Some twists and many crazy turns will keep you on your toes and turning the pages of Steena Holmes’s THE PATIENT. The characters were interesting, the Danielle’s patients a little scary, and you will keep wondering which patient it is until the very end. Holmes did a great job of keeping the different aspects of the storyline moving and together. I also loved the setting, and the inclusion of ALICE IN WONDERLAND, both in the town and with Danielle.
The story kept me wondering; the writing kept me turning pages. This is a good one to curl up with on gray day with a warm drink and a cozy blanket. Settle in for a wild ride!
Thank you to NetGalley for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.
#ThePatient #LakeUnionPublishing #SteenaHolmes #NetGalley

The Patient - Wow! When murders start to happen in the Alice in Wonderland town of Cheshire, Dr. Danielle Rycroft wonders if one of her three patients could be the serial killer.. As the intensity of her sessions with her patients increase as well as her own anxiety, Danielle decides to confide in her own therapist. So many twists and turns - every time I thought I had it figured out - another clue or twist came long that made you second guess yourself. I really enjoyed this book!.

This was a twisted, engrossing story that knocked me for a loop. All along, I thought I had everything figured out and then I'd turn the page and I didn't anymore. So many clues were given. So much deceit that needed to be to covered up. So much confusion.

I loved every minute of this story. It is fast-paced and so intriguing. It will definitely draw the reader in with all the drama swirling around everywhere. I am in awe of this author for being able to weave such a unbelievably believable plot.

The Patient is a must-read and one that I highly recommend if you love edge-of-your-seat thrillers that will have you guessing until the very end.

Wow !! This thriller had me hooked from the beginning. I was into it from the very start and stayed all the way through the end. A must read book !!!

Oh this book is twisty! Steena Holmes is a new to me author, and my first book by her did not disappoint. I’ll be back for more!

I will admit that the town of Cheshire seemed a little too storybook for me. So much Alice in Wonderland reference! If that’s your thing, you’ll love this story.

On to the book!

Being a therapist would be such a hard job. You took an oath to keep your patients most private and darkest secrets to yourself. What would you do if a patient told you they murdered someone? Where does the patient confidentiality end, and the protection of the people begin? Where is the line drawn between what’s true and what’s not true?

Danielle has three patients, Ella, Tyler, and Savannah. One of them admits to having killed someone in the past. One of them is deathly afraid of their significant other finding out about them seeing a therapist. The last patient is plotting to kill their parents.

Tami is one of Danielle’s two friends they discuss. She’s a cop whose working on solving the murders that have been happening in their small town of Cheshire. The two women have a mother/daughter relationship. I thought it was going to be a budding romance, but Tami is more the protector type.

The killer in this book sees themselves as an avenger. This seems to be the theme in a lot of books I have read lately. They are only killing the parents and leaving the sleeping child alone. These parents are abusers or harmful to their child in some way in the eyes of the killer.

I will admit the further I got into the book, the more predictable it became. That was ok to me because even though I figured it out, there was still more of the story to uncover!

There were some really good twists thrown in. The author leaves it open at the end for a follow up, and I hope she does!

Thank you @NetGalley @LakeUnionPublishing for this ARC.

Grab you copy October 15th, 2019

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This nail biting, edge of your seat suspense/thriller will keep you up all night long. Beware! Enjoy! 📚

This is an intense, creepy psychological thriller that is hard to put down! It’s a clever idea that makes for an exciting read!

I found this book to be very dark and at times, confusing to follow. I've read books by this author in the past and enjoyed them, but this book just didn't work for me.

I've read other books by this author and really enjoyed them so I had high hopes for this one. Unfortunately I figured out the killer pretty early on because the clues were so obvious. The whole Alice in Wonderland theme didn't really add much to the story and the therapist sessions were a bit clunky. I'd read more by this author based on previous books but, if this was my first introduction to her, I wouldn't be rushing back unfortunately.

Danielle is a reserved woman. She is a therapist and seems on edge. She is worried that out of her three clients, one of them is a serial killer.

Cheshire a rural area has been plagued with murders. Parents are killed but the children in those homes are left untouched. Though we were told several times in the story that these parents were abusive ones, the police (according to what we read) never cottoned on to the fact that this was the common thread connecting the murders. We have detectives on the story and one of them is a good friend of Danielle's but this is never mentioned.

At the end of course it becomes obvious as to why so many salient facts that should have been noticed were not. Like most reviewers I knew very early on that the plot revolved around Danielle herself but I could not figure out how.

My first read of this author. This is a genre I like though I did find this particular story a bit too convoluted.

This engrossing book will keep you on the edge of your seat as you try to figure out who are behind the murders. By the ending of the book, I was shocked to say the least to find out who it ended up being! The way it was brought together at the end was so well done. This is one of those stories where the characters will stay with you much longer after you are done reading this. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 star rating from me. It is hard for me to put in words how much this book affected me. Thank you Lake Union publisher, Steena Holmes, and Netgalley for the book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great first suspense novel for Steena! I would like to thank Netgalley for the Advanced Reader Copy of The Patient, all these thoughts and comments are my own. First I have to say I was sure I had the book figured out about 40 percent through and was not entirely sure how the Alice theme tied in! I will say I was not correct! The theme does entirely tie in by the end of the story and it is entirely correct that things are not at all as they seem half way through! The last half of this book has amazing momentum and is a page turner! I have always recommended Steena’s other genres of writing and I can say I completely recommend this! It’s a knock out!

Danielle Rycroft was a therapist, working in a small town with three patients. They all had problems and Dani was doing her best to help them. But continually she felt a failure as the issues kept bouncing from small to large and back again. She was feeling stress, her migraines had returned and her inability to sleep was getting her down. Dani knew her patients had secrets, but with the violent murders that had been occurring in town and her best friend Detective Tami Sloan only giving her basic information, Dani was beginning to think one of her patients was a serial killer.

Dani finally, reluctantly went to see a local therapist to help her cope. She also wanted to ask her advice about her own patients. But could she? Patient confidentiality was always something she was mindful of, but she needed help…

The Patient is my first in a while by Steena Holmes and it’s different to how I remember her writing. The chapters were headed with the three different patients; the killer; memories - mostly with Dani narrating, but it was a little choppy. Nevertheless, the plot was good, and the twists done well with the ending unexpected (unless you’d figured it out) An intriguing psychological thriller, The Patient is one I recommend.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

Dr. Danielle Rycroft, psychotherapist, has a problem - she suspects one of her patients is the serial killer "saving" children from unfit parents. Because none of her patients have actually admitted to the killings and she has no proof, she feels the patient confidentiality rule still applies. How she wishes she could talk about it to her good friend Tammy, a detective who is working the case!

Soon, she begins finding notes saying that she knows the killer and has the power to stop them. Her patients all seem to be unraveling and indicate she might be in danger herself. Can she get the information she needs from her patients to go to the authorities and help them catch the killer?

I've read two other books by Steena Holmes and know her to be a good author and one that I enjoy reading. In The Patient, however, so many clues were dropped that I had the killer figured out early on (Chapter Five). I still enjoyed the read to see how Holmes would play it out, but it would've been better with fewer overt clues. Three stars for this book from me, but I continue to look forward to reading future books by Steena Holmes.

My thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for allowing me to read an ARC of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

I really wanted to like this book. The premise is fascinating, but the delivery is all over the place.
I called what was going on from the beginning, as it is pretty obvious if you're any sort of thriller reader or movie watcher (or even if you just slightly pay attention to the clues). It's a very overdone premise and I found myself wanting something to actually happen instead of revisiting the same exact things over and over again. I get it, Danielle is tired, Danielle doesn't sleep, Danielle has a migraine. There's actually not much to the story overall plot-wise, and what is there is quite convoluted.
That said, I pretty much figure out every book or movie that supposedly has a shocking twist, so it takes a LOT to surprise me. Maybe other readers won't have the same issues I did with this book if they just go with it rather than analyze every clue.

The chapters are written in such a way that each one teases you with an extra bit of information that you can use to solve the confession in chapter one.
Danielle, an Alice in Wonderland fanatic, is a therapist who has moved to Cheshire, a town that has an Alice in Wonderland themed park across the road from her house.
First impressions of her is that she has baggage from her childhood - stuff that scares her. When we meet her three patients we discover that they too have secrets and morsels of these secrets are dropped for us each chapter.
When Danielle's friend Tami, a police detective tells her about the murders rocking the quiet town, things take a strange turn with anonymous notes showing up at Danielle's house hinting she may know the murderer.
Its a clever tactic to have the Killer voicing some chapters - it keeps you guessing, trying to find hints in what he/she says or does to identify them.
The characters are well-defined for me:
Danielle, the sleepwalking therapist; Tami, the dedicated police detective; the three patients - Tyler; Ella and Savannah; and Danielle's only other friend - Sabrina, the tea shop owner whose fondness for Alice in Wonderland brings her and Danielle into a good friendship.
What I especially liked about the character descriptions was that you immediately "got" their personalities; their presences. You could conjure up your own images of how they physically looked but you got their presence immediately.
I also found elements of Danielle in her patients too - call it reflections of sort, which adds to the suspense and mystery.
The "Memory" chapters could be any of the characters and boost the story even more. The identity of the narrator of these is revealed near the end and was interesting to say the least.
The ending snuck up on me so fast that I had to check if I hadn't accidentally skipped some pages. I was distraught that it had ended.
This was one of the best mystery/thrillers that I have read this year, if not the best.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me the chance to read this book. Thank you to the author too for such a brilliant read.

An amazing book with a phenomenal twist at the end!! Lots of red herrings for you to work through. I'm recommending this book very highly. It kept me guessing right to the end.

I was sent this ARC by NetGalley to review. I've done this truthfully with no incentive given.

An unusual story or at least not the typical tale that I read. A difficult subject of child abuse and murder. It kept me guessing. Clever, but also confusing.

'The Patient' was an enjoyable read and although there were one or two parts where i seem to have lost the plot, the story as a whole was very good. It's the first time that i have read a book by Steena Holmes and i'm sure it's not going to be the last. I rarely write what a story is about as i prefer one to read the book for themselves, but i do recommend, especially if you enjoy psychological thrillers.

My thanks to Netgalley and the Publishers for my copy. This is my honest review, which i have voluntarily given.

This was a very interesting book. Lots of twists and turns but very good. A little darker maybe than Ms. Holmes usual fare. Seems like there may be more coming. We can only hope and wait.
I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher and voluntarily chose to review it.