This is a well written book that I just didn't click with. Perhaps this is because of the slow pace, the disconnect between Sara and me as the reader or because my expectations were for a different book to the one that I read. If you like an atmospheric, slow burn character based mystery, then this will be for you.

My thanks go to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance copy in return for an honest review.

Sara is the therapist at the centre of the novel. Her husband Sigurd has planned to go away for a few days with two friends – but he never arrives, despite having left a voice message for Sara saying that he’s with them already. Sara is sure, too, that an intruder has been in her house, but the police seem to discount her fears.

I was disappointed by this – it’s got great reviews already and I was really looking forward to reading it, but I found the description of Sara’s grief at the loss of Sigurd curiously wooden and also, given the way their life pre-marriage is described, I couldn’t really understand why she married Sigurd in the first place. I couldn’t feel much empathy for any of the characters, apart from Sara’s sister, who is one of the few people in the novel described with any warmth at all. I didn’t guess the twist at the end but by then the book had left me so cold I didn’t actually care who’d done it anyway.

I’m not sure if this book lost something in translation, but I was very disappointed. From the blurb the story held such promise, but I found the story slow and tedious, far too much wandering thought by Sara. Sorry to say I did speed read through the middle of the book, having struggled with the first 100 pages. However, it did slightly redeem itself in the last 75 pages or so, but still I would not recommend.
Thank you NetGalley.

I have always enjoyed Scandi Noir books, and "The Therapist" was no exception. Although I thought I might struggle to become engaged initially (I did find it quite slow and overly detailed), once I dedicated myself to actually reading, rather than picking it up when I had a few minutes here and there, I became immersed in the plot, and found myself not wanting to go to the bathroom in the dark of night, in case I saw someone or something unexpected! The details I struggled with at the beginning were imperative to picking up clues as the story unfolded, and I was desperately trying not to second guess myself, but enjoying being proved wrong...and then right and then the curve ball that was there in plain view, just cleverly disguised.
Very descriptive emotions, characters and a well thought out and constructed plot.
Thank you NetGalley, I devoured this book and will definitely look out for further novels from Helene Flood.

Initially I thought this was going to be a bit too slow for me, too heavy on the descriptions of feelings, emotions etc. But I did enjoy it and those sections that I originally thought were unnecessary actually helped build the full story around the main plot. it was a good read

Thank you Quercus for the advance copy

I was really intrigued by this book it was originally published in Norwegian and I haven't read much translated fiction before. The Therapist is about, you guessed it, a therapist whose husband leaves to go to cabin trip with his friends, he rings her to tell her has arrived but hours later his friends ring to inform her he never showed up. It's definitely an intriguing premise and I really enjoyed the character development which is rare in this kind of book. Overall it was an enjoyable book although it was a little slow, if I could I would give it 3.5 stars purely because it didn't grip me in the way I wanted it to. I didn't guess the ending which is a rarity with thrillers but I also wasn't super shocked at the ending either


I read this book through Netgalley

I think some of the blurb on this book is a little misleading - the story is all from one persons POV which can feel a little one dimensional at times. Our lead characters uses her professional skills to talk herself in and out of things which can be frustrating.

This book is a translation from the original Norwegian. Sara, the main character is The Therapist of the title, and her husband Sigurd, who should have been away for a boys' weekend, has gone missing. We quickly find out he has been murdered. Sara makes some odd decisions, such as deleting Sigurd's voicemail message, and is a lonely character, even within her relationship with Sigurd, which we find was not all roses in flashback. The middle of the novel sags in action, and there is a fair proportion of it where things just happen around Sara, which can be quite dull in places. The ending was a "whaaat?" moment, a deus ex machina, a sort of "with one final leap Johnny was free" which was told by Sara in narrative, and was purely supposition on her part, really. Unfortunately, this made the ending completely unsatisfying. Perhaps something was lost in translation.

I'm sorry to say that I didn't enjoy this one. It dragged quite a bit and wasn't as enthralling as the description led me to believe. I didn't care about the lives of the patients. I wanted to get down to the nitty gritty behind the mystery. It was a slog.

3.5/5 ⭐️read. It's a pretty good domestic thriller, which kept me guessing until the very end. If you are looking for an easy "just go with it read" this is one to pick up, it would make a good page-turner holiday read if you enjoy mystery/thrillers.

This book is released for publication on July 8th (translated from Norwegian to English)

I found this book to be extremely slow and boring, frankly, to the point where I skipped to the end. I don’t particularly like books told in the first person and I certainly didn’t like this one.

Not for me.

My thanks, as always to the author, the publisher and to NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review.

A little gem of a book ....well written i enjoyed reading it
This book is a debut novel and what a good start....
Kept me interested till the end of the book...

A dark, punchy narrative translated from Norwegian, this whodunnit kept me guessing right until the end. Sara’s husband goes off on a boy’s weekend to a cabin in the forest but is reported to never get there. Why not and who’s to blame?
Did Sara have anything to do with it, why did she delete the message from her husband and what was really going on in their marriage?
A good read which kept me interested until the end.

The Therapist is a debut novel for Helene Flood, who is herself a psychologist. As someone who loves a good thriller and also has an interest in psychology I was really excited to read the ARC for this novel. I really need to learn not to go in with high expectations!

The book itself is interesting - it’s a psychological thriller following Sara whose husband has gone missing. We follow Sara’s perspective all the way through, breaking only for some flashbacks focusing on Sara and Sigurd’s marriage. I liked how these are drip fed to us and also how the façade of a strong and happy marriage that we are initially presented with is slowly corroded as we learn more about their past. There’s a lot of suspense and doubt cast throughout the book and Sara is a complex character who is not always likeable and sometimes makes some very odd decisions.

That being said, I thought the book was very slow - once the main event has been established, not much happens until everything is explained right near the end. The climax is also a bit confusing and really comes out of left-field. I like an unsuspected twist but there is no way you’d really easily guess what happened as it isn’t really integrated well into the plot. I was waiting for a major twist (I was half expecting Sara being revealed as an unreliable narrator and having perpetrated the murder) but with this in mind the actual story fell short of expectations. In general it’s quite a hard book to get into – Sara is cold and hard to empathise which makes her feel quite unrealistic and as the story is only told from her perspective this affects the overall tone of the novel. The Police department also make some decisions which are very unrealistic and I’m sure some of their methods would have resulted in people getting fired!

Overall, The Therapist was a disappointing read with slow moving plot, hurried ending and unrealistic and cold main character. Thank you to NetGalley & Quercus Books – MacLehose Press for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For more reviews check out www.kindig.co.uk

It's a psychological thriller with so many twists and keeps you guessing.
Sara the main character is a psychologist, and her character is well developed by the author. When her husband disappears she questions everything as you would expect. When the police get involved it becomes more twisty and frustrating - who is holding back info?
Well worth reading if you are into domestic thrillers.

I found that this book started off well but then dragged a bit. There was a twist at the end but I found it a bit of a hard slog to finish.

Many thanks to netgalley and Helene Flood for the advanced copy of this book. I agreed to give my unbiased opinion voluntarily.

Intriguing storyline and characters. Kept me on edge all the way through as nothing was as it seemed!

Sara is a therapist whose clients are troubled young people who she sees in her private practice attached to the dilapidated house she is renovating with her architect husband, Sigurd.

The book starts on a Friday morning when Sigurd says goodbye to a drowsy Sara as he is leaving for a weekend trip with two friends. Despite Sigurd leaving Sara a text message to say he’d arrived at the cabin, later that evening she gets a call from one of his friends saying Sigurd has not turned up and does Sara know where he is. So begins the search for the truth…

Some of the story is told in flashback and it becomes clear that work and financial pressures etc mean all has not been well in their marriage.

I was interesting to have an insight into Sara’s thinking as a therapist and I particularly enjoyed the part when she was in session with her young clients.

The book is a bit of a slow burner with tension gradually building. The descriptions of the old house add to the feeling of creepiness and Sara’s mounting anxiety and paranoia. I thought Sara was a complex character, who I found, in part, difficult to warm to but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the book.

Although I can see how they are relevant to the plot, I confess to skim reading several pages but overall the book did hold my interest and I didn’t predict the plot twists, always a good sign!

This was the first book I’ve read by this author and I will definitely look out for her next.

I would like to thank the publisher Quercus and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is about Sara, a Therapist whose husband Sigurd goes missing when going on cabin break with two of his friends. They are renovating their house and the work has stalled as they don’t have the finances to finish it and seem to have lost motivation. After Sigurd has disappeared Sara thinks someone is getting into the house and notices that things are being moved around in the house.

I read this book in an evening, mainly because I skim-read sections which I didn’t find interesting. I enjoyed the main storyline and the ending, although I didn’t like the main character, Sara.

Too slow for me. I like the beginning and was intrigued to find out what had happened. Unfortunately I felt the story was too long and I lost motivation part way through.