When I seen that readers who love Freida Mcfadden and The Silent Patient would love this book I jumped at the change to read and review and gosh this book did not disappoint! I couldn't put this book down, therapist and serial killer? Count me in!

The story had twists and turns throughout and when you thought you had it sussed, something is thrown at you and makes you have to rethink! It kept me guessing right until the end! The story is very well written and the characters have depth.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone and I really look forward to reading more S. A. Falk books in the future!

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review!

The Therapist, by S.A. Falk, is a fast-paced thriller, with short chapters.

It was a real page turner! I was captivated from the start. I wanted to know what was gonna happen next and who the copycat murderer is! You get two POVs with the psychiatrist's and the murderer's.

I had my doubts about the final outcome, but I was doubting everything until the last minute! If that's not a sign it's a good read, I don't know what is!

I've always loved a good psychological thriller. I love the whole therapy-themed aspects and this book did not disappoint!

The writing style is really good and keeps the reader into the story! It all flows perfectly and you just don't want to put the book down.

Thank you so much to @netgalley @safalkauthor and @stormbooks_co for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

As someone who has read and reviewed for Storm Publishing, I am on the auto approve list for their books on NetGalley. When this book came up, I went ahead and accepted the invite to read it simply because it said serial killer and rock star. LOL And man oh man am I glad I did!!! This turned out to be a page turner!!

The writing style of the author grabbed my attention from the very beginning. And everything in this story is written to hold the reader in an immersive state of reading.

In this story you follow a corrections psychologist, Dr. Stephanie Fletcher, who is assigned treating a rock star, Trent Davis, turned serial killer claiming to be possessed by the demon Larua, which translated into English means evil spirit or demon.

As Dr. Fletcher researches Davis's past, she finds they share a fairly similar childhood trauma which gives her more empathy to his situation. While Davis is incarcerated at the mental health correctional facility, more murders start happening suggesting a copy cat killer or an accomplice.

Dr. Fletcher begins to help one of the detectives on the case of the copy cat / accomplice to try and find them to stop the killings. The only problem is getting Davis to devulge information that may be helpful.

This story is that journey in revisiting Davis's past as well as her own in order to extract the information that is needed.

I found the story engaging and to be a page turner. I really enjoyed it. Thank you Storm Publishing, S.A. Falk and NetGalley for allowing me to read this wonderful thriller!

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read an ARC for this book. I got hooked at the beginning of this one and was interested in the character. In the middle, it dragged a bit and I had a hard time liking some of the characters. It was a quick read and I could detect the plot twist towards the end.

Great Read!!
A fast-paced psychological thriller that held my attention from the start till the very end. The story was packed with suspense and well written. I did manage to figure out the plot but still kept me on the edge of my seat wondering what was to come next. Even though this is a lot darker than what i normally read, i still thought it was a fantastic read! I recommend you read trigger warnings as there are some gory details.
Thank you to Netgalley and Stormpublishing for the E-ARC!

The Therapist
by S. A. Falk
Pub Date: Apr 25 2024

The Therapist is fast paced, easy to follow with well developed characters. It started out slow but once I was halfway into the book I was hooked! If you're a thriller fan this is definitely a book you will want to pick up and read in one sitting.

I look forward to reading more of author S. A. Falk's books in the future.

Synopsis: It’s my first day back at work, and the grief I’m carrying is still with me, but I file it away and put on my professional face to greet my new patient. As a successful psychiatrist and criminologist, I’m used to working with damaged minds. But I’m not prepared for Trent Davis. Sitting across the table from me, his warm brown eyes shine. He laughs easily and part of me can’t help but like him, despite what his file says he’s capable of. Then a package arrives for Trent, with my home as the return address. And everything falls apart…

Many thanks to #TheTherapist #NetGalley and #StormPublishing for providing me with an E-ARC of this book.

I really really enjoyed this one. I had me gripped from start to finish. I found all the characters really interesting and I couldn't put it down. I love a book set in an institute and the police investigation fed into the story really well. I would never in a million years have seen the ending coming and was left wanting more. Part 2?

This was such a good read, psychotic serial killers are right up my alley. I loved the back and forth between Dr Fletcher and Trent as Trent truly was a great creepy serial killer who kept you on your toes. I did figure out the twist (or had a good hunch) towards the end but that didn’t make the book any less entertaining for me.

Dr. Fletcher is a psychiatrist specializing in working with people in the criminal system, focusing on those who are criminally insane to avoid the death penalty. After a major celebrity murder trial, notorious Trent Davis ends up in her care. He has been charged with murdering six women and mutilating their bodies… that they know of. Like all high-profile cases, a copycat murderer emerges.

Things I like:
- Suspenseful start
- Twists once figuring out who you think did it
- Unobvious ending

*Warnings of the devil and demons.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was probably one of the darker and more graphic thrillers I’ve ever read, which I’m not sure was for me. I was definitely kept guessing earlier on in the book about the copycat killer and enjoyed the lead up to the reveal, though I did begin to figure it out ahead of the reveal. I tend to not enjoy speculative books as much and wanted more explanation at the end. Overall, I think this will be great for a lot of people and enjoyed the writing! Just a bit too dark and speculative for me.

This is the story of a therapist treating a serial killer. It’s gory and disturbing at times. There are lots of twists and turns just when you think you have it figured out. Great read but I would check trigger warnings on this one.

I really liked this book. It's a nice thriller. The story is told from the psychiatrist's point of view which is a nice change from the detective's view as usual.

My only complaint with this book: The first 50-60% of the book is a bit boring. I kept putting it down and picking it up for nearly a week or so. It's a bit of a drag in the beginning and I felt like some unnecessary descriptions could've been cut out.

The romance is a bit dry. I didn't even know Navarro was the romantic interest until she confessed to him. So I felt that part could've been done better.

Another thing: I guessed who it was very early on. I guessed it during the first few POVs of the killer when he/she is driving home.

But nonetheless it's a very intriguing book. If you can push through the first 40-50%, you'll definitely like it.

The twist at the end was chilling and a nice contrast to the beginning.

Insanely brilliant! And when I say insane, I mean it because this gripping thriller is set in a top security hospital for the criminally insane and it’s newest patient is the hugely successful rock star turned grisly killer, Trent Davis.

The detailed descriptions, the writing style, the psychological tension and the intense characters in this book just sucked me right in and I literally did hold my breath at times!

Dr. Steph Fletcher is the psychologist assigned to Trent Davis at Pantano Hospital and she is determined to get to the core of what makes Trent tick. The discussions they have are creepy and deep, with Trent throwing curveballs all over the place.

When a copycat killer starts sending body parts to the hospital, Steph is drawn in deeper and ends up working with the police detective in a race against the killer.

I was so drawn into what was happening on the main stage that I didn’t notice what was going on in the wings and when that ending hit with the biggest gut punch of a twist EVER…. I was breathless!

Well played, S. A. Falk 👏🏻

5 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, S. A. Falk and Storm for an ARC in return for an honest review.

I unfortunately had to DNF this book for some of the content. I made it about 40% of the way before I had a really hard time pushing through. I don’t do too well with the talks of the crimes he committed, especially in detail. I thought that the writing was intriguing and was definitely keeping me interested, but unfortunately I am a bit too sensitive to some of the gore.

Let me tell you a little about cheese.

Cheese is often a pejorative term in fiction, "so cheesy" "Block of cheese", and I too often use this as a negative term. HOWEVER...

Cheese is delicious

When properly prepared and utilized there is something distinctively satisfying about consuming cheese, and while all this intro may sound crazy harsh - I think its relatively non-controversial to say that Falk's story The Therapist is quite cheesy.

After all the plot is fairly transparent. 'Trent,' only the most edgelord emo rock star every to grace fiction, is an (alleged) serial killer in a psychiatric institute. Our MC is a brilliant but haunted psychiatrist who is determined to get to the root cause of his problems. Surprising none he's a manipulative game player and things quickly unravel! And again while it sounds like I'm being mean and critical the reality is this book is GREAT. It's written very solidly, its fun, scary, excited and a little weird. I genuinely wasn't too sure where things were going and devoured this book a LOT faster than I expected.

Now that said there is one major beef I had with this book is that it is simply too SHORT, or more specifically it ends just as it feels like the story was really ramping up. There basically isn't a denouement in this novel. Obviously its a little hard to review without spoilers on this point and the ending is certainty fine it just left me wanting more deats!!

Thanks to #NetGalley and #StormPublishing for the book #TheTherapist by #SAFalk. What did I just read? I read this book in one sitting and now I am just in a fog. This book will blow you away. Stephanie is a psychiatrist is a mental hospital for hard criminals. She gets a new transfer inmate just days after her friend and psychiatrist dies. A copycat of this new inmate starts murdering in the same way as he did. Stephanie gets wrapped up in the investigation. All I can say is YOU HAVE TO READ THIS BOOK!

Clear your diary and lock your door because you won’t be able to put this book down! It’s so clever I need to read it again. Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for letting me read and review this book. 4.5 ⭐️

I really enjoyed this book. This was a little darker than I normally read but, I did find it thrilling and it did keep me on the edge of my seat. I’m all about reading and watching things having to do with serial killers; it may be the Dateline obsession in me. Every time I thought I had it figured out; I was surprised!! If you enjoy psychology thrillers and/ or a fan of Freida McFadden books, then I would recommend giving this book a chance.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC! I felt that there was great character development and I got to really know some of the characters. Although there was a lot of misdirection, I did have a feeling that I knew what twist was coming at the end, but that didn't make me want to stop reading. I enjoyed this psychological thriller. Be aware, it was a little gory, if you are not a fan of gruesome reads, and there was some child abuse discussed, which should be expected when reading a book about therapists and mental patients. The middle did get a little repetitive but overall I thought it was a 5 star read.

Ummm....excuse me? That ending!? It's going to take me a bit to digest that one.

I really enjoyed this psychological thriller and it reminded me a lot of Silence of the Lambs. I would love this to be a movie or show, I felt like I could picture what was happening and I credit that to the author. I was also familiar with some of the locations mentioned in the book, especially living in Oregon.

I don't want to spoil anything, so I highly recommend reading this book. Check trigger warnings, there's dark subject matter since this story center's around serial killer's and the gruesome way the victims were tortured.

*One spoiler*

I actually didn't mind this ended on a cliffhanger. It threw me for a loop but I feel like it was well done.