The Patient’s Secret – ARC Book Review

Title:- The Patient’s Secret

Author:- S.A. Falk

Date published:- will be published on 5th February 2024

Publisher:- Storm Publishing

No. of pages:- 323 pages

Setting:- Wyoming

Genre:- Thriller

Rating:-

Plot:- 4/5

Writing:- 4/5

Overall rating:- 4/5

Sharon Stevenson is a forensic psychiatrist. Her job is to decide whether a patient is of sound enough mind to stand trial, not whether they did or didn’t commit a crime.

But Sharon is also a mother grieving the disappearance of her seventeen-year-old daughter, Maddie, who has never been found.

And what if the man sitting before her, who has been charged with the murders of several women, also claimed the life of her sweet girl?

It’s time to find out the truth.

An unputdownable psychological thriller about a dangerous cat-and-mouse game between a mother desperate for the truth and the killer she believes has the answers. A gripping read for fans of The Silent Patient, Mike Omer and Freida McFadden.

Being a debut thriller, I feel, this book was actually a great thriller that will keep you on the edge till the end.

Dr. Sharon Stevenson is a forensic psychiatrist. Her main job is to interview the prisoner and determine if he or she is of sound mind to stand in the trial. So when she was assigned to the infamous Blue River Strangler case in Wyoming, she meets Kevin Blackford, who is the convicted killer. While being with Kevin, Sharon realized that Kevin might be suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder and to prove her theory right, she enlists the help of another psychiatrist and ended up working with Arlo, the defense lawyer, as the prosecution is determined to put Blackford behind the bars.

This book is really fast paced and page turning. The first part of the book was what really made me get invested into the book–I simply couldn’t put the book down and I was wondering–is Kevin pretending to be suffering from DID or he genuinely suffers from DID? The writing was clear and spot on and I like how the writer has highlighted her relationship with her own daughter Maddie in the book. The ending was not really great but regardless, this book was really great. It also talks about justice, mental illness and tragedy and I was saddened that how sometimes, this could be realistic in real life as well–the prosecutor was determined to put Blackford behind the bars so she can get the promotion and didn’t really care if he does suffer from mental illness or not. I highly recommend this book and I am looking forward to read more books from this author. The book worth 4 stars.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Storm for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.