'The Therapist' by S. A. Falk is dark thriller with great twists. It is a fast read but has a lot of graphic gore.

Well, I'm torn on this one. Stephanie, 'The Therapist' is a frustrating character.
She immediately bonds with her manipulative patient & lacks professional distance. She often behaves and talks like a laywoman & acts insensibly all the time. A few of her statementswere just implausible. (So Trent wrote thousands of songs? Wow. I don't know many bands who managed that...)
This character is a qualified mental health professional? She sounds like a petulant teenager.
Then, most main characters sound the same.
I didn't buy any of Steph's emotional attachment to any character.
Yes, I get what the author tries to do with this, but it didn't work too well for me. It was more tell than show.
On the plus side, I flew through the last third of the book to see how the (expected) ending would play out exactly – and I noted down a ton of great quotes from the book.

Thank you, NetGalley and Storm Publishing, for the chance to read a copy in exchange for an honest review!

I've been hearing a lot of great things about this book so was excited for a chance to get an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoyed this book, especially being a therapist myself. The plot was engaging and it was well written. The twists were compelling and the characters were likeable.

This book was interesting for me. I had it figured out about halfway through but needed to keep reading to see if I was correct. Feeling like I knew where the story was headed didn't deter me from putting it down though. This book had some gruesome details, but not enough to turn me away. It was well-written but there were a few noticeable words that were used repeatedly. Overall, I would say 3.5/5. I did try to review on Amazon where I normally do my reviews, but it was not open for review yet.

This was my first S.A Falk read and I was shocked but not shocked. The story definitely begins in a way that seems like it'll take you down one path and then quickly takes you down a complete other. I didn't love it entirely but it was also just a little darker than I was expecting. I am interested to read other stories by S.A.

Thank you to Net Galley and Storm publishing for an ARC!

This really was a gripping thriller. Finished this book in less than 24 hours! I will say the first third of the book felt like a slower build and the ending came at a break neck speed.

I realized the twist in the last few chapters and didn’t know how I felt about it. I don’t like that we don’t find out the copycat’s true motivation. I also felt the last paragraph lends itself to almost a second twist? Is the copycat truly evil? Or really just a mentally ill person ?

The writing was fine though I felt the author used the word scoff one too many times .

Overall I would recommend for an intriguing read…this follows the stereotypical thriller formal but it works. Reminds me of Frieda McFadden.

Give it 3.5 stars

This book was a great read! If you're into gory stuff this is your book! I am a picky reader, with that said, I could not put this book down. The character "Trent", did annoy me but this character is needed to know how criminal minds work. Loved this book!

The Therapist was a good book! It was a bit darker than I’m used to or like to read. That being said, I still had a hard time putting it down because so many things kept happening! It’s definitely fast paced and had a surprise ending!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc copy!

The Therapist by S. A. Falk out 4/25/24

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5

ARC Review:

I read this gripping thriller in one day, because I absolutely could not put it down. Working in the psychiatric field, I had a feeling the ending might wind up as it did, but I also talked myself out of it multiple times. This book is the type to suck you in, jumble your brain, question your own sanity in the gore and plot twists… and then it ends and you just sit there with your jaw hanging open. I was never bored, I was never NOT fully invested in this read.

I will warn that this book IS dark, very graphic, and there’s a lot of gore. There are also some dark religious references, and as a Christian I thought it was going to bother me, but it really didn’t. So if those things don’t bother you, it’s a MUST read.

—
Dr. Fletcher is a forensic psychiatrist who works with criminals who are found innocent by means of insanity. In light of her own troubling past and a recent loss, she can’t help but shake something about the serial killer who is admitted to the hospital and assigned to her. When a string of copy-cat murders begin happening, she can’t help but become obsessed with the case.

Dr. Stephanie Fletcher, working as a forensic psychiatrist at Pantano Correctional Facility, takes on a demanding high-profile case. Haunted by a challenging childhood and longing for her mentor, she gets entangled in a string of crimes. Defying her boss's orders, she joins forces with Detective Navarro to decode the enigma.

I was totally absorbed in this gripping novel! The unexpected twists kept me on my toes, and the ending took me by surprise. The author adeptly weaves the intricate details of the crimes throughout the story.

A big thank you to NetGalley & Storm Publishing!

This is the definition of a psychological thriller. We get to dive into the mind of a killer and feel the danger and confusion of a copycat killer. I find plots like this so fascinating. My complaint is that we didn’t get enough of the killer’s mind. We abruptly get cut out when the main character is put on leave. I also would have loved a more extended ending to get into the copycat’s mind. Why did they suddenly turn into the a killer? What was the trigger? An epilogue from the copycat with some answers would have been perfect. Overall still a fascinating and thrilling read. Thank you to NetGalley for my copy.

The Therapist
A completely unputdownable thriller with an incredible twist
by S. A. Falk
Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.
It seemed to sometimes be shocking for details not needed. I read this to the end, and even the end was just not one I enjoyed.

Thank you Storm Publishing and Netgalley for this arc. This is my honest review and opinion.

A therapist working with the criminally insane convicted is grieving the loss of her life long therapist and mentor when a serial murder celebrity lands in her ward. New copy cat killings start happening, and she is the next target - or is she?

The story was a relatively quick read. It drew me in well enough but then it started to show the obvious ending signs. I really was hoping that it didn't end the way it did, was really rooting for the twist to be something completely different. But alas it was the predictable ending I saw coming. It was an enjoyable read but I just really hoped for more.

2/5 stars. I was excited to read this book, however soon I found myself taking long breaks between reading just because of how boring it became, the plot seemed to go in a big circle and I felt like the characters weren't well fleshed out for me to like anyone. The plot twist was predictable, the last quarter of the book was completely blowing me off and made me want to stop reading completely. It had too much random gory and almost no psychological thriller, which disappointed me as I started reading in hopes of a psychological thriller.


Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is a dark, suspenseful and disturbing psychological thriller.

Dr Stephanie Fletcher is the lead psychiatrist at a high security prison that specializes in a very specific type of offenders; prisoners who have committed the worst of the worst and have been deemed criminally insane. We meet Dr Fletcher at a time when she has just lost someone very important in her personal life and as her prison receives one of the most notorious patients they’ve ever had. Just as we are starting to understand the typical rhythms of Dr Fletcher’s life a copycat killer for the new patient emerges and everything suddenly becomes much more dangerous.

I don’t typically read many psychological thrillers but I enjoyed this so much I’ve already started looking for more in the genre! For me, this felt like a really well done read with perfectly built up suspense, twists and turns a plenty, and a really interesting plot tying it all together.

While the pacing was a bit slow at times, I really enjoyed how the pacing built and shifted with the plot. It is worth mentioning though that I do have a penchant for some slower reads though. I also think that while I know a lot of people have taken issue with the shift in pacing for the last 30ish%, I actually felt like this change made so much sense as it reflected the increased tensions in the story with everything feeling heightened and a bit manic.

I suspected the final twist but it was no less powerful and epic for me! I feel like the twists and turns were all neatly laid out in hindsight and while I started to suspect the reveal it still had a big impact. Once I knew the answers all the previously plotted jigsaw pieces perfectly slid into place which made this such a satisfying ending for me!

I want to give a huge thank you to NetGalley and the Storm Publishing for an epic E-ARC

I really wanted to love this book. It started out slow for me but the last 25% I couldn’t put it down. Then the ending was abrupt. Overall I would recommend this book to anyone who really enjoys a true psychological thriller that focuses on the working of a criminal mind but doesn’t have the twists and turns.

The author's book really captured me, especially with its pure suspense.

The story is written in a very authentic and exciting way.

The writing style rounded off the whole thing and I was able to visualize the descriptions of the events very well.

I recommend reading it!

As soon as I read that this was a medical type thriller I knew I just had to review it! From the very first page this book sucks you into the world of a mental health workers and their patients! If you need a book you cannot put down this is the one!

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.

The premise for this novel--a therapist who works with the criminally insane and has one of her most dangerous patients show up at her facility while someone is perhaps copycat killing women out in the world--sounded intriguing. The reveal of the 1st person narrator therapist as the killer felt too farfetched, especially when there were no clues along the way (how was she able to kill all those people and never have any blood on her?). This felt like a case of needing a couple more editing passes to be able to drop those small bread crumbs along the way so that the ending could still be surprising but also feel inevitable.

The Therapist was a book I couldn’t put down. I wanted to get to the end to see how it ended. I do want to add a TW for sexual abuse as well as religious references. At first I was afraid I was going to be offended by the religious comments, but I continued reading and didn’t have a problem.

It was a twisted, off the wall thriller that I recommend to any others looking for a book you can’t put down! Very interesting indeed (and hoping there’s a second book to follow).