

After reading the description of this book I was excited to read a good mystery. While there was some good mystery laid out by the writer, it felt like some things were missing and a lot of it was predictable. The death of the main characters husband was an overriding story throughout the whole book and it ended without a resolution. I knew there would be a second book when agent Parker ends this book by saying she will not stop trying to find out what happened to her husband. I hate when books end like that. Just finish up the story and have a new hunt for the agent on the second book.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this advanced copy.

I liked this book, the main character was likable. My one complaint was that the situation with her husband took up a lot of time in the book but it was never resolved.

I’m not sure how so much was able to happen in this book without it being suspenseful or frightening at all, but somehow it managed ☠️ the premise is so interesting but the rest of the story felt phoned in and while I understand this is the first in a series, there wasn’t enough information or plot in this book to make it worthwhile to continue reading for me. The first book needs to be five star, and then they can get worse! Lol.

Read if you like: false memory

I was very looking forward to a good murder mystery and was intrigued by the idea of this book. Unfortunately, I feel that it could have been better put together and that some things/timelines were missing. (I listened to the book so it's possible I just missed some things). Some parts were predictable and some left me scratching my head. Only a few things came to a close at the end so I would assume the story would continue in a book 2. It was enjoyable enough that I would read a next one to see some questions answered. Thank you, netgalley, for the advanced audio copy of this book.