This is very Scandi noir, and holds your interest. I read it over a couple of days. Most of the characters are understated, flawed and miserable. Sara's family and the police officers are more relatable. It's a good story with a few twists, and an unexpected ending.

Sara and Sigurd are married and renovating the house they inherited from Old Torp, Sigurd’s grandfather. Sigurd leaves the house at 5:30am for a weekend away with friends. He has taken his work bag which is unusual for him. He calls Sara around 9:30 to say he has arrived at the Cabin and is happy to be there. Later the same day one of his friends call Sara saying he hasn’t arrived and asking where he is. No one knows here he is. He’s not answering his mobile when Sara and his friends call to contact him. This book was a good read but difficult at times because it didn’t have proper chapters so it was difficult to remember exactly where I had left off when I came back to it as I prefer to leave a book at the end of a chapter. It is worth a read though.

So sadly i never got the download on this book on my kindle. Nor could i pull it up on my NetGalley shelf app

The book opens with Sara (The Therapist of the title) saying a sleepy goodbye to her husband Sigurd who has arranged a weekend away with his buddies. A large part of the story takes place in the house that Sigurd has inherited from his grandfather which is very much a work in progress with the alterations/ improvements the couple have planned to undertake but never seem to get around to. Sara is caught up in a web of deceit when her husband does not arrive at the meeting with his friends and is subsequently reported missing. There is a frosty relationship between Sara and her mother-in-law and a somewhat distant relationship with her father who seems more interested in his philosophical studies that his family. We also meet with Annika, Sara’s older sister who is a successful lawyer and few of Sara’s emotionally disturbed patients. The police investigation seems somewhat strange and unrealistic but this is Norway and not UK.
There are a number of twists and turns and a wholly unexpected end - so a good read.

To be blunt I found this book slow and boring. The storyline was very simple and would have made a better short story, rather than being padded and drawn out. I also could not get used to not having chapters. Instead there were breaks, at random.

I have to be honest....this wasn't the best book I have read. Whether it was because it was a translation but the story was at times jumpy and didn't flow. Although I didn't predict the ending it felt slow and lacking in story line depth.

Sara and her husband Sigrud are currently renovating a husband that was left them from his grandfather. Money is tight, progress is slow and tempers are frayed.

Sigrud has planned a weekend away with friends. He leaves early in the morning, later phoning Sara to say he has safely arrives. It then becomes apparent ghagvthis isn't the case and in fact Sigrud has been shot dead. The hunt starts as to what happened and Sara s further unnerved by break ins to her house. To he fair, an ending I didn't predict.

A debut novel from Helene Flood. Originally written in Norwegian. It was translated from Norwegian by Alison McCullough.

As someone who generally always reads books based in UK or USA, it was a little bit of a struggle to get used to the names and setting in this book. The description of the accents meant nothing to me. So these little details were lost on me.

That said, I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and it wasn't until near the end that I realised what was actually happening. This is always a good sign.

I liked the main character. I felt her loneliness not just from the present in that big old unfinished house but also from her childhood. The other characters were well done, esp Gundersen. However, he wasn't particularly open with Sara.

A well written, suspenseful and enjoyable debut from this author. I look forward to seeing what else she comes up with.

I received a copy of #TheTherapist from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
@QuercusBooks
@MacLehosePress

Wonderfully creepy, twisty and compelling, but frustrating story with a rising sense of dread that kept me turning the pages right through to the unexpected ending.

Great story about a therapist called Sara whose husband rings her to tell her he has arrived at a cabin to meet with 2 friends only he never arrived. What follows is a question of what happened to him and why?
Lots of twists and turns with a unexpected ending.
Would recommend.

I really enjoyed reading this Norwegian murder mystery. The pace was a bit drawn out at times but Scandinavian novels often give us glimpses of other times, lots of everyday information that may seem unnecessary, but in reality these add to the fullness and background of the main characters and set the scenes. I did feel sorry for Sara, her only three patients all seemed to be a lot of hard unappreciative work, I’m not sure if I would have carried on with them. I won’t spoil it by hinting at who the murderer was or the red herring close to the end, both gave the book a satisfying and realistic conclusion. When reading a Scandi book you have to appreciate that everyday life there is different to ours in many ways, regarding lifestyle, family values, leisure pursuits outside work and even a more relaxed state of mind. They don’t usually base the characters within a fast paced materialistic lifestyle. If you are looking for a deep, quite different style of murder mystery then this book is for you. It makes a change from all the hyped up psychological books filling the shelves these days.

I really like novels where a partner or sibling goes missing. This is a good example of its type, and I read it in one day. Sara tells her account of what happens when her husband goes missing. Alternate chapters fill in background detail. I would not call it a thriller but it is a good whodunnit. The plot is well structured and the translation is excellent; the dialogue flows well. The ending is a bit of a disappointment with a weak twist but I enjoyed the journey.

As others has said this is a slow burner of a psychological thriller.

Sarah is a psychologist, married and both trying to start a new life by renovating their new home and new businesses.

Her husband goes missing and Sarah reports him missing. The story is interesting and well written but too much detail and explanations o the psychology of situations and people.

Less can mean more sometimes which Helene needs to dwell on.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for an advanced digital copy in return for my unbiased opinion

This was a definite slow burner with much information supplied that, until towards the end of the book, I sometimes wondered how relevant it was. The writing was good and I felt sorry for Sara and the way she was treated by her family and the police. Her sister, Annika, seems to be the only person who is truly on her side and always has been.
At times I almost felt I was reading a stream of consciousness.
Three and a half stars for me - good translation.
Many thanks to Netgalley/Helene Flood/Quercus Books for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

Part of me feels for Sara in this book. Her husband tells her a lie and disappears and her life spirals out of control, but at times i wanted to shake her and tell her to wake up.

Sara lives in Oslo, a psychologist, with her husband who is an architect. Yes, some things about their current situation annoy her, and then Sigurd goes missing, and she is afraid. But at the same time, she is sort of emotionless.

I thought it could have been portrayed better, with more emotion but perhaps this is the style of writing, and the way it is meant to be portrayed.

I found it difficult to be motivated to read this one

This is a decent thriller about a psychologist whose husband goes missing. He sets off to meet some friends at a cabin and leaves his wife a voicemail explaining that he's arrived. However, she later receives a call from the friends asking where he is? Did he lie? Where is he? What follows is very much from Sara's perspective and takes you on her journey as she attempts to uncover the truth.

The story is translated from the original Norwegian and it's certainly atmospheric. Sara experiences strange happenings following the disappearance of her husband and the writing ensures that as a reader you question everyone and everything being described. There's something slightly off-kilter that could be down to the translation and there were definitely times when I lost interest as it seemed to drag.

Overall though, it's a cracking debut and a decent read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to preview and I wish the author every success.

This was a slow burn and quite complicated to read, but I did enjoy it and in the end it all made sense.
I was given an advance copy by netgalley but the review is entirely my own.

A great start to the book with a disappearance that turns into a murder, but went downhill quickly with lots of returning to the past and the storyline in italics which I don`t think contributed anything to the story just seemed to fill the pages.
Sara was so boring you weren`t interested in what happened to her.

How did Sara afford a full security system for the house when they couldn`t afford to do any repairs to the house?
How could an 18yr old set up a surveillance system in the house to spy on them?

Definitely not a thriller
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review

This book was ok. Not a fast pace but a good atmosphere. Could have done with
a little less about the past and more going on in the present. Some bad language.
Good ending though..

I struggled a bit with the character of Sara who was ponderous at times and manic at others, difficult to emphasise with. The story was very interesting with great twists and turns. Totally unexpected conclusion.

Immensely dark and twisty, this book will have your heart racing.

Sara is a therapist living in a half-refurbished house with her architect husband, Sigurd. Things seem pretty fine until the weekend of Sigurd's cabin break with the boys; he leaves early in the morning, reports his arrival, and then isn't seen again. Why did he lie? Where did he go? Days later, his body is found...

The Therapist is moderately paced; slowly taking you out of your comfort zone and questioning everything, injecting suspicion and chill into every page. The tension slowly builds as you are introduced to all the family and friends, each with their own paramount quirks and secrets. Whilst it is a slow start, I enjoyed the insight into Sara's life as a psychologist and extra details to set the scene.

A thriller with a twist, this book isn't to be missed if you like rich characterisation and slow-burn reveals!