Quite a good translation. I’d have struggled to know but for the names. This is a slow burner that will keep you guessing. Absolutely loved it. Strong 5/5.

The Therapist was quite slow going to start with, but once it got going it had so many twists and turns that it was very hard to put down. Well worth a read if you like phycological thrillers.

Not sure if it was a file/download issue but there were lots of gaps, stop/starts which really ruined the flow. I would love the chance to read a better version as the description of the book appeals to me.

I was very interested in the premise of this book and eager to enjoy it. However, I felt it was very slow going and for me, a bit of a struggle - just not engaging enough. There were parts of the book that I enjoyed, especially the slow reveal of the disintegrated marriage, but not much else.
Overall, The Therapist was a disappointing read .
Thank you to NetGalley & Quercus Books – MacLehose Press for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review

I love psychological and domestic thrillers at the best of times, but give me one that was actually written by a psychologist specialising in violence and traumatic stress? Of course it’s going to be brilliant!

The psychological elements, as you would expect, were excellent, and there were so many twists and turns I could never have seen coming! As a psychology Masters graduate myself I found this a really interesting and fun read!

Will definitely be looking out for more from this author in future!

I have to admit, the first thing that appealed to me about The Therapist was the cover; I will always unapologetically judge a book by it's cover, thank you!
The concept sounded a little familiar but the genre was a huge pull for me, knowing that Nordic Noir books are typically brilliantly written and at moments terrifying!
I enjoyed the start of the book, with Sara meeting her day's clients and her observations of these people but once the story started to develop and she realised her husband was missing, it all started to fall a little flat for me.
Interwoven with snapshots of their relationship over the years, we follow Sara as she uncovers lies her husband Sigurd has told her and she begins to question just what her husband had been hiding.
Sara complains a lot about being alone. She works alone, although it was her choice to become private. She lives in a half-finished home, complaining at her husband that the house isn't finished but does nothing to try and increase her business and the funds they need to complete the house. She has no close friends, she chose to leave them behind and doesn't contact them. She isn't friends with her husband's friends partner and blocks her attempt at helping and supporting her in the wake of her husband's disappearance. Her relationship with her father is cold and distant and she resents his popularity with leech-like students who hang around his home revelling in his prescence. She resents her sister always having to clean up her mess, yet allows her to do it every time and doesn't see any wrong in turning up unannounced and expecting help. She's clearly an unhappy woman in a struggling relationship. And this is all the basis for questioning her sanity when things start happening which she can make no sense of.
The book lost its way in the middle, where Sara gives the reader lots of waffle about her parents and her upbringing that doesn't seem to add much to the story as a whole. I see the point of it but it was just the dullest section of the book for me.
The ending did feel like it picked up somewhat, although my assumption was that being Nordic Noir, it would be slightly more sinister or mysterious than it turned out to be.
The fact that all the police investigation is kept from Sara as they consider her a suspect means that the reader would struggle to figure out the truth right until those final pages where it's explained for you. It was a little disappointing but I did like the very ending where we finally learned the truth.
I think it's definitely a book worth reading and I would recommend it; it's just not one of the greats of its genre but still a good read.
(3.5 stars, rounded up to 4)
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Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and Helene Flood for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Overall not a bad story but there were plenty of times I felt it was dragging with unnecessary details.
The ending was a bit.. last minute.

This book was such a great unique read and unlike anything I have previously read. I enjoyed the writing style and the theme of the book. I think this book will be loved by anyone who reads crime fiction and thrillers.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book.
Sara (The Therapist) is married to Sigurd, they live in a house desperately in need of renovation, however, progress is very slow. Sigurd goes off to meet up with friends one weekend and leaves Sara a voicemail to let her know of his safe arrival. A few hours later, the friends he was supposed to be meeting ring Sara to ask where he is, as he hasn’t arrived at the cabin, contrary to the voicemail he left for Sara.
I found this book very slow. I did enjoy it, but it took me so long to read that perhaps I forgot some of the relevant details as I read. Usually I enjoy a dark thriller, but this somehow didn’t hit the spot for me.

Quite intense, but quite slow in places. A compelling read, but still quite hard going in places. However, I kept with it to the end.

Sara and Sigurd are a married couple, living a normal life, seemingly relatively mundane life. Sigurd is a partner in an architect practice, and Sara is a psychologist. Both are relatively recent graduates, starting to carve out successful careers, living in an inherited house that they are slowly upgrading. The story opens on a weekend where Sigurd is planning a trip away with friends for the weekend, leaving Sara at home. He calls to let her know that’s he’s arrived at the holiday cabin, only for Sara to receive a call later from his friends, who tell Sara that he actually never arrived at the cabin. As the mysteries deepen and the pressure on Sara increases, she has to face the potential that she never actually knew her husband as well as she thought. But can Sara look inside herself to figure out what might have happened to Sigurd?

I quite enjoyed some aspects of this book - I thought the story was told well, although I found it slightly slowly paced in parts. I liked that Sara wasn’t a classic faultless heroine, I actually found her quite cold in parts, but it didn’t affect my enjoyment of the story to be fair. I thought that the story was entertaining, although I feel that some aspects of the background story were glossed over a bit. Overall, a decent read and I would recommend it.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

It took me a while to get into this book.but after a few chapters I was completely hooked . I recommend this book.

From the blurb this sounded like a book I would like as I have enjoyed the atmospheric Scandi-noir books I have read. However this one just left me cold. I don't know if some of it was the translation or if I just couldn't engage with the main character. Life is too short to wade through a book you don't enjoy & having given it the usual 25%ish I gave up!

Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me attempt to read & to review this book.

I have attempted this book a couple of times, but it is unfortunately a DNF.

I will purchase a hard copy and try reading this as sometimes I find I get into a book in a hardcopy

I enjoyed this book, but I also struggled with it. I really liked the storyline, was intrigued to find out what was going to happen, and didn’t fully predict the ending. However, the chapters were quite long so I struggled to read for long periods of time, and found myself constantly checking to see how many pages were left until the end of the chapter. It was a very typical thriller. I’m not going to say how because I don’t want to spoil anything for those who haven’t read it yet, but it felt like a typical thriller. Although I liked Sara as a character, I struggled to feel any sympathy for her, which is a shame. I did enjoy this one and I would recommend it to people, but I didn’t love it. However, I will definitely read more from this author in the future.

The reason I gave this book a 3 star was I felt that it was a slowburner for me. I found it to be very predictable.

First published in 2019 in Norway. Scandinavian psychological thriller.

Unfortunately found it a this a little slow with each chapter giving just a little away, with quite a lot of build up for a hurried conclusion at the end. Was just too much of a slow burner for me to get engrossed in and enjoy.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in return of an unbiased honest review.

I thought that The Therapist would be my kind of book based on the synopsis. A psychological thriller written by a psychologist - what wasn't there to like? Unfortunately, I was rather disappointed.

It's hard to say exactly what was wrong and meant that the book just didn't hit home.

It's fair to say that I struggled to connect with the main protagonist which didn't help. I found the characterisation rather flat in general. Perhaps the structure of the book didn't help - chapters were very long which made it awkward as a bedtime read, just where do you stop? This may have added to a sense of a slow pace. It wasn't that thrilling.

The ending, I thought, was good - perhaps had I not gone in with such high expectations I might have enjoyed this more?


With thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publishers for an advance copy.

A fantastic book which is well written and completely engaging. I have been completely pulled in and kept hostage by this one.
This is unique, intriguing and one that I have devoured.

I love the strapline to this novel – “The truth is inside her head“. Sara is a therapist, treating her patients in her office at home. Her husband Sigourd is supposed to be renovating their big old inherited house. But Sigourd is so busy with his work, he doesn’t get around to doing much renovating. He needs a break away with the boys for the weekend, so Sara is home alone. But when Sara gets a call to say Sigourd never arrived, things start to unravel. At first Sara thinks its a weird stupid joke from the friends of her Husband, friends she never really liked. But as the hours pass, Sara gets worried.

Sara was not a likeable character, but as a therapist, I enjoyed seeing the way her mind worked. As the police investigation continues into Sigourd’s disappearance, strange things continue to happen around Sara. So much so that she starts to doubt herself. We didn’t hear to much about the investigation from the police side of things and as their suspicions are told to Sara, this is when we learn about them. The fact that a Sigourd left a message on Sara’s phone to say he arrived to see his friends makes this all the more strange and makes the reader question, why Sigourd lied? For the first half of the book, I didn’t have any suspects, which is odd as usually I suspect everybody. As I got into the second half of the book, more suspects appeared.

The writing and translation of this book was excellent. If it wasn’t based in Norway with Scandinavian names, then I would not know it was not originally written in English. I have read quite a few Scandi Noir books over the years and I was not disppointed with this one. The ending of the book was very good and I felt satisfied that all ends were tied up.

Author Helene Flood is a psychologist herself. The book has already had been bought for film rights, which I look forward to seeing. She also has another book due out next year which I look forward to hearing about.