A bit of a slow burn.
Rachel is a GP and Luc is her patient. There’s an instant connection between them but it’s complicated. They’re both married already and have such different lives and lifestyles.
Both their lives are lacking something though so will their relationship be the answer?’

This is a slow-burn psychological thriller that keeps the reader guessing throughout. The main character, a GP struggling with the monotony of her midlife circumstances, embarks upon an affair with a male patient, with consequences that are skilfully kept concealed until the story's denouement. I have enjoyed all Shemilt's other books, and look forward to her next.

A really good author who never fails to deliver. This is a story with topical details. Prescription drugs. I don’t want to spoil it by giving any more details but have a go at this and her other books and you’ll be a fan for life)

Rachel is a doctor and meets Luc who comes to see her. The attraction between them is instant even though they are both married. Can they fight the attraction between them? This book is a terrific thriller with twists and lies. I will definitely read other books by this author.

A psychological drama that had me gripped I needed to know who was guilty and of what The story unfolds slowly and is told through the eyes of Rachel a GP who is in police custody at the beginning as she goes over the events of the previous few months. Different characters come into the story as itnunfolds and the truth of previous events becomes clear. I jumped to various conclusions of the guilty party, until proved wrong towards the end.
I recommend this book if you like psychological thrillers

Rachel is a perimenopausal GP with a husband Nathan a school teacher, and a daughter Lizzie. With her marriage becoming stale and dull and the pressures of work Rachel is treading water and life is passing her by. Despite loving the minutia of being a GP the joy of her day s is often made harder by an undercurrent of unease between herself and the practice manager. In addition a young patient, Liam killed himself the day he visited the surgery and Rachel is overwhelmed with feelings of guilt. Then there is Brian, who visits her at least once a week and she feels increasingly exasperated by his continuous petty ailments.
One evening whilst dropping notes of at the surgery after some home visits, she agrees to see a walk-in patient, a Frenchman new to the area, whose symptoms remind her of Liam’s. Instead of the usual ten minutes she devotes an hour to him and truly feels she has made a difference. Yet once he leaves the surgery she keeps revisiting the encounter in her mind, instantly attracted to this sad, handsome Frenchman.
She and Nathan live in the Salisbury Cathedral Close and are invited to a house-warming party by new neighbours, the occupants of the North Canonry, a young American woman, Ophelia, her brother, her son, and her husband, Luc – the French patient. A flirtation begins, which becomes an affair when Rachel agrees to meet Luc while she is at a conference in Paris. Those few days are the catalyst that changes Rachel’s life forever.
The story is told in the first person by Rachel with the time switching between the present and the past. This was a wonderful read with a chilling tale of murder and intrigue. Thoroughly enjoyed every moment.

The twists and turns in this book kept me coming back to finish the book but I did find it a little slow for me. It felt more like a classic author taking on a modern day story, which if thats your style book this is completely the one for you. I like things to move a little quicker and found myself sticking around to see how it would end without really investing anything in the characters.

I struggled with this one. I don’t know why but I couldn’t get in to it so left it and came back to it a few times but it still ended up on my DNF list. I can see from other reviews I am in the minority with this so it’s likely it ended on my DNF list due to me rather than the story.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

Rating: 3.3/5

"The Patient" is a brooding, intelligently written psychological drama with more than a hint of domestic noir.

If you like proceedings in your reading material to move along at a galloping pace, then this is probably not the book for you. This has a more considered approach that I found reminiscent of the style of Daphne du Maurier. Things start off innocently enough, but there is a creeping sense of menace that gradually builds over time. Many of the events that transpire have an almost dreamlike quality to them and there is often a sense of being uncertain about what is real and what is imagined.

In true noir fashion, none of the characters is entirely likeable, including Rachel Goodchild, the middle-aged doctor at the heart of the story. The key protagonists are well-drawn and embody a good degree of complexity, with each displaying traits that are both good and bad. Additionally, the relationships between the various individuals suggest not only degrees of mistrust, but also hint at elements of suppressed violence.

For the most part, I thoroughly enjoyed "The Patient". However, I did feel that there were passages in the final third of the book that were handled a little simplistically and did not match the considered complexity that was evident in the earlier sections of the narrative. This, in turn, had an adverse effect on the overall impact. Nonetheless, this is still a worthwhile read that I would happily recommend.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for supplying an ARC in return for an honest review.

In her 40's GP Rachel Goodchild feels as if her life is stagnating, Daughter Lizzie is a virtual stranger and husband Nathan might be having an affair..........but she's not even overly bothered about that. Relationships at work are not great either but when handsome but troubled Frenchman Luc Lefevre comes into the surgery Rachel finds herself intrigued and attracted,very attracted. Fatefully Lus,and his wife,turn out to be her new neighbours and it appears the attraction is mutual.

That's the basis of The Patient by Jane Shemilt. Rachel's life sudden;y becomes a lot more interesting,but not in a good way,as Luc' becomes increasingly unstable and bad things start to happen.

This is very much a slow burn but the tension ramps up considerably once it gets into its stride. There are plenty of twists to the point of trying to be a bit too clever and verging on the incredible as the strands of the story come together at the end. None of characters are particularly likeable, I counted 2 and one of those was a dog.
That aside it's a good read,at the start it reminded of an Elizabeth George novel and I was really enjoying it but it nearly lost me towards the end .

From the premise, I was eager to read The Patient. It promised secrets and lies which is right up my street. There were moments of intrigue, suspense and some twists and turned but I felt the book never really got going. However I was compelled to finish it so would rate it three stars. Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Fiction and the author for the chance to review.

This is my type of book dark and twistie and you can’t trust anyone. I have to be honest though I really couldn’t warm to her family at all not that that justified anything but I couldn’t take to them. However this is a good dark story which will keep you on the edge of your seat.

I had the most strange feeling throughout this book that I had read the story before.
Rachel Goodchild is a GP living and working in Salisbury where her husband Nathan teaches in the Cathedral school and her grown up daughter Lizzie works in the library.
This novel is about strained relationships, about things not being said but feelings running very high. It is about light and life and colour and art, happiness and madness. Some things end and some things begin.
Luc LeFevre crashes into the surgery late one day and Rachel feels compelled to listen to him given that a former patient recently committed suicide. She loses her professional judgement as the relationship becomes personal and in the course of their dalliance far worse plays out around them than any damage to a marriage an affair can cause.
As you read there is an overwhelming sense of foreboding, of treading such a fine line that at any moment secrets will be found out in the wake of devastating consequences. I was almost holding my breath, knowing there could never be a happy ending and yet still trying to avert a crisis. There is mystery in The Patient, a ripeness for fruit falling from the tree and spoiling in the sunshine, and so many versions of the the truth that lies flourish and mislead.
I found the ending to be particularly poignant and almost shed a tear or two.
Definitely a book I enjoyed and one I would recommend to others. It might even have been given 5 stars if I had been able to read the book in a less disjointed fashion as I really did enjoy the narration from Rachel. I have a lot more of this author's books on my want-to-read shelf so it will be interesting to see how the others compare to this one, once I get around to them!

Forty something Rachel is a GP whose marriage to Nathan and relationship with her adult daughter Lizzie are both in freefall. When Luc, a suicidal patient, arrives at her practise Rachel helps him and they find a connection which leads to a passionate affair.

The Patient is a gripping read with all the twists and turns a reader could hope for with the taboo of a doctor and patient relationship, manipulation and murder. The book is a real page turner for fans of psychological thrillers and I really enjoyed it. Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for the opportunity to read and review The Patient.

Thanks to #netgalley for arc of this book
I must say when I started this book it took me a little while to get into it. I even considered giving up and am so glad I didn’t and did finish it because I would never have dreamt of the twists and turns that this writer could put in one novel about so few people
But there are so pay attention and watch your back you never know who might be following you?

While it can't be disputed this is a well written novel unfortunately it isn't for me. I didn't like any of the characters and found many of them snobbish and self-involved. The plot was rather slow for my taste too. These are personal feelings though and no reflection upon the author's skills.

Read and reviewed in exchange for a free copy from NetGalley. Having picked this up and put it down a few times, I've not finished this. Although I've enjoyed previous books by this author, I just haven't been able to get into this one, which is disappointing, as it's an interesting concept.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. This one caught my attention from the beginning and had plenty of twists and turns to hold my attention to the end. Engrossing and enjoyable with a good writing style, I recommend it as a good thriller read!

Give it a try!
This book shocked me in ways that I didn't even realise. It started a little slow and I was a little unsure at first but the pace picked up and WOW. The characters are weaved in too the story so we'll I second guessed everything. The plot was not what I was expecting and I gasped many times! Brilliant book

I have not read anything else from this author but I really enjoyed The Patient and can't wait to read more.